It is not clear to me. Is it your intention to come here as a tourist or to move here and stay long term?

If you are planning to stay long term then you should apply for an O-A visa before you come here. Search this group to learn about the benefits of the O-A visa.

After living here for 1-2 years on an O-A visa you will have to meet the financial requirements for a one year extension. You will have plenty of time to prepare for that but you should make sure you can meet those requirements for the long term.

@James *******

I am not assuming he is abusing the ED visa. I don’t know his intentions or travel history but he may be the victim of others ED visa abuse. No one can say whether his travel plans during an ED visa will earn him a denial of entry. Obviously that is up to the IO. Tod’s answer gives some good insight on what Immigration has to deal with.

It’s no wonder Thai officials are denying entry if ED visas are just being used to stay here long term. It’s an example of abuse of the visa system leading to a reaction in policy. And it harms the people who legitimately want to study here.

Since he has a deposit that is SMT he might want to figure out how to get the bank to trace and document it as an international transfer. It is probably going to happen again sometime in the next year and it would be good to know how to deal with it.

@Roger *******

I can't speak to the marriage lump sum. Just the 800,000.

You mean the 800,000 baht? No.

@Tod ********

Yes. So we can ask if she is aware of how to get another year out of it. That also depends if she is planning to stay long term. Maybe there is another reason she is asking about a 6 month visa.

Are you on the 2nd year of your O-A visa?

At the time I was under a time constraint. I had to get it right the first time. They took everything I gave them without comment.

I was over prepared. Had a lot of documents and spent a fortune at UPS getting them notarized. Don't let it get out of hand.