KhaoYai

It certainly does but could it be that that flexibility is the root cause of the problem? There is, as far as I know, no limit to the amount of entries one can make to Thailand and likewise to the total amount of time that can be spent in the country - other than in most cases, a stay has a maximum time limit of 90 days + potential extensions. Nevertheless, it is possible to leave and enter again immediately. That leaves Immigration Officers with the possiblity of refusing entry to anyone they see fit. Not that I'm suggesting they would do that for no reason but in the past, when, in the I.O.'s opinion, someone has entered too many times, they have found a reason to deny them entry that fits with the rules they do have (usually not having the required 20,000 baht). However, I suspect that far more people have been warned to get a visa (as is the case with the OP) than have been denied. I don't know the rules in all countries but certainly the UK for example, has a total time spent limit of 6 months in 12. Further, once that limit has been reached, the entrant must stay out of the country for 6 months. It would be much better if Thailand had a written policy with limits - it must be a hell of a disappointment to be denied entry and no doubt a lot of money has been lost, but knowing how things are in Thailand, I can't see that ever happening.

I wish people would stop posting about how they've been entering Thailand visa exempt on multiple occasions for many years and never had a problem. That's not very helpful is it? Prior to covid there were often reports of people who'd been denied entry. On each occasion that I saw on here, the I.O. had used the old - 'you don't have 20,000 baht in cash excuse' because there is no actual law that prevents multiple entries (at airports). You may well have entered plenty of times on visa exempts - if someone's posting about a denial or a warning, what are you suggesting they do next time? Enter exempt again and tell the I.O. its fine, plenty of other people have told me they do it all the time? In terms of the total amount of daily visa exempt entries, I'm pretty sure the number of denials is very low but it can and does happen. The last thing an enquirer wants to read is how you've never had a problem, he/she's got one!

Not that you would be in a position to argue with an I.O. on entry but: I was given a similar warning a few years back and questioned the I.O. as to what the problem was. Another, possibly higher ranking I.O. who spoke better English joined the conversation. I asked him why they should be worried about someone visiting regularly and was told that the suspicion was that people who visited regularly were working in the country illegally. In other countries you would simply provide proof of your employment and that should deal with the problem. However, we are talking about Thailand and if the I.O. wants to refuse entry, there's not a lot you can do. Apparently you can appeal but from what I'm told, you're locked up in an immigration jail whilst that's decided. I don't see why you can't be considered as a tourist - you spend your time off work in Thailand, presumably relaxing. Is that not a holiday? Next time you arrive (hopefully successfully) I would go to the immigration counter, with proof of your employment and ask for advice. They have the ability to add notes to the passport details they hold on you. Its unllikely that they will help but they certainly won't if you don't ask. If by any chance, you are already married to a Thai, you could travel to a neighbouring country and obtain a 12 month Multi Entry Non O. There are still a few consulates that offer that visa. One point that may help: Prior to covid, quite a few people reported that they were either given a hard time on entry or were actually denied. On the vast majority of the posts that I read on the subject, the I.O. concerned was female. Perhaps being careful over which queue you join will have a bearing on your chances.

Thanks for that but I can't see anywhere in his post where he says he's already had an extension. Has he posted about this on another thread or something?

I've never been denied an extension but mine were extending a NON O for the purpose of visiting my wife. I was however, under the impression that any stay can be extended once - why would he be denied? Serious question, not trying to be a smart Alec.

Coming from both the automotive and construction industries, I have an understanding of vehicles and I've also been involved in the laying of electricity cables. Cables are mostly, as you will know, run in conduits. Those conduits whilst being bigger than the cables themselves, are limited as to how big a cable they will accept. On a drawing it all looks good, you drag one cable out and install another. In practice that can't be done. Main power cables have 'T's' off them that feed sub stations and then go down in size with 'T's' off to individual supplies. The amount of additional power that will be required to supply EV charging systems will not only require upgrading of the T's to indivdual supplies, it is almost certain that in most locations, the main cable will have to be upgraded. How do you drag a cable through a conduit when it has T's off it? You don't is the answer, you have to dig it up. On the other matters, I think you've hit the nail on the head - human greed. Maybe not so much human greed as human/commercial greed. That's been the problem in the past and without fully investigating matters, will almost certainly have a bearing on what's going on now. When we put profit over environmental cost, we will always receive a bill. The bill for what we've done over the last 250 years is now overdue for payment and it seems, that our supposed quest for clean energy is also going to have a cost. It beggars belief that, facing such a serious crisis as we do now, we appear to have learned nothing. We are already causing massive damage to the jungles of Africa and Asia in order to provide the batteries for our 'clean vehicles'. But, just as it is with rubbish from Europe being dumped in places like Turkey, the jungles of Africa and Asia are thousands of miles away and out of sight. I wonder how many people would buy an EV if photos of the mining needed to make the batteries that run those EV's were stood next to the vehicle in the showroom? How many would buy if they could see the children working in those mines and the names of the people that have died there? The TV adverts that are used to sell EV's project happy families driving around in their 'clean vehicles' all smiling - maybe they should show chemicals being injected into mountain-sides as well as the thousands if not millions of trees that have been cut down to allow the mining to take place. As an aside, when considering the amount of additional electricity required to power electric vehicles, we should also acknowledge that there are other new technologies that are creating massive demands on the power network. The internet and in particular 'The Cloud', require huge amounts of power. For years we've been seeing more efficient electrical appliances being introduced - I thought we would actually be using less electricty now. The facts are that we are already using far more than we ever did - and that's without EV's.

