which ones do you recommend? asking for a friend, thanks.

I just had an interesting experience with immigration while leaving the country to Malaysia. They asked what I did in Thailand and how long I am planing to stay in Malaysia and what are my plans after Malaysia. The only thing I said that I am planing to stay here for at least one month and maybe coming back to Thailand afterwards, but that was proberbly the first mistake I made.
I had to come to the back office and the "Boss" was asking the same questions and warned me not to do a "visarun" because it is not allowed blablabla. Is this new, or just got to the wrong officer? I mean they extend the arrivels to 45days, legalising cannabis to catch foreigners but when you stayed already for a certain time in there country they dont want you anymore, haha. Makes no sense, but ok :-)

BKK can bee too stressful if it's your first time in Asia, Phuket, Chiang Mai or even Koh Samui are better options to ease into Thailand. Agreed that poker schedule here is great and connectivity with rest of Asia too.

Yeah, it's insane. Basically Thai immigration is like a rogue department that likes to throw their weight around. Govt does incentives to attract tourists and immigration makes it a problem to get into the country.
Pre covid there were tons of horror stories of people arriving with legit tourist visas issued by Thai embassies from surrounding countries. Immigration in Thailand wouldn't let people in and make them fly back to Cambodia or wherever. They were obvious visa runners but come on, why did they get issued a visa from an embassy then? It's not good they're already starting to ramp this **** up again.
Also is was so nice during covid that a taxi would take you wherever you wanted no questions asked. I see they're back to their no meter game or just straight up denying you if they don't like your destination.

Yeah all true, and the taxis are def back at their game, I mean it depends who you get, in BKK it's still navigable, in Samui it was all mafia and I don't expect it to be different in Phuket but we'll see ..

Not true anymore. Thai Elite told me this also but when my five years was up I was told the law supposedly changed and this is no longer the case. The day your visa expires you must leave or have a new visa. I was very happy with Thai Elite, they used to have top notch service and helped with a lot of other things like getting my drivers license. Their service has gone down tremendously since Covid. There are so many members now that they can't be as attentive as they used to be.

My gf is from Mexico City (21 million population) and our favorite city is probably Istanbul (16 million). We love chaotic cities and would probably feel bored in those others after 3-6 months. So Bangkok should be perfect for our tastes. We both work from home a lot, which can be a bit isolating, so we like to balance that with chaos when we do go outside.

Thanks very much for the info. Are you planning on renewing Thai Elite?

99% of the value for us is the 5 years and hassle free multi entry. Do they still at least do an ok job with the airport transfers, expedited lines, and 90 day immigration check ins?

im arriving soon in bkk with 45days arrival visa. my plan is then to do also a 30days extension.

are there agencies who do all this paper stuff for the 30days or is it better to do it by yourself?
shout out to ramabranch and others who help, really appreciate the long answers. the bkk vs chiang may comparison was really helpful.
cheers

Hey bro, my pleasure, back when I was planning my move in early 2015 asked a lot of questions in these threads so happy to give back now.

WRT 30 day extension, I'm in that exact spot right now having to do one of those before Oct 16. At first thought about going with an agency but the 30 day tourist extension should be quite easy to do on my own so will go for it, hope nothing changed since last time I did one of these and is still in and out of immigration in 2 hours tops with no questions asked, will report back if anything changed. IIRC you need photocopy of all the important pages in your passport, recent passport picture and 1.5k THB fee.

Agree you don´t need a agency for that. What is new, that you need to be registered by your landlord, hotel or whatever that you are staying somewhere. This can be done online by them and you have to print the confirmation and bring it with to the immigration.
Ah and masks are also still a thing at immiration

Eh 1900 to do it yourself 3k to do nothing, I take the latter.

Extra 1,000bt definitely worth it to not have to hump it out to Chang Wattana.
My friend did it a month ago. Went right after lunch and was in/out in like 30min but that may be an outlier. Plus like 400bt in transpo and a waste of your afternoon. If someone will do it all in 3,000 for you that's an easy call.

I did not renew Thai Elite, I'm married now and have a marriage visa. Thai Elite still does a good job with transfers and expedited lines, they've made 90 day reports more trouble than it's worth. And don't expect anything past these services from Thai Elite anymore.

Is the 90 day report online now?
I've never done one in 10+ years. Either I travel out of the country every 90 days or in the case of Covid just pay the 2,000bt fine at visa renewal. Seems better to just pay the fine than bother going to wherever they want you to go and do it in person.

Yea that's my opinion to, Thaivisacentre, you can google it, been going for many years.

I heard they improved the online report but I still have never got it to work for me.

Normally they only say stuff on the way in not out. Were you staying for awhile on covid extensions or something? I take it this was DM? Its always said DM has the worst immigration fwiw

Yeah, DM they always catch me if I haven't done my 90 day report. Swampy they've never bothered me. Seems overall more lax.

anybody have a connection for getting thai drivers license while on visa exempt?
if not should I just apply for a thai visa before going (glanced at the paperwork involved in application, quite a bit and would be nice to avoid if possible obv)

Sounds like a tall order.
Probably don't really need to worry about it though unless you're renting a scooter in either Chiang Mai or Phuket. If renting a car, get an international driver's license.

TM30

whats the best way to get a simple studio in bkk, doesnt have to be fancy, gym and pool not needed. rent duration 2-6weeks then renewal or cancel.

i lived 2022 in most big cities in europa and often took air bnb for around 1k$ a month.
i heard in bkk air bnb isnt as good cause some monthly fee and i saw via booking.com most hotels are so cheap, 500-700$ often times, but also saw some air bnbs for this price.

Facebook market or Facebook groups, for sure. Just search for Bangkok apartment or condo. Will be hundreds of available units.

I've never been asked for a license when renting a scooter.

I've owned a scooter for 10+ years and never had a Thai drivers license. That's what bribes are for.
But Chiang Mai from what Rama says sounds different and Phuket I've also seen them setup driver's licence check points. Never seen it anywhere else in Thailand.