BritTim

It is quicker, and the required documents less extensive if you get the Non B visa outside Thailand. However, it is possible to convert from a visa exempt entry or tourist entry to a Non B at the immigration office in Thailand. Unlike when applying at a consulate outside Thailand, where it only takes two or three days, the Non B from an immigration office takes weeks.

See https://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/en/page/tourist-visa-2?menu=63bcd875e8b39d00fd0e7513 for the official requirements. On onward travel it states: It is quite unclear what they will accept, but they have historically not been strict. Any plausible itinerary which involves you departing Thailand has generally been accepted. In Vientiane (but not at all other embassies/consulates) they realise that "signed copy of id card" does not apply when you stay in hotel(s), only if staying in a private property.

The reason to do a report after 75 days (15 days early) is to maximise the chance that the report will be processed before the due date, avoiding the need to report in person. If you try to report now, the report will be denied. The reminders are automated, but an official eyeballs the report to see if it is timely.

Be aware that, although the combination method is supposed to be allowed, some immigration offices do not allow it. If allowed, you will need a 12-month bank statement from the account that receives the pension, and can highlight the monthly entries coming from abroad to make things easy for the official. If the bank statement itself does not clearly indicate they are international transfers, you will probably need the credit advice documents that contain the details of each transfer.

In most cases, I do not think an embassy will consider your Thai immigration status when deciding whether to assist you, for instance, after a natural disaster. Depending on your second nationality, just possession of that country's passport will entitle you to consular assistance (which these days is often negligible).

This is commonly misunderstood. A failure to keep the stated bank deposits when on a retirement extension does not invalidate your permission to stay and put you on overstay. Keeping the money in the bank is only required in order to be eligible for the next one-year extension. It is clear that this is the situation. Those who have had their bank deposits drop below the required level have never been found to be on overstay. They have simply been refused a further extension.

As advised above, if you already have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account, it is relatively easy to enter visa exempt, shortly after arrival, apply for a Non O visa (intention requirement) at the Immigration office, which gives you a fresh 90-day permission to stay, and subsequently apply for one-year extensions as you used to do in the past. To get a Non O-A visa, as a UK national, you must apply using the e-visa system, and be physically present in the UK when you do the application. Given all the requirements for a Non O-A visa, I doubt you want to subject yourself to this.

Correct on all counts. Changing the reason for your extended permission to stay is usually going to be the best solution.

That question was effectively answered (on the basis that the word "visa" is used correctly). Unless the wrong visa type was issued in error by an embassy/consulate, a visa cannot be changed within Thailand. If you entered with a tourist visa on visa exemption, you can apply for a Non Immigrant visa at Immigration under a number of circumstances. Excluding that, you can in a multitude of ways change the reason for your extended permission to stay.

If I understand the announcement correctly, the authorities ignore the fact that you entered with a foreign passport, and you can act exactly as if you had entered with a Thai passport.

I consider it irresponsible, but not as bad as those who have intercourse with many people without using condoms. I disapprove, but it takes a lot to outrage me these days.

All recent disease epidemics are denied by a minority when first reported. I well remember when a vocal minority claimed that HIV was a hoax, and the immune system damage and deaths were caused by the anti HIV treatments. A generation from now, you will have forgotten that you denied the existence of Covid. Anti vaxxers will have moved on to attacking more recent vaccines.

Going to Vientiane you can choose to go by air or by land. On return from Vientiane, there is unlikely to be a problem if you go by air but, to avoid the 0.001% chance of a problem at the airport, you could return by land over the Friendship Bridge. A single entry tourist visa from Vientiane gives you a 60-day permission to stay that can be extended by a further 30 days at the local immigration office in Thailand.

A good question. It is pointless. When in a hurry, I often leave those fields blank.

A re-entry permit indicates that you might have an intention to travel. It indicates nothing about your actual travel dates.

The METV, as advised above, is probably the easiest option. Also safe at the current time (but subject to change without notice) is to apply for single entry tourist visas in Vientiane.

It seems likely that applying from Thailand is possible, given that they have designed a specific form (TM-89) for the purpose. As you write, this visa is a rare bird, and seems inferior to the LTR-WP (Long Term Resident Wealthy Pensioner) visa.

More often than not, you still get the overstay stamp for a one-day overstay. However, sometimes the official will simply stamp you out (when the overstay is only one day) without sending you to the overstay desk. You could go to Immigration today, and request an extension (denied) and be given seven days to leave the country. There are no negative connotations involved in doing this.

This is typical incompetence by those administering Thai websites. They have moved a lot of their pages to the domain thaiprivilege.co.th without ensuring that the certificates work correctly. Assuming the site has not been hacked (and I do not think it has) you can click "Advanced" and "Proceed" to view the site in unsecured mode. When you do this, do not enter any sensitive data.

Thank you. That is excellent explanation.

By law, if the senior official approves it, you can apply up to as much as 90 days early. However, with a marriage extension, there are other complications. It depends not only on the senior official at the Chonburi office, but also his superiors at Division headquarters that need to endorse the extension. You are liable to just end up with an extremely long under consideration period.

I am not married, so have not done it myself. It is not recommended, but is allowed. If you do this, make sure you tell the immigration office of your travel plans when you apply for the extension. That will ensure that, if a house visit is deemed necessary, the officials will schedule it around your availability.

An e-visa is US$50. A visa-on-arrival is US$40 for almost all nationalities.

Note that, if this is true which I doubt, it would be a reason for us to be much more concerned about the BA.2.86 variant as over 95% of the population has at least partial immunity based on vaccination or prior infection or both. At this time, those comparing Covid to the flu are not totally wrong. What they are missing is that flu variants can also result in horrendous epidemics. The "Spanish" flu of 1918 to 1920 was worse than Covid, and killed about 50 million people worldwide. Objectivity is important. We should not panic over every mutation, but surveillance and preparedness ought to be better than it was in 2019 when we were hit with Covid.

If the tourist visa exemption scheme is changed to give you 90 days on entry, I strongly suspect this would come with other changes. Likely, you would not be able to extend, and back to back visa exemptions (if you fully used the first) would be denied. In recent years, proposed immigration changes that seem good become disappointing when finally announced with all the small print. (A fairly recent exception is the LTR visa scheme where the implementation has been generally excellent).