raz0r21

Is it required? yes. Is it enforced? sometimes. You just never know! When I was extending my visa exempt at Lak Si IT-Square one of the guys sitting next to me got sent out because he didnt have it. In my case, I had it with me, but they never asked for it. Weird experience, but thats just how it is. Depends completely on the IO you get.

Yes. A tourist visa is stronger than an exempt. Many times Immigration officials ask you to get a tourist visa when you have "too many" exempts. It is also a way for the IO to see that you have been vetted by a thai embassy, so they dont have to do it. Btw, 300 dollars is absolute madness. I paid 35 euro for mine.

Every time I do a land crossing with a visa service group, they have dedicated vans for people from the philippines. Out of those I am almost certain some work illegally in Thailand. This might be the reason for the intense questioning. I remember when they were questioning me, whatever I said didnt matter... they just kept saying "no no, we dont believe you". This went on for at least 1 hour. So, I am not surprised. Also now is low season which means they have more time to question incoming arrivals.

Yeah, I remember pre-covid when I got pulled over and grilled for an hour, during early September 2019. The time was around 7pm and not a single person was walking through the booths... so they had all the time in the world to scroll through my travel history. The thing is that I was coming from a 1 month trip to Vietnam which was something they did not seem to like. I dont know what the problem is with Vietnam specifically. Was just staying a short while before my flight back home, so I entered with a visa exempt. I tried showing my ticket out but no dice.

July is low season for tourism, so there is more time to stop people and question them. Most people dont go to Thailand during this time of year for tourism either, so it might raise some flags for the IO.

There are services for "Safe entry" to Thailand available. Not sure if they are allowed to be published here on the forum, but I am sure you can find it online.

Chiang Mai is known for being a friendly airport

Yeah he was definately not prepared. But still got in after a while. Probably the IO was on a power trip. I agree about the working illegally part!

Yeah, I was very surprised by this. Apparently the biggest problems were that he 1) had been to Vietnam many times 2) didnt have a tourist visa. The "interrogation" took around 30 minutes, and the IO also threatened that he might not be let in. He also had to show proof of funds, and he presented his bank balance as proof which they eventually accepted.

Some people might be interested in this. My friend got questioned recently, and put in some area with alot of other arrivals who had a long history of stays in Thailand. This happened when he arrived in May. In my friends case, he had been out of the country for over 6 months, but still got a harsh scolding because he didnt have a tourist visa. He kept repeating that he didnt know what rules he is breaking, or what the problem was. The IO finally let him in, but told him that he could not extend with 30 days at Immigration. A few days ago he extended through a visa service agent, without issues.

60 day tourist visa + 30 day extension + 2 border runs to cambodia with 30 day extensions . Well, technically you "leave" Thailand, but not really tho....

I think you can stay up to a year or so, but the next calendar year will give you problems at the airport for sure. It is better to stay 6-7 months without leaving the country, and have some months in between the trips.

Hey OP, They do this sometimes when they notice you are eligible for a retirement visa. They would prefer you switch to that instead of using tourist visas. I know it sounds weird, but yeah. It is what it is.

Thanks for the report. Really helpful. I had an idea of applying from KL some time in the future, but after reading that ... no chance. It is very frustrating that it has come to this. Most tourist visa applications only need a screenshot of your bank and thats that. In Sweden (where I apply from aswell), they even removed this requirement completely a few months ago.

I know its not supposed to be like this, but it is. Just FYI (I am sure there are many I have missed): Thai embassy/consulates in Vietnam: overly complicated visa applications. Started with this policy around 2019 afaik. Poipet border in Cambodia: avoid at all cost. Many horror stories in this forum about this border crossing. Ban Laem border in Cambodia: still ok, but only with VISA run company (as far as I know). Thai embassy/Friendship bridge border in Laos: Mostly ok. Chiang Mai airport (CNX): ok. Bangkok airport (DMK): avoid if you have a long history of tourist stamps. Bangkok airport (BKK): avoid if you have a long history of tourist stamps.

I would say its 50/50. There is a sign and an example of a TM30 copy at the check in desk, where you get your queue number for immigration in Lak Si IT Square. So better have it than not have it tbh. And like I wrote earlier, one guy sitting next to me with the other IO officer was getting a lot of trouble because he did not have a TM30. He had to exit the room as they would not do his extension without it.

I just went there to extend last week, and they didnt want to see my tm30. The document checking staff didnt want to see it, even if I showed it to them. The same thing happened in the IO office, she just gave it back to me. I dont know what to make of this, especially since they were really giving some people a hard time about TM30 right next to me. My address is in Wutthakat and i stay in a normal condo. So I dont know whats going on. You may or may not be asked for a TM30 is my answer OP. But I dont know why some are asked and some are not.

In his case he just wants to get his belongings and go back to Europe (as far as I know). So in that situation I think I would roll the dice too. OP I suggest you get a single entry visa from Vietnam and cross through Laos by land or fly in to Chiang Mai. Its gonna be a bit of a mission but the success rate will be higher than just trying with a new exempt entry.

Its not always that black and white, especially since the rules in Thailand are not black and white. But in the case of OP, he should have prepared better since he has been here so long and knows the lay of the land.

I´m seeing a pattern here. The IO probably wants OP to come in with Non O because of his age. The same thing happened in another thread just recently. Even though its not a rule, I think they are using this as common practice now and turning away people who are eligible for retirement visas. I am just speculating, but this is what it looks like.

What I think is happening here is that the IO wants the OP to switch to a Non-O based on his/her age. It´s a bit of a weird way to do it but, thats probably the case. Just as an example how rules differ from officer to officer....I just extended my visa exempt with 30 days in Lak Si and the guy sitting next to me was getting grilled and scolded because he didnt have a TM30. "You stay in Thailand long time already!" etc etc. The IO that was handling my passport however, didnt even want to look at my TM30 when I presented it. I dont know what to make of this really.

I have a really hard time believing this. Did you spend any time outside of Thailand? Anyway, if its true you have been very lucky. Impressive.

Hey OP, just a suggestion for a long stay: You get a higher chance of success by using visa service companies for your border runs and tourist visa applications in neighboring countries (usually Laos/Cambodia). The reason for this is that you don´t get questioned as much by immigration officials if you are part of a visa run group. However nothing is ever guaranteed, but I would always choose a visa run company instead of trying to do it myself - especially if I got many stamps and a long history. I have used www.thaivisaservice.com many times without any issues. But there are others too. Good luck! Just a small update as well, last time I did a border run to Cambodia they didnt put the whole page visa in my passport for Cambodia, and only used small stamps. That was a positive surprise.

I know this might sound silly but try to scope out the most relaxed looking IO in the booth at the airport. But yeah, you should get a SETV at least to even attempt an entry. If you are 100 % sure you want to come back so soon, prepare yourself with all the required documents as stated in this thread, and also bring something that shows income from abroad, especially since they dont want you working here illegally.

Hello, There should be no issues at all. You have spent 5 months out of Thailand which most definitely eliminates the "working in thailand without a visa" questioning. If you want to be safe, apply for a single entry tourist visa online (SETV). It is a quick process and very cheap to get, and it also helps with immigration since it is considered "stronger" than a visa exempt. I stayed 8 months last trip using 1 SETV + 2 visa exempt + 3 extensions. Stayed in Sweden for 5 months after that, got back in October with a SETV. Just stamped through without a word. Good luck and enjoy Thailand!