BritTim

No! You will need to open your own account before transferring the money. Make sure your overseas bank is aware that you will be requesting such a transfer. It can sometimes be difficult to initiate large transfers these days when not able to visit the bank branch.

That is surprising. Usually, that kind of issue arises at Aranyaprathet/Poipet. Easiest, frankly, would have been to leave by air if you were unable to transfer stamps where you last did an extension of your permission to stay. There is no difficulty getting an exit stamp in the new passport when leaving via Suvarnabhumi as long as you allow extra time.

If you are married to a Thai, there should be no problem applying for a multiple entry Non O visa (valid for unlimited 90-day stays for one year) in Savannakhet. If your immigration history in Thailand is clean (no long uninterrupted stays as a tourist) you can safely enter visa exempt (without a visa). Otherwise, entering with an actual tourist visa would be wise.

The important points: You were not deported. You were denied entry. At that point the airline that brought you to Thailand is responsible for your removal, and returning you to your last embarkation point is normal, as long as you will be allowed to ent6er there. (Deportation is more complicated, and way worse.) One method to avoid trouble is to enter Thailand through most land crossings. For instance, if you fly to Vientiane (unfortunately expensive) there will be no problem entering via the Friendship Bridge to Nong Khai, and from there you can fly from Udon Thani airport pretty much anywhere in Thailand. If you want to enter visa exempt, you would be well advised to use a land crossing. If you have an actual tourist visa, some airports will not hassle you. A good choice is Chiang Mai airport. That airport is also better than Phuket, Suvarnabhumi, Don Muang and probably others for visa exempt entry, though immigration at any airport is legally permitted to deny you a visa exemption, and might do so depending on what your immigration record says about you. Since you will have been away for over three years, it is unlikely immigration will give you a hard time. However, there is one other possibility you should be aware of. When you book a flight to Thailand, the airline communicates with Thai immigration through the Advance Passenger Information System. Using this system, immigration can send a DNB (Do Not Board) instruction to the airline. If the airline receives such an instruction, you will not be allowed to board the aircraft, no reason will be given, and this is basically unappealable. The chances of this are very low in your case. However, the very safest solution (with a visa or not) is to fly to a neighbouring country and enter by land. As stated above, there will be no hassle at most land crossings, and (in the very unlikely event of an issue) at least you can argue your case. Good luck!

Be aware that it costs substantially more to pay for the visa on arrival in baht. If you have the opportunity to pick up clean, undamaged US currency, it is worth doing so.

Recent reports are that it is still technically required, but they often no longer check. It would be better to have that covered.

No one can say for sure. Even during normal times, issues could arise or be resolved on the border with Myanmar at short notice. With the current security situation in Myanmar, any general opening of border crossings with Myanmar seems far away. That said, there have been reports that the crossing from Ranong to the Grand Andaman Resort is partially open. While unlikely, it is conceivable that one or more crossings could open at short notice.

Hmm ... you will presumably need to "remember" your name and nationality. Based on this, it will not take long to determine your "lost" passport information, and find out that you had entered Thailand. I believe the Lao authorities would contact their Thai counterparts, and you would quite quickly end up being transferred from the Lao jail where you are held temporarily to a Thai jail. Your embassy (even if they believe your story which is doubtful) will be able to do little for you except contact your overseas relatives to tell them what is going on. Since women's prisons in Thailand are marginally less unpleasant then male ones, you could try wearing women's clothing at the time of your arrest, and claiming you now identified as a woman in the hope of avoiding the most horrendous of the Thai jail experiences. If you are a talented writer, your book about your experiences, including how your schizophrenia was cured by your religious conversion, might gain you economic success, and a global group of supporters agitating for your release. However, this would take a while.

In general, it must be the immigration office where you received your extension of stay, or at an international airport on the date of departure. However, there are some immigration offices adjacent to or near a land crossing where they will also be processed.

At that point, you will have illegally entered Laos. Leaving Laos without your illegal entry being discovered would be difficult (except, of course, the return to Thailand). If trying to escape from Thailand, trying to sneak on board a container ship destined for your home country might be the best of the illegal options. (Technically, this post involves discussion of illegal activities, but hopefully my summary of the situation will not be taken too seriously.)

