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Comment by jordansmith | Hacker News Reader

Are you a US citizen, or Aus?

How do you deal with the visa?

I want to move to thailand for an unknown amount of time but the visa seems like more than I would care to deal with. Don't want to have to do visa runs and all of that.

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> I want to move to thailand for an unknown amount of time

Have you visited before? Unless you're particularly adventurous I wouldn't suggest a move to Thailand without visiting first. I like living here, but its definitely not for everyone.

> but the visa seems like more than I would care to deal with.

You can hire a lawyer here to organise everything for you, it just depends how much you want to spend and what your situation/goal is.

> Don't want to have to do visa runs and all of that

Regardless of your type of visa, you will have to do something. I've lived here for close to 4 years, on a combination of business and now marriage visas, but I've only left the country twice in about 2 1/2 years.

Non-tourist visas get you a longer total stay (and some give the ability to apply for a work permit to work legally) but you still need to report to immigration every 90 days (resets each time you enter the country). As I said elsewhere, reporting in Bangkok is a fucking joke, in the provinces, its pretty quick and painless.

It's easy enough to take Thai language classes and get a student visa in Thailand, though they appear to be getting more strict with their checks to validate that you are actually learning Thai. I say that, because some people just get the student visa and never actually take the classes.

You can also get a student visa (in Chiang Mai at least) for hand-to-hand combat training with the military police. You just take two lessons a week on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for two hours. http://chiangmaibuddy.com/services/chiang-mai-visa-services/....

You're spot on though - doing visa runs all the time gets old fast.

If I were 10 years younger & without kids... Hand to hand combat with the military police on a weekend sounds awesome!!!

Never understood westerners who live in Thailand (or any non-english, Asian country) but don't bother to learn the language. It's not as if you need to be fluent or even that good at it...

I believe that in Bangkok the Thai language schools currently require 8 hours of study a week to qualify for a student visa, which is more than it used to be but is still incredibly lenient. In the provinces I hear the requirements are even lower. Anyone who intends to stay here for more than a year without learning at least basic Thai is shooting themselves in the foot anyway IMHO.

If I remember correctly, I think it was 6hr/week in Chiang Mai. About 40% confident about that number.

I have held various types of visas during my time here. One of the perks of Thailand, immigration-wise, is that while it can be a hassle (visa runs, bureaucracy, or both), there is always some way to stay here legally for as long as you want.

You can get a tourist visa in your home country and then just show up. If you decide you want to stay for a long time you should start researching your options early on and developing connections with people who live here. This is true in any country--connections with locals make everything, including visas, a lot easier.

I started with the visa run every 30 days. I liked the excuse to go do a weekend trip somewhere.

Getting 1 year multi entry visas for business visa are pretty easy. And then your visa runs are down to once a quarter.

I really enjoyed my year and a half stint in Bangkok. But. It also taught me that I value climate pretty highly when choosing my next location.

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