isaanistical

On 2/25/2026 at 8:02 PM, visarunner said:

just look at the updated page of www.thaivisaservice.com, plenty of choices to stay and if in doubt contact them to arrange a Safe Entry.

this and several other agent options.

Having been talking to some of them, I pass on an observation from one, that is probably well worth noting. The instinct is to take such advice with a pinch of salt, but in this case it makes sense.

"If you want to do the border run (eg to Laos), do it, by all means with us or with another agent, but do NOT do it alone. Unaccompanied, the officials at borders will allow you out but not back and make it all a big problem."

On 2/18/2026 at 7:43 AM, Tod Daniels said:

not trying to bust your balls with my comments,

I'm just telling you how passport control is gonna look at it after you've been here as long as you have free stamp AND believe it or not that 60 day visit thai family extension doesn't help you in the least (in their eyes)

Best of luck with it, safe entry is the way to go if you wanna get out/back and a guaranteed new 60 day entry stamp. PLUS both those companies can guarantee you can get a 30 day extension on a 60 day entry too

sorry, deleted

On 2/19/2026 at 7:58 AM, Briggsy said:

You seem to be under the impression that this is an allowance or a right. In fact you actually use the word "allowance"! It is not. It is a maximum. It is not an allowance.

If you can show me a current Thai government source stating it is an allowance, I would be very happy to admit I was wrong. I can read Thai so any language would be fine. (You won't find one.)

No. I know I have seen stuff referring to punters being permitted 2VEs in a calendar year, but not since it was first mooted (if you'll allow the expression) late last year. Perhaps "granted" might be a better word than allowed. But I was only using "allowance" as my own term. In the past 50 years I've crossed enough borders to know no entry in the world is a "right".

(NB: If something is allowed, it is an allowance)

7 hours ago, Tod Daniels said:

not trying to bust your balls with my comments,

None taken! You tell me what I expected anyway.

7 hours ago, Tod Daniels said:

comin' in visa exempt IS for tourism..

de facto, it seems so - but only because that's how an individual IO would want to interpret it, not because it's law.

That's why I am intrigued by the apparent "2 VEs per year" allowance, because I had 2 last year and now I would like one this year, so in a sense it ought to be ok. Been here long enough to know these inconsistencies though.......

5 hours ago, Tod Daniels said:

No matter what your reason it's for milking visa exempt entries you're going to be hard pressed getting out and back in by land or air with that entry/stay history ☹️

You're about as far from a real tourist as you can throw a stick 😮

I'd say contact a "safe entry" company and fly out and back thru Don Mueang or Suvarnabhumi. They guarantee you can get back in..

You don't exactly surprise me! Are you confirming that the "2 VEs per calendar year" didn't get off the ground?

Also, not something I'd want to argue with an IO at DMK, but I am not even trying to pass myself off as a "tourist". Surely "visa-exempt" does not have a "purpose of visit"? That's the "exempt" bit, so someone might legitimately enter "visit family", "business trip" or a thousand other purposes (for a 60-day entry) if asked, not just "tourism". Unless in Thai it says something different......

10 hours ago, BrandonJT said:

Still daily/weekly reports of people being pulled up and denied.

Are these primarily at SVB/DMK, or everywhere? (I am asking because I don't see these reports, not because I don't believe they exist)

14 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Why did it delay applying for extension.

If I reading correctly you stated two visa exempt entries + 60 extension to visit wife?

Surely not.

Again what stopped you from obtaining 12 month extension based on marriage.

Please don't use sale of land as reason

Sorry, but the land issue led to us not having B400K available, hence the interruption to normal service!

2 VE entries, both via land, and currently a single 60-day extension. I would have got a further 30 days but screwed up because I failed to note your own observation that one must do the 30 first before asking for the 60.

Rather than spending a month or two outside TH, I am exploring whether to risk one more in-out on the 60-day jobbie before the expected reduction come August. By then I'll be able to show 400K again.

For months we've been preoccupied with an unresolved problem over sale of some land, which has delayed my marriage extension. Temporary fixes meant 2 land visa-exempts last year, the second finishes mid-March as I did a 60-day extension to visit Thai family (btw: no hassle at all at upcountry IO).

I should be sorted by mid-year to go back to the marriage extension routine, but I'll need one more “border run” to tide me over.

Has the fuss died down or will I face likely trouble over one more visa-exempt run if I come back by air? The “rule” seemed to be 2 entries per year, but are IOs holding to that in general?

Does a couple of days out of Thailand suffice? Would I need onward air tickets and billions of dollars in bank to get back in? Is it better (ie safer) to enter at (eg) CNX than Bangkok?

I know fine well there are no hard-and-fast answers, but what's the mood over at Immigration?

3 hours ago, Johno57 said:

"revise long-stay visa criteria for retirees to attract expats who can support sectors like real estate and health tourism"

Wires crossed? To me, that's two different things, unless they want to attract pensioners (who must NOT work) to work in two restriced sectors.

As always, the details are missng and/or ambiguous. Anyway, next instalment of this saga due end August, so let's not hold our breath.

NB: I took the quote from Johno57, my comment is not aimed at him/her

On 10/4/2025 at 3:01 AM, DrJoy said:

Don't post rubbish to increase your post count.

