Hello, I am going to ko samui form july 10 to august 10 with my wife and out 3 years old daughter. we are looking for a place no too far from the beach, with 1 BR and equiped kitchen. Since we will need to work, the place must also have a strong wifi. do any of you have some suggestion for a place where they have been that can be a good fit for us? Our prefered format would be a solution in a resort with shared pool rather then private villa so we can meet people 😊

Wow! 57k for 2 months in Chiang Mai? In off season?

Is this a joke? 😀

Or did you rent a mansion

lol it is super expensive

Just do it yourself at immigration. Check requirements. Usually you need a passport style pic, copy of the TM30 from where you are staying. Each office is a little different so do a search online.

Fair point: personally cheap/expensive is be relative

But according to the city itself, relatively, 28k is expensive (if not outrageously expansive)
It is not about our personal opinion

I’m in Thailand if anyone wants to hang out at the SITE 2026 conference

Thanks for the details. Now it makes sense. If I plan to stay in Chiang Mai long-term, then I'd consider researching Facebook groups. However, I have limited trust in this channel. So checking apartments in person, talking to the landlords, figuring out contracts, payments, etc. It takes too much time and effort. At least for me.

Hi everyone, driving license question: my thaï motorbike license expired 9 months ago and i am going back to Chiang mai for 2 months, anyone has done the renewal process with the exempt visa and no long term residency address ? Is the TM30 enough? An agent offered the service for 3900 which is more than the cost of my license 🙈

you can briefly visit another country - that's what ive done

I agree with both. Leaving for at least 7 days and coming back is a second best option after researching requirements online. I try to avoid bureaucracy. Yet, I want to stay compliant, so I would do a 1-day visa run. 7-day visa run doesn’t raise red flags.

anyne in bangkok this weekend?

Hey guys anyone in bkk ?

No, TM30 isn't sufficient. You need residency certificate, even if you have a real proof of address.
That's an arbitrary line that CM office might not adhere to, but in Krabi they force you to have a residency certificate even if you can provide a yellow book 🤯
( That changed relatively recently, since my yellow book was sufficient first time. Everyone says the reason is to force paying for residency certs ).
The residency cert will obviously check your TM30, but doesn't hurt to have it.
Sure you know, but you'll also need e-Learning certificate, medical certificate and DLT smart appointment.
AFAIK, you don't actually need a real proof of address if you have a residency cert.

Thx for your compréhensive reply Gareth, i am trying to get around certain impératives through the help of a driving instructor, otherwise I can forget meeting all these conditions for the 2 months I I’ll be there 😅 always appreciated to have an insider point of view, thanks again 🙏🏻

How did you get your driver’s license? I went to a driving school, and they told me they only accept people who can speak Thai. Fair enough.

I have no idea how I can get a driver’s license. I don’t have my country’s driver’s license with me. I spoke with an agent, and she told me I have to go to the embassy to complete some paperwork related to my license.

Has anyone had a similar experience recently?

I speak Thai, but nearly all of the other people who I know who have a Thai driving license speak any Thai.
I think you should try a few other places. Maybe depends on province.

Yeah I think so. They told me that in Phuket it’s easy, so it can be an option

do we have any meetups in bangkok?

let's plan one if you are in?

💯 let’s do it

done

For the motorbike there are schools like Honda in Chiang mai where you can do it in 3 days. I’ve heard of other places where it’s even shorter. I did this, everything was in English, but the license is temporary for 2 years, then need to renew it and it’s good for 5 years

I just got mow near Hua hin. I don’t speak any Thai. They have an option to do the exam in English. Almost no one speak proper English there but managed to do it.
You need, residence address certificate ask your landlord, it’s expires so first get the driving licence appointment and after the certificate.
Medical certificate,
Passport, you need to study just do the online tests, check in the official website you have all needed info there

Hi, the DTV visa is an exciting topic, does anyone of you have it and if so, where did you get it done?

Been to Hanoi for the DTV in 2025. Pretty fast and easy. Next to the usual documents, I just needed a proof of doctors appointment (Dentist in Chiang Mai) to get the visa. But can’t guarantee that the process is still that easy. Regulations were chaotic back in the days. Might be different today.

What did you need the doctor's appointment for?

You either do Muay Thai, a Cooking School, use your business documents OR (the easiest solution IMO) make a doctors appointment to get the visa. But again: I don’t know if the government changed the regulations. You should research it again.

are we talking about non-freelance DTV?

My question aimed at the Freelance DTV off.

I have freelance dtv, I send all the docs myself it’s super easy and the information is on the official government page https://www.thaievisa.go.th/

I used the soft power option.

very interesting

Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as described. I have already tried to get the DTV visa in Germany, and it failed because I could not prove a residence. I have heard that it is significantly easier in Vietnam. Therefore, I am asking for experience reports. If you have done this yourself, where did you apply for it? And where were you located at the time of the application?

Last week I met a couple (US and Aus citizens) who were travelling to Laos to try applying from there since their applications in Vietnam failed so I wouldn’t count on Vietnam being the answer. For the best chance of being accepted I would apply from your home country. For me the process was easy and I had the visa in 2 weeks (UK)

I did it in Vietnam and was fine. Didn’t have to prove any residence there. Supposedly Hanoi are more relaxed than Ho Chi Min but who knows

Nice one Cal, see you soon? 🏝️😉

Thanks for the info. How long has it been since you got your visa?

