BritTim

Presumably, USCIS want to see evidence that the marriage is de facto as well as de jure. Showing that you have lived together in Thailand for over a decade (including the last year or two) should satisfy them on that score. Actually, just showing the annual Thai extensions of permission to stay based on marriage, and explaining the strict checks carried out by the Thai authorities every year, might well be enough.

"Visa exempt" means you have no visa, but Immigration allows you to enter without one. The term "visa waiver" is sometimes used, and means the same thing.

The passports are the only place on earth with a full record. Immigration's system has a full history of entries and exits from Thailand and extensions of permission to stay, but they do not have information on visa applications. If you want a copy of the history stored in Immigration's system, well connected immigration lawyers can probably get that for you for a price, and provide a useful annotation on what it all means. Personally, I would just extract and collate all the information from the passport stickers and stamps instead.

As explained above, what you receive is not an extension, but an order to leave the country within seven days. It is rarely worth doing this unless you already have a flight booked leaving a couple of days later. Just bite the bullet and do a border bounce.

Land border crossings can vary in terms of scams that exist, and the degree of hassle you might encounter. In that respect, although it varies, the crossings to Myanmar are typically the best, and crossings to Laos next best. However, the Thai immigration rules are the same, regardless of which land crossing you use to enter Thailand. A visa exemption gives you a 30-day permission to stay which can optionally be extended once for a further 30 days at an immigration office within Thailand.

A border run to Laos for a visa exempt entry will give you exactly same options in terms of extensions of your permission to stay as a border run to Cambodia. I suspect you are under the misapprehension that the Friendship Bridge at Nong Khai has some special characteristic that does not exist.

Quite honestly, I do not understand what you mean by this. Without applying for a visa before your return, entry to Thailand from either Laos or Cambodia (or anywhere else) will give you the same 30-day permission to stay from a visa exemption. (I am assuming that your nationality entitles you to the standard tourist visa exempt entry.)

It needs to be a doctor from a major hospital. The letter must explain the medical condition that renders you unable even to travel overland to a border crossing (inability to fly is usually not sufficient). Immigration is extremely sceptical when presented with requests for medical extensions. If both land crossings were without visas (visa exemption) and occurred this year, then you are not eligible for another in 2023. You could leave by land to somewhere like Savannakhet and get an actual tourist visa from the consulate there and could then return by land without a problem. The limitations on entering by land only apply to those entering without a visa. If you are thinking of entering by air, requesting a further visa exemption, there is always a small risk when you are a long stay tourist. Although you would be unlucky, a denied entry is possible. The advice I always give to long stay tourists is to husband those easy and safe visa exempt entries by land. Find other solutions for re-entry (usually, by applying for tourist visas) and only use the visa exemptions in an emergency.

You do not need vaccination proof or Covid tests. What you receive on entry is a 30-day visa exemption (not a visa-on-arrival). The distinction is important as a visa-on-arrival cannot be extended.

If you apply for an extension on the 18th (paying 1,900 baht) then whether the application is accepted or not, there should be no overstay fine. If the application is rejected (as appears to be inevitable) you would get seven days to leave the country, which at that point you must do. It is surely better just to leave no later than the 17th. If you qualify for a Non O visa, applying for this in Savannakhet seems best. Although you will apply on the 18th, you want to enter Savannakhet on the 17th, and queue up early at the consulate on the 18th. It will be an absolute zoo there when the visa run groups arrive. For goodness sake do not even think of turning up mid morning!

The rules on entry are much the same as before Covid. In particular, yes, you can get two visa exempt entries by land in each calendar year (but that gives you 30+30 days on each entry, not three months on each entry). Your thread title asks about "visa" rules. At some embassies/consulates and when using the e-visa system, there may be changes. As an example, where Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City used to be good places to apply for visas, they appear to have become stricter. There is no way to summarise all the various situations in a simple forum post. If you state your nationality, age, and prior immigration history, together with what you want to achieve going forward, maybe we can suggest a good approach.