Almost all Thai Banks issue cr card to non Thais, except Bangkok bank, GSB

Well I am looking at my own Bangkok Bank card..... 

Don't post rubbish.

1 hour ago, ballpoint said:

When Elon finally landed on Mars, he was somewhat disappointed to discover that the Thais had got there first.

except 7-11 is from Japan not Thailand...........

3 hours ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

The Aussie police and forensics teams must be as thick as mince confusing flour for heroin.

Bake bl@@dy good cakes though

1 hour ago, Tod Daniels said:

It can indeed happen 😞 

Hardly bears thinking about. Perhaps time to take a bit of care of the old girl - after all, she's been with me so long she's almost like one of the family!

16 hours ago, Gaccha said:

Contact the Future Pensions Centre ( not the HMRC) and they'll direct you to the relevant organisation

20 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Or he could phone them up, read them his NI number and ask them.

I'll pass these on if I see the guy, but I am intrigued by the idea of  just calling a government department in England!

I know it can be done in Australia, and other places, but I can't imagine that working in Britain! So I just gurgled the Future Pensions Centre. First response was: "I phoned the Future Pension Centre earlier, I was told that they would call me back within 8 weeks! "

All of which kinda backs up my vow never to set foot there again. Thanks for the answers.

I was asking a question about UK when a separate question occurred to me as I typed. My wife (khun Thai, of course) was quite ill recently, happily now better.

But what if she died?

Does Immigration just shrug, cancel my marriage extension and throw me out? Or is there a less brutal procedure after bereavement? (Or indeed does it vary from one IO to another!?)

maybe I just look like I know everything. Not infrequently I am asked serious questions in conversation, sometimes with people I never met before. Few days ago I got this one from a Brit, probably sincere, almost certainy not enjoying great luck in Patts (or anywhere else, I reckon).

He has a UK NI number, and proved it (without being asked) by waving the government doc with the number on it. Shorn of other funds, he said, did I know if he is able to claim anything at all in the way of benefits from the UK although he has lived outside UK for 30-odd years. He said he was 75 years old, originally from London (I asked if he is “proper” British or of immigrant stock and he confirmed “British Citizen”).

I have no idea about benefits, having a (just about adequate) private annuity. I said I thought there ought to be some Britishgovernment website where you could enter the NI number and just find out, but he didn't know and I subsequently did a quick check and found nothing.

So – does anyone know how to establish whether one is able to claim anything at all?

[please, don't warp this simple enquiry into some sort of rant-thread about (il)legal immigration, foreigners, channel boats or darkies. I'm actually interested in the answer, if anyone out there knows one]

3 hours ago, The Cyclist said:

You cannot get back something, that you have never had.

 

There is no such thing as European Citizenship.

look it up. Clearly you are not from Uk otherwise you would know, and if not, then your legitimacy to pontificate here is limited,no?

18 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

So, when do I get my money back?

Maybe the same time I get my European citizenship back? "My" country disenfranchised me. Stick it. I would rather die than ever set foot in UK again.

6 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Yes it's a sweet deal IMO. 

Just be aware that the 30 day needs to be done first followed by the 60 to visit wife. 

Something to do with "different class" of extension. 

Your friend could run it past immigration when applying for the 30 day extension. 

I now wonder if they might let one do it twice, that's nearly a year's worth! Pushing your luck, I guess.

Cheers

18 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

The friend with Thai wife is entitled to both.. The 30 and 60 to visit wife.

That sounds like a good deal! 60+30+60 = 5 months. Finally, a way to make the wife useful..... I may think further.

Many thanks, Doc.

7 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Add to your thread when you know the TM30 address as that determines imm office

Sorry for confusion, two different cases. 

Two friends here now, staying with us, TM30 done already. If they are elsewhere on the day they want to extend, I understand a hotel or such would give them a TM30 and they have to extend locally wherever that is.

But if they apply days early (because of w/end and holiday), do they end up with fewer than 30 days, or would the extension date from 11th?

The idea of a farang spouse on 60-day exempt getting a 60-day extension is separate and only just occurred to me. You suggest it might be possible (all these things are at the whim of IOs, one is aware!).

I have 2 questions and pardon me if they are obvious but I failed to find them in search.

1. Friends from EU are visiting, staying with me on visa-exempt, and will want a 30-day extension. I have never done one of these, so I know as much as they do.
They are stamped till October 11. That is a a Saturday, and Mon 13 is a public holiday. If they go to IO on, say, 9th, would they get 30 days from 9th or from 11th? 
And does it have to be the local office where I live (in Samut Prakan) or any IO?

Related: anyone know yet if 10th Oct is going to be a holiday?

2. It just occurred to me that if someone married to a Thai lass was on a visa-exempt 60 days, could he get a 60-day extension "to visit Thai wife"?  Or only 30 days like a real tourist?

1 hour ago, Digitalbanana said:

of course that hasn't happened in the UK since,oh, 2022?

3 hours ago, Cameroni said:

So the housing crisis, ie inflationary prices for real estate, could be solved now.

you mean this house is inflatable? That really IS genius. Pull the plug out and roll it up to move house!