what do I need to rent apartment in Thailand for long term

what do I need to rent apartment in Thailand for long term

That depends on the owner, in most of the cases, for a 12 months contract you will have :

- to give a copy of your passport
- to pay 2 months deposit
- many owner request you have a bank account in Thailand for transfer ( depend where the owner live )
- by the law, the owner must report any foreigner living at his adress to the immigration by filling form TM30
- many owner can request you to have a valid visa, unless you pay in front 12 months rental, all of this is about negotiation, there is no clear rules.

Some websites says 30 days and then you can extend to 90, other say 180. What is it?

Which websites are you talking about, It look like you are talking about visa here and not long term contract.

Most rental are 6 months or 12 months, after you will pay expensive price like for serviced appartment, or holidays rental.

Long term rental price is low but does not include utilities bills ( water, electricity, .. ), internet, phone, TV, mooban fees, garden fees, garbage fees, etc....

flman wrote:

Hi everyone,

What do I need to rent apartment for long term as a US citizen? I'm aware that I don't need a visa; however, the amount of time I'm allowed to stay it's a bit unclear. Some websites says 30 days and then you can extend to 90, other say 180. What is it? Also, is it a safe place for solo travel as a foreigner?

Thanks

What do you mean by long term? The answer to that question along with your age will help us with your visa question.

I don't need a visa coming from the US, but how would I be able to make a contract for 6 or 12 months if I only can stay for max 3 months?... or am I interpreting this wrong?

Thanks

thetefldon wrote:

flman wrote:

Hi everyone,

What do I need to rent apartment for long term as a US citizen? I'm aware that I don't need a visa; however, the amount of time I'm allowed to stay it's a bit unclear. Some websites says 30 days and then you can extend to 90, other say 180. What is it? Also, is it a safe place for solo travel as a foreigner?

Thanks

What do you mean by long term? The answer to that question along with your age will help us with your visa question.

meaning renting for 6 or 12 months... by the way I'm 43!

cthierrymk wrote:

what do I need to rent apartment in Thailand for long term

That depends on the owner, in most of the cases, for a 12 months contract you will have :

- to give a copy of your passport
- to pay 2 months deposit
- many owner request you have a bank account in Thailand for transfer ( depend where the owner live )
- by the law, the owner must report any foreigner living at his adress to the immigration by filling form TM30
- many owner can request you to have a valid visa, unless you pay in front 12 months rental, all of this is about negotiation, there is no clear rules.

Some websites says 30 days and then you can extend to 90, other say 180. What is it?

Which websites are you talking about, It look like you are talking about visa here and not long term contract.

Most rental are 6 months or 12 months, after you will pay expensive price like for serviced appartment, or holidays rental.

Long term rental price is low but does not include utilities bills ( water, electricity, .. ), internet, phone, TV, mooban fees, garden fees, garbage fees, etc....

sorry for the duplicate post, I forgot to quote the first time!

I don't need a visa coming from the US, but how would I be able to make a contract for 6 or 12 months if I only can stay for max 3 months?... or am I interpreting this wrong?

Thanks

I still can't understand your request, the decision to stay in Thailand for a short or long duration is yours.

Many expats here are retired ( OA visa, but need to be over 50 yo and financial requirement very high ) or married with Thai spouse ( O Visa, half of financial requirement than OA visa ), others are working or run a business ( B Visa ) or are student learning language or study ( ED Visa ), others are tourist ( you can stay 6 months woth new visa coming soon, but you could do it before with a double entry visa to get to neighbour country ).... If you want to come for 1 month, you are exempt of visa, you can extend a further month to immigration, but after you will need a visa....

Rental duration choice is up to you, you can rent in a guest house a room, you can use serviced appartment per month or week, holidays rental,.. etc... there are many possibilities to fit everybody... price will not be the same, and what is include in the monthly rent will be different too as well as contract and others requirements.

flman wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm aware that I don't need a visa; however, the amount of time I'm allowed to stay it's a bit unclear. Some websites says 30 days and then you can extend to 90, other say 180. What is it?

