Just in case it's not mentioned already.

Every immigration office is a little different. Also, Agents can help for a fee.

"waiting to die" visa - I like it.

Also - just for fun, you may want to mention what the "non" part of of the visa name means. I found that to be quite confusing.

For those who are reading this and not familiar with it. "Non OA" status for Non Immigration Visa Type-OA (or similar ). The "Non" is useless in the context of visa as almost all long term visas are "non immigration".

@Lindsay *******

Look at those pork chops 🙂

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FedEx seems to work better than the others, from my experience.

Ideally, have it delivered to an office somewhere where there is always someone around.

If possible, if requested, provide a local number to a friend or someone who speaks Thai.

When one of my banks replaces my credit card, it takes nearly a month, I think they ship UPS Economy, or whatever. However, most of my mail gets here in a few days and costs about $100USD.

I have been in Thailand 8 years on several types of visas, marriage, work, volunteer, tourist. I do not think I would plan to do back-to-back visa exempt/extensions but it's possible to live in Thailand a long time on tourist visas. You assume some risk that you may not be able to get back in but I have found the risk is worth the reward.

You will get good advice and some bad - mostly good.

Care about the source of information. Often times people will tell you of their experiences or experiences of their friends. Those stories may be true but may not apply to you as your nationality determines your visa eligibility and requirements.

I have heard good things about Chaing Mai, also I have heard the seasonal pollution can be unbearable.

If you have a couple of extra dollars I would recommend coming to Thailand and visit several different areas. People speak well of HuaHin. I have never been there but I understand its nice. I live on the outskirts of Pattaya. My neighborhood is quiet and nice and next to the sin city of the world. You wouldn't find my neighborhood unless you lived here for a little while.

Some things to consider when looking at different areas to live

- Friendliness of the Immigration Office. Some are better than others and this isn't necessarily a deal breaker

- Expat community, is there one, is it big or small. Ordering pizza in English is nice, trying to order pizza in Thai is regrettable. You will see what I mean you get here.

- Access to stuff. Koh Tao has no movie theater (the last I knew) and the grocery stores are so great. Great place to visit but its a die-hard farang that enjoys living there.

You will find your grove. Welcome to Thailand.

I haven't tried since before Covid. I just got a Tourist Visa from the Thai Embassy US. During that process they requested "additional documentation" which was onward air travel. They were quite specific about flight details. I was applying for a METV so I bought a one-way flight to Kula Lumpur. I will use it so it wan't a big deal.

Last I knew (pre-covid). Bus ticket from Hat-Yai to Penang was $12/US, I think its worth a gamble.

The two options I would suggest you look into are teaching and scuba diving.

Teaching will likely require you to have a degree. You could do private tutoring or work at a private language school but that would be risky and would require some cash up-front.

Scuba dive master requires considerable training which comes at a cost.

Similar thing happened to me. Passport went through the wash with only half the pages used. Some of the stamps were smudged but most were ok. They still required I get a new passport. This was back in 2018 and it had only taken 2 weeks (US Embassy, Bangkok).

You can do 30 day exempt and get 30 extension.

You can apply for a visa in Manila, or you used to be able to.

I have applied for eVisa from Thai Embassy Washington and LA, while not being in the US.