@Terary *********

two photos, copy of passport details page, entry stamp, visa, tm30, and the application form.

I skipped the details on residence certificate because it’s a point of contention with a lot of people. Including me.

Be it free, 200, 500 or 1000฿.

In Chiang Mai it’s free with a wait, could be 2-4 weeks maybe longer or 1000฿ for next day service.

It takes 15 minutes or less to prepare. I know because when I showed up to collect mine, it wasn’t ready and they told me to wait.

And it’s a fairly useless form that adds to the paperwork.

If you have your passport with your TM30 in it, it’s just duplicating the info with your photo attached...which your passport has but I digress.

It’s just a thing. Don’t have to agree with it or understand it but I do it because it’s required.

IMO 10am or 2pm are better. Probably around 30 minutes.

Theres the way I think it would/should happen but all bets are off as she is ASEAN.

If it goes the way it should.

She would be able to get a student visa to study Thai or Chinese language. (English is a tough sell for Filipinos).

She’d come in on a tourist visa (not exemption) likely.

Make arrangements with a school. Get her paperwork in about 3 weeks to apply in another country.

The go to choice right now (and could change) is HCMC, Vietnam.

She needs bank statements in her name. A month or two works. Can be a Thai bank.

EDIT: There may be a way to apply from abroad but I don’t know.

And also for anyone:

Unless you absolutely need to be in Thailand year round (I’ll let you determine that.)

Your time and money is better spent in another place for 4-6 months of the year.

No classes. No tuition. No bullshit.

Enjoy Thailand for 6-8 months a year and other places for some other time. You got an almost $1000 head start on your travels.

If you’re a digital nomad. Don’t just be digital.

If you’re under 50, have less than $250,000 in the bank, and hopelessly in love with a Thai you’re either marrying, having a kid, or getting a job teaching English.

Thanks Jimmy. I appreciate you letting me/us know.

If there’s anything else, just shout.

17,000-30,000฿ for the tuition. (Language schools. More for a University and more for Muay Thai.)

2,000฿ for visa issued outside Thailand.

5,000-10,000฿ for the trip to get your visa (airfare, hotel, other country visa, new in town tax)

1,900฿ every 90 days for extension.

Total of 360 days permission to stay without leaving the country.

(1900฿ for a re-entry permit if you do need to leave.)

300 days of worry free life. Then 60 days of oh, fuck! What am I going to do? My school says this. Facebook says that. My friend got denied here. Where do I go now?

And why shouldn’t someone be able to do back to back tourist visas?

Do they have the means to support themselves?

Are they taking a job from a local?

Are they under 50 with no intention of getting married or having a kid?

Ding ding ding. We have a tourist.

That’s an extra 30,000-100,000฿/month being spent in the local economy.

To suggest people misuse the visa would mean there is some alternative that these tourists should be doing and choosing not to. But it does not exist.

Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam figured it out and its a hell of a lot easier. Why can’t Thailand?

That’s just Facebook man. 1% of people are assholes. Get enough people in any one place and it seems like a lot.

Maybe paranoid, but we all are now. Seems like a good plan: flying out and walking in.

Make sure you have an appointment for Thai Consulate.

I hope they give you the visa as the staff there are fickle.

If for some reason you don’t get your ED visa:

If you haven’t done any terrestrial border bounces, they’ll let you in to Thailand with a visa exempt stamp.