My assurance is based on multiple credible reports I have read in the last few months, both on here and elsewhere. No one has reported any problem. The situation, as far as immediate return at Laos land crossings, remains as it was pre Covid.

From Pattaya, Ban Pakkard is way closer, and you will save over an hour (according to Google about 90 minutes) in each direction if travelling by car. That is one of the reasons why there is not a single visa run company using Hat Lek. Even if using public transport, unless you are very unlucky with the connection in Chanthaburi, Ban Pakkard will be quicker.

Your concerns about the journey to and from the border are reasonable. The last time I did it, there were both vans and songtaews from Chanthaburi to Ban Pakkard, but you need to know where to board them. It is easy enough if you speak Thai, but could be tricky otherwise. You should also set off early from Pattaya. Transport back in the late afternoon is not guaranteed. I know there are visa companies providing trips to Ban Pakkard. This will cost you a bit more, but might be simpler. Personally, though, I find most such border runs are in uncomfortable vans, and I tend to avoid them.

There is no problem doing that at land crossings with Laos.

I assume the use of Mae Sot was pre Covid. At that time, it was an excellent place for a border hop. One of the advantages (over, say, Laos) was that you only needed a border pass, thus avoiding the full page visa sticker from the visa on arrival necessary for most people crossing into Laos. Sadly, as you point out, it is not an option now.

The road crossing at Pedang Besar was known to be tough pre Covid. I am waiting to see a report on using the rail crossing there for a quick in/out without staying overnight. My recollection is that in 2019 it was possible.

I am unaware of any such restriction. Certainly, Section 12 of the Immigration Act does not list anything like this as one of the legal reasons for denying entry.

I imagine you are not talking about an entry stamp which only requires a quarter of a page or less. To estimate the space requirements, it is necessary to state your full itinerary, along with any visa(s) you plan to acquire. For instance, leaving Thailand requires an exit stamp (maximum quarter of a page); entering Cambodia (without a visa in advance) requires a full one-page sticker for the visa-on-arrival, plus up to a quarter page for the Cambodian entry stamp; if you then simply turn around and return to Thailand, there will be the Cambodian exit stamp and Thai entry stamp (possibly totalling as much as half a page).

That is, of course, correct. However, if you read the complete thread, you will note that the person I responded to had decided to give Immigration an extra 8,000 baht when applying for the visa. Certainly, this should not be necessary, but some immigration offices can make it difficult for you to apply without the payment of a "tip" to the officials.

Often, sleazy officials will try it on, seeing if someone is willing to hand them free money. Once they are successful, unfortunately, they will tend to remember you. Do not be surprised if they expect similar generosity from you in future. That is the main reason why I never pay bribes (though I will sometimes reward helpful officials with something like a nice food item to be shared around the office) unless there is no alternative.

Flying to Udon Thani, doing the in/out via the Friendship Bridge at Nong Khai (immediate return OK) would be best.

There have been reports on here to the effect that , while it does avoid queuing, it has no other benefit. If anything, the scrutiny from the officials is even greater than at the regular desks.

The e-visa for Cambodia can only be used at a few land crossings (from Thailand, Poipet/Aran and Koh Kong/Hat Lek). If using other land crossings, you will need a visa on arrival or a visa from the Cambodian consulate.

A much bigger problem was for the people who were refused entry (with a stamp indicating as much) sometimes even when holding a tourist visa, and told they could only re-enter Thailand by air. On entry at Don Muang or Suvarnabhumi, they sometimes encountered additional issues, with the refused entry stamp and scrawled comment from Poipet apparently a message to friends at airport immigration to consider forcing the "miscreant" back to home country. I cannot confirm that such cases are still occurring, but they were very real in 2019. If I I had been a long stay tourist in Thailand, I would consider avoiding this crossing to be automatic.

Once they see you are willing to pay for "services" (no receipt) for the "conversion" visa, it will be interesting to see how much they try to take you for when you apply for the one-year extension.