BritTim

To make clear something that no one else has: immigration has nothing to do with work permits. If looking for official advice on what you can or cannot do in terms of working, you need to talk with the Labour Department. If you work without a work permit (or do work that is not specified in your work permit) then the Labour Department may well enlist Immigration or other police to assist in the enforcement activities. The Labour Department can be very helpful and friendly sometimes if you approach them in a respectful manner. It will be difficult to satisfy the requirements for a work permit if your wife's business does not have a couple of other Thai employees and enough paid up capital. Even with a work permit, you will not be able to engage in activities that fall under occupations restricted to Thais (which includes almost everything involved in running a small resort). If you happen to be a US national, there may be options available under the Treaty of Amity, though you would need a clever lawyer to be able to take advantage.

Some ideas ... You have the option of a border bounce just before your planned trip out of Thailand (90 day permission to stay, as you know) and a re-entry permit to return on during the 90 days. You can then schedule the Savannakhet trip for a little later. Another option is a 60-day extension of your current permission to stay just before your departure. The 60 days is added to your current permission to stay and, again, can be protected using a re-entry permit. I assume you have no interest in switching to a one-year extension within Thailand rather than the multiple entry Non O visa.

Given how long you have been away, I would expect no problems with a single entry tourist visa (SETV) from the Thai embassy in Bucharest. However, that would only give you a 60 day initial permission to stay, together with a single 30-day extension. Look into whether you can qualify for a multiple entry tourist visa (METV) instead. Correctly used, that would allow you to stay about eight months with border bounces every 60-90 days. Once your university course starts, the university should be able to help you get an education visa that will resolve your immigration issues. Discuss this with them. If you cannot get an METV, covering the period from the start of your stay until the beginning of your university course could be tricky. As a Romanian, you are not able to extend your visit with visa exempt entries through border bounces. Your best bet would be to find a language school that can help you get a visa and extensions to cover that period. Relying on SETVs from embassies/consulates close to Thailand would be nerve wracking, given your nationality and the lack of a safety net of visa exempt entry if your visa application is denied. Good luck!

If you have a new passport, and only intend to get one single entry tourist visa in the region, you have a number of good options. With time to apply for an appointment, Vientiane Laos is hassle free if you meet their documented requirements. Though you will probably be interrogated, and also need an appointment, you should be fine in Ho Chi Minh City, somewhere many find enjoyable for a visit. If your plan is to stay longer, getting two or three tourist visa in quick succession, leave Vientiane until later. For the first tourist visa., if your passport shows less than 90 days in Thailand over the last six to 12 months, you could apply in Savannakhet Laos (for shorter queues, go Tuesday or Wednesday) or Phnom Penh Cambodia (takes several days) When it becomes doubtful whether a tourist visa application in most embassies/consulates in the region would be successful, you would still probably have a decent chance in Yangon Myanmar or Kota Bharu Malaysia. Wherever you go, be ready to satisfy all the documented requirements at your chosen location for tourist visa applications.

The new passport has for a long time been of little value at immigration when entering Thailand. Its value has been at embassies/consulates in hiding your immigration history, and making it easier to get tourist visas. As far as I know, this is still the case. If you have a visa, the official power of immigration officials to deny you entry is much lower. It has happened at some airports, and especially at the rogue land crossing at Aranyaprathet/Poipet, but those with visas can enter pretty safely at most land crossings and some airports. Long stay tourists trying to enter visa exempt by air, especially with very short gaps between their visits, need to be aware that they are subject to scrutiny, and the officials are supposed to screen you as genuine tourists before letting you in. There is a very real risk of a denied entry.

I think the strongest evidence that the authorities are not keen on long stay tourists is that the Special Tourist visa was only allowed under the special conditions that prevailed during Covid. If people staying nine months as a tourist was considered desirable, they would have continued to allow a nine month stay by receiving extensions at Immigration. You are correct, though, that denying entry to those with visas (single or multiple entry) was not common, and restricted to a few airports plus the land crossing at Aranyaprathet/Poipet. I cannot prove that long stay tourists are more generally disdained.

I think I recall a recent post by a UK national who received a visa in Australia without being a resident. Maybe that will change if Australia switches to the e-visa system, but I suspect visas will continue to be issued to non residents under some circumstances.

Let me comment on this specifically. You can often save dramatically on medication (especially in Thailand) by being smart. Doctors in Thailand tend not to prescribe generic alternatives for expensive medications, but using generics can often reduce the cost by 80% or more, especially if you acquire the medication through low cost pharmacies like Diamond Pharmacy near Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. Look into this, and ask your doctor the next time you see them. Be sceptical if they tell you the generics (with the exact same formulation) are no good.

You were probably just told "one tourist visa". However, did they happen to clarify whether this was one tourist visa from them or a tourist visa from anywhere visible in your passport?

If you have time to provide this, it would be very interesting to know your recent immigration history when you received a tourist visa in Phnom Penh. The requirements on the webpage are one thing, but (historically) Phnom Penh was very tough on those they identified as long stay tourists. Is that still the case, or is satisfying their documented requirements sufficient?

