Rob Browder

Both Bangkok airports have a "guaranteed entry" agent-money thing going, so deny entry to force this option. Other airports are more "hit and miss" - some we do not have enough reports for analysis. Personally, I would avoid entry by air if a frequent / longer-staying visitor entering on any tourist-type entry - visa or exempt. Or, you can pay an agent for that "service," then - no problem. The Poipet/Aranyaprathet land border is even worse - can be a small fortune in agent-fees there - will be approached by their agent *after* denied-entry. "Good" entry points are those where we do not see reports of problems - Vientiane/Nong Khai, being one of those. Then, there are "minor hassle" cases: If near Chiang Mai, "stay out one day" is now required, unless payment of 4K baht to an agent for same-day return. Into Malaysia, there is another "same day return" paid-service reported at some crossings. Cambodian crossings tend to be do-able without an agent, or with an agent "mini-van" service - with payment to the Cambodian-side for same-day return if DIY.

Why was 800K put in, if you already had that much in the account? The agent screwed up, if they did that. One just needs one extension via agent, but with their own money in-place / complying with the financials, and are good to go with the next extension themselves. Glad you were able to solve it, in any case. Hopefully the trip/visa/etc were less than another year's agent fee.

Immigration do not want us here at all - except to collect agent-fees. Immigration do not care about the reasons why visas/extensions for expats were created - to provide foreign income which creates Thai jobs. They only care about their own financial-interest. They could not care less about "Pi X" from Issan, whose business cannot survive year-round without expat customers. In the case of the OP - a marriage-based extension - there is a lot of paperwork involved, then a sign-off from the district office - where "no envelope included" means more scrutiny of the local-IO's work. Going though "all that" "for free" makes them angry - so they try to force people into another option - or just leaving Thailand. Move or "comply" - even if they send you out 3x more times for more "additional documents" they make up, each time you try - as happened to me, years ago, with a marriage-based extension-attempt. Sadly, the Non-O-ME visa option from Laos is now likely gone - was the best solution for under-50s. If over-50, retirement is the way to go - using an agent if necessary, if the funds are a problem.

Yes - Thai's jobs lost / businesses closed when immigration blocked their repeat-customers from staying here with "crackdowns" against "coming too often" / "staying too long" - which isn't even a legal-reason to deny-entry..

That's not "abuse." The purpose is to bring in longer-staying people, who have at least 500K savings, which weeds-out poor people, who have close-to-zero savings. Anyone caught begging, stealing, working-illegally, etc should be deported and banned for-cause. The type of visa they used to enter is irrelevant. The 500K funds step reduces the likelihood of that sort of behavior, vs tourist-type entries. Some will undoubtedly financially-wreck themselves with the Thai version of "The stripper really likes me" delusion, and similar - the same as do some retirees, tourists, etc.

Immigration's job is to honor valid visas - stamping-in the proper "permitted stay," absent a legal-reason to deny entry. This visa is expressly-created for people to stay in Thailand long-term. That said - yes - immigration sometimes do not do this, following their own agenda. As long as they are prepared to use non-corrupt entry points or pay whatever agent-bribe per-entry (possibly "the catch" to come), it won't ruin their lives. If I were using it, I would set-aside 10K Baht/year for "agent re-entry fees" as a safeguard - approximately one-months' aircon-room-and-board here, for a single person. If it isn't needed later - great! It's a 5-year visa - not guaranteed to be available later, so it would be foolish to "count on it" beyond the initial 5 years. That said, there have always been other options; they just cost more in agent-fees. Under-50s have nothing to lose by using the DTV. It's easier than the ongoing ED-Agent method, which continues to facilitate the same "abuse" which the "crackdown" was purported to stop - only increasing the agent-fees immigration collects. Regardless of which visa/extension, the key is for expats to understand how immigration really works - not the fantasy-version of "just follow the rules, and you will be OK." I had to learn this the hard way with experience with marriage-extensions (and the marriage-process, itself).

No - that would not be advised, unlikely to work, and could get you in serious trouble to attempt a bribe. You pay their "agent" in-advance. Contact the agent for details. This has been ongoing for years - used to be called "vip service."

The person in question did not enter by land - so this never applied to his case. As to land-entries, we have posts on this forum of entry stamps, after that policy ended, and the " (1)" "(2)" counting is over. The only question is whether you enter at a "bent" entry point, or not.

Yeah, they have special visas because "it doesn't matter" - right? Each one of those spenders = multiple Thai jobs. I guess because they are not "hi-sos," who make most of the money from the GDP figure, they don't matter? Sad that you laugh at / ridicule those Thais - like immigration do. I watched friends / family screwed when immigration "cracked down."

Not exclusively, any more. When the 60-day exempt was announced, additional reasons now qualifying for their use were added - including visiting family. We know the 2-entry rule was rescinded, because this stopped being an issue entirely at non-agent-extortion points of entry. Prior to this change, they wrote (1) and (2) next to land-border visa-exempt entries, to count them, but not any more.

Yes, you can - by providing proof you met the requirements for your current extension, upon application for the next one. I would include not only the prior 12 months bank-statement, but also including the 2 months before application for the last one, just to be sure. ... How would she know you used an agent? Just because it was stamped from Jomtien?

If doing it by air, if that agent doesn't offer this service, you could use this - 2000 to 3500 Baht - would need to ask if you having a Non-Imm visa changes this amount (as with the Cambodian land-border agent): https://aseannow.com/topic/1336926-setv-metv-still-around-now-that-visa-exempts-are-now-60-days/?do=findComment&comment=19217493 https://asq.in.th/thailand-fasttrack

The 2500 baht extra, is because your current stamp is not a "tourist" type. This case was previously reported as 2000 Baht, so I guess Thai immigration at the border-crossing they use has upped his pocket-money, or the agent is adding his cut. In any case, is not a new thing. As to 1500 baht agent-fee for the free service to move the stamp - it is worth it if you don't miss work, and avoid the possibility Immigration will make up some excuse/hassle when you get there.

I assume you are under 50, or retirement-extensions would be the easy way to go - agent or otherwise. Some of the Cambodian border-run agent reports indicate they charge a premium for those whose current/last entry was a Non-Imm type - was an extra 2K Baht, from memory, in addition to their usual charge. If it were today, I would do a border-bounce at a safe entry point like Nong-Khai / Vientiane. There have been no reports there thus far of any problems. Of course, predicting such SO FAR into the future (15 months - LOL!!) in Thailand is always problematic, given things change on a dime. The DTV may be another option (or not) by that time.

No, immigration would not, because their policies / treatment of us makes clear they don't care about the Thais our spending employs. But, the MFA, who issue "Visas" at Thai Consulates, does seem to care, hence creating this visa, to help all those with money to spend, who have been "locked out" of a way to stay in Thailand longer-term without being hassled and/or extorted via agents to stay here. I would expect immigration to hassle DTV re-entrants at some point - with an agent-workaround, of course - as-is at Bangkok airports now for "come too much" visa-exempt entrants. If that doesn't happen, be pleasantly surprised. If over 50, retirement-extensions are simply too easy to bother with the DTV. But for younger folks, much better than the alternatives - including the annual nightmare of a "married to a Thai" extension, where if your Thai wife doesn't leave in tears, it was a "very good year."