I would not overcomplicate matters. Just book into a cheap motel near where you are building the house, shortly before you want to apply on Immigration, and make sure they register you properly by TM30. Use the printout from the accomodation or a screenshot, and visit Immigration to apply for the extension

@James **************

you don't have to show the QR code if the Immigration officer sees that you fulfilled the TDAC, when he scan in your passport. That's why they won't ask you . . avoiding extra surveillance

It doesn’t matter if you enter multiple times on a visa exemption or on a tourist visa you bought outside of Thailand

Having been in Thailand visa-exempt or on a tourist visa doesn’t cut any ice, in regards to your collection of “touristic entries”

*** In the end it is the Immigration officer at the border, who will do a quick count of how many days you have spent in Thailand on “touristic entries” within the recent 365-days period

If he counts more than 180 days, he might think you are abusing the tourist entry system for a long term stay in Thailand. He might pull you aside and starts to ask question like those:

*** “do you have any proof of onward travel leaving Thailand within 60 days?”

*** “which are your intentions in Thailand? Do you have a girlfriend, do you work ?”

*** why don’t you buy the right visa for your purpose of visit?”

If he would really start looking for a reason to deny entry, he would ask you for a proof a funds which you need to carry on you in the form of CASH money bills.

The official requirement is that you must carry cash of the equivalent of 20,000 THB when you want to enter Thailand. Credit cards are not accepted as proof of funds.

*** this, you should know and have run a calculation by yourself of the total number of stay days in the recent 365 days, so you know what to expect.

*** some people will tell you they did 7 or 8 visa exempt stay within a 1-year period. However they don’t tell you that each stay never got maximized to the full extent of 60 days, and never got maximized to the 30-days touristic extension for 1900 THB. They obviously had only accumulated short stays, and Immigration officer can see it by your stamp history.

Many of these people are roll-on, roll-off oil platform workers who like to spend the leisure time off work in Thailand, and if questioned by Immigration, they can show proof of what they do.

*** So it is all coming down to the question: Are you a “real” tourist, or are you just looking for a way to spend as much time as possible inside Thailand?

@Yo***

you missed the part when we started to say "use your own funds, don't need the agent" . . . or when we said, "you have no own funds, then use the agent to front them" . . . .

in the first case, you are fulfilling the first year's extension requirements which are that your own funds need to remain in your account for the full year.

However in the second case the agent just borrows you 800,000 THB and puts them into your Thai bank account for maybe 15 minutes, then withdraws them.

Which means that during the whole year of the first extension you don't have own funds sitting in your account, which further means you are theoretically in overstay, and further means you are not fulfilling the requirements, which require the funds to be remaining in your account during the year

@Tommy *******

not if you didn't keep your own 800,000 THB for three months after been issued the extension and respective 400,000 THB for the remaining year until 2 months before next application, in your Thai bank account for the whole year of the first extension. If you used an agent who put the money into your account for 15 minutes, you cannot apply for the next extension on your own

@Gregory ********

there is no calendar year count. The Immigration officers however check the stamp history of the recent 365 days. If you stayed on touristic entries longer than 180 days within the recent 365-days period, they will pull you aside at the border

so Saraburi Immigration actually doesn't follow their very own rule, dvmb witted people at work, don't know the meaning of "either . . or"

@Robert *********

that's not volunteering if you start working in and for a school this still is real "working", yet without payment. A school is not a NGO volunteer organisation or the Peace Corps. . . . . So it was a Non-Imm-B (employment) visa for you with documentation from the school, instead of a Non-Imm-V Volunteer Visa, and it doesn't matter if you get paid by the school or not

@Maitin ******

even the visa number is not a mandatory field

in case Immigration wants to see a certified by your embassy document telling them that you have been issued a new passport, try to evade it by politely saying that your embassy does not issue such a certification anymore (a new passport is a new passport!)