Rob Browder

Visiting Family was added to the reasons to use Visa-Exempt entries since the change to 60-days. If they see family-based extensions, that might be a factor. I doubt the pink-ID is any help, other than it gives them an address to use. Years ago, on VE / TV entries, I found showing the business-card of my condo made IOs happy, when they asked where I would be staying. The scribble in the tiny space on TM6 cards (still in-use then) was mostly useless.

They should cancel them both at the same time. The Non-B is invalid after the work-permit is canceled. Ask them to provide you with a letter stating your termination date, in advance, which you can present to immigration. Others have answered the other questions - and not clear if they will allow you to switch w/o leaving the country - would have to ask. I would ask them immediately after you cancel your permitted stay from the Non-B, while you still have some permitted-stay days remaining. An easy place to get a Non-O 90-day Visa is Savannakhet Laos - for retirement or marriage. Keep in mind that whichever you choose, when you apply for your FIRST 1-year extension at immigration, it will need to be for the same reason as the Non-O. Marriage-based is possible at Vientiane. Both Savannakhet and Vientiane require booking an appointment in-advance through their online system. Also, I hope your local Ampuhur does not "time you out" on the Yellow Book, until it is too late to get into Thai-Health. Mine took months after supplying everything including witness statements, but others report getting it on the day of application.

To work in Thailand, you would need a Non-B OR a Non-O based on marriage, not retirement. If not planning to work here, the Non-O based on retirement is a much easier process. If your employment has ended, I assume you provided Immigration with a letter from your company terminating your Non-B extension on the same date as your last day of work, and are now on a different permit-of-stay? Edit: Related - also consider extending your Thai-SS health insurance - paying monthly to keep it - only possible to do within a limited-time from your job's end-date, and with a Yellow-Book and pink Thai-ID card.

Has anyone heard if being enrolled in the Thai-SS insurance program, obtained due to previously working in Thailand, qualifies for the required insurance?

For those from the AU, UK, and USA - we cannot get "embassy letters" stating our income. The "xfer-method" is sending 65K Baht or more every month to Thailand for at least one year - then getting a stamped bank-statement showing the transfers, plus "credit advise" proof per-each transfer that they were international-xfers, if the bank statement does not specify this. Those with embassy-letters can get that document from their embassy once per-year, and only transfer what they need, when they need it. There was never a requirement to "send every month," before our embassy-letters were canceled.

The proposed changes to other visas may be getting done as a batch - and is not yet finalized.

That's better than VE, but, if entering at Bangkok airports with an extensive stay-history (which I would never do), I would use their agent-service, to be assured of no issues:

I am disgusted with what they are doing. The rules are published. They don't care. Clearly, IOs don't want to bother with a "complicated" application, but this is brazen. I don't know if the agent-system up there is functional any more. They may have been prohibited from having an agent-system, due to being VERY abusive with it in the past. They used to make people "camp out" all night in the parking-lot to queue for retirement-extensions sans-agent - but skip the queue if you paid. It was making bad-press, so was shut-down. Maybe this sort of thing is their retribution - or maybe there is an agent-fix. I am not aware of agents who will do the mo-xfer method, much less a combo-method - though such may exist. A well established agent in Patts is reported not to do the xfer-method, even if you have the transfer-proof. One would need to let them fake 800K in the bank, or DIY.

Unless the visa is specifically "only available" in your home country (METV, Non-O-A), the eVisa system should allow you to apply somewhere else where you are at the time - just not while in Thailand.

I looked but didn't rent at Nirun, because the price wasn't great for what it was - but the room I looked at wasn't "bad." The building was clean (then, at least - maybe its worse now). There was another project which was dirt-cheap but filthy, hard-NO on that one. Some people's life-enjoyment is not affected much by their room - not only hard-drinkers, but some of them fit the category. If you tripled my budget, I would not move to a bigger room than I have now - can think of other spending priorities - like travel to more parts of Thailand and SE Asia. The phrase "feed your head" comes to mind - but not in the druggy manner referenced by the Jefferson Airplane tune.

removed

Exactly. I had over 400K for years, but used the Non-O-ME to avoid EVER having that done to my wife again. I don't care if they want to abuse me - because I don't give any weight to what some corrupt slime says - but my wife is something else. Then covid hit, and I had to deal with in-country - one in Bangkok - RUDE, deja-vu. Two more up-country - they were "civil," but took literally the entire day both times with our ream of paperwork and dozens of photos, so they could find 4 they "liked" + home visits (those guys were even friendly), another long-drive to go back "after consideration." A trip to Savannakhet + border-bounces was FAR preferable - no stress. Thank GOD I turned 50 and no longer working in Thailand, so can use retirement-based. Much better.

Glad to hear they worked out an "arrangement" - will make life easier for the folks down there, even if it costs a bit more now.

Yes, unlimited "for a fee." There is no "official fee" to enter Thailand or Malaysia Visa-Exempt. It is nice they let you make the payoff directly, instead of through a middle-man / agent.

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.