NanLaew

What time of the day was this, and how long did it take you to clear immigration, get your bags, etc.? I arrived a week past Thursday at 17:00 and the west immigration hall appeared to be only for the Chinese tour groups that I skated past on the walk from gate F6. I got to the east immigration hall which was fully staffed with only 1 or 2 people in each queue. I was through in about 8 minutes and my bag had just popped out on the carousel. I was checked-in at the hotel and in my room by 18:00. I LOVE Suvarnabhumi!!!

The OP's 'friend' is departing on THAI. Being their home-airport, check-in can be earlier than the standard 3 hours when other airlines check-in gates normally open. The THAI check-in desks are staffed round-the-clock plus they also have their self check-in kiosks which make it even easier. My preferred method is to do the online check-in first (opens 24-hours before departure), and get the QR coded digital boarding pass on the phone via email. Scan that QR code at the self-service kiosk (faster than passport scans or typing in reservation codes), print the label for any checked bag and the paper boarding pass. Drop the bag at bag drop, get the check stub and cruise on through. I have done this several times when my domestic arrival in BKK resulted in having about 6 hours to kill before departure overseas. Checked-in as above, through security and immigration and into the lounge for a few hours. Good luck (and relax)

When they 'reset' your 90-day clock, didn't they insert a new piece of paper with the new 90-day date on it?

I don't recall anyone having to provide proof of funds for a visa being issued at an embassy or consulate overseas mentioning that they require the money to be seasoned. None of the official embassy or consulate websites state the need for seasoning, only proof of having the money in your bank account. However, as @BritManToo mentioned in a recent HCMC visa thread, they want to see a 6-month bank statement. There's no clarity if that needs to show a minimum of 400k baht for the entire 6 months. Their website only states the following. 2.5. Applicant’s financial statement of adequate finance is required.

Why would you suspect that?

Good grief, another pedant. Q. What's the difference between the immigration officer at the arrival airport stamping an embassy-issued, single-entry visa as 'used' and the immigration officer at the local immigration officer stamping their newly issued single-entry visa they issued as 'used'? A. None. It is still a visa regardless of who or why it was issued and when or where it was cancelled.

The conversation is about the new addition of financials @ Savanakhet, not the availability of said visa. Christ on a bike! I was responding to @MangoKorat who DID bring up the question of visa availability. I thought pedant day was Tuesday?

You wouldn't and in your previous circumstances, why would you? It's the Immigration department that thinks that married people should live together rather than have one or the other popping in and out of the country. I believe it is that mindset that has driven the gradual disappearance of any 1-year, multi-entry visa in lieu of a single entry visa allowing you enough time to get an extension internally. It's one of those things they can't get their head around like digital nomads. It has taken the best part of 10 years for Thailand to realize they exist but they still can't agree on a viable visa for them. BTW, I prefer the 1-year MENO because I still work overseas so it allows family visits and work tours without wasting my time with the pedants at the local immigration office with extensions, variable interpretations of seasoning of funds, banking paper trails and 90-day reports. Previously, I did have a marriage and retirement extensions and, because I was working and leaving 4 or 5 times a year, I never had to bother with 90-day reports. After the Covid-induced work hiatus, I had to do the whole extension, funding, seeding thing + 90-days which was a ball ache. As soon as the 1-year MENO became available again, I was on it. If the embassies or consulates want to see the equivalent of THB400,000 only once a year, that's still a lot easier than the immigration extension mill.

You are probably right as there's been the slow push over the years to wean people off long-term, multi-entry visas of any sort and formalize their long-stay Thai immigration status with the RTP once inside the country.

It did on the Thai language page from their website that @transam already posted a link to a few pages ago. Since extensions are grandfathered on the predicating immigration entitlement (the Non O visa), yes. What other category would apply?

As long as the filthy rich offshore worker is happy to fund his frequent visits via ATM withdrawals from an overseas bank, then he can avoid any tax. Those laws don't consider immigration status by the way, they simply count days in the country for anyone. That's clocked by immigration and will be shared with RD and if they have a local bank account, then tax will be assessed.

Yes, but you missed that I was answering @MangoKorat who asked what would the offshore worker do if this visa was no longer available regionally. This is possible with the shift to eVisa systems. If it is still available, they get it in Savanakhet.

Agreed. I've been like that ever since I won the lottery.

So you get your statistics and they show that seriously ill inmates sometimes get special treatment and you will say, "I told you so." or You get your statistics and they show that seriously ill inmates hardly ever get special treatment and you will say, "I told you so." What difference does it make if the former PM is or isn't getting preferential treatment? This is STILL Thailand, and it doesn't matter. Seriously, there's a whole lot of other stuff that can impact my life and that of my family and none of it is remotely connected to this former PM or any of them.

Yes, I know. I've had international accounts with a UK bank's IoM branch for over thirty years. But AUD, SGD, JPY, CHF are significant currencies that are only handled via Standard's SA office rather than a mainstream foreign bank such as Lloyds, London (GBP), Citibank NYC (USD). I guess an international African bank has to start somewhere. Although they obtained a UK banking licence in 1992, they were in talks in 2013 to sell off their London markets to the Chinese. Then in 2014 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) fined them £7,640,400 for failings relating to its anti-money laundering (AML) policies and procedures over corporate customers connected to politically exposed persons (PEPs). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Bank Anyway, if it fits your immediate or short-term banking requirements, it appears to be among the few banks still doing 'remote' new account opening.

Agent and extensions. There's nothing preventing them from dropping the equivalent of $11,000 in their Thai bank account so they can still get the visa.

I had a look at their list of correspondent banks and for anything other than GBP, USD, EUR and AED, they list Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd.. Further research led me to the following: Standard Bank Group Limited is a major South African bank and financial services group. It is Africa's biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is situated in Simmonds Street, Johannesburg.

No bigger than what? (rhetorical)

If you think this forum has a preponderance of Thai bashers, you should have a trawl with the trolls that spend their day posting "comments" on the newspaper that can't be mentioned here. That collective of sadness makes this forum look like a long weekend in Blackpool in October.

To be prosecuted, she would first need to be arrested, no? Since the cops are probably being paid by Mrs Lek and other food shops to mediate and manage this ad-hoc 'customer parking' arrangement, who's going to arrest anyone here?

Anything to keep the knowitall-but-can't-do-nothing-about-it farangs beating their gums!

Obviously you are not aware of the Thai Visas issued by Savannakhet. The Non O multi-entry Visa as Married to Thai has been a special situation at Savannakhet with no proof of 400,000 Thai banked money in your Thai bank account. @transam is fully aware of that visa and, like myself, has acquired more than a few of them at Savanakhet. Maybe you missed the winking emoji? Better to do an exit/entry just before the visa validity expires, thus obtaining a 90-day stay, and THEN apply for the 60-day extension in-country.

Go home and get a 1-year MENO from an embassy there? They're offshore workers after all, so they're filthy rich and can afford the one-time extra airfare.

The THB400,000 required at Savanakhet works out a bit less than that (at the moment).

For me, it was the freedom of NOT having to attend immigration police offices in Thailand, with their tendency to play fast and loose with (or make up) the rules. Getting a visa means a one-time dealing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (they run the embassies and consulates), and the only immigration jobsworths I have to face are the ones stamping me in/out of Thailand.