I have been in Thailand now for 7+ months on an METV, I did the border bounces at the thai/Lao border myself, with no problems whatsoever, you basically just stamp out of Thailand, cross the friendship bridge on a bus, fill out a simple Lao visa form, you can pay for the Lao visa with Thai baht, its ฿1700, you just need a passport size photo, and a printed pdf of your METV, and obviously your passport, you can leave Thailand at the Lao border and come back the same day if you wish, when you return back to Thailand you just need to fill out the TM6 arrival card. If you don't want to do it yourself, depending on your location, there are border bounce companies that take you to the border and back again, if that would be easier for you.

Are you aware you can get 8 to 9 months out of the METV visa?? Check the expiry date on the visa, it should be valid for 6 months, if you do a border bounce just before it expires, and after that a final 30 day extension, that gives you 8 to 9 months in total.

Go to the immigration office you will be doing the extension at, and get a list of requirements, for instance some will require a TM30, some won't, Just do the extension when you have 7 days or less left on your current stamp, because some immigration offices won't allow you to do it earlier than that, the 30 days will be added onto your current stamp end date.

@Simon ********

okay thanks, I wasn't aware of that, I just thought you automatically got a five year license upon renewal.

@Shayne *********

I think it's only the first license that is two years, when you renew, I believe you get five years.

@Jacqui ********

the Thais don't seem to look down on each other, for scamming farangs, so don't think he won't to save his reputation, a chanote is the Thai "land title deed" a usufruct agreement is probably best to lease the land, I think with a 30 year lease, papers can be drawn up for 30+30 but I've been told, it's only guaranteed for the first 30 years the second can be cancelled.

@Matthew ****

crop! any jpeg photos that are too big, they won't drag and drop, if you need to upload more than one photo for a particular requirement, do a collage.

@Joie ****

check the size of the jpeg photo, if it is too big it won't drag and drop, just crop it, the other little tip I got from someone else, was it only allows you to upload one document, but on some it seems to require two or more documents, just do a collage.