BoganBob

My buddy (UK passport) just did SE to BKK and paid 4500 baht. It was his 3rd straight VE entry but 1st of this calendar year for what it is worth. They told him not to fly in from Cambodia and to stay out out of Thailand for at least one full day before flying back. Don't have any information for you on whether there are agencies that do smaller airports or not.

What about only 1 30 Day extension (next one after being 7) per calendar year thing though? That have to change that back to the old way too in order for it to take only three entries. It would be nice if they gave enough advance warning on the actual start date of the 60 to 30 day changeover is going to happen that people about to leave can get a SETV but that is probably too much to ask for.

This is the latest update afaik: https://consular.mfa.go.th/th/content/24-10-68-01?cate=5d68c85e15e39c160c006ff7 Discussions were held October 24th concerning the 60 day exemption and a proposal was advanced to the PM re-form the Visa Policy Committee to prioritize evaluation of whether 60 day should revert back to 30 day.

What is the current consensus on best airport to fly in to if you are trying to enter VE for a 2nd time this year? I know you can get refused anywhere but it still the case that certain airports are more strict than others?

Is safe entry airport service still available? I have one entry (visa exempt) in 2025 that I extended 30 days and expires in a few weeks. I would like to fly out for a couple days and come back in end of December on visa exempt.

I read through it and turns out his "proof" you can't stay over 90 days was a guy who was trying for this THIRD visa exempt entry this calendar year (maxed out on extensions), lived here continuously throughout Covid on Covid Exemptions, was on some kind of either ED or work visa before that, has a condo here, and has been living in Thailand like this for the past decade.

Haven't they been using biometrics for years now? Were we putting on fingers on that screen and smiling for absolutely nothing prior to this? And what is with the repeated emphasis of not targeting any specific group? If the goal is to crack down on illegal labour, call center fraud, and human trafficking wouldn't you want to pay special attention to the specific groups that are involved in those activities? And if 99% of these problems are originated from countries X, Y, and Z wouldn't it be prudent to publicly announce you are giving them special scrutiny to deter them from trying in the first place and encourage them to move their operations elsewhere? You could still even be "diplomatic" if you want and avoid naming the countries specifically but why not say, "yeah, visitors originating from countries that have high rates of illegal labor or business activities will get heightened scrutiny". They are going to carefully question anyone attempting to make a third consecutive visa exempt entry in a year (which would be 150 days) but then also anyone who has stayed 45 days? Which is it? They've been scrutinizing people for making repeated visa free or TR entries for years now so what is even the change here? The only concrete thing they've managed to communicate seems to be the one 30 day extension per calendar year thing. Is this just a cultural aversion to clarity or are they attempting to make paying for safe entry services the norm? It is genuinely confusing for an outsider because obviously they could just say no more than 150 days per calendar on ANY combination of TR or Visa Exempt and that solves all the people working illegally and running businesses problems without leaving any wiggle room for immigration side corruption but they seem to be going out of their way to not do that.

I had 7 months in Thailand in 2024 using 3 visa exempts and had no problem coming in late 2025 on visa exempt (first visit of 2025). So I'd wager you'll be fine. Dress respectfully, get in a line with a male agent, and have 20k baht cash equivalent and onward ticket to minimize your chances of a problem. The bigger question is probably will they still be giving out 60 days in January but you didn't say how long you were planning on staying so that may not even matter to your situation.

I don't think that is it at all. The initial plan was almost certainly that the sanctions were going to cause Russian economy to collapse. That was Plan A and there really wasn't any Plan B. It wasn't an absolutely crazy plan because Putin was so terrified of the sanctions initially that he offered Ukraine what was in retrospect an absolutely insanely generous deal in Istanbul that would have been hard to spin as anything other than a Russian defeat. But the Neocons decided to go for broke and rejected it and as it turned out Putin was wrong and the sanctions weren't nearly as potent as Washington and London had hoped. Russia mobilized for full scale war and at that point the sane thing would have been to take whatever offer Russia was willing to give (which was not as generous as Istanbul but still pretty reasonable). But doing that would have been a political embarrassment to Biden just as re-election campaign was gearing up. So basically they just stayed the course without any plan whatsoever. As time went on, the Governments of all those Western European countries became fully associated with the Ukrainian cause so they were now in the same position as Biden and are completely unwilling to sign off on any deal. Trump could have come in and washed his hands of the whole thing and put it all on Europe but he's so incompetent and disinterested in policy that he spent half a year twiddling his thumbs and now everybody is in kick the can mode. Keep providing Ukraine with what is at this point whatever minimal levels of support the public is willing to tolerate in the hopes that the AFU can hold on until after everyone's next general election.

The private border van companies all go to Chiang Khong. And there are two direct Green Buses daily plus a bunch of buses that go to Chiang Rai which you can then just hop on the Chiang Khong local bus that runs every hour. With Chiang Saen there is just one Green Bus daily that doesn't leave till after noon. Plus I think people are just more familiar with it generally because going there and then taking slow boat to Luang Prabang is popular thing among backpackers.

Got back from this border run today. I didn't use the private bus service and instead just took Green Bus. Information for anyone who is interested: They give you this little business card when handing back your passport after getting exit stamp at Thai immigration. Transfer bus across the bridge is 25 baht. After 4 PM there is a $1 overtime service fee to get stamped in at Laos immigration. Shared songthaew charges 80 baht to get to town. Stayed two nights in Huay Xai. At return to Thai immigration there was girl a few people ahead of me on her second land border run (I don't know how long total she'd been in country) who got sent to interrogation room. She wasn't dressed very well at all and was a black Westerner. Two Europeans who were dressed in typical backpacker attire breezed thru the other line so I switched lines. IO asked me where I was staying (I said Chiang Mai) and stamped me thru. I was dressed nicely, did have my TM.30, an "onwardticket" bought from one of those sites, 10k baht cash, and an itinerary, but wasn't asked to show anything. The Songthaew (60 baht) took 10 min to fill up and in that time the black Western girl was eventually let through though she was using van service and the guy from the company had gone in to assist with her. Apparently they had asked to see onward ticket and she didn't have one.

If the Thai-Lao crossings continue to allow 2 visa exempt land border crossings per year then that would be the one remaining advantage. Flight to Kuala Lumpur is probably cheaper and definitely faster but airport immigration is crap shoot whereas land crossing from Laos was viewed as "safe" thing to keep in back pocket if you needed it. I guess the thing to keep a close eye on is if that is changing with transition to 60 days visa exempt stamp. Will land crossings become more like airports in terms of scrutiny?