BritTim

According to the letter of the law, that is correct. However, the Thai authorities at the highest levels have long decided to make it hugely different in terms of enforcement. If you are not competing with Thais for customers or jobs, the fact that you are working as a digital nomad is 100% tolerated.

It is the norm. Such companies are an option but IMHO very much a last resort. As a digital nomad with no Thai customers, I would never consider them. I do understand the problems people can have with their corporate lawyers, though.

Others have the same views I have. On a point of information, If you have a re-entry permit that still has months to run, your application for a new visa will almost certainly be denied. The embassy does not like you to have two valid alternatives for entering Thailand.

If you have no other tourist visas for Thailand in your passport, your tourist visa application in Phnom Penh should be successful. In the unlikely event that your visa application is denied, flying in for a visa exemption should be OK. You could also enter by land, but under no circumstances risk trying to enter via the Poipet/Aranyaprathet crossing.

I will just say that lawyers tend to be extremely risk averse, and they will usually declare grey areas to be illegal, even when it is quite certain that the activity is tolerated in practice. The Labour Department has tried hard to provide guidelines on what can be done without work permits. However, the very existence of the UWP (Urgent Work Permit) intended for those working for a maximum of 15 days and usually less, indicates that even short work assignments in Thailand are often not legal without the Labour Department's permission.

If you have an actual tourist visa, entering via one of the Bangkok airports ought to be OK. However, the officials there have been known to go rogue occasionally in the past. Using an airport (such as Chiang Mai) that has no history of refusing to honour tourist visas might be safer.

Some banks will accept other proofs of residence (such as a long term rental contract combined with evidence of a TM30 notification). As ever in Thailand, there is no consistency in the requirements between banks and individual branches.

That is his choice. I know people who suffer from anxiety can be unpredictable in what they find high pressure. Bank documents (taking less than an hour) should not be a major issue. As I stated, the most important thing is to ensure the statements for the early part of the year are done in advance (the last six months are not an issue). However, I can see that completing everything on the 8th (even if the flight is on time) would be a stretch. Doing it on the 11th would be more reasonable. The stress can be reduced hugely by use of an agent. Immigration will not give him a week. Officials have a lot of discretion, but allowing people to overstay without penalty is not one of them. I am sorry to hear that he was addicted to medication by unscrupulous (or incompetent) doctors.

Opening a bank account is the hardest part of the process, but not insuperable. An agent can help (for a price). Doing it alone is possible, but requires persistence and an understanding of how the bank employees think. Assuming you are not fluent in Thai, take along a Thai who comes across as "high class" to help. You may need to purchase (not completely worthless) accident insurance (3,000 baht or so) as a sweetener to induce the bank employees to help (they get a small commission).

Have you verified that the insurance requirements you cite are still current? At many embassies, the Covid era insurance requirements have now been dropped. You should not rely on the embassy website as an accurate reflection of the current regulations, but check directly with the embassy. Which embassy will you be applying at?

Unfortunately, the British embassy in Bangkok has absolutely no clue about the machinations of the UK Passport Processing Centre in Durham, UK. Even VFS Global in Trendy Tower Bangkok (who are responsible for coordinating UK passport applications from Thailand) can only provide a guestimate. I can still remember when it was possible to do a passport renewal at the UK embassy in Bangkok within less than a week. It is ironic that, when passport processing was centralised at the processing centre in Durham, one of the arguments for the change was that the greater efficiency achieved would allow passports to be issued more quickly!

There is no "grace period" when applying for an extension of stay. If you are on overstay, you are on overstay. Further, the time taken to get the proper documentation from the bank is not a valid excuse with appropriate planning. I assume that he will be in Thailand at some time after 1st October 2023. At that time, he should order statements for the period 1 March 2023 to 30 September 2023. On his return, he should request statements from the bank for the period 1 October 2023 to 8 March 2024. These can be provided while he waits. This (and the other required documentation) can be done at a bank branch at Government Centre for most banks if his extension of stay is being processed at Chaengwattana immigration. I note that 8 March 2024 is a Friday. What time does his flight arrive? Immigration at the airport may refuse to admit him on the re-entry permit if it is clear to them that he cannot extend his permission to stay before the Sunday. Normally, since Immigration is closed on the Sunday, you can apply on the Monday without penalty, but I do not know if airport immigration will accept that explanation. Which immigration office is he planning to use? If he will be extending in Bangkok, he should ensure he has an appointment for either the afternoon of March 8 (preferred) or March 11.

