Caldera

In Vientiane, you do need an appointment and they won't let you in without one. Agents can't help you with that. You could consider going to Savannakhet instead, no appointment required there.

I would expect more delays in the near future. As many high-ranking immigration officers are being investigated for corruption (according to recent news reports), it's quite possible that the guy who is supposed to sign off on your extension currently has other problems to deal with.

Their requirements are ridiculous. When will they finally raise the amount of money people have to show, but refrain from asking for proof of accommodation? Many people like to be spontaneous, and proof of accommodation is worthless anyway, as all major OTAs allow free cancelations.

That hasn't been possible since a long time (before 2006 or so?). The best they can do for you is handling the stamps on the Cambodian side, so you can just stay in noman's land and wait. Stamping out of Thailand and back into Thailand, on the other hand, isn't something an agent will do for you. But they do use friendlier checkpoints and have an understanding with the officials to smoothen the process for their clients.

In my case, I applied on a Friday and got the eVisa on the following Tuesday. That was in July. It's always a good idea to allow some more time for processing, so your plan sounds good. There's also Tet in late January, so getting the eVisa sorted before that kicks off would make sense.

For the 30 day eVisa, no invitation of any kind is required, so I'd apply for that instead of trying to obtain a visa from an embassy. Just make sure you apply on the official government website, here: https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/khai-thi-thuc-dien-tu/cap-thi-thuc-dien-tu It's an easy process and works fine.

TM30 is something that immigration offices within the country (might) want to see e.g. when applying for an extension. It's never asked for at a border checkpoint.

Just guessing here, but Kasikorn Bank's statements can be useful as address verification documents for foreign (non-Thai) financial institutions.

In principle, yes, but depending on your history of stays in Thailand, they might be unwilling to give you a visa. Not known as a particularly friendly embassy.

You cannot use an eVisa for Cambodia at the border crossing that those companies use. Only a few select few land borders allow these.

Quite a few people have stayed in Thailand throughout Covid, same as you, and have managed to come back. There's no hard rule as to how long a tourist can stay, but depending on the policies of the checkpoint you use, being admitted cannot be taken for granted either. Ban Laem makes money from border run companies, so the fact that you showed up there on your own AND with an overstay certainly didn't work in your favor. I don't see any reason to wait for 6-12 months though. Make it a holiday to look less like a desperate border runner, then try again elsewhere, preferably with a tourist visa.

Thanks for the update. If you do wish to return to Thailand, I wouldn't pay too much attention to what the IOs told you, it's more or less just their local policy there with regards to border runs. You could probably travel to Laos and enter Thailand overland from there. To increase your chances further, you could obtain a tourist visa in Vientiane or Savannakhet first.

There has definitely been a change at some point. When renewing ATM cards, for example, Kasikorn Bank used to just copy the ID page of my passport, nowadays they copy the latest extension stamp as well. To me, this makes perfect sense. Not allowing banks to do business with people who aren't in Thailand legally is just one way to make overstaying more difficult.

You could study Thai at college level, to get a bachelor degree. That typically takes 4 years and is perfectly acceptable.

I've seen people pay overstay fines at the Ban Laem checkpoint before and there's a window for that, did you queue up at that window first and they sent you away? Either your overstay is too long or they are worried that you want to come back immediately, as that's a border crossing that's popular with border bouncers. They might let you out if you assure them that you'll stay in Cambodia. Otherwise I'd say fly out, that's the most hassle-free way to resolve an overstay.

Yes, no matter when you apply, it will start to run when your current permission to stay ends.

Seeing those old goats quibble would be quite amusing, IF they weren't guilty of holding the country back for many years with their dangerous mix of ineptitude and nepotism. The sooner they're out, the better.

They're not interested In a flight ticket when you apply for an extension. Some immigration offices might be willing to let you apply this early, but others are not. You could try.

So instead of improving that shoddy system, they're rolling it out to even more places. Insanity!

I always got US dollars back from them in the past, but would try to have exact change if possible. If they run out of change, who knows?

When Big Joke was in charge of immigration, he already made the bold claim that they've all been caught. Sensationalist headlines aside, the truth is that they keep finding people with hundreds or thousands of days of overstay to their name - whenever they look and wherever they look. I keep thinking that those they manage to catch are just the tip of the iceberg.

If you don't mind spending a few days in Vientiane and ensure that you make an appointment for the day you want to apply, getting a tourist visa in Vientiane would be an easy process.

No idea why people would keep their life savings with a poorly regulated fintech company. They might be useful for transactional banking, but I'd never leave a substantial amount in any accounts with them. As for Revolut in particular, just watch an interview with the founder and try not to get the impression that he's quite shady. I tried and failed, enough said.

Not anymore. The last two times I changed phones, it could all be done from home - within Thailand and using the same SIM card though.

He's a great guy. While he obviously can't solve all of Bangkok's many problems during his time in office, at least his heart is in the right place and he's making a credible effort. Unlike his predecessors I've seen. Keep it up!