How to move to Thailand (because someone asked)

I post a lot about living in Thailand and someone recently asked how to go about initially relocating here. I'm not going to focus on whether or not you should do so as that is an entirely different can of worms and is also completely subjective. Instead I will simply put the steps out there to let you know how I think it should be done if you want to give it a go.

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Phase 1: Get a short visa

Don't go bananas on this first step. I know quite a few people that got the longest possible visa they could find for Thailand, submitted a mountain of paperwork and paid a hefty fee for a 1-year multiple entry visa, only to figure out in a month that this is not the country for them for various reasons. It is very easy and inexpensive to get a 2-month visa with almost no paperwork submitted for something like $30 (not sure on this).

These visas can easily be extended inside Thailand for a fee and I also think 2 months is a long enough period of time to determine if you love a place or not.

Most nationalities are entitled to a 30-day visa on arrival. However, if you are thinking about moving here this visa offers almost no flexibility as it can only be extended by 7 days should you find that one month is not enough. Therefore, i recommend the 2 month (extendable to 3) month visa for newbies.

About 18 months ago I was convinced i was going to move to Vietnam based on what friends were telling me. I went through the process of getting a 1-year visa only to visit Hanoi and be "kinda over it" after 8 days. I never used my 1-year multiple-entry visa again.

Phase 2: Be reasonable

You see that picture at the top of this page? Lovely huh? Yeah, well you are not going to be living there. I think a lot of people have this expectation that they are going to walk out the door of their beachfront bungalow towards the sea, surrounded by the lovely peace and nature of a tranquil environment, pick their own fruit and live in the Blue Lagoon while also having a supermarket within easy distance. Go ahead and forget that crap because it isn't gonna happen. There are 76 million Thais and over a million expats living here. If you "squished" Thailand, it would likely fit inside of Texas.

Something like this is far more likely to be where you end up and I know this because that is my house. The other, less-expensive option would be to get a "room" that has a kitchenette and the bedroom is the living room. A lot of people live like this and i suppose it depends on how much time you plan on spending in your house. I spend a lot in mine so i splurged a bit.

Phase 3: travel a bit before you choose

I think a common mistake people make when they relocate to Thailand is that they choose a "home" without ever even looking at the rest of the country and this can result in them having chosen the wrong place. I moved around a lot before I found the right place for me and that was definitely the way to go. This is also why my relocation to Vietnam failed before it ever got off the ground. I had chosen Hanoi before I had ever even seen it. I also gave up on the entire country simply because I didn't like Hanoi. This was a mistake and I realize that now.

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_{That perfect beach you are looking for might not even be on the tourist trail}
Basically, be a tourist before you try to be a resident. It isn't terribly necessary to book all of this stuff beforehand and it has been my experience that the people who decide where they are going next while they are in the city they are in, rather than having a rigid itinerary, have a much better time getting around.

Phase 4: Know whether or not you are capable of actually living here

I have seen so many people burn their life savings on chasing the dream of living in Thailand and unfortunately this is not a sustainable option. If you are capable of teaching here (this normally requires being either a Native-English speaker from a Native-English speaking country or being exceptionally well-qualified otherwise) or if you want to be a SCUBA instructor or dive guide, you can do that quite easily. However, in the latter, you have to accept the fact that you are not going to make much money and this is NOT a career.

Other jobs that you could do is if you are a digital nomad. If you are capable of working online at doing just whatever, then as long as you can budget yourself properly, you can live here. Keep in mind that you will still need to get / maintain a long-term visa and while there currently is a "Digital Nomad Visa" the requirements for this visa are so absurd that they may as well not even have it. As a D.N. you will likely need to enroll at a school that offers an education visa in order to stay in the Kingdom. This will end up costing between $500 to $1000 / year.... so you need to be prepared / capable of putting this cost into your budget.

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tl;dr

Basically, due to the decreased cost of living, I generally really enjoy living in Thailand. However, i have seen more people fail than succeed at trying to do so. It is, in fact, cheaper to live here than most western countries, but it isn't free. More often than not people come over here with unrealistic expectations of how "easy" it is to live here, only to discover that while many things are considerably cheaper, not everything is and it is also kind of up to you how expensive your life is.

If you are coming over here expecting all of your expensive life woes to magically disappear... turn back now and forget it. There's no such thing as a free lunch, and visas, no matter where are, are a pain in the butt to maintain. It can be a lovely and far more easy-going life here than say, living in America, but it isn't as carefree as certain vloggers would like you to believe.

It might seem like common sense, but you really should visit here a few times before you decide to move here and that was the mistake I made with Vietnam and ultimately my plan failed badly because of my lack of realistic preparation. If you can't afford to visit here a few times before moving, then you don't have enough money to move here... I think this is probably true of almost every place on the planet.