I'm seeing a lot of reports concerning accounts being locked for expats and it's always the same bank, I've not seen any accounts being locked with any other bank. I'm with Kasiskorn Bank and have never had any problems, I know it varies from branch to branch but I've also not heard of accounts being locked with them so I would recommend changing to them when you can, You will probably have to get a bank letter from both the old and new banks for your next visa extension but shouldn't have problems in the future.

It sounds like you have done absolutely no research and probably not even been to Thailand before, not a good plan if you have aplan at all. I can understand why you want to leave USA but without any planning it's going to be a bigger disaster than staying put, if that's possible. What I recommend is come over for a LONG holiday, get a tourist visa or visa stamp om arrival and stay for 3 months (60 day + extension) and spend 1 month in 3 different areas, Pattaya, Phuket, Bangkok, Hua Hin etc to see where if any you like. Speak to a lot of expats, people with feet on the ground are the best sourcce of information as far as life style & costs are concerned. Do NOT get commited to a 'relationship' while on holiday, that's a real way to end up poor. If after all of this you still want to know more and need help then come back top this group or another similar one in the area you want to live in and ask for advice again. I'm not trying to put you off as I've live inThailand as an expat for over 14 years and can really recommend it if you get things right but I've also seen many disasters with other expats who got it wrong in a big way.

Peter H Bates Yes I agree you could only do this if you meet the normal requirements of entry but it MIGHT be a temporary solution to the problem. The real solution though would be to find a route out/ They might even be able to do a bit of country hopping getting visas to stay in diffeerent countries in this region until a suitable flight is available but that would probably be more expensive than just paying the extra for a a flight now if one is avaialble. I was assuming there was a good reason to want to stay in Thailand rather than somewhere else.

I'm only guessing but the reason they want the letter from an Embassy might be to limit the extensions to people whoo genuinely can not go home, like a country who have shutdown all air travel. They probably expect people to find alternative routes and don't consider 'flight too expensive' or 'excessivly long route, valid reasons. Just a guess but it does fit. You might be better off going to Laos for a week and coming back on a new visa if you really are having difficulty getting home but remember if you have had too many stays with extensions you might have difficulty getting back in.

Joe At Work I used to travel a lot and had annual travel insurance and found that all the ones I tried only covered you for 30 days from leaving your home country, your's might be different. They did give insurance for the year but only in 30 day periods, it wasn't a problem for me as I was only out of UK about 2 or 3 weeks at a time but it would expire if I stayed out of UK longer that 30 days, that also meant that if I came to Thailand and then did a 'visa run' to Laos every 30 days it still wouldn't cover me longer than the first 30 days. You need to read the small print on all insurance policies as they are often not what you think they are. Also I don't think it would be accepted anyway.

Jordan Davis no, he said Thailand not USA

You really need to give more information to get a useful answer. Like are you intending to work, become a 'digital nomad', retire, get married or something else because each has different requirements both in terms of visa and living expenses

The 'rules' say you must have a return flight within the duration of your stay and as you can't get an extension up to 6 months on a 'visa free' entry then I really don't think you would get in and might not even be allowed to fly as the airline would probably be responsible for bringing you back if refused entry. Really you need to sort out the non-O visa before travelling and then 'convert' to a retirement extension when here. When I came over 14 years ago the woman at the airline check-in desk didn't notice the non-O visa and wasn't going to let me fly as I didn't have a return flight booked, I was OK once I showed her the non-O visa so that's an example of what might happen to you.

Jenny Cha A good question, I've no answer.

Remember that whatever business you open in Thailand you are up against a 'company' run by a Thai and they often work on very low margins. Most Thais don't run a business with the expectation of making a lot of money, if they earn enough to get through the day then they consider that a success. I'm not saying you can't make money but it's very difficult to compete with a Thai. Then as already stated, for you to run a business in Thailand you have to be either a Thai or employ Thais but the other guy could be running his business from his house with minimal expenses. A lot of expats are very successful but even more lose their retirement fund, often to their girlfriend or just a Thai friend who they leave to run the business for them. Just be aware of the potential problems and do some research before commiting.