I once met a teacher who claimed Thai visa extensions were 'easy'. I never saw him again. Perhaps he’s still waiting at immigration, or trapped in some photocopying shop on the outskirts of Nakhon Nowhere. Either way, I wasn’t convinced.

Trying to stay legal in Thailand as a foreign teacher is never quite as straightforward as you hope. You think you’ve gathered all the documents. You’ve got your passport, your degree, a few passport photos, and a letter from the school. But then comes the unexpected: you also need a medical certificate from a clinic that opens at midday, a copy of your landlord’s ID card (who’s conveniently vanished upcountry), and a TM30 form that no one seems to remember filing.

Even with a checklist, things change depending on which province you’re in, who you deal with, and what kind of day the immigration officer is having. Some want everything on coloured paper. Others want black and white, double-sided, stapled, not clipped, and signed three times. It’s a game where the rules can shift mid-morning.

A day at immigration

Immigration offices have a very particular energy. You arrive early, often before sunrise, hoping to beat the rush. But the queue’s already snaking out the door. There are camping stools, flasks of coffee, and a quiet sense of collective resignation. When your number is finally called, you step forward, hand over the documents, and watch the officer flip through them with a frown. Then comes the sentence no teacher wants to hear: “No copy of visa and entry stamp on same page. Cannot.”

You’re sent back outside to the photocopy shop, where the queue is longer than it was at immigration and the printer is having an off day. A form is missing, or misfiled, or never existed in the first place. You end up spending most of the day pacing between counters, hoping something gets stamped.

The role of the school

Some schools have excellent admin teams who know the system inside out. Others don’t. You may be handed a folder by a nervous office assistant and told, “Try this,” with a degree of confidence that doesn't inspire. Even when schools mean well, there’s often a gap between what they think you need and what immigration actually requires. That gap can grow wider if no one checks the spelling of your name on the paperwork or realises that your visa expires three days before the school holidays end.

The border option

When all else fails, or the paperwork just doesn’t come together in time, there’s always the border run. It’s not glamorous. It’s not particularly comfortable. But it’s one way to reset the clock. A bleary-eyed trip to a land crossing, a few hours waiting in the heat, a couple of stamps, and you’re back in again. Legal, for now. The experience can vary depending on where you go. Some checkpoints run like clockwork. Others feel like scenes from a documentary about bureaucracy in the developing world. But everyone you meet there - English teachers, digital nomads, retirees - has the same glazed look of someone who thought they’d sorted this out already.

A game of patience

Visa extensions aren’t impossible. But they do require patience, organisation, and a certain tolerance for confusion. It helps to stay calm, double-check everything, and keep multiple copies of every document you’ve ever touched. It also helps to build good relationships with your school’s admin staff because they’re often the ones who can fix things when the system breaks down.

No one moves to Thailand for the paperwork. But if you plan to stay, it’s part of the deal. And while it may feel like a game of roulette at times, most teachers make it through, eventually. Just don’t lose your work permit. That’s when things really get complicated.