@Nongnuch *******

Awesome! Thanks so much, I will give it a try!

@Andy *********

Great idea! I will try do that. Thank you for letting me know. Much appreciated!

@Nongnuch *******

Thank you for letting me know. My tourist visa actually does expire in a week and I'll need to leave Thailand before then so I won't be able to get an agent to open a bank account for me before I leave.

With this new knowledge I have gained, I won't go to the Thai embassy in Penang anymore. I was still thinking of going to Malaysia for a holiday though. To my surprise, it looks like there aren't any flights to Savannakhet from KL, or if they exist they are probably too expensive.

They do have decent flights into Vientiane though. I saw that they have a Thai embassy in Vientiane. Not sure if you have heard much about it, but I was looking at requirements on and It doesn't mention the financial requirement here from what I can tell. It would be a little more convenient but It wouldn't be a big deal to make my way to Savannakhet.

Thanks so much! I was planning on doing it by deposit because I do have the equivalent of 400,000 THB that I could send into a Thai bank account from my Australian bank. Although I am planning on opening a bank account here in Thailand (very) soon, perhaps through an agent.

@Nongnuch *******

Thanks so much for sharing! I haven't heard about this 'change of visa' type before because everything I was searching seemed to talk about doing it outside of Thailand. It definitely seems quite convenient to be able to do it from within Thailand with this alternative approach.

@Andy *********

Thank you so much for sharing, that seems well worth it!

I have a (car) driver's licence from Australia, but not a motorbike licence. Usually people would only get the motorbike licence in Australia if they ride the bigger motorbikes that have gears, as the regular driver's licence allows you to drive small mopeds without needing the motorbike licence.

Just to clarify, is the motorbike licence for you to drive the bigger motorbikes with gears? Or perhaps it is also needed for the simpler mopeds I tend to find myself on?

Cheers!

@Andy *********

That is really great to hear you were able to get both a bank account and a Thai driving license so recently. It is a really good idea and I think I will do the same. I'm up in Chiang Mai but imagine they would have similar agents around here. May I ask how much it cost you to do? If it isn't too expensive it sounds like it would be very handy. Cheers!

@Andy *********

That is really interesting, I didn't realise they had agents for that. Sounds like a good plan, cheers!

@Bernd **********

I couldn't find any other forms relating to the 90 day marriage visa on their website. The second bullet point under 'purpose of visit' states that this dependant visa is suitable if you are a foreigner and married to a Thai citizen. I could be wrong but I think Malaysia seems to have stricter requirements to get the visa, especially for the initial 90 day one.

@Graham *****

This was what I was thinking and hoping for.

@John *********

I suppose I could go into another bank and try again with my Thai wife. Although, It seems like a bit of a catch-22 situation. Perfectly happy with the 90 day single entry. From what I have read there have been some updates very recently in Laos. Perhaps I will give it a go and report back if I can't open a bank and anyone is interested.