I sent my wife in Samui a card. Addressed in English. It never arrived. It was sent by regular air mail as the UK post office had been cyberhacked and couldnt do anthing elses. I was disappointed but not surprised. But when I was next in Samui, I dropped by the sorting office at Big C. Anyone can walk in and pick through post. It was a complete and utter mess. We told the postmaster if he could find the card, there was a 100baht reward in it for him. 40 minutes we got a call. Everything is sent by registered post now. The delivery is tracked. No one is guided by a scrbbled address on a package, but by a barcode. Containing details uploaded at the origin. No translation mistake, plus postmen don't get the option to not deliver because they can't be bothered.

@Brandon ***********

Not exactly. The number of permanent residencies is published each year. It's usually 50 stateless and 100 others, with no more than 100 from any particular country. Ie if 100 Americans get PR, zero Brits or Australians will get a shot. The Thai immigration commission set the quota each year, but they are bound by the 1979 Immigration Act which sets a limit of no more than 100 per country, but the commission sets the overall number. It's never exceeded 100 passport holders. The closest you will realistically get to PR is Elite or LTR, but neither will accrue time towards PR.

@Brandon ***********

I think PR needs non-immigrant visa for 3 years, so marriage visa would work. The OP needs to meet a nice Thai person. Of course, it's a bad marriage if driven by a desire to not extend visas. And only 100 are awarded each year.

Depends on which visa you are applying for. You need to provide evidence of your financial standing, that you have accommodation, eg mortgage statement, bank statement, salary slop, rental agreement. My invitation letter was shirt and perfunctory. She's my wife and it's none of the home offices business to know details of the relationship besides we are married. It worked. More complicated if a fiance I suppose. For a visit visa I was advised th suggest no more than a 4 week visit. I went for 6 weeks. You get a 6 month visa, but it's best to stick to your dates. My wife came to the UK in September and 6 weeks was enough to convince her living in the UK was not for her. Too cold and our food is no good. She has her own business in Thailand , and she knows the prospects of employment in the UK are very low.

@Terry *******

You misconstrued. And the ones making millions aren't faffing around from the back of their Lear jet on a cut price DTV. They can live where they like when they like, even though they are technically homeless. Your use of "clearly" shows you clearly spend too much time on SM as this used in a standard put down. Millions of baht isn't all that much.

@Terry *******

You cannot renew it for another 5 years from within Thailand. It's a 5 year tourist visa that allows 185 days per entry. When you extend the entry, you are NOT reapplying for a new visa, you already have a visa, valid for 5 years. It's intended purpose is to make money for Thailand. It's effect might be to enable you to run an online business, learn to cook an egg, have dental treatment as a medical tourist, but that's not It's purpose. And digital nomad stuff is just millennial nonsense. They really mean homeless people with money. Or maybe no money judging from some queries.

@Terry *******

Explain how it is not a tourist visa. It's not a work visa. You cannot work for a Thai company, establish a business, pay taxes, establish residence rights, open a bank account (irrespective of people fooling naive bank workers), it cannot be converted into another type of visa, it cannot be renewed in-country (for a further 5 years). Even the Thai government says it's part of a programme to expand tourism in the Kingdom.

DTV is a tourist visa

The rate will vary by location..The best rates will be at Super Rich's Bangkok hq branch. The worst rates will be the money changers booths on the islands. That's for Bank of England notes. For truly terrible rates, try changing Scottish or Northern Irish notes, if you can.

@Steve ******

For that childish response I'm blocking. Not that you will know.