Caldera

Well played, Sir! Can't say I'm surprised.

90-day reports are required for DTV holders who stay in Thailand for more than 90 days. Nothing special about this, indeed.

Well it's Christmas soon, that makes a nice addition to your wishlist for Santa... ;)

Interesting thread. As has been pointed out here many times since overland visa exempt entries became "unlimited", you either pay a border bounce service or you take your chances with whatever policies the checkpoint you've chosen has come up with.

She looks better than most. Next.

Oh boy.

That's because Elon IS co-president, and now even the muppets in Trump's team realize what that means. Let that sink in.

I've noticed that agents that offer the "safe entry" service at airports have added CNX to their list. Now, would anyone pay for this if they continued to fail to hassle people? Therein might lie the answer...

No, they've got that right, the amounts for visa exempt are the same as for visa on arrival. The amounts you mentioned are for tourist visa entries. Now obviously visa exempt gives the same permission of stay as a tourist visa (60 days) since the latest change, but that ministerial order with the financial requirements is very old and hasn't been updated. Source: https://rtehanoi.thaiembassy.org/th/publicservice/46327-announcement-on-the-amount-of-money-that-the-foreigners-must-possess-while-entering-into-the-kingdom-of-thailand

The rule says "10,000 baht per person or 20,000 baht per family", so in your example the adult should be able to show 20,000 baht in cash. You never have that, many people don't have that either, but IF they ask and you don't have it, you won't get in. It would be extremely reckless to risk a denial of entry when traveling with two children.

That's probably unlikely, considering their infatuation with TM30 notifications. I'd guess that they would simply send you to the TM30 counter with those other documents first, and tell you to come back once you have the TM30 slip.

Immigration MIGHT ask to see that money, and if they do, it needs to be cash. Same with the outbound ticket, they might ask. If they really want to go to Chiang Khong, which is a questionable choice for a border run, they should definitely meet those requirements, as Immigration there seems determined to discourage people from using their border crossing for that purpose.

I really can't fault Grab. I use Grab all the time and mostly without any issues. One time a driver was dumb enough to overcharge me for toll fees. I reported him and got a refund and an apology without fuss. Help them kick out the bad apples and that's what they'll do!

What's your history like? Your plan in itself looks fine, you only need to worry if you've spent a lot of time in Thailand as a tourist previously.

Could be anything, maybe just a typo in your name or passport number. The important point there is though, online is fine (in Bangkok).