Thanks

If you arrive by air without a visa as a US citizen you can enter visa exempt for 30 days.  This can be extended for a max of thirty days unless a more recent change has occurred (see below).

BANGKOK: -- The Immigration Bureau has announced that as of August 29. 2014 you will be able to extend your visa exemption period whilst you're in Thailand by 30 days, instead of the current 7 days, giving a total visa-exemption stay of 60 days.  The fee for extension of stay is 1,900 Baht (unchanged).

rent for one year is easy .....all u need is passprt and cash or a debit card ...forget the checks and the credit cards in Thailand .....Open a bank account in Kasikorn bank ( K Bank)  it s farang friendly and you can transfert money from the US to your thai bank via international telex ...i rented for one year before buying a place
remeber to rent near BTS station ( metro) ,   or close by by scooter taxi wich is really chep 
for exemple ..my place to metro by scooter taxi----about 15 min and about  $ 1 .50

for visa....just buy a 2 entry visa in you local Thai Consulate in the states...before coming ,

here is what i do ..... every 3 months i take plane from BKK to Vientiene (Laos) ( about 80.00$)  or other asian places....to get my thai visa ....i get a 2 entry tourist visa ( cost 2000baht) and come back by plane ,,,,,,so on my first entry i get 30 days and another 30 free since i came by plane and i have another 30 days on my second portion of my double entry visa ...overall i have 30 plus free 30 plus 30 days ..so 120 days in total ..... when the first  60 days are about to finish i go in Myamar ( about 20$ to go there)  and i come back to thailand activating my second party of my double entry visa ....and by the way..  Laos is easiest to get the thai visa..........many many north americans go there to get their thai visa.

so  every 3 months i do my visa run and visit a different country each time ....
and for your info  in Bangkok there are companies who will do the visa run by bus.....easy to find on web

A visa exempt entry for a US citizen is 30 days land or air. This may be extended by 30 days at a Thai immigration office in Thailand for 1900 baht.

A double entry tourist visa will get you 2 x 60 day entries. Each of which could be extended by 30 days at local Thai Immigration(in Thailand) for 1900 Baht so in theory 90 days each entry gives you six months. You must exit Thailand and re-enter to activate second entry. However from November 2015 it has recently been announced that a new tourist visa enabling a stay of 6 months will come into effect.

Whether you can get back to back tourist visas(to enable a longer stay) is a matter for the Thai consulate/embassy you choose. It is also something that the authorities are aware of and do scrutinise. I mean at the end of the day a "tourist" does not usually stay for an extended period.

There are other visas for this purpose.

OP you seem to be asking 2 questions in one. You need to separate them or its just going to lead to confusion.  The visa issue has pretty much been covered above and well summarised by thetefldon. If you intend to stay for more than 60 days you will either need to have a visa OR leave the country (by land will suffice) to obtain a further visa free 30 days. However, when leaving the US if your return flight is 3 months ahead and you do not have a visa, your airline may deny travel.

To answer your rental question, what do you need? 1. Passport for ID. 2. Money.

Some condo owners will rent on a month by month basis but most prefer min. 6 months. If you have not visited Thailand before and thus are unfamiliar with how things work, it would make sense to stay in a hotel, guest house, or serviced apartment. At all these places you can rent a room by the month. Book a hotel before leaving the US for 3 or 4 nights which will give you time to look around and find somewhere.

If one gets a job, can he convert tourist visa into a work permit visa while remaining in Thailand?

@cthierrymk wait what? I need a bank account to get a lease but I need a lease to get a bank account. How does that work?

He didn't say that, he said some owners may want you to have a bank account. It's not a requirement. I rented without a bank account. I then used that address to open a bank account. No address, no bank account.

@Glukudar

Foreigners who have been holding tourist visa coming to Thailand can notify to change from tourist visa to Non-Ed (for educational purposes), or Non-B (for working).

However I.understand that moving from ED to Non.B requires a trip to an embassy outside Thailand