One additional question. I've applied in Ranong after checking in at a hotel here. Do I have to be registered (tm 30) at the same hotel until 12 april? Or check in there again at 11 April? I'm staying in a neighboring district, but this is the nearest immigration office...

Thanks very much, glad I'm not the only one with this experience and from your messages it seems that it will work out fine. 🙏

Thanks Benjamin, great you mention that. I remember I read that before. Which means that my 60 day tourist visa will give me time to find a suitable place to stay and study. Thanks.

Hi Anna, thanks for sharing your application process. Good to know it took you long as well. I'm afraid that I'm too late then, I leave within 11 days. It's a pity cause I believe too that the STV would make it easier for me. The Ed visa would be a nice alternative but more suitable later in the year when I surely want to stay longer. For this trip I planned to stay 6 months. I've planned the trip quite recent since the quarantine regulations changed. So therefore I've had limited time to arrange everything.🤷

I was thinking about applying for a STV as well, but with all the requested documents it makes me doubt whether I would get it done in time. I will fly on the 30th of december and would love to stay 6 months (or longer). Now I applied for a 60 day tourist visa that I hope to extend with 30 days. After that I don't know what i can arrange to stay, I'll have to figure out whilst there. Maybe an education visa, would love to study Thai again.

But I'm curious, how did you arrange all the requested documents in time? In the Netherlands it already takes at least 4 weeks to gain your certificate of conduct. Secondly I already arranged a travel insurance including full covid coverage, but for the STV visa I read that you must obtain a Thai health insurance... Overall it seemed quite a hassle to me. Did you come across these things as well or were you able to arrange it all smoothly?

Thanks a lot, and yes I guess these uncertain times ask to be flexible in many ways, also with regards to a visa 🤷

Ok thanks. So you for a METV I can directly apply for 6 months (180 days) visa? And I need to cross the border every 60 days? I'm wondering which option will be smoothest in my case since I wish to stay 6 months and preferably don't stay in neighboring countries if not necessary, so only border runs if possible, to extend my stay.

But do I also understand it correctly that with this 60 days visa, I can extend with 30 days in Thailand. Then I can do a border run to laos, Cambodia, Myanmar or Malaysia and apply for a 60 day tourist visa again (without needing to stay there a certain amount of days?) and extend it again with 30 days in Thailand? And how often is it possible to apply for a 60 tourist visa in a neighboring country?

Hi Tod, thanks very much for your replays and helping me out. So what I understand from you is that I CAN apply for a METV for 6 months and do a border run every 60 days. This is what I asked when I called the embassy to check how to apply for this online and I did not get a clear answer and only suggestion was a 60 days visa. I would rather do a border run every 60 days and having my visa sorted for 6 months than still need to arrange applications whilst there. My experience when I had a 3x 60 days visa 10 years ago is that the border runs were very easy going, just getting a stamp and ready to go back again. I don't know if this process changed because of corona.

Hi Tod, thanks for your replay. I've checked the embassy website and could only find a 2 months tourist visa or a 3 months special tourist visa. This is why I did not apply for a longer visa, cause I assumed that it is not possible. I know I've had a 3x 2 months tourist visa before. But when I called the embassy to check they could not tell me it's possible. Now I doubt whether I could have applied for a multiple entry 6 months visa? I will fly on 30 december, so if it's possible to get a 6 months visa I'd like to change it asap. And the option of leaving and coming back, how long should I leave the country? And what kind of visas (how many days) can I apply for if I'd leave the country to a neighboring country?