Hey there ! My partner and I are moving to Thailand from the US. It’s looking like the move might be end of summer 2025. I’ve been looking into visas trying to figure out which one would be best for us and could use some direction. I’m seeing work visas and 90 day visas that would require extentions and make me hesitant to sign a year lease. We plan on spending 1-2 years there split between Chiang Mai and Phuket. We will continue with our current US based jobs and work remotely in Thailand. Curious about which visa would be the best option and how far out we should start preparing our visas. Any info helps! Thanks in advance 🫶🏻

This is a question mostly to the admin staff, but also to anyone else who might know the answer:

Sometimes I read admin comments here like: "You didn't ask your local immigration office, why are you asking here? Closing the comments on this question." I am personally unaffected, there is no immediate problem.

But several times in the past I wanted to come to immigration office in BKK well-prepared so they would not send me away and make me come again. In order to understand the impact of "just going and asking a question", you ought to know this: From my location in BKK by bus it takes more than 2 hours to get to immigration and the same amount of time again to return home. If I want to show documents or ask questions, I need to pull a queue ticket and on average wait 7+ hours. I.e. just asking a question is longer than a normal work day, I need at least 12 hours door to door, up to 15 not being a rare case.

Now BKK immigration has a fancy 4-digit hotline, which I tried for weeks(!) several times a day in order to ask questions. Nobody ever picked up the phone even once, no matter what time of day I was calling. In old times at least you got routed into the maze of an automatic call routing system with a voice menu at the end of which usually nobody picked up the phone, but sometimes you got lucky.

I also tried e-mail addresses found on lists and Excel sheets I downloaded from official immigration websites (general website and BKK branch). They constantly got ignored, not even once I received an answer to any e-mail.

So everyone, especially admins, do you have any ideas how I can "just ask a question" to BKK immigration in order to prepare all the necessary papers for them to process my visa extensions instead of sending me away and having me come back the next day because of a small detail and again spend 14 hours at beautiful Chaeng Wattana? It would save the officers' time and mine too if they wouldn't have to check my papers twice in two days. Thus, a hotline or e-mail contact would be important to have. The hotline exists but never picks up. Maybe it is easier up-country where immigration offices are small and close by. For me it is a nightmare.