BritTim

Anyone thinking of applying for a NON O-A or NON O-X visa should also look at the option of getting an LTR visa which is definitely superior if you qualify. In the application for an LTR visa, the BOI is more rational in applying requirements. The Non O visa and extensions makes sense for many, not least because an agent can help you more with the process.

Not mentioned by anyone else: Maesot has an airport, and it is possible to take a Nok Air flight to Bangkok. With the police report and a Malaysian id card, I do not think there would be an issue taking a domestic flight, and it would be less stressful than a road journey.

It is not supposed to be allowed.

The denied extension and 7 days o leave the country has zero short term consequences, unlike an overstay. However, you absolutely MUST leave by the date you are ordered to leave. Other than being in the hospital, no excuse for any further delay will be accepted.

Unless the situation has recently changed, I do not believe Vientiane provides the multiple entry Non O visa to visit your Thai spouse. Savannakhet continues to issue them, but financial proof (as outlined in the good links provided) is necessary.

It is, as is often the case, important to be exact in your use of terms. When discussing visas, it is accurate to talk about Non B, Non O etc. In the case of applying for a Non O visa at a Thai embassy/consulate to visit your Thai child, there are no restrictions in terms of cohabitation or age. (Depending on the embassy/consulate, the birth certificate showing you as the father will usually be sufficient without legalisation.) When talking about extensions of your permission to stay in Thailand, visas are irrelevant (except that you need to be on an entry from a non immigrant visa). You are seeking an extension to stay with your Thai child. In that case, (i) you need to be living in the same household as your child; and (ii) the child must either be under 20 years of age, or be seriously disabled to the point where they are unable to live independently.

The rule for Thai immigration is only that your passport be valid for the duration of your intended stay. However, there are various problems that you can encounter when travelling with a passport with less than six months validity. Easiest is to avoid trying to do this. If you nevertheless feel you need to try, at least run your plans through the IATA travel guidance website (https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/TH-Thailand-passport-visa-health-travel-document-requirements.htm). In most cases, that site will identify issues preventing you from boarding your aircraft to Thailand. However, if planning to enter visa exempt, ensure that your onward flight booking is direct back to your home country. The airline is liable to deny you boarding if your plans involve travel to or from Thailand via a country (most) that will not permit entry with a passport with less than six months validity. They might even be unhappy if you will only be transiting through such a country.

I 100% agree that the LTR visa is almost always better than the alternatives for those who qualify. The LTR program was well conceived and (contrary to my scepticism) has been well implemented with no evidence of corruption.

I have believed for some time that Thailand should open additional consulates in Laos to take the pressure off Vientiane and Savannakhet. Obvious potential locations are Pakse and Luang Prabang.

Firstly, let's ensure we know EXACTLY what we are talking about. You have: 1) a work permit; 2) an extension of your permission to stay based on working; and 3) a multiple re-entry permit allowing you to keep the permission to stay intact when you leave Thailand and return. The correct procedure is to get a termination letter from your employer and take this to Immigration. Your permission to stay will be cancelled with effect from the last date of your employment shown on the termination letter. The re-entry permit will cease to be valid. Even after this, keep the termination letter as you never know when you might need to show it in future. The work permit should be cancelled based on instructions to the labour department by your employer. You can leave the physical book (if you have one) with your employer. After that, you leave on or before the expiry of the truncated permission to stay, and can return visa exempt.

I disagree with you that adult children should be treated as dependants of their parents. Certainly, tax laws in every country I know of do not take that view. Historically, one half of a husband and wife pair has often worked while the other took care of the house and was dependant on the one working. Tax laws typically still reflect that.

The single entry Non O visa based on marriage to a Thai should be OK in either Hanoi or HCMC. However, the embassy in Hanoi is unfriendly. As mentioned above, there is often a wait to get an appointment in HCMC. They may ask to see financial proof.

This is not true. The spouse of someone with a work permit and one-year extension of stay can get a visa and extension of stay to live with their spouse.

Hah, 42 includes everything (including every possible necessary visa). The mice never got around to determining the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything, excluding visas.

As a matter of interest, did you consider the Special Tourist Visa, provided during Covid and allowing a 270-day stay to be a tourist visa? Were people using it tourists? In your view, is someone who stays from August until April of the following year on tourist visas a valid tourist (not resident for tax purposes) but someone who stays from January to July not a valid tourist? When is a regular single or multiple entry tourist visa a "valid" visa, and where can the rules that document this be found? I have always considered that any visa issued by an embassy or consulate is valid, and ought only to be abrogated by Immigration subject to Section 12 of the Immigration Act (a policy followed by almost all land crossings and some airports, but ignored by some Immigration officials elsewhere).