Caldera

Maybe he takes the hint and flees abroad again, he seems to be - shall we say - rather unwelcome.

Literally each and every Thai multi-entry visa that already exists. For example, holders of the Non-OA visa can stretch it to two years and apply for an extension almost a year after the visa itself has expired. Holders of the METV can get almost 9 months out of it in total.

I think you misunderstand this topic, this isn't primarily about same-sex marriages. For a foreign woman married to a Thai man, immigration's rules for allowing her to stay in Thailand are very different from those for a foreign man married to a Thai woman. They should be treated equally.

You're welcome. But I'd call it an observation. When people start their relationship with Thailand as a sex tourist or sexpat, it does something with them and with their ability to have noncommercial relationships. Take the "pay them to leave" attitude for example. Once that has taken hold, it will be off-putting to anyone interested in any serious relationship. Thailand has no lack of potential partners for both kinds (commercial vs romantic). You choose which ones you attract, they can read you just like you can read them.

Looks like those 26 visa runs were as much as she could handle, others grow tired of them much sooner.

Definitely. That's long overdue.

Not at all. Those foreigners who can only have transactional relationships have nobody than themselves to blame - I know a few of those types, they've spent too much time with sex workers (m/f/x) and are unable to have normal interactions with normal people. Blaming Thailand for choosing this path is a bit rich!

So? Yet another one...

Greed is the strongest force in the known universe, so my prediction is that those measures are doomed to fail. It's kind of a self-regulating system though. If a destination gets too popular and becomes overcrowded, visitors will have a bad experience. Ultimately the destination will attract a bad reputation (overcrowded, overpriced, ...) and visitor numbers will plateau or drop.

Germany 🇩🇪

Yes. Next...

An agent cannot go back for the final stamp if the passport is abroad, along with the OP. That's the big issue here, being abroad while the "under consideration" period ends.

The Elite visa is neither meant for "immigrants" (it doesn't provide a path towards permanent residency or Thai citizenship) nor does it allow you to work in Thailand. It's essentially a long-stay tourist visa. So in principle, having a dedicated visa for digital nomads isn't a bad idea. They tried this before with the Smart visa - and failed miserably. Time will tell if they get it right with the DTV. You're right that there's a fine line between being too restrictive or attracting just about any backpacker with a laptop. Having to show 500,000 baht (in some form, specifics unknown as of now) seems to be their idea to address this.

The Thai embassy in Hanoi won't give a tourist visa to someone coming straight from Thailand ("visa runners"). The Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur might, I don't know about their current policy.

I wouldn't call having to go to the branch just to switch phones "painless". It's a hassle at best, and outright impossible if you're forced to replace your phone while being abroad. It used to be painless, when you simply had to enter your information on your new phone and they sent you an OTP to confirm.

Of course, fingerprinting is implemented at every point of entry nowadays, and regardless of your visa.

You'd be best off getting a tourist visa somewhere nearby (Vientiane would be the most obvious choice) and entering overland with your visa. Flying in after using up your land border visa exempt entries, probably in OUT-IN border bounce style, would be a risky move.

I'd say they are right to be concerned. Other nearby countries seem to be more attractive to investors nowadays.

Airport immigration at Suvarnabhumi won't be happy about such an OUT-IN "bounce". They probably tolerate it for someone who doesn't have a lot of history of staying in Thailand as a tourist, but it would be a risky thing to try for anyone who does.

Allegedly certain agents grab all the slots. Let's see if they'll crack down on that, same as Vientiane did where this isn't a problem anymore.

How ridiculous. I'm sure the Attorney General knew EXACTLY what he was doing when he decided to charge TS. His repetitive and nauseating calls for special treatment are becoming a bit tiresome.

Take the train back if you're allowed back in, that is. The Poi Pet / Aranyaprathet border really is a bad idea for any border runner with some history. And even someone who hasn't spent a lot of time in Thailand yet might run into trouble trying to go back on the same day there. @anotherfarangishere didn't say what kind of visa he has, if any.

And it's nice to see tourists who have a sense of humor, which is often required when dealing with the Thai officialdom. 😉

No you can't. Your realistic options are those you've listed, either do a border bounce for a new 90-day entry or hope for the best. I think it's quite reasonable to expect that your flight will leave on the day it's scheduled to leave, so personally, I wouldn't bother with a border bounce. But if it helps you have peace of mind, go for it.

The old goats are at each others' throats again. That's as saddening as it was predictable after the real winner of the election had been blocked from forming a government and those odious dinosaurs united (for a while anyway).