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Immigration Rules Para 18:- 18. A person may resume their residence in the UK provided the Immigration Officer is satisfied that the person concerned: (i) had indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom when he last left; and (ii) has not been away from the United Kingdom for more than 2 years; and (iii) did not receive assistance from public funds towards the cost of leaving the United Kingdom; and (iv) now seeks admission for the purpose of settlement. 18A. Those who qualify to resume their residence in accordance with paragraph 18 do not need a visa to enter the UK. 19. A person who does not benefit from the preceding paragraph by reason only of having been absent from the United Kingdom for more than two consecutive years, must have applied for, and been granted indefinite leave to enter by way of entry clearance if, he can demonstrate he has strong ties to the United Kingdom and intends to make the United Kingdom his permanent home. Edit. I don't know where those numerals at the beginning of each line came from

I have used the online system with no problem for some time. In early August I returned from a trip to UK (re-entry permit). 90 days was due last week so 8 or 9 days before, I submitted an online report, which was accepted and shown as "pending". As it went a week without confirmation I cancelled it and re-submitted, again shown as "pending". On the due day it was still outstanding so I printed off the acknowledgement and went along to Immigration. I was quickly handed a receipt with the next reporting date and out of the building in less than a minute. As it was dealt with so quickly and I'm only a short drive from the office I didn't bother to query why they hadn't dealt with my online submission. However, I have since recalled that in September we had a trip to Isaan, and one of the hotels we stayed in would not accept my driving licence and insisted on copying the copy of my passport on my phone (as I wasn't carrying my passport). Presumably they submitted this to local Immigration, so that the Rayong office looked at the computer and decided that after returning from Blighty I might have gone to live in Khorat - although the online report clearly showed my address as it has been for the last 13 years. I suppose it's too much to expect hotel check-in staff to distinguish between tourists and longer-staying residents.

I clicked on this thread out of interest and was surprised to see that it was I who started it nearly 14 years ago. As an update (after 13 years living in Thailand), I was facing a small operation about 4 years ago, and the surgeon was reluctant to proceed because of my poor blood/oxygen level. I was prescribed a course of Symbicort Turbuhaler (budesonide/formateral), and the transformation from the effect of the previous steroid inhaler I was using was amazing. I have used it ever since, one puff morning and evening. I have to resort to Ventolin so infrequently that the inhaler is 3 years old.

Not ridiculous. I have direct knowledge of a Thai lady, long-time resident in UK who showed both UK and a new Thai passport on arrival at BKK. On some pretext the IO declined to admit her as a Thai national and stamped her in for 30 days as a visitor. She went to the local Immigration Office who gave her an extension for 1 year as a "former Thai national", which suited her purpose at the time, and they advised her not to show her UK passport at a Thai border. That was a dozen years ago, and perhaps the officers are less antediluvian nowadays, but my point is that they don't need to see the US passport, so be on the safe side and don't show it to them.

And to be on the safe side, keep the US passport well out of sight. Some Thai Immigration Officers don't understand or agree with the concept of dual nationality and like to mess you around.

I can't speak for requirements for a visa application, but for the actual travel it might depend on which airline you use and even the check-in agent. The one on the Thai Airways desk at Heathrow yesterday had a little niggle at the screen grab of the Mor Prom app QR code which clearly showed my name and "vaccinated", and wanted to know how many times I'd been vaccinated. The app wouldn't let me in because it didn't recognise the UK sim in my phone, so I fished out the paper certificate which satisfied him. Whether his colleagues would have been so punctilious is anybody's guess. At Suvarnabhumi this morning there were no checks or demands for Covid documentation at all, just a couple of staff handing out little cards telling you to watch out for monkeypox. All you need at the Immigration desk is your passport and the boarding card for the flight you've just arrived on, so don't lose that. Covid insurance is long forgotten.