BritTim

Phnom Penh is slow, but should otherwise be fine.

That is an interesting option for those with the time and money who really want to learn Thai to a high level. It is much cheaper than a Thailand Elite membership, and you emerge with a low cost degree.

Phu Nam Ron is not open. All land crossings with Myanmar are still closed to foreigners due to security concerns. As mentioned Ban Pakard/Prum is an option. Also good is Ban Laem/Kamrieng. In both cases, the walk from the Thai to the Cambodian side is not onerous. Read the other threads cited by Jack.

You do not mention your nationality. That might be relevant in recommending a good embassy to use. For instance, in Kuala Lumpur, they really like nationals of some countries and are biased against those from certain other nations.

I believe being legalised as the father is a prerequisite for the one-year extension though, at some offices, maybe not for a 60-day extension. Even when legalised as the father, offices tend to want to hear what the mother says about a one-year extension.

How old is the child? What is your relationship like with the child's mother. In some cases, it is very easy to be legalised as the father of the child via a simple visit to the amphoe office.

Based on historical precedent, your risk via Chiang Mai would be zero. With a visa, your risk in Bangkok would be practically zero. In Bangkok relying on visa exemption, would not be high risk in your case, but there would be a very real low risk in my judgement. You seem to be leaning in the direction of taking that risk, and I would not accuse you of being foolhardy for such a decision. Fingers crossed. By the way, are you aware that there are direct flights from Chiang Mai to Hua Hin?

That is not quite accurate. At one time, you were flagged for enhanced scrutiny once you reached six visa exempt entries since a particular start date (which I cannot remember -- can anyone else?). 'Enhanced scrutiny' did not mean you were going to be denied entry, but did mean you could be at risk. I have no idea whether that policy remains in force. A common guideline used by immigration officials is that you are no longer a regular tourist if you have spent more than 180 days in Thailand during the preceding 12 months. Apart from the airport you are using, there is a good deal of luck involved. In the OP's case, I would regard his chance of problems as quite low, but not zero.

I think he was pointing out that he did not qualify for a 60-day extension, and could not meet the requirements for a one-year retirement extension. That seems believable. That kind of condition is in the ballpark of the limitations imposed at Thai embassies/consulates in some neighbouring countries. Obviously, some consulates still impose more relaxed limits. Basically, any information of this nature needs to be qualified by the specific embassy or consulate where the limit is enforced.

The trouble with returning with a visa on arrival is that you cannot subsequently do any extension or conversion to a Non ED visa at immigration. It seems likely that, having identified a suitable school, a return to Yemen will be unavoidable to apply for the Non ED visa. I suppose there might be a well connected school that can arrange an expedited approval, but it seems very unlikely it could be done in time to apply from the current tourist extension.

Avoid that agent! The price they are quoting for a retirement extension is way over the market rate, even for an extension processed in Bangkok.

18K is remarkably cheap for a marriage extension without suitable finances. I think it is the cheapest price I have seen. There are a lot more officials involved than with a retirement extension.

It is definitely true, for many reasons (including vaccines) that your risk, if exposed to the virus, is far lower than in 2020. However, your risk of being exposed is probably now at least 10,000 times greater (nobody really knows as the number of reported confirmed cases through tests is far, far lower than the real infection rate). With Omicron, data from China (where mass testing still occurs) suggests that there are about six or seven asymptomatic cases for every case where people exhibit symptoms, In Thailand, some people test themselves if they think they might be ill, but rarely reveal a positive test result to the authorities. If you catch Covid now, unless you are in a high risk category, your chance of hospitalisation is low and of death very low. However, even with Omicron, without ever being hospitalised, you can end up with long Covid, in some cases resulting in a permanent effect on your health. People need to live their lives, and I am not going to become a hermit just to avoid Covid risk. However, in the same way that I use seat belts in cars, I think it is prudent to mask up in indoor settings when this does not impede your planned activities.

For those that can meet the financial requirements for a retirement extension, the main benefit of a good agent, IMHO, is that they will arrange VIP queuing, and transport you to and from Immigration. You are in and out within minutes instead of being faced with potentially a wait of hours, or even told to return another day if they are extra busy. They also ensure all the documentation is correct, avoiding potential wasted trips. Whether that is worth the agent fee is up to the individual.

His rather cryptic comment was intended to point out that someone able to afford a return flight to the UK does not necessarily have the money in the bank necessary to apply for a Non O visa (over age 50) at an embassy. I believe that is 800,000 baht in the bank. There may be an exception when applying for an e-visa. In the past, those in receipt of a UK state pension could get a Non O visa from the London embassy without needing to show money in the bank. I do not know if that special case exception still exists when applying for an e-visa.

