BritTim

If crazy enough to attempt a border bounce at the Aranyaprathet/Poipet border crossing, there are casino buses that go directly from Pattaya to the border. However, only confirmed masochists should try this. It is a rogue crossing. For what it is worth, you are correct that North Pattaya to Ekamai and Ekamai to Rong Kluea market (next to the border) exist. The connections can be tricky. Also possible is Jomtien to Suvarnabhumi and Suvarnabhumi to Aranyaprathet (limited trips per day). Not recommended.

This may be too late, but it is worthwhile trying multiple ATM machines. If the withdrawal is via Visa, for instance, activation for use overseas may be needed, while some other inter-bank systems may work.

I wish you luck. I am seriously concerned about what will happen. If you know anyone who can lend you 20,000 baht for 24 hours, explain the situation to them. Let us know what happens.

No! You must have the cash. If entering by air at Suvarnabhumi or Don Muang with that rejection stamp from Poipet/Aran, make absolutely sure you have this. The rejection stamp is a suggestion to airport immigration that they should deny entry and try to force you back to your home country.

We cannot be sure. We are relying on what he posted. He says that a third party offered to solve his problem entering Thailand from Poipet. All I can say is that his report is consistent with what has been reported periodically at Poipet over a number of years (though the price seems to have come down a bit). I am inclined to take OP's statements at face value.

It is worth mentioning that the price for a no hassle entry at Poipet seems to have gone down. As I recall, the price was quoted to be over 20,000 baht at one time. Entering by air at either Bangkok airport with that Poipet rejection stamp, you will be interrogated. Thai immigration when entering from Poipet tell you to enter by air because they know that creates a possible opportunity for their friends at the Bangkok airports to force you back to home country. It would have been better to use a friendly land crossing instead. Too late now I guess.

The Lao visa on arrival price paid in baht is usually quite a bit higher than 1,500 baht now (at least at crossings like the Friendship Bridge at Nong Khai). Almost all nationalities pay US$40 if paying in dollars. However, I think they want around 1,800 baht if you want to use Thai baht. A few years ago, there were many different prices, depending on your nationality. Are the costs you are citing recent?

If you acquire your Lao visa through the e-visa site, it costs more than if you get the visa on arrival, or get the visa from a Lao embassy. The trade off for the increased price is that (as long as you are arriving at a point of entry that allows the e-visa) it saves time at the border and space in your passport.

I return to what I posted earlier, and this is very important: Once you have entered Thailand, your visa, whether single entry or multiple entry and whether expired or not is mostly irrelevant as far as your interactions with the local immigration office are concerned. On entry, you received a 90-day permission to stay. After that, you received a series of extensions of your permission to stay, the last of which was a one-year extension to stay with your Thai wife. Your interactions with Kap Choeng immigration at no point involved "converting" or "issuing" any visas.

In the unlikely event that a new Non O visa had really somehow been given, you would have (i) a visa stamp in your passport; and (ii) a fresh 90-day permission to stay. It is very easy to distinguish a visa stamp and associated new permission to stay from an extension stamp.. What I think the official was implying is that, if you put 400,000 baht in the bank, they would subsequently give you a one-year extension of your permission to stay. The 60-day Covid extension they gave you at that time gave time for the funds to be seasoned so you qualified for that regular one-year extension.

I believe the official's decision was extremely harsh, but he could probably justify it. Their instructions are to deny serial and/or frequent use of visa exemptions "to stay longer in Thailand than is compatible with normal tourism". This horrible order means that using visa exemptions for frequent or lengthy visits to stay with your Thai partner does not qualify. On the other hand, a former prime minister instructed that this order should be enforced flexibly. Thus, it is understandable that every official can have their own understanding of the conditions under which visa exempt entry should be denied.

I do not know what you actually did, but there is no such thing as converting an extension of a Non Immigrant entry to a visa. You said you entered Thailand using a Non O visa (and I believe you). At that stage, your options are extensions of the original permission to stay from the entry with a visa, or leaving Thailand. You cannot get a "conversion" visa from a Non Immigrant entry to a fresh visa. That mechanism simply does not exist. You cannot even convert from a Non Immigrant entry to a Thailand Elite visa without leaving and re-entering Thailand. Whatever you understood the officials at Kap Choeng to be telling you, it is almost certain that one of the 60-day extensions (most likely the first if normal procedure was followed) was a 60-day extension to stay with your Thai spouse.

Have your in/out trips by air been for visa exempt entry to Thailand? It is important to appreciate that an immediate return with a multiple entry visa is usually no problem, but I am surprised you have not faced interrogation if receiving many visa exemptions by air (always assuming your experience was not 5+ years ago).

