If that's a law then it's not enforced very well. My local temple (Hang Dong, Chiang Mai) is about 20 meters away from a store that sells alcohol. And if that were actually the case then Old City Chiang Mai would not be allowed to sell alcohol anywhere from Doi Suthep to the Ping River.

No smoking or Alcohol withing the temple grounds, but I have never seen anything about a 500 meter restriction.

@Nathanielle ************

How long ago did you attend, as I attended in 2020 (Covid lockdown converted from the 'amnesty' visa just in case they suddenly ended the Covid amnesty policy.

The rule was you need to attend 80% of the classes minimum, and attendance was taken daily, with a weekly class photo that the school used to confirm your attendance.

Yes, the school does handle all the paperwork, so that is easy, but I don't think they let you get away with skipping class. They might cover for one or two classes by claiming you were attending via remote Internet, but they made it clear that was not going to happen on anything like a regular basis as their license would be n the line.

What country is your passport. Most Western countries (North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand) can get a Visa Exempt stamp when they arrive (just need your passport, the hotel reservation and return flight out of Thailand within 30(?) days?

Some other countries have 'Visa on arrival' where you pay for a visa when you get to Thailand (same/similar requirements of passport, hotel, return flight, maybe fewer days allowed.)

Other countries you need a get a visa from your own country (or maybe an embassy not in Thailand, but can't say for sure.) If this is what you are required to do, then all your requirements will have to be met before you even get the Visa.

Good luck

My understanding (Canadian who stayed a year on an ed visa in 2020, but I was in Thailand already when Covid closed down everything, and was on the ‘amnesty visa’ but changed to an ed visa in case the amnesty ended suddenly, which was actually recommended by the government, so it was easy to get) is you need to have your ‘schooling’ all set up before you apply. Usually that means you pick a school and get the school to do most of the paper & leg work and arrange the process for you (you can probably legally do it yourself, but navigating Thai immigration on your own if you have no past experience in doing so is not going to be a fun experience with a greater chance of failure.)

Is there a reason you want 'tax residency' in Thailand?

As someone mentioned the tax situation is a bit up in the air, but the usual way to go for retirement is to put 800K baht in a Thai bank account and leave your method of income between you and the country you earn it in (in fact, a retirement visa assumes you are retired, so while running a business in the West while on a retirement visa is not unheard of, there's not a zero chance that could cause you issues in some immigration offices.)

Keep an eye open for any new tax law chances in Thailand (of which there is recent talk of doing, but not a lot of verified details as to what the effect on retirees might be ... Probably none but no one really knows) and if you can afford to put away 800K bath for the year you plan on staying, then for now assume you're going to do that ... You can take the 800K out when you end your 'retirement'.

Never been asked for cash, but have been asked for address of where I was staying, and I've always showed them my return ticket .. so usually when they asked for my passport at immigration I usually handed then my passport with the return ticket and TM30 that you used to fill out on the plane before landing (I think they stopped doing that though so if I were coming in I'd write the address on a paper and include it.)

@René ******

if I recall correctly you can apply 14 days before and 7 days after without issue ... and yes, the first one needs to be in person.

@Felix ******

the good news is that SEA 'corruption' in so far as normal People's day to day lives are concerned is small and the money usually stays within the community as is spent there. Yes there is high level corruption but it's mostly between governments and large corporations, but it is still illegal and when these people get caught they are serious consequences.

The West has its own corruption, but it's all been made legal using 'regulations' that add unneeded expenses to every transaction by everyone, and almost always ends up in the offshore bank accounts of a few rich elites either used to but a swimming pool for their yacht, or to buy some western government official, politician, it lobbyist to write new laws to make whatever crime they like to commit 'legal' (for the rich; 'cheating' on your taxes and bribery is still a serious crime for normal people!!)

Give me SEA corruption any day.

@Allan ********

my application for the marriage visa (2 years ago) regarding pictures was similar to yours in that I applied the required pictures but then when the application was processed and I eat in the 30 day 'pending' stamp they asked for a new set of pictures. The difference in my case was they didn't do any onsite inspection and I took and supplied the pictures myself and no extra fees (Chiang Mai office, near airport)

So, yes, the extra pictures seem 'normal' in my experience, the fee? Not so sure.

@Mark ********

okay, heading out to Lampang soon. Probably going to come back to Chiang Mai first to look after it dogs first before heading to Doi Saket.

You still available all day?