MajorTom

I was one of those. Came in on visa exempt in march 2020. The day before they closed the borders. Did 2 or 3 of the amnesties. Back then nobody knew what was happening until a few days before deadline. The airport was closed for a while in this period. The amphur borders also, you could actually not get to immigration. I believe they also closed for weeks? When i got the volunteer visa it was possible to travel, but super difficult. Required 24 hour PCR tests which was very risky. I had a friend that left. You had to test and go to the airport and gamble they emailed you the result in time for your flight. (If it wasn't cancelled).. Also quarantines on return in most countries. They also stopped the amnesty for a few days at some point in 2020, but backtracked after discovering they had some 400.000 overstayers to arrest. Then they started the covid extensions. If i had just sat carelessly and done nothing to obtain any visa, i would actually still be OK, and able to get covid extensions ????

Depends on what embassy you apply. (You may need a ticket out of Thailand. Dont have to be return) Either way: onwardticket.com is your friend ????

No issues, but i re-entered on a Non-O. I applied for an e-visa and got it approved before i left.

I converted mine to a Covid-extension when this was possible. That door is now closed. When i later tried to convert that to a marriage extension, I was plainly refused because of the previous volunteer visa. Immigration actually told me to do a visa run and apply again. Agent said they could fix the marriage extension in another province, but i decided to leave and come back on a clean slate.

By using an agent you didn't have to move to isaan and volunteer. You just got the visa. It works just like a retirement extension for those that has done the crime of being under 50 years old.

Correct. In addition to that, there are benefits to gain in a western country. Tax payers have paid for a safety network which should be protected. In Thailand its ZERO gain. Comparing immigration policies in first world nations with welfare systems and naturalization processes with Thailand is highly irrelevant.

Highly unlikely this will be a problem. I also read 90 days.. Most people pass the PCR test after 2 weeks or even less. 2 cases i personally know of that had to cancel flights because of covid were able to pass it after 10 days. Myself after 3 days... but that was probably a false positive. If worried, just do a PCR to check before booking anything?

Passport front page only.

Yes. I got mine a few weeks ago. Approved before i left Thailand. Whether that's ok or not i have not found any answer to. Its not possible to upload 12 months of travel history currently since the website only accepts one single picture file like jpeg or bmp. I don't see why it would be a problem. The visa is worthless until you have left and returned anyway. Where you are in the processing time should not make any difference?

I'm not so sure about the "suspect that you are working" angle. Especially with a western passport. Either way, if someone was working illegally in Thailand it would be a lot easier to do so on a long stay visa? When i was given a warning years ago for having too many exempt stamps, they also said "You work in Thailand!!?" I had documents to prove i did not, including a work permit in another country, contracts, and a seamans record book. They had zero interest in seeing any of this.

There was a report recently about "visa run to cambodia". 48 hours+ process. This was a non-o. Even if you got the visa in one day and time everything perfect, its tricky to do the actual trip staying only one night. Probably also tight with two nights, depending on flight times. You need a PCR test to return to Thailand, wait for result etc. The Thai embassy in Phnom Penh has always been slow. I got a tourist visa there a few years ago and the turnaround was 5 days if you applied yourself. I used an agent and got it in 2 or 3 days i believe. I did not have to show any tickets.

I don't see any problem with this. If it were to happen it makes everything simpler. If you can apply for an e-visa in your passport country, you will not need to apply in a neighboring country? This is all done online. You don't actually have to fly to your home country? You will however need to go somewhere, and then re-enter Thailand to activate the e-visa.

Bottom line is there is nothing illegal about covid extensions or visa exempts. They are just as legal as any other visa or extension to stay. Regardless of certain peoples personal opinion. I wonder what the crowd that fits in the retirement box would do if immigration started randomly telling people they had too many...? Get back to your home country? ????

Thanks. That clears things up. Visa exempt is limited to two land border crossings per year. (with the exception of Malaysia it seems). Bilateral agreement has no such limit.

Fair enough. But set the rules then. If they don't like it set a clear limit. Because now there is none. You can legally enter on 1000 visa exempts per year if you want. Having all these ifs and maybes and personal opinions is just retarded. When people board international flights, pay for insurance, hotels, pcr-tests++ they need to know whether they are qualified or not. How hard is that? Then you have this land border only twice per year thing. What passports are exempt from that? Has anybody seen a list? Is it secret? Nobody has managed to find out in this thread so far. This would also be fairly important to know before you go?

Comment on point 8.: This is not really working currently. You can't upload more than one jpeg file. I only got the front page. If you try another upload the first one disappears. (I have a substantial amount of stamps within the past 12 months) Application was still approved.

If all embassies goes over to the E-visa, everything will actually be simpler? You can apply in your home country and still do a visa run to a neighboring country. Or is there a regulation that you have to stay in the country you apply in? I have even done this by mail many years ago. Sent my passport to the UK back when you got easy Multiple O-visas at the Hull Consulate. While staying in a 3rd country. I only needed access to a UK return address, and someone to ship it back to me.

Well. I have not counted exactly, but i promise i have done around 100 visa exempt entries up until 2020. I have never been denied or asked to show any cash.

I'm aware its "up to every officer". But to deny someone who has a qualifying passport a 30 day exempt arriving by air is in my experience extremely unlikely.

No one has abused anything. Covid extensions has been completely legal. A certain crowd in Thai immigration does not like this and has done everything they can to scare people away. Remember the amnesty periods in 2020. Every time it was about to end some buffoon came out: Get out now! Last chance! At the same time the government was desperately trying to attract tourists... I was given hassle once in 2014 when they had one of their "crackdowns". Too many exempt stamps. They wrote a warning in my passport saying "Next time must have visa". On my way to Thailand that time i got a message that my father had just passed away. I had to leave for the funeral a couple of days later. I was back in Thailand within a week - with the same passport. I was stamped 30 days, not a question. Since then i have probably had another 50 entries. Never had a problem since. If you meet one of these self important clowns don't get worked up about it. They like to intimidate, but have no legal grounds to deny you.

Yeah i know its labeled 5%, but there is something strange about that beer. I can drink 10 bottles of the stuff and still be reasonably sober. I can not do that with singha, leo etc. which is supposed to be the same.

No. But they did ask for a foreign address. I don't have one either, so had to make one up. No proof was required for this.

Yeah. But denying someone boarding on false grounds is not only bad service. I would call it sabotage or outright fraud.

I opened a Krungsri account a few months ago. I had a non-o extension. No work permit. For some strange reason they wanted my foreign drivers license...? I showed my Thai license but they said "cannot". I actually had to go home and get my home country DL and then everything was ok ????

I like the MyBeer. (new brand name for Singha Light) Tastes like beer, but still reasonably light. I used to drink San Miguel Light but got fed up with the production quality. Every time you drink it some random bottle seems to be foul. I have seen san miguel also has a "zero" now. Not sure why its called that since its actually 3% ABV.