DrJack54

Certainly not my experience in February when I flew into Saigon from Bangkok. Granted not same as your route and the OP. Only posting as for eVisa travel have a print out of visa.

Read this thread. It has a few helpful posts from ubonjoe in this thread (as always). When he refers to non O at immigration he is referring to application in Thailand. Also advice if applying in Savannakhet or Vientiane. Be aware that Vientiane requires appointment.

That might be your best option. Enter Thailand with either a tourist visa or visa exempt plus 30 day extension. You would be aware that you can obtain two visa exempt entries via land and each entry can obtain 30 day extension. That buys you time in Thailand to sus out what the situation is with the family first hand and plan forward from there.

A bridge too far springs to mind. One thing you could do initially is consider other visa options. METV or perhaps non O based on retirement (assuming you are over 50) . If the children's mother is against contact you can forget about grandparents being helpful. Also kids haven't seen you for 3 years. Have a read of "Marriage and Divorce" forum. Lot of first hand experiences there.

So you obtained a tourist visa not just a 30 visa exempt entry stamp?

That is completely nothing to do with the OP. It's not about reminder email. The only correct part of your post is that YES reminder emails have been inconsistent. If you made online report within the time frame that has nothing to do with reminder email Read the OP again.

Please post reports of when this has occurred. Did you manage to make report without reminder email. Your post is not clear.

There is no answer to your question as there has never been remotely similar experience to your experience. In any event you have new 90 day report date so all good. BTW which immigration office?

Guess that's possible and perhaps only reasonable reason as I have never read an OP such as this. I did think of exit and reenter Thailand that would reset 90 due date, however OP has not done that.

I'm outta this thread. Let's start with this comment .,... "The 90 note was visible. Earlier I had written the expiry on the 90 day note." What note? Online approval gives a TM47 printable receipt. Most folk would not bother to even print it. Enter due date and window date on Google calendar at best. You stated .... "To get the passport number -necessary for a further application" So living in Thailand doing ongoing reports and you still need to consult pp for #. You stated .... "No -as I stated I relied on their reminder system" Very foolish.

Your post does not make lot of sense. There have been reports of folk not receiving email reminder. BTW not good policy to reply on that. Don't know what you mean by .. "Today I had a quick look at my passport and noticed that the expiry date was 29 march 2023". If you are doing 90 day reports online why would you consult your passport. The approval email would contain your TM47. Did you happen to apply for an extension renewal during this period. At some offices the io does a 90 report update as a service when extension is being done. Which imo just muck things up.

Most of those companies are for border bounce. Reenter visa exempt.. Seems that the OP plans to obtain a SETV.

Have a chat with @ThaiVisaCentre they could advise on options. From Bangkok some folk would fly to Udon Thani and shortish road trip to Vientiane. Note that tourist visa at that consulate requires an appointment

To obtain a tourist visa in Laos, eg Vientiane or Savannakhet you would not use an agent in Bangkok.

You have basically complained throughout your entire thread. In your OP you asked for best visa option. Your choices are simple . Non O retirement and subsequent annual extensions. Being the most common. I won't even mention PE (elite) visa And LTV. So back to non O and extensions based on retirement. The financial requirements are simple. Your UK embassy does not provide income letter so you would need to show 12 months of 65k/month transfers. OR You use money in the bank method. Simple. Do want to use either of those methods then use an agent. Don't want that then obtain a ME Non O retirement (12 months visa). That can be obtained eVisa in UK or at Savannakhet

The first link you posted is correct. Note: as with all two sided immigration forms, if you decide to download it print it as double sided. Also form requires photo if you do it yourself

Good plan. Added note BKK reentry permit desk provided a service to fill in the TM8 for 200baht. I prefer to do my own but it's an option.

Zone 2. Just PRIOR to passport control. Left side. You are correct that at BKK it's prior to pp control and at DMK immediately past pp control It is possible to go through fast track and go back from airside to reentry permit office. Personally I avoid doing that..

OP, excellent report. Ta

OP, this won't help but may be useful to others. I have found that with AirAsia and Jetstar that if there is an option for credit into your account that generally works whereas getting an actual monetary refund is difficult/impossible

Waste of money and time. Has already been stated in thread... obtain a tourist visa and enter at Bangkok airports. Flying to. Saigon and into CNX not necessary with tourist visa. If you cannot obtain tourist visa don't come. BTW for general info for the forum..... spoke with Oz friend yesterday and he tried to enter BKK airport from Melb visa exempt and was scammed by immigration to the tune of 15k baht. The good old "too much time in Thailand" .... Weird thing is it had been months since his previous entry. He did have the notorious "volunteer visa" stamp. Not sure if that played a part.

That will be fine. Which immigration office

To apply for non O retirement you require 15 days + on your permit. (21 days at some offices eg CM) In your case that would be 30 day visa exempt stamp. You would require 800k in Thai bank account in your name only on day of application. Need to show funds came from abroad unless have been in Thai bank for some time. The non O retirement stamp provides a 90 day stamp. In last 30 days of that permit apply for 12 month extension.

That is correct. It's your permission of stay that ends when exit Thailand without a reentry permit. You could then apply for non O-A in UK. If it suits you to return to UK every 2 years you could live in Thailand with ongoing non O-A visas

Correct.