Make sure you understand the difference between extending an existing permission to stay and a new Non O visa application. When applying for a new Non O visa, there is no need for funds seasoning. (When applying at a couple of rogue immigration offices in Thailand, they might claim that seasoning is required. However, this is not an official requirement.) You cannot apply for a fresh Non O visa at Immigration when you are already in Thailand on a Non Immigrant entry, and that is your current status. As you already know, applying for an extension of stay based on marriage requires that you have funds that are seasoned for 60 days. If your immigration office refused you a 60-day extension to visit your Thai spouse, this is almost certainly because you had already used one since your last regular entry with a visa. This makes sense as usually a Covid extension was only offered if you did not qualify for another kind of extension. Either go to Savannakhet Laos for a single entry Non O visa, or use any land crossing to exit Thailand and re-enter with a visa exemption (45 days) applying for a new Non O visa at your local immigration office.

Seriously? It is not easy to distinguish Ugandans from some other Africans, but (to most people) they look very different from Caucasians or Chinese. EDIT: With all nationalities, there are significant variations between individuals, but maybe some typical images of Ugandan, Russian and Chinese men will help:

(Doing this is called requesting a "visa exempt entry" or a "visa exemption".) Just to reiterate what others have already posted ... When leaving and returning by air for a visa exemption, there are no definite rules. It is up to the discretion of the immigration officials. A same day return is more likely to be stringently scrutinised than requesting a visa exemption after being out for a few days. However, even more significant is how much time you have spent recently (say, over the last year) in Thailand as a tourist. The official is supposed to decide whether you are using visa exemptions to stay longer in Thailand than is compatible with normal tourism. You can be denied entry though, recently, this has not happened often. A border bounce by land for a visa exempt entry is treated differently (at least at the vast majority of crossings). You can get exactly two visa exemptions by land during 2023. Using crossings with Laos or Myanmar (when open) you can return immediately. Crossing to Cambodia, you are faced with a Cambodian law that mandates staying overnight. (You can pay a small bribe to the Cambodian officials to have this regulation waived.) A border bounce at crossings to Malaysia is not well defined. My impression is that both the Thai and Malaysian officials frown on border bounces just for fresh Thai visa exemptions. While this may not be true at all crossings with Malaysia, a fairly hefty bribe must often be paid on the Thai side to be allowed a same day return or single night out.

There is a lot of misinformation on this forum. However, it is a fact that Non Ed visas that would have been approved at embassies/consulates in the past are now routinely rejected. It is well known that people were using Non Ed visas purely to be able to stay in Thailand, and with studying Thai being (at best) a secondary objective. For that reason, serial Non Ed visas to study at informal schools are effectively disallowed (though they are still possible through well connected schools). To the OP: leaving Thailand and returning visa exempt should allow you to get a fresh Non Ed visa and subsequent extensions, if your school states that this is possible. Have your current extension cancelled formally at Immigration (with a letter from your old school) just before you leave. This ensures that you are squeaky clean on the immigration front at the point where your new application is going through the education ministry and immigration.

I believe in Vientiane, but certainly in Savannakhet, you can get a Non O visa with minimal money in the bank. Unfortunately, to apply in Vientiane, you need a prior appointment, and they are usually booked up well in advance. Although not quite as convenient, I would suggest applying in Savannakhet. Applying on a Tuesday or Wednesday will be best in terms of minimising the crowd at the Thai consulate.

If you can afford it, the only easy solution to bring your Ugandan partner to Thailand would be a Thailand Elite membership.

Historically, Mae Sai was fine for those wanting a visa exempt entry. However, it would be good to check if that is the case with this apparent recent reopening.

I think this was just a confused immigration official, combined with a breakdown in communication. There is nothing for you to worry about.

This is the second time I have heard of a UK citizen getting one via the e-visa site. Funnily enough, on the other occasion, the applicant had intended applying for an METV. The bank statements submitted were apparently sufficient to qualify for the multiple entry Non O (retirement) and they provided that instead. Years ago, anyone in receipt of a UK state pension could get a multiple Non O, but that went away when the e-visa system was introduced.

The application now goes via the Thai e-visa site (https://www.thaievisa.go.th/). When first introduced, the e-visa site did not support multiple entry Non O visas, but I believe this is now resolved.

By law, they are supposed to, and most do. Ask them before booking/checking in.

At 5:00 am, the taxis are much less picky than at most other times about long trips on the meter, especially if you are willing to take the expressway.