moving to Thailand for 6 months help

I know a lad that had €10k in a similar situation. He went to Cambodia though which would be similar I'd say. But he was home after 7 or 8 months broke. He partied hard I'd say though.

I'm in Thailand at the moment.

I don't think 4k is enough for flights, 6 months and visas, you'll also probably want some travel insurance.

I spend 9k a month on my apartment, 3k on a moped and about 8k on food entertainment each month. I live on a touristy island and you can still find basic huts/small basic houses for 5k a month. So I spend about 500 euro a month on basic living costs. In saying that, I'm not a party person and probably spend less than anyone else I know here.

Visas and visa runs are a big expense here compared to the cost of living- you need to apply for a double entry tourist visa in Ireland- costs about 150 Euro. You use this visa to enter Thailand and after 60 days you go to the nearest immigration office and pay 2000 baht to extend the visa for 30 days. Once those 30 days are up, you have to leave Thailand- take a trip to a neighboring border (costs about 6000 baht for me) to leave Thailand and activate the second entry on your double entry visa...then after 60 days pay another trip to immigration and once again pay 2k to extend.

There is also a crackdown on people suspected of abusing tourist visas here at the moment so people with double entry visas are treated with suspicion and refused re-entry at the border if they can't prove they are tourists and not using tourist visas to work here illegally. The burden of proof is on you. You may have some difficulty staying 6 months on a tourist visa under the current regime.

In saying that, it's a fun country and if you get together another 2k you could spend 3 months in Thailand and 3 in Cambodia or Laos if the crackdown on tourist visas is still going on then.

Hope this helps

You can get a visa on arrival no problem but you will probably run into problems if you do more than one or two out-in visa runs for the free entry stamp. You also now have to show hotel bookings, bank statements, itineraries and sometimes flights out of the country to prove you are a genuine tourist at the border during visa runs.

It seems the days of people being able to stay in Thailand for 6 months plus on tourist visas are coming to an end, apparently immigration believe too many tourists are working on tourist visas.

A better option would be to go to Thailand, get a visa on arrival and then go to a nearby consulate (Vientiane or Penang) and apply and pay for a single or double entry tourist visa (some have had trouble re-entering on the second part of the double entry but if you have proof of a flight out of the country etc. you can probably get away with it).

If you want to stay longer than 6 months, the best option is to enroll for a language course when you get to Thailand, that will entitle you to an education visa. It costs about 800 euro for the course and you have to go to a neighboring country to apply for and pay for the visa. BUT you will be able to stay in Thailand for a year on that visa. If you go this route, you should make sure you actually go to the classes as immigration have been tightening checks on this- some people have been in Thailand for three years 'learning Thai' and can't say more than sawadeeka


They have been cracking down on people staying long term in Thailand on tourist visas for the last couple of months and the official 'crackdown' starts on August 12th so it will be tougher to do visa runs after this date. Some tourists have recently being refused re-entry at Southern borders after just 2 visa runs on the suspicion of working in Thailand on the wrong visa.

There is a website called Thai Visa that has updates on the visa crackdown if you need info you can find some there. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask and I'll try help. Good luck