Rob Browder

I agree with your conclusion, but ... Although working-illegally is a legal-reason to deny entry, the IOs almost always "rejection stamp" that the person entering did not have the money to afford their stay - even when their travel history makes that a ridiculous assumption, and even if they have the required 20K Baht in cash. Those rejected report the IO told them they come/stay "too much/long" in Thailand - which is not a legal reason to deny entry. Upon their passport being returned to them, they find the "didn't have money" stamp was used to cover-up the crime committed.

How many of those 3-M are here 6-mo per-year? Why are you talking about scenarios with no relation to the OP? Every entry may be legally-prevented by immigration if the entrant is in violation of one of the specified reasons permitted to deny entry. Immigration do not follow that law, because that would limit how many people they can force into their "pay for safe-entry" extortion racket (at both Bangkok airports), hence the problem.

Sounds like someone trying to "cope with" / "trick their mind" into thinking other people find satisfaction in the same things - and push up their ego by feeling superior. I've lived big/small, high/low floors, etc - here and my home-country - and it never made a difference to me. Any "improvements" on such superficialities were only EVER made to satisfy a woman's desires. Are there "must haves"? Fresh-air is a must. A sea-view, and can walk to the ocean is nice. Bangkok is a fun place to live, but the air-quality and heat-island effect (hot all night) are not to my taste. YMMV. The most important thing is what occupies my time / mind, and who with. If THOSE suck, so does everything else. Every year of my life wasted doing things I didn't enjoy for money was a waste of life - aside from saving to quit for good - and I definitely would advise anyone NOT to waste more of their irreplaceable and unknown-quantity life-years to have a "bigger room."

Correct. And, I would also re-file a TM-30 after traveling / staying at a hotel in Thailand. They may create a new TM-30 entry for you, which could override your previous submission.

It is not that simple, unfortunately. If the type of income one has - say, a pension / social-security - AND the specific DTA states that income is excluded, then yes. But, if one has other types of income, then one can only deduct the taxes paid in their home-country from the taxes one would need to pay in Thailand - then, maybe zero due, or maybe not. Also, as-is, only remitted money would be subject to tax, and ONLY if those funds were earned on/after Jan 1, 2024.

There is no more "hard limit" of 2 land-border visa-exempts per-year. We have not seen reports of denied-entry by land since this change. That could change at any time, and those using land entry-points should check this site before making a border-bounce. We HAVE seen both "warnings" and denied-entry by air on repeat VE entries - which is nothing new, and pre-dated the change regarding land-entries. It is cruel to advise people to assume this will always work, unless they pay for agent-service.

Yes - read the thread. Why did they mention Vietnam, if they didn't want to go there / see it? I would never advise to fly in to Bangkok airports unless out of the country for months beforehand - especially on an "extended" prior-entry (they seem to hate that) - because there is no way to predict what the orders were to the IOs the day one enters. If there was some defined rule, it would be different - but there is not.

Not in the initial price/package - I agree. But next Feb, when people start border-bouncing or extending their DTVs? I would be surprised if something not put on the table by agents for that step, by land and/or air. One option is likely the van-runs operating now to Cambodia, which have a different cost for VEs vs Non-O-ME customers. Will see what the DTV-bounce cost is.

I never used agents either - but, when I was staying here before getting married, I also didn't go one of the most difficult consulates for tourist-visas, then enter to the 2nd-worst entry-point in terms of likelihood of success. If, today, I had to enter at that entry-point, in your shoes, for some reason, I would have avoided the whole tourist-visa part, and saved money by using this for a 1-day visa-exempt bounce:

Ongoing attempt to keep people in the dark on how the system works, so they will keep banging their head against a wall, wondering why "it's not fair."

It is my understanding they never allow combo for marriage-based - either 400K "in the bank" or 40K / mo. Combo is only allowed for retirement-based extensions.

I would suggest make your Vietnam trip before coming to Thailand - so, when entering by air, you have not been in Thailand for ~6 months. Use a throwaway ~$10 "exit" ticket to get on the plane to Thailand w/o a visa, and/or show to immigration if asked. Also, have an accommodation booking to show, and 20K Baht worth of cash to show, if asked - as unlikely as that is to be requested, better to be safe.

