BritTim

No, there is no need for a formal cancellation of a permission to stay from entering with a visa. The permission to stay is not dependant on his actually being enrolled in a course. He is free is stay or leave during the 90 days from the entry using the Non Ed.

If the agent is able to help, little time is necessary on your wife's permission to stay when applying for an extension. In principle, it is possible to apply right up to the last day of the existing permission to stay. Frankly, though, I rather suspect the agent will say they cannot help. The problem is that the extension requires sign off by Division headquarters, and this is often only possible with squeaky clean applications.

That is not quite correct. A foreigner who is a dependant of another foreigner can also apply for an extension if the necessary requirements (different from those for a foreign family member of a Thai) are met.

I believe fully refundable tickets (which always have some deductions that are not refundable) are expensive, and leave you for months without the cash before you get (most of) it back. Either use one of the ticket rental companies, or use skyscanner.com to find a cheap throw away ticket (search for one-way flight out of Thailand to anywhere specifying Entire Month as the departure date).

Make sure you are not applying on a Monday or Thursday when the queues are often horrific. Assuming no public holidays, Tuesday and Wednesday are much less frantic.

I you can get a termination letter from your old employer that confirms that your employment was terminated on or after the date when you last left Thailand with a permission to stay based on that employment, everything is easy. Just that letter is basically enough to sort out the situation. If, for some reason, it is not possible to get such a termination letter, you will probably need professional advice on how to proceed.

The whole reason why the agent made the suggestion he did is because the conversion to a Non O visa in country is not available for a dependant of a foreign national. Aggravating as it certainly is, the simple direct option is not available.

While it depends on the individual immigration office, usually that is not possible, even though the regulations would seem to allow it. They seem to feel that immediately applying for an extension that contradicts your justification for your initial visa is improper. A visa run for a single entry Non O visa based on marriage, followed then by extensions based on marriage would be my choice.

Taking your example of overstays and the Thailand Elite memberships, old overstays from the time before Immigration cracked down are not considered. You can have a five-year overstay from 20 years ago, and it will have no bearing on whether you will be approved. On the larger question of could the authorities decide to take failures to report into consideration for later immigration services? Sure, anything is possible. Likely? Not in my view.

Assuming there are no consolidated entries, bank passbook entries and bank statements have the same information.

If you are asking whether the authorities could suddenly decide to criminalise past failures to make reports then I cannot see that happening. When serious penalties were introduced for overstays, that was only after well publicised warnings, and only for people still not complying with the law.

Anything is possible in the future. For the moment, the worst that can happen is a fine, and possibly an irritated official who could (very unlikely) decide to hassle you on other immigration matters as a result.

This is an issue with the way the university's system works, not a consequence of Immigration rules. If you are not able just to submit a TM7 form to Immigration with the necessary supporting documents for an extension based on working, then I am not sure what to suggest.

Assuming the bank book does not contain consolidated entries, what is it about a 12-month statement that shows "evidence of money going in and out" that the book does not show?

For someone with limited Thai immigration history, that is definitely worth considering. Trips to Saigon, Luang Prabang and Siem Reap also. For those who have spent serious time already as a Thai tourist, entering via some airports carries a small risk of a denied entry.

Border bounces with an METV are still feasible, but under no circumstances should be Aranyaprathet/Poipet border be used. From Bangkok, there are border run companies that use "safe" border crossings with Cambodia. These tend to involve being packed into vans with oversized fellow farangs. In spite of the discomfort, this may be the best solution for those not used to dodging the various scams around Cambodian border crossings. A crossing with Myanmar that used to be a good solution is closed. Laos is easy to do under your own steam, but a long way from Bangkok.

This is a frequently asked question. Usually, it is worded "does Thailand allow digital nomads?" The short answer is that, as long as you have no Thai employer or customer, it is officially not allowed, but is in practice 100% tolerated.

A possible (though not what I believe) positive reason ... just maybe, they deliberately wait until the last moment so as to maximise the gaps between reports. That is, instead of reports about every 75 days (if you reported 14 days early and were immediately approved) you only need to make reports about every 92 days (if you report early, but they only approve during the grace period). More likely, they are just understaffed for the workload they are given.

My new UK passport issued September 1st 2023 still refers to "Her Majesty". I think there is still old stock that is used when the new ones are in short supply.

I believed the LTR visas looked good on paper, but was sceptical, based on previous experience, about how it would work in practice. It transpires that it has lived up to its promise, and the BOI has implemented it well. The only disappointment is that most digital nomads (even those with high earnings) do not qualify. I have been recommending that those who qualify consider it. If it continues on its current promising track, I expect to see increased success.

Tod is a smart and knowledgeable guy. If you want to follow his advice, that is understandable. My opinion remains the same. The big danger was in the immediate aftermath of the dodgy Non Ed visa, when switching to a legitimate visa. That is when your immediate previous stamp will have been subject to the closest scrutiny. I can see that it could be possible to make the old passport disappear by deliberately destroying it, and declaring it lost (false police report and statement to the embassy). When trying to get stamps restored in your new passport, your immigration history in Immigration's database is going to be very carefully checked by officials who will have reason to be suspicious. There will be no offending stamp for them to look at, but there may well be equally incriminating data to be discovered when the official conducts a careful forensic investigation.

I am not sure of US Embassy policy, but I believe they are not a problem. If willing to pay, you can request a passport replacement at any time. If you want, damage the passport a little. However, I think you can just tell them the passport contains embarrassing stamps that you do not want visible to immigration officials when traveling. I think it is a legitimate justification for the replacement. Thai Immigration is another matter. I just do not think it is smart to draw attention to the fact that you want to cover up your immigration history as reflected in your old passport. It is asking for trouble when you will usually have no problems if you simply proceed normally.

Recommended approach: (i) verify before you check in that a TM30 notification will be done, and ask them to make sure they will have a copy for you in the morning; (ii) deal with your business at Immigration first thing in the morning; and (iii) check out. Although it will not usually matter, it is better if you are still officially staying in the hotel at the time you apply for the ?extension?

There is no absolute prohibition on withdrawing the money immediately after application, but it is inadvisable to do so until Division headquarters has approved the extension. It is possible for them to do their own checks, and there would be complications if the money was not there if they did.

It is true that skeletons in your Immigration history closet are not ideal. However, you appear to have moved on. As long as your current visa (or extension) are above board, it is not likely that you will have any trouble. I think replacing your passport would be a mistake.