>Is it the same everywhere

It's same at most immigration office. It depends on the immigration office's workload

About education: If you're interested in homeschooling your children, most American school districts offer free remote learning. Ask your school district for more information, or check out

@Katy ***************

It's proposed, not actual. The proposal I've seen reads exactly like the STV 😮

Have you lived in Thailand? Culture is the seen and unseen activities. How would you react if you get into a traffic accident, and the person who hit your car gets out with a big smile on your face? How would you react at the bank if you are trying to open a bank account on your tourist visa (which IS legal) and the manager smiles and says no? How would you react if you go to an immigration office to get an extension of stay, you submit the paperwork required that you found online, and the immigration officer smiles and says “no” and tells you to get another document that’s not listed and you never heard of? For Americans, this usually trigger frustration and anger, which usually results in the Thai person smiling bigger. Expect those things to happen.

Here’s my advice. IF you want to have a taste of living in Thailand, you and your husband should both acquire a Special Tourist Visa. This visa is a single entry visa, that allows a person to stay for 90 days, and can be extended in 90 day increments twice at the local immigration office, letting you stay for 270 days. You can open a bank account on this visa, you *SHOULD* be able to get a drivers license, of course you can see a doctor (there’s no nationalized healthcare for tourists).

Your child can enter on a Special Tourist Visa, but can go on overstay. There is no punishments for overstaying for children under 15 years old.

Find a region to stay in Thailand and stay there. See if you actually enjoy living in Thailand. See if you can manage the culture. If you enjoy living here, look into a long term visa.

If you have 20M THB for each person, talk to the Board of Investment about getting an investment visa. This visa allows you to stay in Thailand as an investor, and can be extended each year. You can also get a work permit (if you can find a company that’ll sponsor you for a work permit), and after three years of holding a work permit with this visa, you should be apply for Permanent Residency, so you no longer have to worry about visas.

I highly recommend being very careful about advice given in Facebook groups, lawyers, agents, etc. A lot of advice is either flat out wrong, confusing, or outdated. I’ve seen bad advice posted in these types of groups, people follow the advice, they get in (BIG!) trouble, and then they run to me to work magic, which I’m unable to do. Ask people to provide their sources.

About your background in the military: The military culture is rule driven, and a person can successfully argue the rules. That approach will result in trouble and resistance in Thailand, since rule enforcement are based on circumstances. Thailand is great for people who are diplomatic, able to stay calm during pressure, able to read people’s emotions, and able to have a sense of humor. Thailand is not good for people who are bound to the rules, who are not flexible, who can not negotiate, and who aren’t culturally curious.

Good luck! As a parent with a young child myself, if you need any specific advice, send me a message.

@Sammy ******

> education is not necessarily "terrible in Thailand" even outside the international schools, and a few of them aren't so great.

It's ranked 84 out of 100 countries

"But, depending on what your goals are for your child, many expats do decide to enroll their children in a Thai public school. The reason? To learn the culture and language. And, if you are only looking for that, it is a good idea.

However, such cultural differences include corporal punishment (although it is technically illegal), rote learning (learning by memorising), and the absence of supported, individual, critical thinking"

Source:

@Katy ***************

> if you put your kids into school, you will both get one year Visa's for parents with child in school.

Those are tricky. The child will get an ED visa based on being a student. One parent will get a Non-O Visa Based on Being a Parent to a Minor Child on an ED visa. Another parent will get a Non-O Visa Based on Being a Trailing Spouse to a Foreigner on a Non-O Visa. Logistically, it's very difficult to acquire.

@Katy ***************

>igital nomad visa, but heard it's hard to get.

There is no digital nomad visa 😕

Don-Laura Traub If you don't mind me asking, for Chiang Mai, how are you managing the pollution? I heard that burning season can be extremely bad over there. Where I live (Kanchanburi), it's the burning season now, and I'm having to stay inside most of the days with my 800THB Air Purifier turned on all day.

>Volunteer visas can be a good way to sustain longer term, but that doesn't bring in an income

I would not recommend a dodgy volunteer visa route using an agent at all.

Using visa agents (also known as consultants, lawyers, or accountants) are a risk, and using an agent is something that must be done with eyes completely open. Agents are almost always used as a backdoor bribe to an immigration office. When you use an agent, you run the following risks:

1. Agent loses the passport (agents are not regulated in Thailand and they don’t need to do anything to keep the passport safe).

2. The agent or another person may steal the passport or other document information (i.e. The house book of the wife/ child) . I doubt it’ll happen, but it is a risk.

3. The extension of stay that was issued may be retroactively voided if the immigration officer is audited and falsified documents are discovered. I seen that happened with the Non-LA visas, but never with other types of visas - yet.

4. The agent may simply have a copy of the stamp and stamp the passport themselves without keying it in the system. I have not heard of any cases of that happening, yet, but some agents do have copies of the stamps.

5. The agent may decide not to support the customer anymore because they lost the contact within the immigration office who issues the visas/ extension of stay. This happened recently with the Volunteer visas.

6. You can’t stop using the agent unless you leave Thailand to break the chain.

7. The agent may steal money out of your bank account, and you will have no recourse to get the money returned to you.

I've seen situates for each one of these cases, sadly. I've seen it either in the news, or posted on Facebook groups.

@Braulio ********

Great point! Thailand's culture (*ESPECIALLY THE UNSEEN ACTIONS*) is completely different than America. Thais behave a lot differently then Americans, and react completely differently to events, which some Americans find to be very upsetting.