Caldera

You're wrong about that. If YOU (not: one of your passports) stay in Thailand for 179+ days per tax year, then YOU are considered a tax resident. Using several different passports makes no difference whatsoever.

They don't accept proof of income, only money in the bank.

Ultimately it's a question of preference based on how much you want to travel around etc. With the multi-entry visa, you need to leave every 90 days, which is one reason why many people prefer the extension route. Also, nowadays not many places still offer a multi-entry Non-O visa based on retirement. I think Savannakhet still does.

No. To get a Non-O retirement visa, you need to meet the financial requirements for an extension based on retirement (800,000 baht in the bank). For a SETV, you only need to show 20,000 baht in the bank.

You can still do border runs there, it's a friendly border crossing.

If you're the kind of guy who needs to tell himself that in screaming capital letters, then no, chances are that you aren't.

Awww, yet another job that Big Joke didn't get.

This "innovation" sounds like a clumsy and cumbersome experience. No thanks.

You have to be pretty dumb (or distracted) to step into an elevator shaft when no elevator is waiting for you. Some more details about how exactly this happened would have been nice.

Yes. At Ban Pakkard, or rather on the Cambodian side (Phsar Prum), it can be a real challenge to track down the officer who issues the visa on arrival at times. That can add quite some unpredictable time waiting to the process.

I think you'll find that people who get denied after the 3rd or 4th time maxed out those 3-4 visa exempt stays, maybe even with extensions, with very little time spent outside of Thailand in between. For relatively short visits (compared with the time spent outside of Thailand), it's still perfectly acceptable to visit Thailand visa exempt frequently.

Nowadays they all go to Ban Laem or Ban Pakkard.

Proof of a ticket OUT is usually required. But their website also mentions a ticket IN, and that isn't usually asked for if you travel overland and have a hotel booking in a border town. How strict they will be with their requirements could well depend on your history in any case.

It really depends. For some people, it's a long way to their immigration office. And having to wait for hours can also be avoided by making an appointment online (which is a separate option from this so-called "online extension" that still requires a visit).

Spot on. Flying business class, the boarding pass is all it takes, there's no voucher anymore.

I think, for this to really take off, they'll need to get rid of the requirement to show up at the immigration office in person. I'd guess they'll get there, eventually.

You cannot leave Thailand on an expired passport, so he wouldn't even get that far.

It's two per calendar year.

I honestly didn't know that Sharia law is enforced in Thailand's southernmost provinces, and I find that quite shocking. Anyone know since when? I tend to follow the news but must have missed this.

Excellent news. That sad excuse for a human being deserves to die penniless.

Let me get this straight. The victims engaged a "visa agency" to get them an education visa/extension for studying at a language school. If they had had the intention to actually attend lessons, they'd have signed up with the language school directly. In other words, people who intended to obtain an education visa fraudulently got scammed in the process. While I don't condone the actions of that scammy visa agency, the amount of sympathy I can find in my heart for those victims is therefor quite limited.

Not explicitly, but it also doesn't make clear which authority is entitled to make that determination. As so often, the details are open to interpretation. As the Constitution mandates due process, one sensible interpretation would be that a criminal court has made the determination of guilt. I think that's what the SCOTUS will rule in this matter, but we're all just guessing at this point.

That would be my concern as well. As long as Trump hasn't been convicted for insurrection, disqualifying him as a candidate looks like a very questionable decision. I'd assume that this decision will be overturned for this reason. I do think he's guilty of that crime, but he has a right to due process just like anyone else.

If I ever had that feeling, I'd leave Thailand. It really is that easy, I'm in Thailand by choice. Without telling us more, we can only speculate why you ended up being fined 10,000 baht. So I'll speculate. Sounds like an overstay fine; either you failed to leave on time (your responsibility) or to get the paperwork for your extension on time (could be your responsibility, or that of your employer). Please explain who scammed you.

I don't know of any other country that constantly sees the need to make tourists feel welcome with publicly announced "crackdowns" such as this one. By all means, crack down, but don't be too boastful about it - especially as you keep finding foreigners on multi-year overstays that should have been found long ago.