@Neil *****

two things to note though, one is the thai government is considering to up the foreign percent allowed to 70 and also a recent change to land is that a foreigner can now buy land if they have first invested 40 million Baht in to Thailand and they can then buy 1 rai for a personnel home, also to be aware of is that they are cracking down on foreigners that start a business here only to buy condos and land in a company name

In the recent DTV Visa video by Chris from RW4U the Foreign Affairs guy said the soft powers were going to government promoted ones, and if by that he means the TAT then potentially they could mean the music festivals that happen each year that moves between Pattaya and Jontiem each weekend as that goes on for a month and also at that time there are many weekends events so if you say you will be going to all and spending money they may consider it, but yes I do agree that a couple of weeks long cooking course shouldn't really give you 180 days a year for 5 years, but they do specifically mention cooking classes and TiT so maybe it's possible, end of the day if you want to be here for 180 days or more a year you will need to have money, as there is no system in Thailand for any foreigner to claim help with bills or food, so if you can show money to spend and spend it do they really care why your here....

@Marc ********

yep that's how I understand it, which is what I did say, I think many people forget that this is Thailand and they do move the goal posts a lot when something is new and also because to start they put out very unclear info people do read things how they want to which results in lots of misinformation and they don't like to be told what they said is wrong, end of the day anyone visiting Thailand is only ever a guest in the country and subject to any rule changes and people need to remember that....

@Erik ******

info source please as your right I do want/need to understand this visa

@Frank-Steven **********

ok so if can extend 180 every year then like I say 20k a year visa is not a bad price, wonder what agent fees will be

@James ****

well if you can do the 180 every year then 20k a year for visa is not bad compared to ED

@Keiron *******

as I understand it you get 180 days per year for 5 years and can extend by 180 days only once, in regards to how long you have to leave for that's the remaining 176 days of the year, so as it's multi entry I think many will maybe spread the 180 days through the year in 60 day chunks and visit home country or cheap neighbour country for the time needed out of Thailand

@James ****

yes from what I hear the 180 day extension can only be done one time in the 5 years

@Jordan *******

the reason it's 180 day per year is so that you do NOT become liable for paying tax in Thailand, although the whole tax details are a mess the 180 has been clear from the start

@Oliver *******

ah so immigration is like tax, even if it's there mistake you will probably get a bill to fix it, got it 🤔