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Want to Live in Thailand?

You may be sitting at home and thinking to yourself: ”Thailand looks so cool. It would be so awesome if I could live there. But how do you do that?” For the person who has never lived abroad, or especially for the person who has never even been abroad, this may seem like a complicated and daunting task. But I assure you the process is actually pretty simple.

There have been two ways I was able to live in Thailand. One way was through a tourist visa, the other an education visa, and the most recent one is a work visa. I will discuss the process of obtaining those and then I will discuss some other options that I have not tried, but know work.

Tourist Visa

I first came to Thailand on a tourist visa in January 2023. At the time, US citizens were permitted visa free entry and given a 45 day stamp. On the 28th day of my stay I went into the immigration office of the city I was staying at the time, Si Racha, and requested an extension. They approved it and I was able to stay in the country for another 30 days.

This is a great way to stay in the country for a few months or even longer possibly. But, not all immigration offices are the same. This is a feature of Thai immigration. You will go to one immigration office in one city and they will reject your visa application, then you will go to another immigration office in a different city and they will approve your visa application. So if they reject you, don’t fret. Simply try again and try again until it is approved. Eventually it will be.

Upon the expiration of my next 30 days, I figured it would be best to do a visa run, which is when you leave the country you are staying in and go to a neighboring country solely for the purpose of getting a new visa so that you can stay in the country you enjoy for a longer time. It is important to note that one should not abuse visa runs and do them too often. The Thai government dissuades foreigners from doing this. If one would like to stay for an extended period of time, it is best to get a long term visa, which will be discussed in the following sections.

This was my first visa run so I didn’t do it in the best way, which would have been to go to Laos, which was only a few hours away by bus from where I was in Pai, up in northern Thailand. For some reason, it felt safer and more familiar to travel to another country by plane.

So I found the cheapest ticket I could and flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I stayed for 2 nights, going to a snooker club and strolling around the city, before I hopped back on a plane to Thailand.

Upon arrival at the airport, I was granted another 45 days. Finally, before the visa expired, I got a plane back to the US. My trip was over. I had spent 4 months in Thailand. Though my visa was only for 45 days, I was able to get more through doing extensions at immigration and doing visa runs.

Education Visa

While back in the US, I planned how I would get back to Thailand. Through research and my conversations with expats from my first trip, I came to the conclusion that I would do the Education visa.

In July 2023, just three months after returning to the US, where I saved up some money and visited family, I was back on a plane to Thailand. I entered the country and received the same visa free stamp I had gotten back when I came first in January 2023.

My girlfriend, now wife, and I went on a little vacation in Pattaya. Then, after a few days, we took a plane up north to Chiang Mai. The day after arriving in Chiang Mai, I made it my mission to find a school and get the education visa process started.

Chiang Mai is Thailand’s second biggest city and a hub for expats and digital nomads, so finding a language school here is not a problem. Using Google, I was able to find some schools. I compared the prices, read the reviews, and picked one that was not too expensive and had great reviews. The same day that I began searching, I was able to find my school: We Learn Together. Upon going there and chatting with them, I paid an initial fee of 10,000 bhat ( about $300) and signed up for my first Thai language course.

The school took care of my education visa application and sent it to Thai immigration for approval. They told me it would take a few months to get approved. For the next three months, from early August 2023 to early November 2023, I took classes at the school. They were 2 hour classes for 4 days a week. Each course lasted one month. During this period, I was on a tourist visa.

I was able to get a visa extension at the Chiang Mai immigration office, and then in mid-October 2023, I was told by the school that I had to do a visa run and leave the country. Following their advice, I took a bus up to Laos and spent a night in the Laotian border town. The next day, I returned to Chiang Mai, receiving another visa free stamp. Then in early November 2023, my Education Visa was finally approved. Before it became official, I had to pay my school 40,000 bhat ( about $1,150) and go to immigration to get my stamp. Then it was official. I was now officially on a 1 year Education Visa. I could now take my Thai Language courses for the next year. The only requirement was that I go into immigration every 90 days for a check in.

Overall, I believe the Education Visa is a great option for those looking to live in Thailand. Not only can you study the Thai language with this visa, but you also have the option to study Muay Thai and some other topics as well. The whole thing, including the one year visa and all of my Thai language classes, cost me around $1500. For me this is a great deal. For this price, you have the privilege to learn a new language and explore a new culture. Not only that, another perk for example is that you can open a Thai bank account, which makes being in Thailand much more comfortable. If you are a person who loves or is interested in Thailand, the Education visa provides you a brilliant opportunity.

Work Visa

A year after its approval, my Education Visa expired in early November 2024. Following that, I went back to the tourist visa. I was now staying in Si Racha, Thailand about 30 minutes up the coast from Pattaya. Being here, it was most convenient for me to do my visa run to Cambodia. I found a great service that takes foreigners from Pattaya to the Cambodian border in a van. They would pick us up at 5am, we’d arrive at the border around 10am, then we’d spend 1-2 hours at the border, and then return back to Pattaya, arriving at around 3pm. The whole service cost me 3,500 bhat ( about $105). I did it like this for a few months, but then in May 2025 my wife and I decided to move to Hua Hin, where I got a job offer for teaching English at a primary school.

I did it like this for a few months, but then in May 2025 my wife and I decided to move to Hua Hin, where I got a job offer for teaching English at a primary school. I still have yet to receive my Work Visa and have not been able to start teaching at the school, as it takes a few months to be approved. But it is moving along.

To receive this visa there are a number of requirements. I can only speak for Work Visas for teaching jobs in Thailand, not other kinds of jobs. In order to get a Work Visa as a teacher, you must first have a diploma from a 4 year university. The next part of the process differs depending on your country of origin. For Americans, you must get your diploma legalized. This is a long and slightly convoluted process. You must first send it to your state government, then the federal government, and lastly to the Thai Embassy in Washington D.C. Then they send you a signed legalized copy of your diploma. This process can take months to complete.

Rather than doing it yourself, I recommend going through a visa agency. I chose to do it through Monument Visa Service, which is based in the US. I paid $195 and they took care of the whole process for me. In addition, you also need to do a Criminal Background Check in Thailand. The school gave me a letter and had me go to the local police headquarters where I paid 100 baht ( about $3) and got some fingerprints.

Two weeks later, the school received my approved background check in the mail. I am still in the middle of the process, but certainly I will have to go back to immigration a few more times before the Work Visa is finally approved.

The Work Visa is a great option if you want to live in Thailand long term. It is a common visa to get if you teach at a school in Thailand. For other jobs it is perhaps more difficult. For teaching English though, you only need a 4 year degree, a 120 hour TEFL certificate, and to speak English at a decent level. The Work Visa has the perks as well. You can open a bank account, get a loan for a car or motorbike, plus more.

Getting the Right Visa

If you want to stay long term in Thailand, you should not stay on a tourist visa. You should consider an Education Visa, Work Visa, or other visas. Follow the immigration rules as well. Don’t overstay or try to game the system, as it is disrespectful to the host country and puts your future in Thailand at risk. While I have not gotten other visas, I know that the new Digital Nomad Visa is also a great option. Additionally, there is the Marriage Visa and Retirement Visa, which are both great as well, though those have stricter requirements.