Technically, you are supposed to get a UWP (Urgent Work Permit) for this, though people often do not. Here is an excellent summary of (i) situations where the Labour Department clarified about 10 years ago that a work permit is not needed; and (ii) the UWP (Urgent Work Permit): https://www.dejudomlaw.com/urgent-work-permit-thailand/

Presumably, you are an Australian citizen if you were able to get an METV in Australia. UK citizens must apply for an METV in the UK.

This makes perfect sense. If she enters on the Thai passport, she cannot leave on the US passport. The IO sensibly pointed that out. Once she made clear that she intended leaving on a renewed Thai passport, the IO was happy to stamp her in as a Thai.

The authorities have specifically clarified that attending trade shows, and making purchases while there can be done without needing a work permit. Actually meeting customers and selling to them is different, and I do not think that is legal without a work permit.

I have always believed that a 90-day report with a seven day grace period is not the same thing as a 96-day report. It seems illogical to me that you can stay over 90 days without making a report. However, it is quite clear that the authorities do not care about the missed report if you leave within the grace period. Thus, whether you ought, in theory, to make a report or not is academic. You can omit it.

I would agree that acting as a Thai employer is not going to be tolerated by the Thai authorities. On the other hand, advertising in other countries that you have work that can be carried out from the location of the employee's choice will not get either you or the employee into trouble based on the standard practice of the Thai authorities for the last 15+ years.

The only option suggested by monito is to use Skrill. The exchange rate you get is not very good (you lose over 1.5% compared to the mid market rate) but they have no other charges.

It is vital to clarify exactly what he is doing in Thailand. If he is doing any work that involves a Thai company or Thai customers, he needs a work permit. If the authorities become aware of what he is doing, they will take action. On the other hand, if he is doing only 100% remote work for a foreign employer, there is no problem in practice. The Thai authorities at the highest levels have decided to tolerate this. He can use any visa he can get without any worries. He may, though, discover that his company's legal department want something better than "what he is doing is fully tolerated" as security that the company would never be held liable for illegal working.

If money in the bank is not a problem, the easy solution is for your mother to enter with a tourist visa, establish a bank account in her name, deposit 800,000 baht, and get a Non O visa and subsequent extensions based on retirement. More complicated solutions that require lower finances are possible, as is the use of an agent to streamline the process.

In the absolute worst case scenario, you can allow your current permission to stay lapse, and return on a fresh Non O visa applied for outside Thailand (or even at Immigration on your return). The only time this would be any kind of a problem is if you want to maintain an unbroken period of stay because you intend applying for permanent residency or citizenship.

With the correct paperwork, the cancellation of your permission to stay can be post-dated. This avoids the need to rely on the 7 days to leave the country for which you pay 1,900 baht. Are you in a position to visit immigration with a termination letter from your employer that states the last date of your employment?

Exceptions in Thailand are: visas on arrival issued at airports or a few major land crossings as you enter the country. Thailand Elite visas affixed to your passport either at Chaengwatttana immigration office, or at the airport as you enter Thailand. LTR visas often placed in your passport at a BOI office in Bangkok. SMART visas, sometimes affixed to your passport at a consulate abroad, but can also be placed in your passport at relevant offices in Bangkok. Non Immigrant visas applied for at Immigration using forms TM86 or TM87. None of these are illegal.

You were denied entry under the provisions of the Thai Immigration Act Section 12. At other land crossings, you would almost certainly have been allowed to enter visa exempt, though the two short overstays might have made them think about it. At Poipet, a denied entry was likely as soon as they had any kind of excuse for doing so. You need to enter Thailand by air. It would be better if you got a visa first, but the Phnom Penh embassy would probably deny an application for a tourist visa. Consider flying to Chiang Mai for a visa exempt entry where the officials have historically been more forgiving in cases like yours than the officials at the two Bangkok airports.