Caldera

Yes, it's open.

It's more or less just theater.

Become a failed state? It has been a failed state for years already.

How about respecting the people's vote, is that really asking too much?

Here's a novel idea for those unelected dinosaurs. Just follow the lead of the voters, their message is loud and clear.

For real change to happen, going after Thailand's oligarchs and dismantling their empires would be pretty much a necessity.

Or maybe you've been on the sauce. What is the point you're actually trying to make?

Well deserved, that was a total disgrace.

I kind of get your first point, but as you'd need those 800k a year later again anyway, using an agent looks like a better solution for anyone who struggles with the financials. Never having to visit a local immigration office, BUT having to stamp out and back in every 90 days. Unless someone travels frequently anyway, I really struggle to see that as a benefit. Which offices are "rogue" with regards to the requirements for retirement extensions anyway?

That doesn't make sense. If you qualify for a Non-O visa, you wouldn't want to get extensions based on attending school later. If you do go the ED route, double-check that you can actually stay as long as you've indicated. Chonburi Immigration used to count the 1 year limit for studying at an informal school from your actual entry into Thailand. Unless that has changed, you can't get 3 months (Non-ED visa) plus 12 months worth of extensions on top of your original permission to stay.

A TM30 would be pointless, as it's for your previous stay. A hotel booking should be alright, maybe someone can advise what their current requirement is. In the good old days, a hotel booking for the first night would have been sufficient, just to confirm the address you put on the application form. But they might require more nowadays, same as other nearby embassies and consulates.

I'm not sure if I understand your excitement. Not having to do 90-day reports (which can be done online within minutes), but actually having to leave the country every 90 days - that hardly looks like a benefit to me!

Long overdue, they should have resolved their silly little border conflict a long time ago.

You should have neither filled in the TM6 number nor kept the old form in your passport, as it's not for your most recent entry. More likely than not, the IO was just confused. It's standard procedure to process extensions for those who recently entered at an airport without TM6 form / number.

Do you know how long exactly your July trip will be, and will you have a return ticket before arriving in Thailand? As you wrote "about a month", getting a tourist visa would look better than maxing out another visa exempt entry or having to extend it.

Historically, that has been one of the best and most relaxed Cambodia border crossings. Recently, other Cambodia crossings have become a lot more iffy than in the past though, and I haven't seen any recent reports from Chong Chom. So depending on how much more trouble it is for you travel-wise, it might be a good idea to consider crossing into Laos instead.

Give it a rest already, not everyone has a need to go to the CBD frequently, if at all. Choices!

Sorry that was just a dig at another recent topic on here, where a poster wrote that he attempted to re-enter Thailand with an expired eVisa.

You can do a border bounce there. Using a valid eVisa at a land border isn't a problem, there's no such restriction.

The metrics they use in the article are pretty much meaningless. Has the overall population of overstayers decreased or increased? How many overstayers are caught in country vs. those that pay on their way out when they choose to leave voluntarily?

As he works in Thailand, the Elite visa isn't the right visa type either.

With an expulsion stamp in your passport, attempting to enter visa exempt at another land border might well be a futile exercise. With your recent history, you really should have avoided Poi Pet anyway, even if your visa had still been valid.

If you're rejected at a land border, immigration of the country from which you were attempting to cross into Thailand (e.g. Cambodia) will cancel your exit stamp and you can stay there for the remainder of your reinstated permission to stay. Where you go next is then up to you. At the airport, it's somewhat less clear. By default, you're returned to the country where you came from, but if you don't have permission to re-enter that country, you might need to fly to your home country instead. You might be able to negotiate flying to another country with the representative of the airline that brought you in (and that becomes responsible for your removal), but from reports, that's hit and miss.

Detain on sight? That's questionable at best and might be outright illegal. Chances are he's fine and just enjoying a little time off from his family. Fingers crossed that it will end well for all concerned.

There are two different border crossings that are both in Pong Nam Ron district of Chantaburi: Ban Laem and Ban Pakkard. Both use "Pong Nam Ron" stamps. It's unclear, to me anyway, where exactly the OP went.