@David *****

you are aware you must have the equivalent of bt800,000 in your home country personal bank account to get the type O visa. When you get here after you have your type O visa it is easy to get a Thai bank account, and I recommend getting two accounts at different banks. I have accounts with Bangkok Bank, and Kasikorn Bank. You'll see the advantages after you live here for a while. As long as you have enough in the accounts to cover the yearly service fees nothing happens to the accounts no matter where you are in the world. When you actually decide to move here it is much better to do a SWIFT transfer of the bt800,000 all at once rather than small transfers over time. By doing it this way you can get a FET, foreign exchange transfer, document if you ever decide to leave Thailand and want to send the whole amount out of Thailand. You'll need the FET to justify where that much money came from, meeting anti money laundering laws Thailand enforces.

@Chris *****

it can be in any bank account, as long as it is a personal account in your name.

@YT *******************

you can apply from the Philippines no problem. One thing document wise they ask for now in cases like yours, with no legal business, is your most recent income tax return. If you are rejected the fee is not returned. It is lost, and a new fee is required to apply again.

@Dany *******

actually they can't because there are no penalties written into the DTV regulations.

@Luit ****************

there are no rules saying you must attend classes. The only rules that have been added are for the one in country extension, which requires all the original documents you used, and updated. Those are the only rules that apply after you have the DTV. There are no rules, or requirements, when you exit and come back. You don't even have to prove the money is still in your bank account.

@Luit ****************

that is exactly what I said. Those that have DTVs are under the rules when they originally got it. The rules don't change for them, as they paid for a five year visa, and Thailand isn't known for refunding money. Another example is the original Elite Visa. It was originally bt1,000,000 and it was for life. Because of that they never eliminated it, even though it lost money until covid hit. Now it has a 20 year max, but there are still original Elite Visa holders, about 1200 of them, as Thaksin, who started the program, gave away 1000 of them to his friends, mostly Chinese.

@Dany *******

the rules do not change once you have the DTV. They can after your five years, but no changes directly affect you until your five years expires. This is how Thailand operates. They make changes based on the abuses they see happening, and then make changes to address those abuses, but those already on the DTV are not affected by the changes until their five years expires. As an example currently the financial requirement is bt800,000 for a retirement visa extension, but there are still people here on retirement visas they got after Vietnam when the financial requirement was just bt20,000, and the age limit was lower, and because they have never let the extension laps they are still under the bt20,000 requirement.

@Luit ****************

the only requirements to go to classes is on an ED visa, not the DTV. With an ED visa you extend it every 90 days with the documents your school gives you. The DTV has no requirements once you get the visa. In the future it might, but now it doesn't, and everyone that has it now is grandfathered in to any changes in the future, for the five years of the current visa.

You legally need a work permit, and a number of people do volunteer work without a work permit. Realize that if anyone files a complaint, and people do all the time, at that point the police will investigate and deal with it. If you are not legal they will process you for deportation.

Lots of people that have lived here for a few years were originally registered under the TM28 system by landlords with more than one condo/apartment in their complex. Everything now has moved to the TM30 form, so lots are being asked for a new TM30 on their next extension. I was registered under the old TM28 form, and asked for a new TM30 next extension because of this.