@MacQuen *****

The extension based on marriage can only be done if you are married to a Thai, not random foreigners marrying each other.

@Sharon *******

Yes, it needs to be in your account 2 months before applying for the extension based on marriage. Its not money taken away from you it just need to be sitting there. It just act as a proof that you can support your wife for that full year if needed. If you marry a Thai man I dont think that you have that financial requirement. Same sex marriage is illegal in Thailand.

@MacQuen *****

A lot. Like 500k baht and you are not getting your money back, lol.

Stuart and Andy are technically correct, but they both knew what you were referring to so they are just giving poor advice to punish you for your wording. Let them be. You want to stay long-term in Thailand, correct? (while working on your Laptop or wtv).

You have three long-term options: 1) Getting married to your Thai GF (if you have one) which will allow you to get a marriage extension for 1 year, renewable every year.

2) Education visa (learning Thai, self-defense, etc), which will give you 1 year, some of them renewable the year after depending on what you are learning.

3) Volunteer visa, self-explanatory, you volunteer some of your time to an organism in need.

p.s: The reason why some people use an agent for such visas is to avoid going to class or volunteering. It's basically bribing your way into these visas while staying home and doing nothing. For marriage extension, people use an agent if they do not meet the 400k baht requirement.

@MacQuen *****

To stay long term if you don't meet certain requirements.

Thai Visa Centre is the most reliable by far.

Booooooooooooooring! Anarchist-granola.

@Will *****

Yes, I understand, I just felt that your comment was too dramatic. If we read it like it is "OVERSTAYING is not recommended, and it also affects you for future visa applications in other countries.", it sound very dramatic. And then, you even added to the drama by saying that "you must hope that the cops wont bang at your door", im paraphrasing, but it really sounded overly-dramatic given the low risk of any of that happening. Then you have people reading your post that will re-use your sentences to "help others" when they have similar questions. Sometimes, we are their last resort because they get conflicted info everywhere else.

@Will *****

I am not doubting what happened to you, but its important to remain objective while giving advice. Because newb will then spread non-sense while answering other people (like Brian below, and his idiotic google copy/paste). A lot of people read such thread and will then give advice to other based on what they read from you or others. Bad info can pass around all the time.

@Will *****

You said: "and it also affects you for future visa applications in other countries.", which imply potential rejection (if not, what is the wording "affects" for?). All of that is false. The only moment where it "could" affect you is upon entering Thailand, which there is no report of such issue. If one person had a power-trip in Australia doesn't mean that he was in the right or that you could have been rejected. It's simply one person that doesn't know how to do his job. It's a rare anecdotal evidence. Just like you can get into a plane crash, but it's also very rare. Rare occurrence should not be treated as "potential affects", because its very unlikely. Just like its very unlikely that ull get a police visit after overstaying for a few days. It "can" happen, but the likelihood is on the same level as dying from taking the plane.