@Kal ********

I do not. I believe the money needs to be easily accessible so cannot be in an investment account. So keeping your money invested vs sitting in a bank here doing nothing seems to be worth it based on what I see people saying an agent costs.

You'll tie up 400k for the full 12 months and the other 400k for 5 months. At a conservative 6% interest that works out to 34,000 baht. If you can find an agent for less than that or earn more than that it would be worth it.

@Wayne *******

it was pretty hard to look at the stamp at the time of my comment considering it was not in the original post. He only added the photo after myself and others asked about it.

@Tom *******

i believe 2 months before and 3 months after getting the yearly extension. Also can't go below 400k at any point. So for the most part it basically sits there the doing nothing for you. Even at 6% interest it pays for the agent and then some to keep that money invested.

@Dave ********

then the lady you talked to definitely made a mistake. Go to a different branch or bank. You may or may not need the residency certificate from immigration first.

It may seem a little daunting at first, but save the money and do it yourself. Plenty of people on this and another visa page that have done it, including myself, and can help with any questions that may come up. Starting with Grahams link is a great start.

Did you show the visa printout and get stamped in using the visa? If not then perhaps they only gave you a 60 day visa exempt stamp? In which case you can do a border bounce before the visa expires or the 60 day stamp expires and re-enter using the visa.

You only do that if you don't know you can go to immigration and get a 30 day extension for 1900 baht. Then you do a border bounce and can get another 60+30 days. You can only do that for so long though before immigration may start to think you're trying to live here on visa exempt and will tell you to get a long term visa and/or deny you entry.

@Tony ********

also, if the hotel files a TM30, which most do, and then you go to immigration you may need to file a new one for your home address before they will do anything. That depends on the office though. Some will just take care of it for you.