Visa Runs / Extensions / Go Back Where You Belong?

Visa Runs / Extensions / Go Back Where You Belong?

Just another migrant trying to take a month off from flying.

Oh Southeast Asia, the land of visa runs every 30 days.

Sure, it is fun for the jet setter – but I’m getting too old for this 😉

Mike’s blog 204

We are settling in nicely at the new house, the daily flow is going well – but just as things are getting smoother – I remember (luckily!) that my visa entry is expiring! As a US passport holder I get 30 days tourist visa on entry into the Kingdom of Thailand.

Sure, I could have taken a trip to Hong Kong or China (which I should do and have a lot to do there) – but I am still dealing with the new house move, and tons of kid school things, their immigration paperwork, my wife’s immigration paperwork – and – traveling is harder to actually work!

Many have been asking about my visa status and what my plan is – and yes – I am putting it online that I am on a tourist visa in Thailand. Am I an illiegal immigrant? Am I a Mexican who jumped the US border to take jobs from hard working Americans?

All of this seems crazy to me – this walls to keep people out and keep people in. This is why I love the internet and I am studying as much as I can about blockchain – because these technologies see no borders.

But back to the story – my kids now have converted their 30 day tourist visas into 3 month student visas – so they can refrain from airplane trips until then. But even then – we plan to convert them to one year student visas at the same time we convert our tourist visas (Wendy and mine) into guardian visas.

So huh, what?

A guardian visa is like a parent visa. Someone to look after the children in Thailand as they go to school. So this is the track we are on and it is a long process. The last couple videos about the immigration nightmare was for the kids to convert their tourist visa to a student visa without having to fly out of the country and apply overseas.

Now that that is converted and they have their student visa (3 months only) – now it is time for the parents to apply for the guardian visa. I’m waiting a week now for the school’s immigration office to prepare the paperwork (had to wait until the student visa was done) – and once that is ready – WE NEED TO LEAVE the country.

Ya, crazy – the guardians of the kids need to leave the country to apply for it overseas.

So here’s the scary part -Wendy is Chinese and she has to do it from China – and they say she needs to wait in China 1 to 2 months.

For me, I can do it from anywhere-  they say Penang is good and it takes 1 week.

So the story continues on visas…..stay tuned for the next episode- maybe I rename this vlog to immigration vlog.