BritTim

If you want a multiple entry Non O, your only option is Savannakhet. Although there is a small airport there, the flights from Vientiane are expensive. A possible alternative way of getting there is a fly-ride ticket to Mukdahan, crossing to Savannakhet on the international bus. If you only need a single entry Non O, Vientiane is a better option, but you need an appointment in advance to apply there.

If you take the overnight VIP bus (as I suggest) and the first international bus in the morning, you should be at the consulate by about 8:00 am.

If the hotel is cooperative (and does the TM30 notification online like almost all hotels) they should be able to do the notification and provide you with the evidence within a few minutes.

If you have returned on a fresh entry (i.e. not using a re-entry permit) a new TM30 notification is compulsory.

If you have not already used your two allowed visa exempt entries by land in 2023, you should be able to do a border bounce for a fresh visa exempt entry. Alternatively, if you have not already extended your current entry, you can apply for a 30-day extension at immigration to provide the time needed for the visa application.

With colour copies easy to distinguish from originals, one wonders why governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars arranging for the firmware of top end photocopiers to be modified to recognise and refuse to copy legal banknotes.

They are, indeed, friendly. They are best for many kinds of visas. However, they are no longer easy when it comes to tourist visas. Mind you, none of the easily accessible embassies/consulates in the region are now easy (Vientiane, while needing an appointment, is probably best). Long stay tourists now probably need to consider trying in Yangon or Kota Bharu.

Your plan for a Non O in Vientiane makes perfect sense.

Just enter visa exempt and apply for a Non O visa at Immigration based on retirement. As an alternative, you can get a Non O visa based on being over age 50 (basically retirement) from the Thai consulate in Savannakhet.

Possibly accurate is https://savannakhet.thaiembassy.org/th/publicservice/non-immigrant-visa-b-conducting-business-conference-and-employment?page=5d84a44c15e39c26b400453e&menu=5d84a44c15e39c26b400453f

Over the last couple of months, Savannakhet has become much more strict in handing out tourist visas. One guideline they use is to refuse a tourist visa if you have spent more than 90 days out of the previous six months in Thailand as a tourist. Savannakhet used to be just about the best consulate in the region for getting tourist visas. No more.

For the last several years, long stay tourists have had a much better chance of entering visa exempt by land without any problem (as long as they stay within the two per calendar year restriction) than by air. The only major exception is that entering via the Poipet/Aranyaprathet crossing involves high risk.

An economical, but reasonably bearable, way of doing this trip is: make sure you have US$40 in clean, undamaged notes for the Lao visa on arrival; take a VIP overnight bus from Bangkok to Mukdahan (this connects with the first international bus of the day to Savannakhet); cross using the international bus; on arrival at Savannakhet bus station, if it is not raining and not too hot, walk to the Thai consulate (10-15 minutes); after submitting your visa application, book into a hotel (best options change over time, so I make no specific recommendation); for the return from Mukdahan to Bangkok the following afternoon, you have a choice between the bus and (what I prefer) a fly-ride service from Air Asia or Nok Air. In considering the prices charged by visa run companies, bear in mind that they include the Lao visa on arrival and the hotel in their pricing. You can save a bit by travelling independently, but the main advantage is comfort.

While requirements are subject to change without notice, I am quite sure that the financial requirements were unchanged in April. Savannakhet processes hundreds of Multiple Non O visa applications each week, and we would soon know if there were many denials. Failing to show a marriage certificate is quite sufficient to be denied a Non O visa to visit your Thai spouse.

If you hold a visa (whether single or multiple entry) the airline will not normally want to see evidence of an onward ticket. On the other hand, at many embassies/consulates, an onward flight ticket will be one of the requirements when applying for the visa.

I have heard the same but, as far as I know, it is still apply in the morning of day 1 and pick up the passport with the issued visa on the afternoon of day 2.

If the old passport is physically marked as cancelled, I expect this could lead to some lengthy questioning on arrival, but I doubt it would lead to a denied entry. A bigger question I would have is over Belgium's policies on emergency passports. Most countries have fairly strict policies on the itineraries they allow with emergency travel documents. I think he should double check that the Belgian embassy will issue an emergency passport for travel from Turkey to Bangkok, and also any other conditions attached to the issuing of the document.

Just a reasonably up to date bank book will do. That are not as paranoid as immigration offices.

Avoid Penang. The queues are horrendous, and they only accept a limited number of applications each day. If you can get an appointment at Vientiane, that would be my choice. Otherwise, Savannakhet should be OK (with all the correct paperwork) but plan to apply Tuesday or Wednesday. On Monday and Thursday there tend to be long queues as that is the day most visa run groups turn up.

In my experience, Turkish is a highly professional airline that is well up on the rules. Also, I am confident that, worst case, they will allow you to sign an indemnity form. I once did this with Turkish when planning to enter visa exempt with no onward flight. (I assume your flight is direct from Istanbul to Bangkok.)

I remember this. There were many who said that the Thai embassy in Vientiane was making so much money from repeated tourist visa applicants that they would never impose limits.

The necessary stamp transfers can be done at land crossings. However, it is usually done in a different part of the office from the desks where you check out from Thailand. There tends to be a specific officer who handles the stamp transfers, and you may need to wait around for an hour or two if he is busy when you arrive at the border. Also, it might be a problem if you wanted to do it late evening. Make sure you allow for this.

If you mean the reason, I have a theory. The hordes of applicants for tourist visas was completely overwhelming the consulate on days when visa run groups arrived. They needed some way to deter those groups from using Savannakhet or (like Penang) implement a limit on the number of applicants they would process per day. They decided applying stricter requirements would swiftly lead to a reduction in the number of those applying, without negatively affecting obvious tourists.

It is not 100% that the airline will allow you to sign a indemnity form as an alternative to having an onward flight ticket. That is up to the airline supervisor who needs to decide if it will be easy to enforce the terms of the indemnity agreement should the worst happen.

It really depends on whether you consider long stay tourism (staying somewhere for extended periods for pleasure) is a real thing. I personally, for instance, consider snowbirds who spend many months each year in Thailand to escape the cold weather winters in their own countries to be tourists. Obviously, not everyone agrees.