Caldera

Nice one, and not a day too early (or too late for that matter).

Are you using Thai roads? They're unsafe., too, outright deadly.

Their network of "secret informants" cannot be that great if it takes them a decade to catch an overstayer. How he survived Big Jok(e)'s big crackdown some years ago is anyone's guess!

By publishing this demand, they're spreading the "fake news" even further. Well done. I, for one, didn't know about it before. Abductions, yes. Hardly fake news though. Organ harvesting? News to me, but who knows.

That's bizarre, so he didn't legally enter Thailand, but tried to depart the regular way from Phuket Airport?

If you're so interested in (or obsessed with) them, here's a novel idea: ask them! You seem confused though. Ekkamai, Hooker Central? I'm not really a fan of Ekkamai myself, but very little in your post makes any sense. In which neighborhood did you live before, pray tell?

Well at least their details are known to Grab and there's an electronic trace of your journey in Grab's system that the driver cannot tamper with, so it's a lot safer than flagging down a random taxi in the street.

Many frequent visitors have Thai bank accounts, and for good reasons. Tourists can still open them, although it's not as easy nowadays as it used to be. Whether it would be a good idea to show a Thai bank account to an immigration officer as a tourist is another question though - it would probably NOT help convince them that you're just a regular tourist. Quite the opposite maybe. The official requirement is to show cash anyway, so if there's any risk of being questioned, that's the way to go.

Out of curiosity, how did that even work? Isn't there a requirement that you have to leave the country 1 year after entering in case case of studying at a language school? Counted from the actual entry, not from the date the non-immigrant visa is issued, I mean. I remember that people who wanted to study at Pattaya language schools when the "amnesty" was about to end (in Sep/Oct 2020) were advised that they'll only be able to study/stay for whatever time was left of that year, not a full year from starting to study. So they got a Non-ED visa, maybe one 90-day extension based on studying, then Covid extensions. Did other immigration offices interpret that more generously, or did that change after Covid extensions had been introduced?

If and when they do ask to see money, chances are that they only accept cash. From reports, success with attempting to show them apps or bank statements is hit and miss, but mostly miss. At the Malaysia border in particular, people have been sent back to go to an ATM to withdraw cash in the past. At airports, no such luck, so it would be too late to remedy any failure to show cash.

The first "amnesty" was decreed in April 2020, retroactively for all those whose permission to stay had expired from March 26th onwards. That's when borders had been closed, flights suspended and etc. It was subsequently extended a number of times, and was eventually succeeded by "Covid extensions", I think in October 2020 but I don't recall the exact date.

There might be some confusion, because there are two steps. While waiting for the letter from the Ministry of Education, you should be free to travel anywhere, and this could even be done while outside Thailand (in case of applying for the initial Non-Ed visa at a Thai embassy or consulate). If you apply locally at immigration, on the other hand, there's an under consideration period of a few weeks until the visa is issued. If you need to travel during that time, you need a re-entry permit. That's probably best avoided.

No, but as a student, you're generally expected to leave during school holidays. Any other absence needs to be short and/or well justified.

You're correct, the amnesty was in place during that time. When you applied for the 60-day extension, they should have put a stamp into your passport to that effect.

How about automating outbound immigration, that some countries don't even have at all? Unlike with inbound immigration, every foreigner is already in the system, so the remaining checks (overstay, arrest warrants, biometrics match) could easily be performed at an automated gate. That would free up quite a few IOs who could then be moved to arrivals.

They might, depending on their past experience with foreign tenants and their understanding of immigration procedures. My last two landlords did take an interest, to fill in the TM30 form.

Tourism is - obviously - the correct reason to apply for any kind of tourist visa, including the METV. Now, to justify the need for a METV in particular, you could mention side trips to nearby countries and etc. Some embassies actually require you to show evidence of at least one trip out within the validity period of the METV. In addition to the trip back home at the end.

There haven't been any changes. If that happens by accident, okay, things happen. But you really shouldn't be planning to do that, especially if you want to work in Thailand again later.

Don't hold your breath, what those agents are doing has been blatantly obvious for many years. It could happen, it might never happen, who knows.

That's a completely different thing for Permanent Residents.

For land border visa exempt entries, there's an official, hard limit of two per calendar year. At most land borders, they only care about that limit and won't scrutinize you arbitrarily. Retired in your 20s, the obvious choice for you would be the Elite visa, if you plan to continue to spend lots of time in Thailand. You'd have a hard time explaining the fact that you're already retired to a Thai immigration officer who chooses to question you, and even if they believe it, they could still argue that you need to obtain a longterm visa for your extensive stays. If you were close to the minimum age for the retirement "visa", you might have a chance to get away with what you do for a couple of years, but at your age you really need to consider your options carefully if you wish to continue spending a lot of time in Thailand.

The number of rotten apples in immigration is mind-blowing.

Another option to avoid having to wait at Laksi is by making an appointment.

What kind of photo is that? Big Joke doesn't have heavily armed commandos standing behind him and doesn't even wear a uniform. No trademark vinyl poster in sight either.

You hand over a deposit, then decide to bail out, and expect your deposit back? ???? As others have said, consider yourself lucky with the outcome.