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12 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

30 day extension for visa exempt very simple process and paperwork basic.

Provided you have a TM30, I would stick with the appointment.

 

BTW be 15-20 minutes early as they run on time. 

Make sure you print out your online booking confirmation hard copy. 

DrJack54 - You have given a brilliant Response - Exactly what I needed.

After Going online to book an appointment for the extension I found that the next available date is just 2 days before end of my Visa Exempt.

Since this is the land of surprises it seems best to get things done as early as possible in case a plan-B is necessary.

 Questions:

1. Is the walk-in option something that takes up a lot of the day (Since the booked appointment is supposed to only take 15min)?

2. If I book one of the available slots is there any danger (even with all the correct forms, money and pics) that a rejection might occur - I am speculating here, but probably the only other reason might be because of what is disliked in the passport? 

1 hour ago, Bigz said:

Thais will let you back in on the same day. To my knowledge Cambodia has a rule that if you are a solo traveller (not in a tour group) you must stay at least a night in Cambodia. The Cambodian border guards usually charge 300 Bahts to 'exempt' you from this rule. 

I actually expected the same once the overnight requirement had been identified. However one of the people in the crowd when I entered into Cambodia after leaving immigration was shouting he could fix it with Thai immigration to go back the same day, which did confused me. It could be I misunderstood or his English was not accurate or none of the above. However the sheer number of people trying to get attention for commerce was a bit overpowering and difficult to really have a sensible conversation with a crowd.

At the end of the day even if the overnight issue was fixed, unless all the other issues were fixed with Thai immigration I was still going  to have the same challenge with the immigration supervisor - I am speculating here, but she was more likely looking for a week or two in Cambodia - The one overnight didn't impress her at all. Also I think in retrospect staying one night in Poipet is probably a small price to pay if it could guarantee re-entry to Thailand with a Visa Exempt. Unfortunately these probably might be two separate issues.

1 hour ago, persimmon said:

I need to cross the border at Nonghai next month for a 45 day VEE . I then need to extend this by 30 days to match my flight date . Is this likely to be a problem when coming back into Th . - will they require a flight out within the 45 days ?

Great report BTW , did you take notes as you were going through the process , or just remember it all afterwards ?

Thanks - persimmon I took a notepad with me. I have done trips before and could not remember the details after a few weeks - Hence this time wrote it down.

5 minutes ago, Saigon said:

At first I had to join the queue for the kiosk and wasn't

even told to go to the office till I handed my passport

over to the IO at the kiosk.

 

There was actually a Thai woman queuing ahead of

me, and the IO asked her the same questions like

'Where are you going?' and 'How long there for?' so

that must of been their standard process, I'd say.

Good feedback Saigon - Thanks for taking the time for the response

32 minutes ago, mockingbird said:

If I'd never set foot in Thailand in my life, I would still avoid the Poipet border. 

Ha - That made me laugh - And I guess I agree mockingbird

23 minutes ago, Saigon said:

That's a very interesting but amazing report

about the immigration at Poipet, which is

believed to be a land crossing to be best

avoided! It's proved to be as notorious as

other reports say!

 

I did a border bounce at Padang Besar last

month for my 2nd visa-exempt entry in the

calendar year. Only Thai and Malaysian

passport holders were allowed to queue for

the kiosks so I was told to go to the office

where I was asked the same questions by

the IOs as you were (even when I left The

Kingdom), but was never asked if I had

booked an onward ticket out of Thailand

yet when I came back here.

Good info Saigon - 

Its difficult to know if the questions that were ask of you at Padang was just immigration doing their job and this is standard process for all non Thai / Malaysians or this was a one off arbitrary decision made on that day. 

However on a more general point - It is difficult to remove conflict from a system when there is presumed entitlement by users, while many times it's just interpretation and subjective thought.

I was actually very surprised by the flight details that were required and again echoing the above - If you want compliant users then provide them a consistency to follow so they can give what you want.

26 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Fantastic report.

Appreciate the detail. Ta

I really appreciate your positive feedback - Thanks

29 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

No. 

Thanks - That is good.

19 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You  will l do it ai Laksi.

You can do if up to 2 weeks early.

Just a quick follow up question: Assuming you turn up with the correct documents and money, are there any known reason why an extension might be refused (on an exempt)?

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

You  will l do it ai Laksi.

You can do if up to 2 weeks early.

Thanks Joe

For getting an extension to Visa exempt (45 days) in Bangkok do you go to Chaeng Wattana or IT Square Laksi Plaza?

