We are a family of 4 all from the U.K. living in Chiang Mai and find ourselves in a difficult visa situation. Our kids are in International school and they have solid Ed visas now extended/valid until June 2020. My husband and I have also had Ed visas this past year and that’s worked well. Last week we went to Hanoi to apply for same Ed visa for the second and final year (as we plan to move back to UK in June 2020), but were rejected (which we’ve heard happened to many). We got back in on a 30 day stamp as advised by Thai Embassy in Hanoi, although they questioned us at the border for not having a visa! So now we are looking into getting Non-O “Guardian” visas and have a number of questions…

1. Do we need to apply for Non-O visa in U.K. or can we apply in another country?

1. We understand we need 500k baht each seasoned in our Thai bank accounts before the first extension at Chiang Mai Immigration - however we’ve read both 30 and 90 days as the requirement, anyone got definitive experience with this?

1. Do we need to show any financial records or have a certain amount of money in our Thai or UK accounts when we make the first Non-O application out of country?

1. Will we need children’s birth certificate legalised/certified for the application and/or extension - I’m thinking for the extension we will and perhaps the application if it isn’t in the UK, anyone know?

1. Will we need our marriage certificate legalised/certified for any reason? We only have a Thai bank account in my husband's name, but we plan to open one for me once I have the visa to do so.

1. In order for us to have more time to get the money/paperwork in place we’d like to extend our current 30 day stamp at Immigration office - do you see any issue with this after we were questioned i.e. might that be on our record?

1. My husband has several trips out of country and an alternative for him might be SETV + METV - however, we are not sure if that’s too risky - any advice welcomed

Thanks in advance and sorry for long post... !!