BritTim

Entering with a tourist visa or (if eligible) visa exempt will have no impact on your Thailand Elite membership application. Indeed, if you are in Thailand on a tourist entry, the Easy Access visa can be placed in your passport at Chaengwattana immigration.

I have not spent time in Tachileik for a long time. In the past, there was not much to do except shop (which you can do in a few hours without staying overnight). If interested in nightlife and Burmese women, that is easier on the Thai side in Mae Sai. Dollars are welcome, baht acceptable but at unfavourable exchange rates. You may well get change only in kyat.

It is well known by now that Savannakhet has started being much stricter about granting tourist visas. There have been no reports that suggest a tightening of the guidelines in Vientiane. However, you need an appointment to apply in Vientiane; and over six months consecutively already might be treated as a red flag by the officials. If you have no previous tourist visa in your current passport that was issued in Vientiane, my guess is that they will give you one. No guarantees.

Even if an immigration office has a usual policy that you can only apply for the extension during the last 30 days of the existing permission to stay, they will often be flexible if shown that you have confirmed flights leaving a little earlier than that.

Previous history shows Chiang Mai airport is better than either of the Bangkok airports. Not many international flights (except for some within the region) go direct to Chiang Mai, but it would certainly be a prudent choice if possible. There have been a very few denied entries at Chiang Mai for those requesting visa exemptions, but they were pretty extreme cases. There have never, as far as I know, been any inappropriate denied entries for those with visas (unlike at the Bangkok airports). Having a tourist visa is better if you are spending a lot of time here. If, in the worst case, you enter through Bangkok again, you will probably get another grilling, but my sense is that they will let you in.

If you cannot get all the documentation needed for the Non B application within the next 10 days or so, you should probably just enter visa exempt. Then it is possible to apply for a "conversion" to a Non B at Immigration in Thailand or (quicker process) travel to a neighbouring country to get a Non B visa at a consulate. Discuss with your employer how they want to handle it.

If you have an actual visa, the airport officials should only deny entry if you fall into one of the reasons specified in Section 12 of the Immigration Act for denial of entry. With visa exemptions, the situation is different. In the same way that an embassy/consulate can refuse to grant you a tourist visa, airport immigration can, at their sole discretion, decide you are not using visa exempt entries in the manner for which they were intended. Perhaps, replacing the officials' judgment with firm rules would make clearer that serial visa exemptions (by air as well as by land) are not considered an acceptable method to stay indefinitely in Thailand. However, such rules would certainly exclude some who are well served by visa exemptions now (such as the OP before his recent experience).

Financial proof in the form of 800k THB equivalent, preferably in a Thai bank account, but probably acceptable in an overseas account, is required. Fairly recent bank statements showing the funds have been in the bank for at least a month or two are probably the best evidence. The cost of the multiple entry Non O visa is 5,000 THB.

Arguably yes; arguably no. I take a broad view of "tourism", and spending a lot of time here for pleasure (not working) makes you a tourist, but not a typical tourist, according to my world view. What you and I think, though, is irrelevant as far as immigration is concerned. It depends on what individual officials think, and the guidance set by their superior. That determines whether you can spend long periods here on tourist visas and visa exemptions.

In that situation, there is no ambiguity. I completely agree with the view of others that discussion of "retirement visas" needs to be clear about what is meant. There is a huge difference between single entry Non O from an embassy/consulate; multiple entry Non O from an embassy/consulate;; Non O applied for and issued at an immigration office in Thailand; Non O-A (always from an embassy/consulate;); Non O-X visa; extension of stay based on retirement after initial entry with a Non O-A visa; extension of stay based on retirement after initial permission to stay based on a regular Non-? visa;; and LTR-WP (Long Term Resident Wealthy Pensioner) visa. All of these (at least informally) can be regarded as "retirement visas". Sometimes, the situation can be inferred by context. Also, we cannot expect members who are asking questions to always be aware that their posts are unclear. Tolerance, and a gentle request for clarification, is all that is required when that happens.

There is no need to get the expired Non O-A visa transferred. You should go to Jomtien immigration to complete the process of transferring extension and re-entry stamps. Some initial annotation of the new passport, together with the new entry stamp will be made on arrival at the airport in Bangkok.

According to recent reports, the financial criteria, at least, are enforced. The requirement for a flight leaving Thailand is not generally required.

I assume you are aware that you now need an appointment to apply in Vientiane. There are also additional official requirements. See https://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/en/page/tourist-visa-2?menu=63bcd875e8b39d00fd0e7513

As long as you are not already on overstay, that will always be given to you.

Neither a multiple entry Non O visa from Savannakhet nor a Non O visa at immigration require medical insurance. The Non O visa from Immigration may well prove problematic logistically. The full plan is to apply for the 90-day Non O visa and subsequently (near the end of the 90 days) apply for one-year extensions. The initial Non O visa application at immigration is taken under consideration. It may well be necessary to return 30 days after the application to have the visa and 90-day permission to stay stamped into your passport. If your work schedule is flexible, this may be doable, but may not be possible if you cannot fit immigration's timescales. The one-year extensions are easier. They are approved instantly (or at worst the next day). you do need to be able to attend immigration about 1-30 days before expiry of the permission to stay to make the application.

Sadly, you are not the first who has run into this. It is up to the individual immigration official whether they believe visa exemptions are being used to stay longer than is consistent with regular tourism. Most officials are sympathetic to cases like yours where trying to get visas is extremely problematic, but you ran into an official who thinks differently. It appears you are over age 50, and you might consider doing the following (it will be necessary once a year). Go to Savannakhet Laos for a multiple entry Non O based on being over age 50. You apply in the morning of one way and have your passport back with the multiple entry visa on the afternoon of the following day. It is best to apply on a Tuesday or Wednesday (the queues are worse on Mondays and Thursdays).

I do vaguely remember a strange report of this from years ago. There was great scepticism at the time, and I asked whether they would require a 10-year rental agreement for a Non O-X visa. It was never proven to be a bogus report, so who knows?

Correct

Indeed, excellent service, and not even a charge for the photocopies. I think I might have dropped Pathum Thani immigration office a box of cakes after this.

An attack on a member accusing him of a lack of patriotism and replies to it have been removed. This is a forum for discussion of visa and immigration issues. Moral questions on whether being born in a country obligates you to fight wars on its behalf are off topic, and attacks on individual members are against forum rules.

Most kinds of official contracts in Thailand are subject to stamp duty (as they were a couple of generations ago in most Western countries). See https://www.rd.go.th/english/21986.html

It might be a tourist visa or might be a Non O. It will not be a Non O-A. How much did you pay? That will provide a clue on what they will give you.

Most likely, you would be returned to your last departure point. If you try to fly from Vientiane to Chiang Mai, you might go via Luang Prabang, but more likely would go via Bangkok, and go through Immigration there. I do not believe there are direct flights from Vientiane to Chiang Mai. If returned from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang, it should be possible to arrange flights from there to Norway.

I agree with the thrust of your post. For balance, it is true that a few asylum applications include dubious claims to be from persecuted religious minorities (though Syrian Christians have generally not faced extreme levels of discrimination unlike in countries like Saudi Arabia). Maybe, though I doubt it, he is one of the rare individuals who made totally fraudulent asylum applications.

The first time you use the new passport, stamps must be transferred. You do not have to do it at the immigration office, but might prefer to. At airports, this does not take much time. At land crossings, there tends to be a specific official responsible for doing it, and you could be faced with a long wait if they are not available (and late evening even told to come back tomorrow). Even after the stamp transfer, the visa remains in the old passport, and you still need to have the old passport with you to enter using the visa.