Category: Thailand Tips & Guides

Thailand Visa

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thai visa simple guide

Which Visa Do I Need To Live In Thailand?

Unless you’re fortunate enough to already have any special plans, for example a job in Thailand or a Thai wife, then before you leave for Thailand, you will most likely need to apply in advance for a tourist Thailand visa. Usually, if vacationing to Thailand then there is no need to worry about visas before leaving… a 30 day tourist stamp can be obtained on arrival in Thailand under these circumstances. However, if you are moving there for the unforeseeable future, then it is quite likely you will be entering Thailand on a one-way ticket and this can cause problems at immigration – or more so with the airlines anyway.

See, officially, if you do not have a Thailand visa beforehand, then you need proof (i.e. a return ticket or train ticket) that you will be departing Thailand. Therefore if you are planning on moving to Thailand, it is advisable to apply for a visa at least a month before leaving just to be safe. The easiest visa to apply for is a tourist Thailand visa – available as single, double and multiple entry – it is possible to stay in Thailand for up to six months on this visa just as long as you exit and re-enter every 60 days (apparently you can even stay for a year at the discretion of the embassy you apply at – apparently the Hull consulate can arrange this for you).

However, if you are planning on changing your visa (see visas listed below) shortly after you get to Thailand, then a single entry visa will suffice. I have found the most uselful source of information for this to be the Hull consulate: 

www.thaiconsul-uk.com

Alternatively, instead of applying for the tourist Thailand visa, you can apply for the exact visa that you require before travelling to Thailand. Or, after you have obtained your tourist visa in your home country and arrived in Thailand you can then apply for one of the following visa types:

 

Non-Immigrant Category B Thailand Visa

  • Conducting business in Thailand as an employee of a non Thai company
  • Taking up employment in Thailand with a company located in Thailand
  • Undertaking a vocational training course (teaching, diving, boxing, etc)

Non-Immigrant Category ED Thailand Visa

  • Studying in Thailand
  • Taking part in a work study/observation tour in Thailand
  • Participating in a project or seminar in Thailand
  • Attending a business conference or trade fairin Thailand
  • Attending as an official at a recognised event in Thailand
  • Studying as a Buddhist Monk in Thailand

Non-Immigrant Category O Thailand Visa

  • Married to a Thai national
  • Visiting family working/living in Thailand
  • Volunteer work in Thailand
  • Visiting Thailand as Pensioner
  • Visiting Thailand as retired person aged 50 years and over

 

I don’t have a job and I don’t have a Thai wife! So which visa is best to live in Thailand for as long as possible?

Option 1: In my opinion, for those like myself, who have no particular skills to get a permitted job in Thailand, and aren’t particularly interested in teaching English, then the educational visa is probably the easiest option for staying in Thailand long-term. Also, once you have obtained the Ed Thailand visa, you don’t need to cross the border to do visa runs, which may get irritating. For this visa, you have two options – you can either apply for a tourist Thailand visa before you leave for Thailand, then find a school to join once you get there. The school will sort your paperwork out for you within a few weeks, after which you will need to leave the country (just a neighbouring country such as Laos) to change your Thailand visa to Non-immigrant ED at a Thai embassy.

Alternatively, you can join a school online from your home country before travelling to Thailand; they will post you the necessary paperwork within about a month and sort everything out for you so you won’t need to leave Thailand once you get there. Basically you have to apply for an ED visa outside of Thailand – whether it’s your home country or crossing into a neighbouring country.

If the ED Thailand visa issued is multiple entry, there would be a requirement to exit and re-enter Thailand every 9o days. If the visa issued is single entry, you can stay for a year without having to do any visa runs. You can always apply for permission to leave and re-enter at the Thai Embassy for a small fee. For anybody who wishes to stay in Thailand for the long-term, most language schools will be able to allow you to study for up to 3 years on an ED Thailand visa. After living in Thailand for three years, it is possible to apply for permanent residency.

Joining a school in Thailand will generally cost between 18000 and 40000 baht for a year. The cheapest I have found so far is www.sandee.ac.th at a cost of 18000 baht.

Option 2: Can’t be bothered with all this boring Thailand visa stuff? Some people will opt to stay in Thailand illegally, without a visa. If you are caught doing this then you can be sent to prison and fined, maybe even banned from the country in extreme cases. However in many cases, as long as you hand yourself in with your passport at immigration first, you will get away with just paying a fee. The maximum that they can charge you is 20,000 baht so whenever you are ready to leave Thailand, be it maybe 2 years say, just admit your ‘Overstay’ and have the cash ready to hand over. Easy really (depending on how laid back you are), just not so good if you get caught first…

N.B. Immigration rules are constantly changing. Even though I know people who have stayed in Thailand this way, rules can always change and punishments can always become harsher!

Learn more about Thailand Visa Extensions with my guide and checklist here

Tuk Tuk Suit Shop Scam

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In Bangkok, Tuk Tuks are an awesome novelty. Blinged up with neon lights and all sorts of dangling decorations, bouncing around the bumpy roads like cheerful and carefree Mario Karts, and a reputation for being a particularly cheap means of transportation around the city; it’s definitely a must to grab a ride in a tuk tuk in Bangkok… or is it a scam?

