BritTim

Make sure you understand an even more important point. On each entry you are given a 90-day permission to stay. Do not assume that you can just stay because your visa has not yet expired. Although making full use of the visa, and its multiple entry feature is normal, there is nothing stopping you from applying for an extension of your permission to stay at immigration after any entry using the visa.

No guarantees, but it is my impression that the original outrage over some agents gaming the volunteer visa system has now dissipated. The stories of retribution against those who received the visas seem to have ended.

I am not up to date on current prices. What I can tell you is that the price depends greatly on the condition of the car that takes you, your negotiating skills, and whether you can dodge the experienced operators who bombard you at the exit from Immigration and find a driver away from the main scrum who is happy to quote you a locals price. I would guess you might get a price of about 350 baht, but not sure.

You are allowed a 60-day extension for each entry. What you cannot do is qualify for a 60-day extension by leaving and returning using a re-entry permit from a one-year extension.

You must actually enter Laos (with a e-visa or visa-on arrival) before returning to Thailand. The whole round trip can be accomplished within about an hour or so.

If you apply for a Non O visa at Immigration to "convert" from an entry on a tourist visa or visa exemption, then the application is taken under consideration with endorsement by Division headquarters being part of the process. A one-year extension of your permission to stay based on retirement is processed directly by your local office with no need for an "under consideration" period.

If you do not already have a Lao visa, and need to apply for a visa-on-arrival, starting the process at 9:30 pm would be cutting things too fine, I think. Get there by 9:00 pm at the latest, or sleep in Nong Khai and cross early in the morning.

Getting from Nong Khai to Udon Thani airport is easy. Unless you are in a tearing hurry, you can use a van. Allow about an hour. There are also lots of cars with drivers happy to take you. Walking 100 metres from the exit from Immigration will save you a lot of money on the quoted price from the bridge to Udon Thani airport. The airport is between Nong Khai and Udon Thani, so you definitely do not want to go into Udon Thani itself before going to the airport, unless you have other reasons for visiting the town.

Correct. You can change the reason for your extended permission to stay in Thailand, but on a Non Immigrant entry, you can never apply for a visa except by leaving Thailand and getting the visa at an embassy/consulate.

I will update this thread with a long post that outlines all the potential issues starting with your situation in due course. I do not have time to do this today. Savannakhet will not care that you used an agent in Thailand. Generally, visas are issued at embassies/consulates, and extensions of permission to stay at Immigration in Thailand. If you enter Thailand on a tourist visa or visa exempt, in some situations, it is possible to get a visa at Immigration in Thailand. If you are already on a Non Immigrant entry, applying for a visa at Immigration is totally impossible. Changing from a tourist entry to a Non B visa is possible at Immigration in Thailand, but is more demanding in terms of documentation, and takes longer than doing it at an embassy/consulate.

As a general rule you are, of course, correct. The exception is that Non O-A and Non O-X visas require the endorsement of the MFA in Bangkok.

Your planned timing seems appropriate, and should work. Worst case, if you have a problem on April 7, ask the officials what they want you to do to fix things to their satisfaction. There might be some bumps in the road, but what you want to do is absolutely possible.

You ran into a (probably young and ambitious) official who was digging for some reason to give you a hard time. Perhaps, the official had transferred from Thai immigration at the Poipet/Aran land crossing where such attempts to hassle anyone staying for more than a few weeks in Thailand is common practice. You are doing nothing wrong, and can continue as before.

That is not necessary if you have the correct documents to show you are the father.

My strong recommendation is to do what Immigration recommended. There are strong reasons for following their advice that I can go into if you really want a full education. I summary, the visa and extension using an agent make any further extension (which is subject to scrutiny at Division headquarters) risky. You cannot get a brand new visa from Thai Immigration when already on a Non Immigrant permission to stay. If you return to Thailand visa exempt or with a tourist visa, your work permit becomes invalid. By leaving and immediately returning to Thailand with a Non O visa based on Thai child (I suggest doing this in Savannakhet) you can then extend yourself at your local Immigration office and all should go smoothly (or mostly smoothly) going forward. The validity of your work permit will never be in question.

Yes, there are forwarding services available in the UK for a price. That are not acceptable as the address on a UK bank account.

If you are applying for a 60-day extension to visit your wife, reasonably, Immigration will want to see proof that you are married. The 30-day extension, as Jack explained, is a tourist extension that can be received whether you are married or not. You are correct that both a 30-day and 60-day extension should be possible.

The subject raised in this thread has been discussed ad infinitum in this forum. After allowing everyone to express their deeply held convictions, it is time to close the thread, and save everyone the effort of meaningless arguments. CLOSED

Especially for an application in Bangkok which could not be achieved at all a few months ago.

Actually, while Windows NT was a poor choice for high reliability systems, it was the first Microsoft OS to have a decent filesystem. NTFS is not as good as, say, BTRFS or ZFS. However, at the time of its introduction, it was one of the best designed filesystems available The risk of data loss was orders of magnitude less than with the older FAT and FAT32 designs..

I hope you are applying direct with Thailand Elite. If so, call them and confirm whether your not yet approved Easy Access membership will include the same upgrade rights as older memberships.

That is a valid concern, but I get the impression that airlines do not usually care when they see you have a return flight ticket booked with them (even if over 30 days later). Having no return (or onward) flight booked at all is another matter.

You point up the concern I would have. If you have serious health issues in Thailand, it can become very expensive. You often cannot get proper treatment unless you can pay. Once you leave the UK, you lose access to the NHS which (while underfunded and in a fair amount of trouble) can usually still provide critical care if it is needed. At least, give this important issue some thought. As against that, your quality of life in Thailand is almost certainly going to be better under normal circumstances.

There is a catch 22 in the specific case of switching from a permission to stay based on retirement to one based on working. That is not exactly because of the rules on extending your permission to stay. It is because you cannot get the work permit while on a permission to stay based on working (and, obviously, cannot get an extension based on working without a work permit). As you yourself note, there is no problem going in the other direction.

OK. You received a Non O visa at Immigration in June 2022, followed by a one-year extension of the 90-day stay based on Thai wife which ends 29 August 2023. It appears you used an agent who processed the visa and extension at Udon Thani immigration. Last year, it was possible to do this without your attendance. Now, it appears the agent could again do the extension in Udon Thani, but you must be present there for a short while to be photographed This seems a bit nerve wracking, especially with the agent not seeming keen themselves. I note from your later post that you think you might be able to qualify based on income. There are two potential issues: (i) your local immigration office may realise you have been using an agent, and not want to be involved because of that; and (ii) you need to find out what the local immigration office will require in terms of income proof [if you are working with a work permit, then they should accept your proof of paying Thai tax on over 40,000 baht per month of income].. Talk with your local office. I suggest you show them your passport and do not try to lie. Just be nice, explain the history, and that you want to do everything correctly going forward so you and your family have no problems. (However, omit the fact that you were looking to use an agent again.) Ask them what you need to do. Most officials respect honesty, family responsibility, and a respectful request for help. I make no guarantees, but your chances are good, and you can fall back on a trip to Savannakhet if all else fails.