BritTim

Just making an appointment instead is free. Anyway, the last time I checked, the VFS service was Bangkok only.

If you want late night transport to Mukdahan (and are not using the Nok Air or Air Asia fly-ride tickets) then Ubon is really your best option. Personally, because it connects perfectly with the first bus from Mukdahan to Savannakhet in the morning, I have usually taken the overnight VIP bus from Bangkok. I say this as someone who hates long distance buses.

If they agree to give you a new visa, they will cancel the old one first.

There is no Thai embassy in Thailand. If you are planning to travel by air to Vientiane, entering on a new passport, then subsequently apply for a Non O visa at the Thai consulate in Vientiane, that should be OK. If you are currently in Thailand on a permission to stay that was stamped into a passport that will expire in three months, then you will probably face questioning. Allow extra time to explain to the airline at check in and to Thai Immigration that you will not be using that passport to enter Laos. Laos requires a passport with at least six months remaining validity for entry.

You must either leave when your permission to stay expires, or apply for an extension of your permission to stay. The permission to stay can be extended based on your Thai spouse (usually best) or based on working.

I did not suggest applying for two visas, only for one (which I thought you were intending to do anyway).

You will not be able to get a visa in a passport that lacks a Laos entry stamp. EDIT: An approach you might want to consider: Get the visa in the old passport. Travel to Vientiane. Fly to Bangkok leaving on the old passport and entering Bangkok on the new passport (using the visa in the old passport). You will be questioned, but airport immigration should allow this based on your reasonable explanation of why you are doing it.

You can change passports when using airports. At a land crossing, you are obliged to use the same passport for exit from one country and entry to the other. You are not the first to be inconvenienced by this.

If queried (highly unlikely) tell them that you did it. Nothing in Immigration's system indicates whether or not such an audit of your bank account was done.

Most people consider the "online extension" service to be pretty useless. After using the services of VFS, you still need to go to Immigration to have the extension stamped into your passport. The extra cost has only one real benefit: VFS check your documents before you go, and this reduces the risk of a wasted trip to the immigration office. It is a hand holding exercise, and agents usually do it better (although they are more expensive).

It becomes easier to understand the rules if you first internalise the difference between a visa and a permission to stay. Under Thai immigration rules, you do not "change" visas. You either change the reason for your permission to stay; or (ignoring a special case of applying for a visa at Immigration to convert from a tourist entry to a Non Immigrant entry) you leave the country to apply for a new visa. In your case, you want to change from a temporary permission to stay in Thailand based on working to a temporary permission to stay based on your Thai spouse. In principle, the process is uncomplicated. First you have your current permission to stay truncated as a result of the pending termination of your current employment. Then you apply for a new extension of your permission to stay based on your Thai spouse. Get the required documents for each of these two steps, and everything should go fairly smoothly.

There is no minimum period required outside Thailand before returning from Laos. Even returning the same day is permitted. Your friend, as a French national will not need a visa to return to Thailand. He is eligible for a 30-day visa exempt entry.

It is a new rule that was introduced when the e-visa system started providing visas by email, and the embassy/consulate no longer got to see your actual passport as part of the application process.

Yes, your permission to stay indicates when you must leaver. The work permit (and also the visa) are not your permission to stay. The work permit allows you to work legally. The (unexpired) visa allows you to enter Thailand. If you do not want to leave at the expiry of your permission to stay, you must apply for an extension (60 days immediately based on Thai spouse without financial proof or one year under consideration with financial proof).

Maybe, you will be lucky and your consulate not ask for this, but common is (See, for instance, https://helsinki.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/tourist-visa-tr-metv)

Rules that are based on bilateral agreement are usually reciprocal. In the agreement, the rules for French and Thai diplomats for entry into the respective countries are probably set to be the same. Thailand may choose to apply a more liberal policy for French diplomats, but European countries are usually less generous towards Thais.

You presumably found that on an embassy website, or had a consular official tell you it existed. That rule existed for a few months over a decade ago, but was found to be impracticable to enforce and was scrapped. Ignore what embassies tell you about anything but the services they provide themselves (including rules enforced by the Immigration Bureau). They are usually convincing and often wrong. At this time, there are no hard limits for stays as a tourist. Many embassies/consulates have local guidelines they use when granting tourist visas. For visa exempt entries, there is a hard rule of maximum two visa exemptions by land (or sea) during a calendar year. At airports, it is completely according to the discretion of the officials whether they consider that you are using visa exemptions in a manner consistent with regular tourism. Occasionally, airport officials will suggest that there is a maximum of 180 days possible per year as a tourist (and some members here will say that is logical because a tourist cannot be a tax resident). However, there is no such official rule.

One issue you have, besides lying about your current location, is the probable need to falsify the passport page copies you are told to provide.

It would be very interesting to the see extension stamp, and the visa it was based on, from your passport. What you cite is highly unusual. I have heard of Immigration failing to honour visas from consulates, but never extensions issued by an immigration office.

As someone else mentioned, this is almost certainly a misunderstanding based on their limited English comprehension.

Any overseas trips must be very short (a weekend trip would be OK). Students are sometimes known to travel. They just need to do so in a way that does not interfere with their studies.

Flying domestic within Thailand does not involve passing through immigration. There are no stamps for 90-day reports in your passport. If you have reported in person, you will have been given a small loose slip that indicates the next date you need to report. Failure to do a 90-day report does not risk deportation or blacklisting.

As stated, for safety, keep at least 400,000 baht in your account during the under consideration period for the extension of your permission to stay based on marriage (note: your permission to stay is not a visa, renewed or otherwise). There is absolutely no restriction on withdrawals as long as the balance remains above 400,000.

You can avoid it (either legally with border bounces, or by risking a fine).

To be more accurate, the extension must be approved at Division headquarters. Depending on where the immigration office is located, this means Bangkok, Mae Rim Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, or Hat Yai. The headquarters for Eastern Division (while separate from that for Central Division) is also in Bangkok.