Rob Browder

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.

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.