People were more concerned about Covid in 2020 (when the highest death toll for a single day was four) than during the height of Delta when, yes, there was something to be really worried about, and I stopped socialising for a while. My main point is that the current risks from Covid infection (not just hospitalisation and death, but also long term ill health as a result of long Covid) while lower than a year ago, still justify taking low inconvenience, simple precautions.

Taking an upper limit for road deaths in Thailand of around 20,000 per year, your risk of dying from a road accident in Thailand in any one year are about 1 in 4,000. Of course, the actual risk depends on whether you try to limit your personal risk. If you take daily motorcycle taxis on main roads while wearing no helmet, your risk will be much higher. However, using the same logic as used by the majority of the people in this thread, taking precautions is pointless as the risk is so vanishingly tiny. I have observed for decades how ridiculously illogical people are about risk. Just taking Covid in Thailand as an example, people were irrationally terrified of the disease in 2020 when there were well under 100 deaths for the whole year. Curfews, alcohol bans, only permitting essential workers to leave their homes, and people washing banknotes were all the order of the day. Now, with Covid deaths having dropped below 100 per week, everyone is stating that Covid is nothing, and you are hysterical if you want to halve your risk of infection by wearing a mask when not inconvenient in indoor settings. It truly mystifies me.

What is your nationality? Some offices will accept an income confirmation letter fr4om your embassy, if your country still provides those, not then requiring bank account information. While I do not have first hand experience, I have not read positive accounts of Pathum Thani immigration. Good luck!

I agree that the agent plus the fine is the best solution for now. If he leaves the country and returns visa exempt, that will leave him needing the "conversion" visa and extension which is not going to be much under 27,000 baht through an agent. It could even be more. For the longer term, it would be interesting to see what the status is on the house and car. He may want to look at liquidating his assets and either moving into a cheap rental, or possibly looking for a 20,000 baht per month all board care home. (They exist.) As he declines, his current living situation has the potential for further problems. Returning to the UK, unless he has friends and relatives able to assist, can leave you high and dry. These days, the NHS will not immediately provide anything other than emergency health care. Any kind of housing is very expensive, and even local travel is unaffordable on a low income. Further, if he has spent years in Thailand, returning into the teeth of a British winter is going to be quite a shock to the system. I am healthy for my age, but would not like my odds of avoiding serious respiratory problems if forced back to the UK in winter.

As @ubonjoe stated, some red stamps mean nothing. Red stamps when applying for visas at embassies/consulates can mean trouble. Notably, instead of just telling you your application for a visa is denied, they can place a visa sticker in your passport, and then cancel it with a big red VOID stamp. That is bad news when applying for visas elsewhere, and possibly when entering at airports. Some embassies are notorious for this. They should be avoided. Another type of stamp to be avoided is a denied entry stamp (which is often red, but not necessarily). This might happen when trying to enter without a visa (visa exemption) at airports. These can also have continuing nasty after effects (sometimes with immigration of other countries). Overstay stamps are usually not red (though they can be) and also look bad. If you are ever deported from Thailand, this will result in some very unwelcome stamps, but you will hopefully never be guilty of an offence that leads to anything so drastic.

If you are currently in Thailand on a Non Immigrant permission to stay, I would advise, as a first step, seeing if you can extend your permission to stay based on working. Whether this will be possible will depend on the basis for your employment and your salary. If you cannot get an extension based on working, you will not be able to apply for a "conversion" visa at Immigration either, so entering visa exempt or with a tourist visa will not give you a path to legally work in Thailand. Under some circumstances, it might be possible to get a one-year multiple entry Non B visa (90-day stays) although not meeting the salary requirements for an extension of stay from Immigration. This used to be possible in Penang, but is now not possible there if I remember correctly. Let's see what @ubonjoe suggests.

I have probably said too much already. Let's just say that any possible generosity shown by the agent is not going to a registered charity.

... and, indeed, he does not. If he personally demanded more than the official fee, that would be illegal. Of course, if someone else received a monetary advantage, there would be no breach of Section 35.

You and I certainly do, but I am pretty sure that many using agents have no idea of the requirements for their extensions. I would also be completely truthful in stating that I had no desire for the agent to do anything illegal.

This has been discussed many times. There are ways it can be done, taking advantage of (deliberate) loopholes in the law., With care by the agent it is legal, although it involves what looks like corruption. Besides the apparent corruption which operates indirectly, a senior official abuses his discretion in allowing the extension, but that does not make it actually illegal. If the official's superiors do not turn a blind eye, he could be disciplined (without any actual laws needing to be broken). In the event of a crackdown, you have broken no laws even if, clumsily, the agent has. You are paying the agent to help with your application, and have plausible deniability over the ethics and legality of the methods used by the agent to process your application. The worst that might reasonably happen is that other disapproving immigration officials could give you a hard time in future. See, for instance, what happened after the dubious scheme involving volunteer visas and extensions during Covid. There was a kind of crackdown, but no one prosecuted for any crime.