# Move to Thailand



## neda (Oct 16, 2012)

Hello there, hope you have a great day or night
I am going to share my experiences about Thailand here and I hope I may help people who need information on how to live here, how much does it cost and how can gain visa. In my point of view and based on my experience about living in Thailand, all of the foreigners here need visa to stay. Well, there are so many people like to live in Thailand but they are wonder how can they do it. Most of them start with tourist visa, others retirement, marriage and so on. But, as experience shows the best type of visa for Thailand is ED Visa that helps you to stay in Thailand for a long period without any concern about visa runs, hidden fees and so on and meanwhile this type of visa not only provide you a long term stay up to 10 years without any need to leave the country ,it helps you to learn a new language as well. (Thai, English)

So, here I am starting with ED Visa and if I have reply I will explain more about life in Thailand, entertainment and whatever you need to know. I am here to help you as much as I can and I will be so glad if I can do it for you. So let's start with ask and answers about ED Visa:

How to get that? 
It's easy, as you can get it so fast! You just need to apply in a language school in Thailand and then they will do all the paper works for you and then send you a letter to get a visa with from your country. 

Does it have any restriction? 
No, if you are 12 and up you can get it without any limitations. 

What do you need? 
8 Passport size photos 
Passport 
The language course fee 

How you can pay it? 
You can send the documents to the school and transfer money through bank, credit card, PayPal and so on.

How many years can you renew it? 
for each language almost 3 years. ED visa is extendable to 10 years 

Can you work with this visa? 
Unfortunately, no. But you can change the visa easily if you find one. 

How long does it take that the school send you the letters? 
4-6 weeks 

So, if you have more questions and details just let me know. This is your thread and I am ready to answer to all your questions


----------



## Andrews (Dec 6, 2012)

Thailand is one of the best place that can give much awareness and interaction in moving the creative knowledge to have it more develop.


----------



## jamesbrock (Jan 11, 2013)

Unfortunately it's not as simple as neda makes out.

Having just returned to Australia after living in Thailand, and being on an ED visa for some of that time, I should know.

While an ED visa is certainly better in a lot of respects than other visas in Thailand, it is only thus if you are actually studying a proper course with a legitimate school. There are many many unscrupulous schools that will provide you with an ED visa if you pay them the money for a “Thai language course”, but will not actually provide the course (or claim you can do it online), so you should do your homework really carefully. These unscrupulous schools will certainly provide all the necessary paperwork, but that's where it ends - you do not get the course, so you are legally not entitled to the ED visa. If you think DIAC is tough, try dealing with the Royal Thai Police! I know of too many foreigners being kicked out of Thailand after being caught out.

While there are no visa run requirements per se, you do need to report to immigration every 90 days (after attending your school to obtain the necessary, often fabricated, paperwork). This is not too bad if the school is registered where you are living, not so good if you’re living a good distance from the school.

While it is correct that you cannot work while on an ED visa, it is not correct that changing the visa is “easy”. If you happen to find employment, bearing in mind that the average Thai wage is approximately $260 per month so you’re never going to get a bar job or other such unskilled employment, you need to apply for a work permit through your prospective employer (meeting minimum wage requirements, not breaking laws which prohibit foreigners from working in certain occupations, and your employer meeting the legal requirements for employing foreigners), then you need to leave Thailand to obtain the necessary visa, and re-enter on that to begin work... 

Andrews: it certainly is. Living in Thailand changed me tremendously. There’s no question. It changed the way I view other people, the way I view the world, the way I view my life. It sounds like a cliché, but it really has had a profound effect on me. Seeing such a beautiful culture, and such a beautiful country, juxtaposed with so much abject poverty and overt corruption, you can’t fail to be affected by it. I’m a completely different person that left Australia.


----------



## jamesbrock (Jan 11, 2013)

Thais certainly are proud, if even a little inward-focussed, and they certainly like to remind people that they have never been colonised; they tend to omit, however, that Thailand was occupied by Japanese forces for almost all of WWII.


----------



## jamesbrock (Jan 11, 2013)

Agamemnon said:


> To move to Thailand you need to have something like $20,000 in your bank account and a monthly income of $1,500.
> I think it's a very bad idea to want to move to a country you know nothing about. Thailand is third world, and there's a great deal of poverty there.The weather is hot and sticky. Of course it's different for a woman than a man. Men will have less problems.
> I think I'd go there to visit for a couple of weeks.I'm willing to bet you'll change your mind.


I beg to differ Agamemnon. I have lived in Thailand; I bought my ticket to move there six days after returning from a four week holiday; I certainly didn't have $20,000 in the bank when I moved there, and I know a lot of expats currently living there on less than $1500 per month. I absolutely loved it there, and am _only_ living back in Australia so my wife can get citizenship. I can not wait to get back there.

While the weather _is_ hot and humid, I loved it! Yes, there is a sometimes overwhelming amount of poverty there, but the Thais with (low paying by our standards) jobs don't consider themselves impoverished.

Now, about that bet?


----------



## WilRaynor (Apr 19, 2013)

Teach English or open a business and you need a fair load of cash for that Go to Uni and study for a teachers degree and that way you are more likely to get a good job there and also you coould travel more and teach in other countries


----------



## Davion2020 (Jul 23, 2013)

Thailand is one of the beautiful country especially for travelling purpose and Every tourists have loved that country because there are lot of historical places in this country.I also have spent a lot of time in this country last year with my family.

wedding venue gold coast


----------



## copperpot (Aug 27, 2013)

never been to thailand so thanks for your tips, very appreciated


----------



## louiseb (Dec 22, 2012)

if the wage is so low in Thailand why would one need 1500 dollars a month to live on? Its just a question surely things must be relatively cheap out there.


----------