A few years ago, we vacationed in Bangkok for about a week. The very first day, we were approached by a very lovely and helpful stranger in the street. He explained to us that it was something like ‘Happy Buddha Day’ and then continued to make notes for us on our map as to where all the temples were located which we could visit in Bangkok for free today, and only today.

Also, he mentioned, you could grab a special blue government Bangkok tuk tuk for only 25 baht and it would takes us to all of these sights. Oh how lucky were we! Oh and double good fortune there just happened to be a blue tuk tuk pull up beside us! The tuk tuk driver took us to these Bangkok temples and he also took us to a suit shop which seemed a bit random. And it was a bit awkward considering we had absolutely no interest in buying a suit in Bangkok.

Tuk Tukking around Khaosan Road

After maybe an hour of sightseeing, we left the last temple for our Bangkok tuk tuk to take us home. We returned to where the tuk tuk had dropped us but he was nowhere to be seen. Where is he? We didn’t pay him his 25 baht! There were a couple of other tuk tuks waiting up the road, but our tuk tuk driver was nowhere to be seen. “Tuk tuk! Tuk tuk!” they all started shouting to us. We asked them if they’d seen our tuk tuk driver, to which they replied ‘he was ill! He had to go home’. So we were generally sad and concerned for our driver and that we’d had a free tuk tuk ride around Bangkok and not paid him…

Well, later throughout our holiday in Bangkok, both from observation of other tourists and through our own experience, a pattern of tuk tuk scams emerged. Everyday was ‘Happy Buddha Day’. If you were to tell an enthusiastic tuk tuk driver that you already had plans and didn’t want a ride, he would respond with “The Bangkok Grand Palace, it’s closed today, you can’t go there”, “No, that road is closed now, there is nothing there”. Sometimes a stranger would approach a tourist and talk with them while a tuk tuk would be conveniently waiting around the corner to appear in perfect timing to scam them.

We later spoke with a tuk tuk driver when we had no choice but to use him during Bangkok rush hour when all the taxis refused us a ride. We offered the tuk tuk driver 300 baht rather than the usual 25 baht, to take us to where we wanted to go – no bullshit. He refused. He explained to us that the government paid him a very generous amount of money and petrol coupons to take tourists to the suit shops in Bangkok. That was the awkward day when we had to fein interest in suits in a suit shop and  deal with a very pissed off indian for wasting his time.

So, frustratingly, despite seeing locals using tuk tuks in Bangkok all the time, it seems that if you are western, it is impossible to simply use a tuk tuk for normal transportation. Or maybe we have just been unlucky. To this very day, we still get pestered from time to time by tuk tuk men in Bangkok asking what we’re up to and then following up with ‘oh, no no it’s closed today’. Although they now also dive straight in and ask straight out if we want to go to a gay massage parlour or a ping pong show. That’s a new one. But… yeah… apparently everything in Bangkok was closed today at 3pm in the afternoon. Yep a whole chunk of Bangkok just went and closed up.

 

Seriously tuk tuk scam men… just back off…

 

Eating Out In Bangkok

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eating out in bangok

 

It’s quite hard going in Thailand when it comes to food. I say that because I am a bit a of a health freak. I have a preference for vegetables, whole grains, low-fat, low-sugar, low-salt foods. Food and health is important to me. So, after just a few weeks in Thailand I will admit I am struggling – food is not particularly healthy; so far at least. Lots of deep-fried, non-vegetable, sugary dishes. And in Thailand, they put sugar in everything. In the 7/11, if you’re feeling hungry wanting some snacks… well you’ve got a choice of sugary buns, cakes, steamed buns, sugary yogurts… not to mention the neon coloured drinks. Order a smoothie and usually you will get syrup added to it. At first I was loving all the sweet stuff, but now I am just hungering for some healthy, sugar free food and drinks.

 

The local eateries on the street sides are probably the healthiest option but even then things are fried. You can get a meal from 20 baht (65 cents or 40 pence) upwards which is way cheaper even than cooking at home yourself; it really is a bargain. The locals are very friendly and welcoming too, as it can sometimes be intimidating among locals in a foreign country. It’s really quite tasty, with simple ingredients and I think it can more often than not, be tastier than eating in a restaurant and paying triple the price. The problem in Thailand I find though, is the portion sizes. They’re more like child portions and I yearn to feel full up! For this reason, I do have a tendency to treat myself quite regularly to a 100 baht (about $3, or £2) steak/ burger and chips.

 

As for the fried meat and unidentifiable meat balls on the streets… The street meat guys have got me, my tastebuds have adapted and I now love the meat skewers. You can buy sticks of meat including sausages, meatballs and deep fried chicken from the streets for 10 baht a piece, granted some of it is weird and over processed… but it grows on you. Especially when you have it smothered with the chilli sauce which I have also now acclimatised to (although it is actually reasonably mild anyway). You can also, although quite rarely seen, purchase cooked insects from some of these vendors.

One time I picked out some skewers from a street vendor in Bangkok.. thought they looked nice and meaty.. Well, one of them was barbequed livers and the other, which I thought was pieces of chicken – I took a nice, big mouthful and… crunch. It turned out to be something like baby birds on a stick… I don’t have a clue. They had boney spines along the middles and some kind of yellow, inardy substance inside. For the more adventurous though… sure give it a bash!

I did, however, manage to finish them – I do hate to waste food… or anything for that matter – but it was not a very pleasant experience.