Shwaman

Don't normally opine in these discussions, but as a +70 year old it occurred to me that if our species succumbed to every new virus introduced through whatever zoonomic transmission, we would have gone extinct 500,000 years ago. Infants and the elderly have been dying at the back of the cave for 10s of thousands of years. Modern medicine has changed that though some would like to go back to the caves. In my mind the only legitimate question revolves around how many enterprising peoples lives do you destroy to save some whose lives are already well spent? ( Including my own). This is an ethical question that every government wrestled with 5 years ago. In retrospect I believe they they went way too far in protecting my cohort. I have great sympathy with those whose livelihoods were sacrificed. I hope that mistake never happens again. Vaccine/ no Vaccine? To each their own. Live or die accordingly. In the cosmic scheme of things it doesn't matter one bit. Regards.

Oops. Forgot to mention the intention to continue with the 12 month retirement extension of stay for myself. Sorry for the confusion. I was unaware of the eliminaton of the M.E non O. Told by an agent recently it was available once in the country. Its of little consequence to my intentions. Thank you for the clarification that there is no minimum requirement of days needed to stay in the country. I am aware of the financial requirements. Thank you all.

As a consequence of the immigration crack down on visa exempt border runs I'm considering the non O multiple entry option later this year for a 5 1/2 month stay Thailand. However I have been advised by an expat already using a R.E.S on a non O visa , that in order to maintain its validity one must be in Thailand at least 180 days in a given year. I had never heard of this before and am inquiring here if that is accurate information. Sorry if all this has been hashed out before in this forum. Regards...

Thanks all for your input. The gentleman is a senior luddite so no chance of first person clarification here. His friend is his housekeeper with a notary?/ lawyer ? nephew. This of course raised my suspicions on his behalf which have been verified by the preceeding contributions to the thread. Thanks again.

So my Canadian friend upon being advised that our embassy will no longer facilitate verification of pension income to support the retirement extension of stay , has been told that this can be accomplished by a Thai notary verifying 3 preceeding months of Canadian bank statements for a similar but slightly higher fee. What are the chances of this being accurate? No Thai bashing please. 555

Just a little aside Chicago, if that happens to be your city of origin. I have received nothing but kindness help and good intentions from the American people when I used to bike there for years. However as a foreigner entering that country one does not engage with your average American. One has to deal with their xenophobic American exceptionalist government. This can become a nightmare very quickly. Just easier to avoid it.

Banned from receiving a visa to enter the Ugly States of Amerigo Vespucci ? Only if she's lucky! Quit going to that dead end country 15 years ago. 555

While perusing the forum my attention was gained by a strange heading. "War in Isreal " . I thought wtf the Egyptians and Jordanians have invaded again à la 68? But no! Its about Israels invasion ( and justifiably so) of Gaza and subsequent ( not necessarily so) forays into Lebanon and the West bank. Definitely not war in Israel. And just as a further clarification, it's an accepted fact that indigenous Palestinians in Gaza predate the arrival of the Abramites out of the Chaldese. So in the not so current venacular, "who's zooming who ?". But the most galling thing about this whole nightmare was its inevitable creation by Euopean colonial powers out of their complete contempt for any "<deleted>" that hadn't developed their esteemed civility. Makes one ashamed to be complicit to this day. Hence the above post.

So just to offer a little anecdotal information. When I exited Thai immigration in early January I was somewhat alarmed when the Thai IO offered the opinion that I might be ok for a quick turnaround that time but don't count on it again. This was contrary to the accepted wisdom of the day. Fortunately for my Feb 28th run I heeded his warning and used a very well connected agent out of Udon Thani and events proceeded without a hitch. But while on the Laos side it was obvious there were a number of distraught farang and the number of people crossing the border was significantly reduced compared to previous visits. The agent informed me that as of about 1 month ago immigration has decided the multiple visa exempt entry days are over. The basic position is that after 90 days (60 +30) it's time to move on and reenter on a touist visa from an Embassy in a foreign country or begin the Non O visa process. The rationale for this limited or no notice about this change of policy seems to be , simply put , that this has always been within any IO discretion. Can't argue with that. But the driving force seems to be the increasing need to monitor the where abouts of bad actors. These are just observations from my experience today and I hope with this foresight everyone can enjoy this country free of border crossing anxiety going forward. If the above seems incorrect please accept the advice of Dr. Jack and other experts on this forum who are more informed than me.

Ah! It's so entertaining to whatch the true believers play out in real time the age old maxim " figures lie and liars figure " nough said.

Having no extensive knowledge of current immigration regs , I can only offer an anecdotal reply. Six years ago a Belgian friend of mine while waiting for God after extensive pancreatic cancer surgery was granted permission to not attend immigration in Tak province. If I remember correctly there was assistance / letters from the village police.

I've always found it amusing that foreigners living for extended periods of time in Thailand can't grasp the reality that the traffic laws are for the movement of cars and commercial vehicles in a more or less orderly manner and that there is an alternate unwritten tacit cultural traffic code for smaller motorscooters that most Thais understand and employ for great ease and efficiency of transportation. Having come from a Western tight arse overly regulated nation myself like many on this forum it truly is liberating to adopt the local trafic code and arrive at ones destination on a scooter while those in a car haven't got through the first traffic light on their precious one way street. Just sayin.

Don't understand what all the fuss is about. I'm in Khon Kaen. Little bit of a campfire smell from my youth. Makes for a good sleep. Or is it Alzheimer's?

Got it! Thanks.

So out of curiosity, how will the new electonic system affect a same day border bounce after January 1. I'm doing the Nong Khai bit early February. Last I read the E visa requirement wasn't mandatory until June. As the OP mentioned anything can be in flux at any given time.