BritTim

Be sure you understand the big difference between two approaches: At the time your extension of stay based on working is cancelled, you apply for a new extension (either 60-day to visit your Thai spouse, or a one-year extension based on marriage to a Thai). When you employment ends, you leave Thailand, and return either with a Non O visa based on Thai spouse or a visa exemption. In the latter case, you will apply for a Non O visa at Immigration. You cannot apply for a new visa at Immigration when already in Thailand on a Non Immigrant entry. A 60-day extension is easy. The main condition is that you have not had one since the last time you entered Thailand with a new visa. Entering with a re-entry permit does not entitle you to an extra 60-day extension. To apply for a one-year extension based on marriage, you must have 400k baht in a Thai bank account for at least two months on the day you apply. This minimum seasoning duration is fixed, although the senior official does have discretion to waive it. The financial seasoning is virtually never relaxed unless you go through an agent. An application for a Non O visa at Immigration requires 400k baht in your account on the day you apply.

The reason it works is because it is 100% indistinguishable from a fully paid up ticket.

If no Thai employer or customers, it is 100% tolerated. It is not strictly legal.

Nearby countries where you can apply for a multiple entry Non O are restricted to HCMC and Savannakhet. Your home country might be a good place to apply, but I assume that is not an attractive option for you. There are rumours that Colombo can flexible when it comes to visa applications. If absolutely desperate, you could try there. No guarantees.

Make sure the Thai bank account remains open. Ensuring there is 1,000 baht or so in the account should ensure this. When ready to return, get a single entry Non O visa before leaving home country. Make sure the 400k baht is transferred into the Thai account. The rest should be easy.

They will expect the departure date to be within 60 days of arrival, and want your exit flight reservation to reflect that. However, the dates you specify are not binding, and can be changed later.

To apply for a visa at an embassy/consulate, you must be outside of the country at the time of the application. To apply for a SMRT visa, Thailand Elite, LTR visa, Non O-X visa, Non Immigrant visa at Immigration etc., there is no regulation that you must apply from outside Thailand. Of course, you can claim that none of these are "visas", but I believe such a claim would be incorrect.

Politically correct these days, if you do not know the person's preferred pronouns, is to use "they". It is a reflection of my age that I still wince every time I need to do this, although I do comply.

When dealing with airlines, the best source to convince the ignorant is the IATA guidelines which member airlines are strongly recommended to follow. It should be noted that IATA tries to keep track of member airlines that depart from their recommendations, and their Travel Center (https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/) takes account of the known deviations. Even stubborn check-in staff will normally accept what IATA says about their airline's policies.

There are no circumstances I can think of where I would need to explain a flight reservation to an official at an Immigration office, with the single possible exception of my flight being cancelled, and needing the seven days to leave the country.

Sigh! I wish I had a pound for every time someone has asked Thai consular officials for information on anything other than services provided by themselves and has been given an incorrect answer. People assume that the Thai embassy (and its website) should be the oracle on all things Thai. In reality, they will invariably give you a confident answer and frequently that answer will be incorrect. When applying for a visa (something the embassy does know something about) your passport requires six month's validity. At the time you enter Thailand, the passport only needs to be valid for the duration of your intended stay. That is not a recommendation to travel with less than six months remaining on your passport, a practice that can lead to all kinds of complications as a majority of the world's countries do apply a six month validity rule.

The reservation as it stands, is not fully paid up. It is held for 48 to 72 hours, and cancelled if payment is not made by then. In that sense, the reservation (as with one made through a travel agent) is not automatically valid to travel on. It is a valid reserved flight ticket, but is cancelled if no further action is taken.

There is no fine (if leaving by air from one of the Bangkok airports). However, usually there will be an overstay stamp. Assuming you are not an habitual overstayer, there will be no questioning or criticism.

A rental ticket is a genuine reservation that could be used if fully paid for.

In your opinion, is buying a fully refundable ticket, intending to cancel, also fraud? Or, is it only reserving a genuine ticket through a rental service (that the rental service subsequently cancels) that is fraud?

The only location in a neighbouring country I feel comfortable recommending after an almost continuous six month stay is Vientiane. Note that you should definitely not use Savannakhet although it was good until relatively recently. Note that you need an appointment to apply in Vientiane. It is possible that Penang might be OK. I am unsure. What I do know is that the Penang consulate is usually extremely busy. If applying there, be prepared to queue well before the consulate opens. They only process a limited number per day, and it is on a first come basis.

That's a maybe. The Police Order simply indicates that you must have started with a Non Immigrant visa. In practice, Immigration almost always insist that a first extension be based on the same reason you received the Non O visa. It is fine to change the reason for your extended permission to stay on subsequent extensions.

I personally think it is a bad idea. Any police officer can ask to see your passport and, if you do not have it on you, insist that you promptly get it and show it. If you had immediately just produced your passport, opened to the data page, it is extremely unlikely that they would go through all the stamps to see if you are on overstay. You can bet they will if they went to the effort of forcing you to produce it. Yes, most often, when stopped a copy of your passport will be accepted. Rarely will you be asked where your passport is, and asked to produce it. However, an intelligent police officer is going to figure out that something fishy is going on if he starts questioning. It is a good idea, by the way, to avoid a long distance bus or train journey by using a domestic flight. The airline staff at check in (even if you cannot check in online) have no interest in your immigration status.

I make no claim to be an equal replacement for the great ubonjoe, but I will do my best to help you with queries you have on these matters.

I do not understand. The requirement is for an onward flight reservation out of Thailand within 30 days. It is entirely normal that this might leave from a different departure airport than the arrival one. If denied entry, you cannot use a flight reservation 30 days in the future whatever airport the flight leaves from. In reality, any time you are denied entry, the airline that brought you to Thailand is responsible for your removal. That is irrespective of whether the airline was at fault. Asking "how will you get from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang to use the onward flight ticket if denied entry" sounds like a joke.

An emergency travel document is issued within a day or two. It is restricted both to a one year validity, and with respect to the countries it is valid for. You would need to verify that the embassy will issue you an emergency travel document that is valid for your planned itinerary, and that countries you intend to visit will accept emergency travel documents (not all countries will, but Thailand is OK with this).

You might possibly run into a problem with Immigration at the airport when obviously using tourist visas for a long term stay, but you are going to find your applications for tourist visas in most neighbouring countries being refused before you reach the point of being denied entry on a tourist visa. After six months almost continuous stay in Thailand as a tourist, you will likely be denied a tourist visa in Malaysia. You would be OK for one or two more tourist visas from the Thai embassy in Vientiane. For absolute safety, even with a visa, returning by land rather than by air avoids the unlikely experience of being denied entry at the airport on arrival. Definitely, if refused a visa somewhere, and you need to return visa exempt, ensure you do so by land. The 30-day extension at the local Immigration Office is virtually never denied.

An insulting post, and replies to it have been removed.

If you fly to Vientiane, the permission to stay will automatically be cancelled at the airport, no problem. If planning to leave by land, you should also be OK as your permission to stay is based on marriage (though you may be asked to confirm wanting to do this with no re-entry permit. Since the work permit will continue unchanged, there is no concern with the Labour Office. Your employer is incorrect. If your current permission to stay was based on working, then cancelling the extension before leaving, especially if doing so by land, would be necessary.

The alternative is to do the TM30 notification in person at the immigration office (where the report within 24 hours of arrival is not enforced). The online system assumes scrupulous adherence to the law.