BritTim

I might advise young women not to go down ill lighted streets at night. No doubt, you will consider this as hypocritical when I also claim that men raping them would be illegal.

I rarely provide people my email address, and I haver certainly never given it to you. I have all my emails for the last three years, and the most significant ones for the last 20. Whoever you communicated with on email on this subject, it was not me. If you ask for my email address, I will refuse to give it to you, and tell you to PM me on this board instead.

The appeal is made using form TM11, and informing the official that you are making an appeal pursuant to Section 22 of the Immigration Act. Sure, they do not tell you that. They might even try to refuse to accept the form and payment for making the appeal. That is why the involvement of a lawyer is preferable, as is often the case when dealing with Thai police officers (especially rogue ones).

I have provided a link to the relevant part of the Immigration Act. Please point out the Section that gives them this "discretion". Do not just fall back on "it is obvious that they have this power" when reading Section 12 and Section 22 specifically indicates that to deny for other reasons is specifically proscribed.

The legal framework controlling entry and departure from Thailand is described in Sections 11 through 22 of the Immigration Act (primarily Section 12 and Section 22). You can read a good translation of the entire relevant part of the Act at https://library.siam-legal.com/thai-law/thai-immigration-act-entering-and-departing-the-kingdom-sections-11-22/. This is Section 12: This is Section 22: The Thai laws differ markedly from those of almost all other countries. Most important, the discretion of officials controlling entry into the country is severely constrained. They are told the conditions under which entry should be denied, and can only deny entry based on them. It is made clear that only the Minister has the power to depart from the written regulations. It should be noted that Police Orders issued by the Minister since the Act was promulgated qualify the provisions surrounding visa exemptions. For those with valid visas, the law has not been amended.

It has been reported that Penang no longer does the multiple entry Non O (Thai child) visa. I am aware of nowhere that does. You can go the route of (i) single entry Non O; (ii) 60-day extension to visit your child; (iii) repeat. The other alternative, if you can qualify, is Non O visa followed by one-year extension (optionally combined with re-entry permits).

I, unfortunately, am unfamiliar with Phuket based immigration lawyers. A good one, for a price, could almost certainly file the appeal and get this decision reversed. It is easier if you can put the officials on notice that this will happen prior to being placed in the detention room.

Not, I think, in those countries. Although very unlikely, conceivably in some others.

Denial of visa exempt entry is often legitimate. The official is supposed, in that case, to exercise discretion is deciding whether the arrival is a genuine tourist (or other short term visitor). That is distinct from the situation when someone enters with a visa where the qualification process and investigation has already been done by the consulate.

A police officer harassing someone for having dirty shoes might believe he is serving society by keeping riffraff off the streets. Sure, in a country like Thailand, they might be able to get away with doing that. I am not saying that they cannot get away with it, simply that what they are doing is not lawful. I am also advising to stay away from lawless officials and go to entry points where the law is followed. The IO has done their job when they stamp you in, or deny you entry subject to one of the legitimate reasons listed in Section 12 of the Immigration Act. You are correct that they can lie about their reasons on the denial of entry stamp, and this can probably only be combatted with the help of an immigration lawyer. That fact does not ban me from recommending to the OP what to do when confronted with rogue officials. Just living in Thailand is not sufficient reason for an immigration official to deny entry with a tourist visa. It gives them a reason to be suspicious, and they might strenuously disagree with the decision of the consulate to issue you a visa. They still need a legitimate reason to deny entry, not just that they do not like stamping you in.

Your permission to stay expires on the expiry date of your permission to stay. Your 90-day report is completely separate. I am guessing that you are over the age of 50, and the agent obtained the extension based on retirement. It does not matter, if you do it yourself, you can do an extension based on marriage. A 60-day extension to visit your Thai wife should be possible if you have not had one since the last time you entered Thailand using a visa (or visa exempt). That is only necessary if you need time prior to August 29 to season 400,000 baht in your Thai bank account prior to applying for the one-year extension based on marriage. Unless you need to use the 60-day extension, save it. You might want it at some point in the future.

Unfortunately not, though they will issue you single entry Non O visas to visit your child.

Let me ask you a hypothetical question. If a police officer arrested you, stating it was for having dirty shoes, but wrote up a charge sheet that accused you of possession of a banned substance, would you consider that lawful exercise of their discretion? What the airport official did in this case is precisely analogous, and they did so without caring one way or another what the effect might be on what they consider "genuine" tourists. They were simply upset that some consular officials take a different view of what constitutes a "genuine" tourist than they do. They are not supposed to do this, regardless of what immigration officials in many other countries are given the power to do.

If he is suspected of working without a work permit (what they tend to suggest in the stamp denying entry) why do they not say so? What they told him was they felt he was a tourist for too long. That is not illegal abuse of a tourist visa, and there is no reason under Section 12 that justifies such a decision.

Section 12 of the Immigration Act which lists the sole reasons why you can be denied entry, does not mention "acting against the spirit of being a tourist" as one of the valid reasons for denying entry. In most countries, officials can deny you entry for any reason at their discretion. The Thai Immigration Act specifically disallows that.

Accurate, but with a warning Reason 22 (retirement) for extension of stay has been amended at least twice since that Police Order was issued. It is necessary to be aware of whether those amendments apply to you.

That would be a solution. Make sure you have a re-entry permit (or multiple entry visa) unless you want your current permission to stay cancelled. I am not sure of the situation with getting re-entry permits prior to departure at Ranong. It may be possible, but only during normal immigration opening hours. I doubt the office where you stamp out of Thailand has a re-entry permit desk. Perhaps, someone else knows.

All good things come to he who waits, so they say. True, apparently in this case. It was lucky that your landlord was around and was helpful.

I think he is referring to Non O (marriage) rather than Non O (retirement). You are correct that the money in the bank requirement is the same for extension of Non O-A and extension of Non O (retirement).

All this might well be true, and would still be completely legal. Certain immigration officials might think that this is against the spirit of what visa exemptions and tourist visas were designed for, but they are supposed to act according to the law, not their personal feelings about what the law ought to be. With visa exemptions, they actually have discretion (as do consular officials considering visa application) to deny entry. They are not supposed to refuse to honour legally issued visas without a valid reason.

Phuket should not (but might) refuse to process your 90-day report in person when showing them both passports. You have moved your residence, and it is their responsibility to update their system accordingly.

Essential information will be transferred from the old passport to the new passport when you leave Thailand. Assuming your new passport was received while still in Thailand, there will be nothing necessary that needs to be transferred on your return, but you will need to show both passports.

Which rules are you thinking of? Are you suspecting him of bribing the consular officials in Penang to give him a tourist visa he was not entitled to? Do you believe there is a law restricting how long you can be a tourist in Thailand (hint: there is no such regulation)?

That depends entirely on where you enter. If you are thinking of entering via Phuket airport again, in my view that is stupid. They have already demonstrated contempt for the laws they are supposed to follow. If entering via safe land crossings, you can enter now. If thinking of flying to Chiang Mai, allow a few days.

Up to you. In any case, choose a safe entry point the next time.