Do you need to wait until the last few weeks of the Visa exempt to extend this or can you do this immediately once you get it?

My assumption is that the border crossing points are open every day of the year, but only between certain hours of the day.

Are there any special days when they might be closed - specifically are they open this Christmas and New year?

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I do not know if this check has been removed or changed. I can only tell you that it still existed as of 2019. Knowing the way systems tend to work, unless those at the top requested a change, the feature would remain in force. If so, most officials probably now take the notification less seriously than they would have, perhaps, in 2018. It is noteworthy, though, that officials are still using wording that implies you are under scrutiny because you "enter Thailand too much".

Mnnnn - Interesting Info - I had no idea this was ever in place.

10 hours ago, BritTim said:

The limit if entering by air varies by airport and by immigration official. What they are told to do is verify if visa exemption is being used in a manner consistent with "normal tourism". That is clearly a very subjective test. At one time (and probably still) immigration's system was set up to prompt the official that you should be subjected to greater scrutiny if you had received more than six visa exempt entries (total by land or air) since a specific start date which I have forgotten (maybe mid 2016?)  Some officials are very thorough in their scrutiny, and restrictive in what they regard as "normal tourism". Avoid most airports if you are a long stay tourist in Thailand.

Really? -  "six visa exempt entries (total by land or air) since a specific start date which I have forgotten (maybe mid 2016?)"

Is this still a thing?

i.e A software flag is triggered - after 6 visa exempts obtained over the last five / six  years?

25 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Correct. No "no centralised electronic record made when these warnings are made".

 

What would be relevant would be any note made on this last entry stamp - and I much doubt there is one.  Makes no difference what may be written ion stamps involving other countries. 

 

Some IOs take it upon themselves to issue warnings like this. They have no legal import. (But good idea to avoid that same officer in future..and at border crossings unlike airport there aren't many of them so this means best avoid that border crossing for a while. )

Yup - This is sound advice!

8 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

If nothing was stsmped or written into his passport (and no reason gor them to have been) , there is no record.

 

Poipet is the most difficult of all the Cambodian border crossing points.

Ahhh - OK, good.

Then I think what you are saying is there is no centralised electronic record made when these warnings are made

As for stamps or written notes made - He has over thirty nine  pages with various stamps and notes and its not clear from just the single and joining page if there is something hiding itself in content from the six different countries (from three non English speaking continents) which I can not actually read or determine if there is a special Cambodian stamp in the mix.  

6 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

Does your friend have any problems which would not allow him to get a proper visa?

Not sure, but that would be a different subject - I am just wanting to get an answer to the question posted. 

A friend just got back from a Poipet border run. He is from the UK and entered Thailand for the first time after three years with a Visa exempt 45 days, with no subsequent extension applied to the exempt and was informed that he would not be allowed another visa exempt run.

Theoretically this should not be the case since the new calendar year starts in a few weeks and the reset for two per year should then begin again. However it's possible this is a single officer making an arbitrary decision or a general Poipet immigration interpretation, either way getting the  calendar year border run refresh is more likely to be available at Vientiane.

Is there any kind of historical log made to reflect the warning by either ink stamps / written notes on the passport or centralised data entry for individual electronic records?

You are not going to get a straightforward answer to your question for the following reasons.

Consulates outside of Thailand issuing e-Visa will not do so if you are known to be outside of your home country (unless exceptional circumstances are shown). However as you are probably aware it is sometimes difficult for the consulate to know that you are not inside your home country. Hence if you are able to fulfil all the other requirements including evidence of travel from Thailand (air ticket paid in full) and passport pages copy Visa pages last 12m of travel stamps then there is a possibility of success. However if you are currently in Thailand and if the last stamp was of when you entered Thailand then this would be clear to the Consulate admin.

If you were to leave Thailand with a passport exit stamp in your passport this is where it becomes conjecture since the question would be more about the testing of the rules done by the immigration officer letting you back into Thailand. Whether this is part of their adopted role is not clear. I suspect that each will assume a different amount of checking and also will have different types of actions taken when they suspect a position where the e-Visa owner has transgressed a rule of the application only from the home country.

Within this uncertain framework you would need to test and see what happens since there is no clear probability of a certain outcome.

Previous recent post and thread

If applying at the border - Is this a full page sticker?

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

I am sure the embassy will still do the big visa sticker.

The e visa is only a email with no sticker. As far as I know you just show it and they stamp into Cambodia with a annotation that it was e visa.

Great response ubonjoe - Thanks