Phil Spearing. Agreed. But every financial bone in my body tells me to invest 800k baht in an account earning virtually zero interest is financial lunacy, but each to their own

Stan Mould. Or do the sensible thing and go for the 65k per month method. It's a no-brainer

Banton Richard. The best you will get is 0.5%. Forget this 800k bulldust, and start on the 65k/month transfers. How anyway can tie up 800k for the rest of their lives leaves me gobsmacked

Tony Tony. This is the actual law. You will note that an IDP is not required when a bi-lateral agreement exists.

Ron Sangster. Not quite correct. There's no time limitation on IDP, and IDP is not actually required if countries have reciprocal agreement under 1949 Geneva Convention, and home licence is printed in English. What the legislation states is "temporary visitor" and with the exception of permanent residents, realistically we're all temporary here!

Arawan Namak is the best

Lily Simpson. Best idea by far. You need money to live on anyway (my budget is around 45k/month), so it's easy to bump it up to 65k. It's money you can spend as soon as it hits your bank account, unlike the ridiculous 800k gig, which effectively means if you're going to stay in Thailand for here ever after, it's 800k you'll never see again.

To save dropping 800k into a Thai bank account, start the 65k/month transfers, do a border bounce before your original OA expires, and get stamped in for a second "free" year. This will give you more than enough time to have the required 12 monthly transfers, ready for your extension when the second entry stamp expires

More background information. There are a multitude of visas, but you need to tell the group what your intention is in Thailand: work, study, long vacation etc. With that information you will get better advice.