@Bjorn *******

You are not speaking from experience. Literally 90%+ of stories like this = the Thai woman have many online boyfriends. Facts don't care about the ethnicity of the person. If it's true it's true.

@Justin *******

"I will" = in the future = I am right that you have not yet met her. I've been living in Thailand for a long time and I'm probably not that much older than you (im 35). I have had a lot of experience with online dating with thaifriendly, thailovelink, thaicupid, etc. Especially in a time like this, a lot of thai women need money and will use such website to have "many boyfriends" and fool them about the "true love". In no way are we saying that you are getting scam, we are simply stating fact that most stories like this end up badly.

Most stories like this where they never met and live way apart = scam, so no its not wrong to warn OP who could be a total newb.

I have a decent size YouTube Channel so I get no less than 50 emails like this a day. The one you described is very common. Whether it's transfer Wise, PayPal, YouTube, Sponsorship Deal, etc, they will ask you to click somewhere to open a pdf, a mobile app, to verify your account, etc, always with a sense of urgency. You do not need to change your password. They get your email from an online reseller who constructs database. 99% of the scam email I get goes directly to the spam so I never read them.

You need to transition to Non o first, then to something else. There is no conflicting report, its been like that forever.

I don't know where your assumptions about Thai come from, but it's the polar opposite. Thai are pro debt, and not that often from the bank (if you know what I mean). They spend a lot more then what they earn.

@Ruth ******

Its not a visa.

I will always choose chaotic freedom of speech group over censorship one. I was one of the first to join this group (after getting banned from the bigger one). It was surely more pleasant went the group was much smaller, but it's still manageable. My main issue is not the rude comments, but the misinformation and lack of flexibility of some. Not every question has an obvious answer. If someone wants to use an agent, it's his/her decision, I will give an answer to the best of my knowledge. I always try to answer with the most value-ish answer, the practical one, rather than the morally superior one. Some get mad but to me, practicality is more important than moral standard when it comes to living in Thailand.

A volunteer visa is 35k baht, but you need a Non-O first in order to get the volunteer visa, so if you don't have it it's another 25k baht to switch to it first, 3 + 12 = 15 months for 60k baht. You can sometimes apply for both the Non-O and volunteer at the same time (depend on the agent). As for extension, you don't need to do it yourself (I suggest you don't to avoid any potential drama). You can ask the agent to do it every 3 months for a small fee (around 500 baht). You don't need to send them your passport or anything, they can do it without. I'm pretty sure that it's extendable for another 12 months after that, if needed. At worse if you just need few months you can then get 3 months medical extension.

Bottom line is if you are broke there is no hope staying long term in Thailand. The world as not yet reopen, and probably won't before 2022 (METV in 2022 probably, etc). With money, anything can be sorted out, money rules the world.