Rob Browder

Further down in the same thread, 10 months later (March of this year), someone seems to have managed to apply for one at Nonthaburi, and posted the required docs they were asked to provide and the form to request it:

If you do an extension in-country, they might check. Let's see if it is really 180-days for every entry, as the wording from the Gazette seems to indicate, or if they force extensions for the 2nd half, to get another 180 days each year. But, yes, I would assume agents could front the 500K.

Over half of Americans cannot put together $400 cash in an emergency right now - been that way for years, even before the covid transfer of trillions from the middle-class to the top 1% - and to spite a dollar being worth far less in purchasing power than when that stat began, thanks to the inflation from printing money for covid. Raise the bar to $15K, and it's far fewer. It costs me a tiny fraction of what it would cost me to live there, while living much better here. This was even the case 10+ years ago, when I was under 50, had to do visa-runs, and was still a renter here. It is MUCH less expensive now here, comparatively, after prices spiked there.

I said, "income from an online-work source" - not welfare (doesn't exist here). If one's income is tight, relative to overhead-costs, all the more reason to move over to this area.

"Under consideration" period of 30-days (and can take longer) - or "come back tomorrow" for retirement-extension cases, which do not require district-level approval?

Why is NOT wasting one's income on high overhead costs, for a relatively low standard of living - as those high costs prevent saving money - a "stupid idea"? In general, I am only sarcastic when talking about immigration's inane practices.

If one's income is from an online-work source, and they don't have 500K, then they should leave their Western country ASAP, so they can save more of their income - vs wasting it on a high cost of living. Laos, the PI, or Cambodia will work, if a problem coming to Thailand - no "money in the bank" required in those.

You should see the time-estimations for a marriage-based Non-O extension, which is posted in Immigration offices - truly comical. I cannot find the older threads where they were asking for the money (apparently fell into the digital-ether), but here is the first case where they started denying entry even if you had the money - even with a Tourist Visa.

The last report I read, years ago, the Thai consulate in Japan did not handle applications for non-residents of Japan - unless I am mis-remembering. I would suggest contacting them first.

There are "rules" (documented) - but then there are the ever-changing "extras" they add, to make the process more difficult for those doing marriage-based extensions. And then there is the bad-attitude, at many (not all) offices - ranging from surly to downright insulting - mostly directed at your wife, while you are powerless to do anything about it - so as to maximize the harm to you and your relationship.

You cannot appear in a blue-book w/o Permanent-Residence status. You could get into a yellow book at her address, but this can be difficult and possibly take months (varies by province). Immigration don't care if you are in a yellow-book. Hopefully, your immigration office will allow you to get a residency-certificate with only a TM30 - without having completed a 90-Day report. If not, you would need one from your embassy - and some embassies refuse to provide them. This is a "chicken and egg" problem some of encountered. But as you will be entering on a Non-O Visa, the bank may allow you to open an account without a residence-certificate. You can have your wife call the bank and ask what they require. She needs to tell them you will be entering the country on a Non-Immigrant Visa - not a "tourist" visa - issued by reason of marriage to her - and you need the account to place funds for your 1-year extension, so you can "live in Thailand" (they worry about opening accounts which are abandoned). If she has an account at that bank, this may help. Try multiple banks, if necessary. In some areas, agents can also assist with this - often involving purchase of bank-issued "accident insurance."

If it is "before passport control," that will work. If they start doing the "show the money" thing, again, I hope they let people use that machine.

I only know what is printed on their website: https://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/en/page/destination-thailand-visa-dtv We don't have any reports yet on a successful DTV from there, with a list of what documents they submitted.

Are you talking about folks just extending a short-term stay? Those are probably the majority. But, in all cases, their spending of foreign money here is good for Thailand.

I will not be throwing away my Non-O retirement to try this, either. But, assuming one used agent-arranged van runs to the border and/or agent-arranged entries to the airport, one could stay in Thailand long-term on visa-exempt entries. The downsides I see are: 1) Visa-exempt policy could change at any time, and who knows if IOs will be happy to process a fresh Non-O 90-day (which is a PITA for the IO, requiring District-Office approval), for those who abandoned their Non-O extension, and spent a year doing serial visa-exempt entries. 2) If one is wiling to go the agent-route to stay here, a retirement-based annual extension is much less expensive than multiple border-runs and extensions. If the 800K in the bank is the issue, this would be the better workaround.

In general, the Laos consulates have been more "friendly," in recent years. If I had to try one or the other, without any "success reports" here to use for reference (yet), I would try Laos. The Cambodian Thai consulate does have "agent" partners, who may be able to provide information on the DTV soon.

Thai law limits their reason for denial to specific reasons, to prevent exactly the abuse we have seen - "agent assisted entry." "Been in Thailand too much/often" is not a legal reason to deny entry. OTOH, "Only two land-border entries per year visa-exempt" is the law. If that law starts being enforced, again, those who gave up their Non-O extensions and have been doing border-bounces could be in a mess of a situation - depending on the timing of the policy-change relative to their remaining permitted-stay / time to apply for a Non-O / start-over.

You were married long before the "crackdowns" started, which perhaps influenced how they treated you - or maybe your office was simply better / more respectful than some others.

They are on some consulate websites, already. See this link for success-stories / what they submitted:

Just saw this report - someone called and asked ... was told "yes," can apply w/o being a resident.

Also statements immigration going the other way, as well - saying they don't care - not prosecuting "caught red-handed" cases, etc. The cops don't care either. But, if Thai people raise a problem with the cops about a foreigner, they will grudgingly use dust off that antiquated law, if it is the most handy tool available. I am reminded of old laws about where you can "park" your horse - still on the books, in some areas. The Global Internet makes this just as redundant. For contrast, note how drug-laws are enforced - checkpoints, searches, sting-operations, etc - actively trying to find a violation.

Reported on this forum many times, over many years. Once in the last couple weeks - purportedly (per the local IO) because the district-guy was running down a case of someone using borrowed money (instead of paying his sign-off fee).

Some things haven't changed. Were there guys just before Thai immigration offering to "help you" fill out TM-6 forms for 100 baht? That was the only way to get a TM-6 at that entry-point, years ago.

The history of this - when they started "cracking down" on people coming / staying in Thailand "too much" (undefined time limit) on Tourist-type entries, the first way they were denying people was asking to see 20K Baht in cash. TAT said a credit card was OK - but Immigration didn't care what TAT was saying. Thai bank-books didn't work either. Trips to the ATM to withdraw the cash were not permitted. In response, frequent visitors started carrying the required cash. Frustrated that we could do this, IOs stopped asking to see the money - started simply claiming we were "here too much," and that was why they were denying entry. In the passport, for the denied-entry stamp, they would stamp we didn't have "enough money," because there is no legal reason in Thai statute law for Immigration to deny entry for "being here too much as a tourist." Nowadays, I don't know if the $$ would do you any good - but I kept carrying it for all entries until I had a long-term visa/extension - even at law-abiding land-borders not known to play this cruel game - just to be on the safe-side.

It is up to the IO in your office whether they will be a PITA about this or not. Other posters stated correct information - how it "usually works" here or there. In my experience, they may even want a signed-copy of the chanote of the house. Others will (correctly) report they were never asked for this. I would suggest you go well before your current extension ends - 30 days before - and do a "trial run" with everything you think you will need. Even before that, you can go to the Immigration office and ask if they have a list of what you will need, which may clarify. Do not be surprised if that list is not everything they ask for - but still a good starting-point.