In practice, probably, yes. There is one issue, though. The 90-day reports ought to be based on your current valid passport (your new one). That will not be possible if the stamp transfer has not been done. Doing it online with the old passport number will usually work, but is not really correct. In your position, although a hassle, I would try to do my 90-day report in person, combining that with the stamp transfer.

In many cases, I find the Cambodian officials will quote a crazy price initially, in the hope that it will be paid without question, but back down when challenged. It is unclear whether that applies here.

You are correct that you are not eligible for the 30-day extension of a tourist entry when you enter with a multiple entry Non Immigrant visa. However, I erroneously thought the post I was replying to was talking about the rules when entering with an METV (Multiple Entry Tourist Visa). The rules on extensions when entering with an METV are exactly the same as when entering with an SETV (Single Entry Tourist Visa).

The change of visa status is requested with a TM86 form (or sometimes TM87). The TM7 form was never intended to include a request for a change in visa status. Indeed, the wording of Police Order 138/2557 in various places implies it cannot do so. However, we are not going to agree about the meaning of extension of temporary permission to stay, and I will allow your next reply to be the final word.

It is a pity that those offices that do not allow you to extend your permission to stay, but insist on cancelling and replacing it with a new permission to stay do not call the "extension" something else. It is bizarre that, for instance, such offices will usually correctly extend your existing permission to stay if you apply for a 60-day extension to visit your Thai spouse, but will cancel and replace your permission to stay if applying (at those offices for an improperly named) "extension" for other reasons.

Definitely not in Poipet. There is no Thai consulate there. In Vientiane, if you can get an appointment, it should be possible. I mention Savannakhet just because you can apply there without an appointment, and there are probably other members here who can tell you the document requirements there.

Theoretically, it might be possible. If they do, a new passport would not help. As a practical matter, unless you seriously upset someone, the Thai authorities very rarely concern themselves with previous irregularities if you have regularised your situation. In your case, I am pretty sure they will appreciate that the technical overstay was an accident and let it go.

Make sure you go without fail on the 18th. Turn up early. If you cannot do it until the 19th, you are into overstay penalties and (although unlikely) possible further complications.

It is best to get the 30-day extension first, and then the 60-day extension. Occasionally (though it should not matter) an immigration office may refuse to do it the other way round.

In principle, you should be able to get a single entry Non O visa in Savannakhet to visit your Thai child. I am unsure of the documents they require. If they need anything from the child's mother, are you able to provide that?

The important thing was leaving before Immigration caught up with you. Future issues are now very unlikely. Phew! Long term, an Elite membership might be a good way to go. Short term, your idea of a Non Ed and associated extensions seems a good approach.

Interesting. At least allows you to recoup the application fee.

Of course, you do not change your "visa" status at Immigration. You can, under certain conditions, apply for a Non Immigrant visa at Immigration to "convert" from a permission to stay based on tourism to a new 90-day Non Immigrant permission to stay. That should be the only situation where your current permission to stay is cancelled and replaced by a fresh permission to stay. An extension of your permission to stay (even if the reason for the stay changes) does not cancel your existing permission to stay, it extends it. It should always add on to the previous expiry date of your permission to stay. As with anything else that involves Immigration in Thailand, officials at some offices may choose to interpret the rules in a way that is not intended.

That varies by nationality, but most countries only seem to allow you to retain your passport (as opposed to surrendering it as part of the application for the replacement) on the condition that it is not used for travel. It is treated as cancelled by your home country's authorities. My own country (the UK) makes this very clear at the time of the application. It is true that the immigration officials of other countries will probably not be aware of the passport's status, and a border bounce very likely to be successful. However, you will be in big trouble if you use the passport to travel and subsequently need consular assistance since (as far as your home country is concerned) you are travelling on an invalid passport. Your country may operate differently, but most countries only allow you to have two simultaneously valid passports if this is specifically authorised.