😬

Same with me - I just needed to give them a booking ref from my hotel

What a great username and pfp

Lmao that's irony. In general southern Vietnam has the reputation of being more relaxed to the point that northerners view it as lazy. The north has the reputation of letting themselves be overworked and being more rude

I will try it out and let you know the result.

Think its the thais working in embassy who determine it

I applied online from Spain, no need to go to any office. I had all the needed documents so I didn’t have any issues

Where did you read this?

I can’t find the exact website.
But I have found and article related to it

https://www.dtvvisathai.com/blog/thailand-dtv-visa-tax-implications-2025

That’s why you exit after 6 months

it’s 180 days per year even if you leave and come back on the same year. If you leave at 6 months and come back the next year then it’s ok

Looking for monthly rental in Koh Samui 3bed3bath starting end of this month

If anyone has any referrals would love to hear before I book something on Airbnb 🫶

You only have to declare what you have entered to the country. If you earn 100k in 2026, but you only entered (any kind of transaction in thailand) 10k, you only pay taxes for those 10k.

Also I think we are in the same boat in the battle vs the Spanish hacienda 😆

I bet 99% of people who stay over 6 months - dont bother to file taxes because thailand isnt going to do anything about it anyway.

Apply for work from Thailand category then

Will just use a retirement visa. Im 50+ - Really hard figuring out why the LTR even exists. Seems a terrible choice in almost all choices.

If anyone is interested to teach English in Chiang Mai (safely) you can dm me

safely ??

Teach English to whom?

Anyone have experience with the DTV, specifically the workation one? I applied for it and thought it would be easy with the amount of details I provided. Then they requested a second round of pretty borderline invasive requests.

You may feel it’s invasive but it’s requirements

So you have experience with it?

I applied through the Thai embassy in Paris. They asked me a few follow-up questions as well to make sure I was legit, but it was ok. I got the approval a few days later

Cool that’s what I was looking for.

I also had around 6 follow ups so don’t worry, I finally got approved. The worst thing (at least months ago) was that the documents had maximum file size so it was a bit hard to include everything in 3mb

Hi,

anyone keen to do a shared coworking in Ko Samui next week?

Any recommends for a place to work there? :)

Thanks in advance 🙏🏼

Hey guys, does anyone know places to stay in Phuket that aren't too expensive?

By 6 followups, do you mean emails back and forth? Or repeated interviews?

Hi Chris, I'm thinking about flying to Samui on Saturday, what are you planning?

Yes I mean emails back and forth. Everything online and had to apply it again with requested info on their website

Hi Andi,

I dm you :)

Anyone hanging around Phuket in August?

Rawai and Chalong

Hi everyone!

Bit nervous typing this because it's my first ever solo trip

I'm heading to Patong, Phuket in October, and it also happens to be my birthday while I'm there, so I'm hoping to make it a memorable one.

I'd love recommendations beyond the usual tourist lists. Hidden gems, cafés, local food, viewpoints, fun experiences, or anything you genuinely think is worth doing solo.

Also, if you've got any tips for a first-time solo female traveller, I'd really appreciate them. I'll happily take all the advice I can get and if anyone from this group is around Phuket around the same time and would be up for grabbing a coffee or exploring for a bit, do let me know would really love to catch up.

I would recommend you going to pang na by motorbike and explore the area. At least 2 days

Hey! Anyone subletting the apt in BKK next week? Or has any recommendations other than bnb and booking?

for how long are you looking

For a week now, its 2ppl - me and my boyfriend

I'm looking get into Muay Thai to get DTV.
Any gym suggestions for that?

ChillInn Coworking in your best option

Thank you, appreciate it 🙏🏼

I don't agree it's a joke. There's 4 sane avenues to it, though they all revolve around the $80k USD income, one way or another.
Not sure why you jumped to rental properties, but plenty of people have 80k passive income per year through any number of means.
None of those paths are useful to me, and I kinda wish one of them was.
I've had Elite for 5 years, and I wouldn't recommend it to most people, to be honest.
The things the LTV does give you that are advantageous over Elite are
90 day reporting extension to 1 year. Not all of us are in BKK to have Elite do the first non-online 90 day for us, and it's about 50/50 if you can push it through online first time each return.
Exemption of 4-1 employment ratio
Work permit ( Though it's digital only, which doesn't help me )
Tax exemption for overseas income
The kicker for both of them, for me, is that you can't apply for PR on either of them.
I could switch to LTR, but instead I'm just going to go for my own local company and work permit.
It's inconvenient in some ways, needing more visits to immigration, but I've found Elite to be a PITA when companies and agencies don't know what it is.
( 1 out of 4 Banks was a problem, 1 in 2 Car purchases was a problem, and 1 in 4 bike purchases. In all cases, they had copies of what they expected to see, and couldn't/wouldn't deviate from that. I sense this might be a problem more in my area of Thailand, though )
TooLate;ReadAlready: LTR isn't a joke. But it's contextual. Don't use if it doesn't work for you, but there's real benefits over Elite that I'd personally value.

The remaining good parts of Phuket haha

cknyswakoxj thankyou soo much for helping out , I have not locked in anything yet open to recomendations