The e-visa system has blurred longstanding rules on visa applications. At one time, visa applications needed to be made in person (or by posting them your passport from within the country) and ensuring you were physically present in the country when doing the application was very easy. The rule still exists that you must be physically in the country where you are applying. However, it is no longer easy for the embassy or consulate to know if the rule is being followed. The best way of proving your physical location at the time of the application is a good question. Usually, people assume that the embassy will take your word for it. For an METV, they additionally want to ensure that you have long term right of abode in the UK (or Ireland). Your UK passport is sufficient to prove this. People who do not have right of abode in the UK might be able to apply for a single entry tourist visa while in the UK. It depends on your nationality and some other factors.

The strong preference of most in high places in Thailand is that the METV be used for multiple discrete trips to the country. There are no regulations that enforce this, however and, as you post, it is quite feasible to use an METV for a single extended stay of over eight months. Some immigration officials absolutely hate this, and there have been rare cases of officials at some airports (improperly) actually blocking people from re-entering with an METV as a long stay tourist.

I confirm the above. Originally, the window for online notifications was shorter, but you can now use the online app right up to the due date. If after the due date, you must do it in person at the immigration office, but there is no penalty if you do it no later than seven days after the due date.

The fact that you have recently been working (especially if in a low paid job) may well make some officials suspicious that you could be planning on working illegally. It typically will influence immigration officials more than consular officials. You can no longer apply for a visa at the Bali consulate. Your application must go to Jakarta, and they are very strict on tourist visas. I have seen too few reports recently on tourist visa applications in Kuala Lumpur to form an opinion on your chances there. The embassy has oscillated between being reasonably easy and horribly unfriendly. I think you would succeed in getting a tourist visa in Vientiane. You need an appointment to apply there. Carefully check the requirements in Vientiane for a tourist visa, and ensure you satisfy them. Returning visa exempt via the Bangkok airports would involve some risk due to officials possibly deciding you are not a tourist and are a potential illegal worker.

Recent discussions raise one question in my mind that no one has yet encountered, and may not even have been considered by the BOI. What happens if you want to be outside Thailand at the end of the initial five-year period? Can you deal with all the paperwork and other requirements remotely without needing to be present in the country?

If you have a viable business plan, and plan to establish a Thai company to pursue it, you will need legal help to ensure you have effective control while there is the required 51% Thai ownership on paper. You should be including your visa as one of the deliverables you expect the lawyer to provide as part of the company establishment. Note that, if you are a US citizen. you have options under the Treaty of Amity between Thailand and the US. Forget the Thai company idea if you do not have a good business plan on how to make it profitable. There are some significant costs.

The "180-day rule" is cited on some consulate websites because, long ago, for a short period it did exist. Unfortunately, alongside some complete rubbish, describing rules that have not existed for a decade or more is depressingly common. You are correct that some officials use 180 days in the last year as a yardstick that strongly influences their attitude. Other officials may be more influenced by your age, how you are dressed, and your general behaviour. When it comes to visa exempt entry, the officials have wide discretion in deciding whether you appear to be a tourist.

On the re-entry permit, the above is broadly correct. There are a few major land border crossings that have re-entry permit desks, but the majority do not. At best, the nearest immigration office may do them, but obviously only during the hours the office is open. If unsure of the status at a land crossing you plan to use, get a re-entry permit in advance (as advised, in the office that issued you the extension, if any, or where you submitted a TM30 if you need a re-entry permit for an entry from a visa).

The law most definitely does exist, and has existed for many years. In more detail, the law mandates that visitors to Cambodia must stay overnight with only two significant exceptions: (i) it does not apply to those with multiple entry business visas; and (ii) it does not apply to those transiting at specifically Phnom Penh airport. The original justification for the law is that Cambodia is a poor country, and its economy is benefited by having visitors spend at least one night in the country.

Wishful thinking in the US wants it to be a Chinese lab leak. It is, indeed, conceivable that it was. However, there is a big gap between sloppy disinfection practices and an undetected leak causing a major outbreak at a live animal market. The best available evidence (some of which only came to light a few months ago) suggests that the initial source was racoon dogs in a specific area of the market. We shall probably never know for sure.

You do have the option of contesting the charge through your credit card company, as you did not receive the visa you were paying for.

Until the expiry of an LTR visa (like any other visa) you can spend as much or as little time in Thailand as you wish, and still use it to enter Thailand.

Getting extensions based on money in the bank has always been available, and has nothing to do with income letters from the embassy. Those who can use income letters just need to show an average level of total income of 65k+ baht over the year. Those who cannot get income letters must transfer 65k+ every month into a Thai bank account. Many people with a total income exceeding 65k+ baht per month cannot transfer this amount each month to Thailand owing to commitments they have back in their home countries. Also, if one transfer fails to go through as expected, you are no longer able to get your next extension. Some who were able to satisfy the income requirements using income letters have been forced into the clutches of the agents to continue receiving extensions after their embassies stopped issuing the letters.

Immigration reserve the right to turn up at your reported residence at any time to verify that the information you have provided was accurate. In places like Bangkok, they rarely do so. However, it is not that rare in some places up country.

You can apply for a Non O visa at Immigration from a visa exempt entry. See the TM87 form (https://aseannow.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=439176). Note that, these days, opening a bank account in Thailand is much more difficult than formerly. Depending on where you are living, it may be nearly impossible on a visa exempt entry or tourist visa.