BrandonJT

A tourist visa and a non-immigrant visa are not the same thing at all.

Yes, the document requirement is much lower. But the requirement that you can only get it in your home country or a country of permanent residence still remains.

There's no such thing as "wasting" a visa exempt entry because they are not limited to a certain number. There is a transit visa, but it's for people who do not qualify for visa exempt or visa on arrival, and need to cross through passport control for some reason while transiting.

A DTV is a special tourist visa, as written in the royal gazette order that created the visa. (Google Translate of the order below)

That should be fine. Most of the borders that require 1-2 nights stay, are for those bouncing on visa exempt. Having a visa should bypass that requirement. Though I would suggest avoiding Poipet regardless of your circumstances.

Try using Facebook messenger if the embassy has a Facebook page. Thai embassies are notoriously bad at replying to e-mail or answering the phone, but they seem okay at answering Facebook sometimes.

Many embassy websites say 10K for visa on arrival, 20k for visa exempt. 20k for family visa on arrival, 40k for family visa exempt. I was personally asked to show 20k at Suvarnabhumi.

Don't worry, if that starts to happen they'll start requiring you to show your plane ticket out of Thailand in order to enter.

Did you not already have a mobile account in your name, or you needed a new one specifically for this transaction?

How are the poor going to get poorer? They won't be allowed within 10 km of these places. 50 million baht bank balance required.

That's exactly what I'm saying. You are exactly right, the biggest agents are the ones that had this happen. Because they were opening so many accounts at the same bank branch. It threw red flags to the government and those bank branches stopped dealing with those agents as the government started looking at them as to why they were having so many foreign bank accounts opened daily. There's a reason it was ONLY the large agents that had to stop providing that service. And now they are getting back up and running with new bank branches.' All the other agents never had any problems, never had to stop, and are still using their same banks.

When has Thailand, especially Tourism ministers, ever cared a whit about capacity. The only thing they ever talk about is MORE MORE MORE, BOOST BOOST BOOST.

Each embassy gets to decide their own policy on this. But not likely to have any issues if they are spaced out at least 3-4 months apart.

Fixed it

Wasn't the whole point of legalizing gambling/casinos to get regulations in place on the industry and bring the money from the streets into the casinos so it could be taxed? This law will not change the gambling that goes on in Thailand through illegal online casinos and gambling dens even one tiny bit.

First you would need police officers that actually work... The offenders that had money would just pay to either have it removed and have their freedom, or just pay off the officers if they responded to an alert. For anyone that didn't have money, the officers wouldn't bother responding to an alert from the ankle monitor because there wouldn't be any money in it for them.

Although I will admit the portion size has also shrunk there

You can't pick and choose the statistic that makes your point sound better. Bullet points below courtesy of Gemini. The relationship between money supply and inflation is complex, and economists have differing views on which measure, M1 or M2, is a better indicator. However, generally, M2 is more closely watched when analyzing the potential impact on inflation. Here's why: M2's Broader Scope: M2 includes a wider range of assets, capturing a more comprehensive view of the money available in the economy. This broader perspective is often considered more relevant when assessing inflationary pressures. It includes assets that, while not as immediately liquid as those in M1, can still be readily converted to cash, influencing spending and thus, inflation. Historical Correlation: Historically, M2 has shown a stronger correlation with inflation than M1. This has led many economists to rely more heavily on M2 when forecasting inflation. So yes, there was certainly an increase in 2020, but not nearly what you are trying to make it look like with M1. The vast majority of the price increases came from corporate greed, with many of them admitting they were raising prices as much as possible to see when people would stop paying it, and to a lesser extend supply chain uncertainty.

It's actually a brilliant move by PT. They will continue stringing it out until just before the next election and then give the final payment to this largest group of people. They'll be able to buy 2 elections worth of votes with a single initiative.

You basically cannot expedite a K1 visa. There are only a very few specific reasons allowed to make an expedite request: Severe financial loss to a company or person, provided that the need for urgent action is not the result of the petitioner’s or applicant’s failure to timely file the benefit request or to timely respond to any requests for evidence; Emergencies or urgent humanitarian situations; Nonprofit organization (as designated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)) whose request is in furtherance of the cultural or social interests of the United States; Government interests, including cases identified by the government as urgent because they involve the public interest, public safety, national interest, or national security interests; and Clear USCIS error. Even if you think you have one those reasons, 99% of of expedite requests are denied. You basically have to apply and wait it out. I'm nearing the end of my process which is on month 14.

Wow, first time I've seen a travel blogger that actually knows what he's talking about, including the quirks and intricacies. He knows the actual reality, he must be in Facebook groups or on ASN!

You did not have a non-B visa. You had a work extension. You cannot cancel a visa. You should now be free to go to the immigration office and apply for a new extension based on being married to Thai, or if you just need a bridge, you could even try applying for the 60 day visiting Thai family extension.

The fact that they lost access to their bank branch. They did something that soured the relationship, so now they had to change. If they didn't, then they wouldn't have had to change. The only agents in Pattaya that had problems were the ones that were doing sketchy stuff (like opening dozens of bank accounts per day). Every other agent in other cities, and in Pattaya, never had any issues despite what the news said.

No. I think they should just accept your application online, and send you your new passport, without ever requiring anything in person.

Don't worry then. You should be fine on your own. Just hand over your passport, boarding pass, and smile