@Dave ******

It's like I said - you can wring 6 months stay out of the METV, but the very last entry shortly before the expiry of the 6-months validity is upon the discretion of the border official. Normally this last re-entry is not a problem and you can achieve almost 8 months of stay. After the Thai government introduced the new taxation regulations, which makes you a tax resident if you stay in Thailand longer than 180 days per calendar year, this may have confused many border officers, so they refuse to stamp you in any longer than 6 months . . . . We don't know. This is Thailand - nothing is clear, everything is possible

@Dianne *********

*** a direct transfer from your home country bank to the Thai bank account will be automatically coded as a foreign transfer

*** if you use WISE for the transfer, make sure you tick in “reasons” the box “funds for long term stay on Thailand”. Then it will be coded as a foreign transfer

All other “reasons” can end up as inner Thailand transfers because WISE will us one of their Thai bank accounts

How to proceed when using other providers like Remittly, Revolut or Western Union, I don’t know

***you visit Immigration as soon as the 800,000 THB have cleared your Thai bank account, and apply for the “change” to the 90-days visa.

Update the bank passbook to show, is all that’s needed.

The 2 months “seasoning” is only required for the application to the 1-year extension

*** of course you could also use a legalized income affidavit over monthly 65,000 THB. But only if your embassy in Thailand is willing to issue one

*** NOTE of WARNING: Jomtien/Pattaya Immigration has different requirements, they make their own rules. Try to avoid them . . . the following screenshot is the current police or regarding the proof the depposit came from abroad

the only extension which starts on the day you apply for it, are the "7-days extension" that you get stamped if your application gets denied. Then the stamp says "Extension denied you have 7 days to leave the kingdom"

@Dianne *********

oh, this changes a lot!! Why didn't you tell me before? So you already have a Thai bank account. . . . . . . making things easy, you don't have to fly back to your home country . . . . just transfer into it from abroad a minimum of 800,000 THB. Make sure the bank codes the transfer as coming from abroad. You need a rental contract for an accomodation in Thailand. . . . Then you only need to do a border run, re-enter visa exempt, visit Immigration and apply for the "change of visa type" from the exempt-entry to a 90-days Non-Imm-O visa. You will have to show that you got 800,000 THB sitting in your Thai bank account. There is no need to prove any "2-months seasoning" at this point . . . . . you will get issued the 90-days Non-O Retirement Visa for 14 days "under consideration". After these 14 days you visit Immigration and pick up the visa stamp. Up from 30 days before the 90 days Non-O stay permit expires, you get the letter from the bank saying the money has sat in the account for 2 months, visit Immigration and apply for the "1-year Extension of the Temporary Stay Permit based on Retirement" (the famously so called "retirement visa") Check this Immigration website, pick your language, then click onto number 9. It opens a downloadable pdf which contains the requirements needed to apply for the "change of visa type" to a 90-days Non-O retirement visa

@Dianne *********

the price is high because you didn't play by the book and didn't show up on a 90 days Non-Imm-O visa which you would have aquired in your home country before you flew to Thailand. In Bangkok, if you show up on a visa exempt entry at the Thai Visa Centre agent, he charges 55,000 THB for opening the bank account for you (which is against the rules and need to be greased) and for getting a 90-days Non-Imm-O visa for you (which also is against the rules and needs to be greased) and then the subsequent 12-months Extension of the Stay Permit (which, in case you don't have own funds of 800,000 THB, also must get heavily greased) . . . .If you have played everything by the book, though - entered on a Non-O visa, opened the bank account, transferred 800,000 THB onto it, and once the money has sat in the account for 2 months, apply for the 12-months extension - all this would only cost you 80 USD for the e-visa fee, and a 1900 THB fee for the application to the Extension, and 1000 THB for a single re-entry permit

@Dianne *********

if you play everything by the book, if you already have a Thai bank account, entered on a 90-days Non-Imm-O visa and use your own funds of 800,000 THB in your Thai bank account, an agent only charges around 12,000 THB service fee for the application to the 12-months Extension of the Stay Permit, and that would include a 1000 THB single re-entry permit, the 200-500 THB fee for the bank letter, and the 1900 THB fee for the extension application. Not too bad a price. . . . . . . . However if you don't have own funds, and don't have a bank account and entered visa-exempt, the agent has to grease way too many palms, both those in the bank and some others on Immigration, in order to get your request through, and that explains the price

@Lee ************

Correct terminology is important! . . . . . People buy a re-entry permit for a current STAY PERMIT, not for a visa. The visa will expire when you enter Thailand. After your entry, you are in Thailand on a stay permit. For this stay permit you can buy a re-entry permit. It keeps the stay permit alive, should you exit Thailand. However, a re-entry permit is only valid for the duration of the stay permit it was bought for. So if he buys a re-entry permit for his 90-days stay permit, it will expire together with the 90-days stay permit on September 2. He will be out of the country by then anyways, and so, he needs a NEW 90-days visa

@Dianne *********

you being on a Thai visa or on a valid Thai stay permit doesn't cut any ice for an application to a Schengen visa - you are free to apply

@Dianne *********

I do not recommend to start the O/A Longstay visa.

Many people fall for it since you can leave your 800,000 THB equivalent bank deposit in your home bank account and get almost two years of stay in Thailand out of it.

After these initial two years, you must move the 800,000 THB equivalent deposit onto a Thai bank account in your sole name anyways! AND you will be forced to buy a private Thai health insurance (which are not very well rated).

However, the BIG downside is = you need an expensive 100,000 USD coverage health insurance, which must sign the F.I.C. form of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Many people after the two years finally have realized in what kind of s..t creek they landed, and they all try to get the O/A cancelled and restart with a Non-O visa

If you start out on the Non-O visa, enter Thailand on it, open a bank account (use an agent for speed) and apply for the 1year extension, then once it got issued you buy a multi re-entry permit for the 1-year stay permit, and you can still continue to travel on your less expensive travel insurance

@Dianne *********

*** you cannot apply for the Non-O/A Longstay visa from within Thailand, you need to apply for it in your home country.

***you might have a problem to do the “change of visa type” from a visa-exempt entry to a 90-days Non-Imm-O retirement visa, because you need money on a Thai bank account in your name.

The downside is, you cannot get a bank account opened on a tourist visa or on a visa exempt entry

This makes it necessary to travel back to your home country, apply for either the “O/A” Longstay or the “O” Retirement visa by the e-visa online system of the Thai embassy

You could theoretically apply for the 90-days Non-Imm-O visa in Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia or any of the surrounding countries, but this will require you staying in these countries until the visa request has been processed – and this might take from 5 to 14 days, depending on how sufficient your uploaded documentation was