There is no "around" about it. Agent service is provided directly in partnership with immigration. That is why no matter the "crackdown" on this or that means of stay, the service persists, and grows with each instance. Glad you made it in. I'd never want to subject myself to all that stress and worry, for something so easily solved the way immigration obviously prefer - but, to each their own.

I do not see why they would need the specifics. If applying for an extension, they could ask for paperwork of a future/ongoing use of the visa. One might start with Muay Thai, then do cooking next. If workcation, proof you have been getting paid. In theory, the same request could be done on returning from a border-bounce - to spite the MFA spokesman saying this would not happen. I would assume there will be agent-facilitation of either route - extension or border-bounce - and the process will vary by office or entry-point.

The Elite visa is not a "Thai Govt" visa, issued by the MFA - is run by a separate organization, who "contribute" part of the money they take-in to Immigration, etc, to allow it to operate. Some have speculated that increasing problems under-50s had staying in Thailand in the past were, at least in-part, related to these "contributions" - also, online-trolls bashing those who were trying to find other ways to stay in Thailand under-50. But we all know people never do things "for money" - is just crazy-talk, amirite? /s. Evidently, the pros of having thousands of people spending foreign-earned money here (ideally, taxed, from their POV) have outweighed such considerations - hence the DTV.

This is done for retirees in Columbia - though may need to mail it to the office in Washington DC to get the stamp (not sure if the USA consulate in Columbia does it): https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/replace-certify-docs/authenticate-your-document/authentication-certificate-requirements.html And under the "other" category on that site, see "income verification" - for which an IRS receipt of taxes paid and 1040 should suffice. As long as it is a federal document, there is no need to local / state steps of the process.

That would be easier than the xls method, which I used. The form (in the screenshot) appears to be to search for records. Did you click the "+ / Add" button, then could add a "foreigner staying at address" from there?

It appears your address is approved, so you now need to "report" yourself by uploading an xls file. "Download the example file" first (will save it to your local machine) - then update that file with your information, then upload it using the "import Excel" link. If an error with uploading your xls file, it should display that error immediately - you may need to play with the date-format to get it to work. The dates/etc on this form are only for searching for your existing (submitted by xls) records.

I recall some wanting a minimum of 400K for the "combination method" - when/if they accept combo - but maybe someone using this method from CM can provide office-specific info.

As the application would be based on income/transfers, a min-balance should not be a factor. Maybe they would not even care if the bank-book was updated same-day - but easy and cannot hurt.

I remember speculation about this when the health-ins requirement was first added to Non-OA Visa-extensions**, because some Non-OA folks had it from previous employment in Thailand. I do not recall reports that it was accepted or not. A related question - can it also be used for the LTR insurance requirement? I assume many who have these visas previously worked in Thailand before retirement, and it is a no-brainer to keep this very affordable insurance. ** (Technically, "permitted stays" continuing the original visa's "permitted stay" - but this issue shows that Immigration view them as "visa extensions," in practice. Otherwise the type of a "long ago used/expired visa" would not matter.)

That is the beauty of this method - you bring in what you need, when you need it - not "every month must transfer ..." The income-method never required to TRANSFER a specific amount every month - just "have that much" income (worldwide). Xfers were only imposed on USA/UK/AU people after our letters were nixed.

1) yes. 2) Credit-Advice for each and every transfer, unless it is coded as "international" in your bank-book. 3) Bank-letter should show you are the owner of the account and current balance. 3b) 12-months statement from the bank, showing the transfers (bank-book may or may not be enough - could be unnecessary, but ...) 4) TM-30 receipt, last 90-Day report, Long-Term Rental-Lease or Condo-Ownership proof. All assuming your current permitted-stay is from a Non-Imm extension or Non-O "retirement based" visa entry. Some offices do nor require #3 to be "same day" - others do. But, the bank-book update should be done the same-day.

Never underestimate how lazy people can be. It is not hard to "qualify" for the DTV by booking some dental appointments or similar, then follow the proven process documented in the DTV thread on this site and elsewhere. Go to the agent, and they will "figure it all out" for you (for a fee). I don't know why anyone under 50 + not working in Thailand would not use the DTV. If I was still under 50, I'd be dumping my old PITA marriage-based extensions or ME-Non-O Visa to go with the DTV. But, retirement-based is simple, inexpensive, and reliable, so sticking with that.

The next time you do something at immigration, they may require you to exchange your TM-30 printout for their TM-30 receipt. Your printout allows them to look up the record, and verifies you did the required report.