Firstly, can I say that this is not intended to be a Thailand Bashing thread. Over the years I've become aware of the lack of education in Thailand - especially in rural government schools. I believe things are improving but when it comes to history, there seems to be a total lack of anything 'Western or European'. It would be fair to say that kids in the UK are not taught much Asian history too but given that the Industrial Revolution, that changed the world faster in 250 years than it had previously changed in millennia, affected all countries. I would have thought that even a basic understanding of what brought humans to where they are now would be at the core of history teaching in any country. The same could be said about WW2 but I believe there are reasons for the lack of teaching on that. Although I've been aware of it for a long time, what really kick started my interest in this matter came in a discussion with an ex wife who believed cars were invented in Japan. From that stemmed a lot of questions (from me) such as where do you think steel comes from? Etc. etc. etc. My then wife either didn't know the answers to most of my questions or her answers were rooted in Asia. We have of course, moved on from the Industrial Revolution and countries large or small, Asian, Western or otherwise are all responsible for technological inventions and general progress. However, it all began in England around 1750 and I do not say that with the slightest arrogance, its just a fact. Why this is of interest to me is that I believe it helps to explain something I have often experienced. Many times I've given advice to (Thai) family or friends and been totally ignored. That advice has not come from any desire to appear smarter than the recipients, it comes from experience. For example, I spent a large part of my working life in the motor trade, I'm a little behind the times now but I still have a broad knowledge of cars, bikes and most things mechanical. Likewise with domestic construction - where I moved to after the motor trade. Sometimes its more than being ignored, its a total dismissal but carried out (mostly) politely. The feeling that comes from it is 'you are a stupid farang, how could you know'? For example, many years ago when I had no tools in Thailand, I took my car to a local garage for repair. I won't bore you with the details but I knew exactly what was wrong with it and how to fix it - I just didn't have any tools. The garage seemd to be struggling to carry out the repair so I offered my assistance, telling them of my previous career. This was dismissed and I was told that they knew what they were doing, it was just proving more difficult than usual. The struggling continued until after several hours I decided enough was enough, walked into the workshop, picked up their tools and showed them how to do it. Prior to that, the overall feeling that I was getting was that I was a farang, how could I know? When I left the garage I didn't get the feeling that I'd gone up in their estimation, it just felt like they thought I'd been lucky. I've had many similar experiences since. The ex that thought cars were invented in Japan also seems to believe that the much of what we have in the modern world began in Japan or Asia. She thought that Toyotas, for example, are a Thai car, totally built in Thailand - although she accepted that the parent company is Japanese. So, have others had similar experiences and can our teaching community shed any light on this? I suspect it comes from the basic lack of any Western and thus 'World' history in Thai education. I'm not engaging in any form of one-upmanship here, I'm just stating facts. Whilst its a fact that the roots of industry began with the Industrial Revolution, nobody can deny that those roots have been refined over the years and utilised/improved all over the world. Some of the finest products now come from Asia and technology has no borders, but the attitude in Thailand still seems to be that of 'you are a farang, you know nothing'. Can it be explained by a lack of education, is it arrogance - or both?

I travel to Thailand regularly and can only do so because I seek out the best flight prices on my chosen carrier - Etihad. I can usually be flexible with my dates. I've just returned to the UK from Thailand this week and that flight cost me a little more than usual for the time of year but after several news reports I was expecting that. However, for reasons I won't go into, I have to return unexpectedly in just 3 weeks time and I can't believe the price I've just had to pay. OK so July/August are always the most expensive summer months to travel to Thailand from the UK and I usually try to avoid them but on the few occasions where I have travelled at that time, its usually cost me around £700. I use a flight comparison site and spent most of yesterday looking at hunderds of different options - I couldn't believe the prices I was getting. The flight I ended up with was available through various agents with prices from £1610 of to around £1700. I'd never heard of some of the agents so checked them out on Trustpilot to try and avoid nightmares - I also won't deal with agents that will not give out their phone numbers. I ended up paying £1677 (economy) using an agent I know for flight on Qatar (an airline I said I'd never use again but Etihad were £2300!!!). I just couldn't believe that price - even with it being in the UK school holidays and allowing for fuel price increases. £1677 - can you imagine paying that if you have a wife and three kids? There were flights available using multiple airlines for around £1200 but the total travel times were hideous (up to 53 hours). I also don't fancy flights using multiple airlines - too much to go wrong. What was also surprising was that flights were disappearing almost as fast as I could find them. I spoke to one agent who confirmed that they are exceptionally busy at the moment - it seems that people haven't travelled for a couple of years and are therefore prepared to pay these prices. The same agent told me that as well as the increased fuel costs, airlines are trying to recoup some of the money the lost when the pandemic brought most travel to a halt. I suppose that's understandable. I can only hope that once people have spent the money they've saved over the last couple of years and fuel prices hopefully drop, airlines will once again return to having to attract customers through competitive pricing. Next year maybe?