I was told all reports could be done online but when I tried my first report online, it was rejected in Feb. Instead of going in person, I hopped over to sg for a weekend to visit friends. In May I was able to do my report online. Krabi province.
I came to Thailand on 6 month metv and then sorted out my nonO 3 month retirement visa and then 1 year extension. I tried to do non OA before coming here but I was a resident of Oman at that time and it was not meant to be. Hehe
Luckily, I got everything sorted quickly so I did not have to extend the metv.
You could look into education visa or some other visa.
You could get 6 month multiple entry tourist visa before you come here. This allows you to stay for two months at a time but at the end of 60 days, you could ask for 30 day extension. This could stretch your 6 months into 9 months with just a couple trips outside Thailand.
I am sure you will get lots of other suggestions here in the next few days. Best of luck to you.