Although from comments seems family or dependent visa would be unnecessary but possible.

Would an overstay not potentially be perceived by immigration guards to be against the 'spirit' of the law? I'd like to stay well within the spirit as well as letter of the law.

Could he register for school if we exit and re-enter, him with a historic overstay stamp but not currently overstayed?

Bumrungrad has a department specifically for getting visa extensions for medical reasons, and is a very reputable hospital. Otherwise Tod admin of this group mentioned they're hard to get.

Thanks very much Michael yeah saw that (and your comment before - very much appreciated, believe me). Seems (?) Tourist Visa is a possibility, so will try for that, so we have a week to recover from the flight (with a 6-month old), then a few weeks after the operation. But 30 day VOA a nice fallback. Have you tried for a Tourist visa yourself?

The business center will only do visa extensions, nothing else, (I think also concierge, hotel, travel bookings etc) so they just sent us back to the surgery department. Other hospitals have been simpler, immediately agreeing to provide a suitable letter.

This is very, very handy to know thanks, we were hoping to do a bit of holiday after too, we will try for a tourist visa first then.

It's a minor operation we've been putting off for years, today was just a 20 minute bit of planning with the surgeon.

There are no hard rules in most places, but given every local wears them to protect you, it is rude not to reciprocate.

@Ručman **********

does it need to be Thai bank account or is foreign acceptable? Thanks

@Darren *******************

thanks Darren. For what it is worth, I just spent 11 years in Ethiopia and never got round to properly learning the language, so I'm learning my lesson, and I reckon my time spent learning Thai will massively improve and deepen my experience of Thailand. Good luck with your Elite application, though!