rwilem

This. Mirrors my experience at CW. Which is why it's key to submit the 90-day report two weeks prior to the 'due date', if you're doing it online. Have mentioned this before, but it's best to view this exercise as a '75-day report'. This gives time for a second crack at submitting if a REJECTED comes back, and even a third if that one comes back REJECTED as well. I've gotten an APPROVED on a third try at it, even on a submission after the CW-imposed window of '15-to-7 days before the due date' had passed. Think '75 days', leaving yourself plenty of time to submit, and don't pack it in after getting a REJECTION on the first (or second) try.

It is all e-visa now. But you are supposed to be in the country--whether it be the home country or another country-- you are supposed to apply to an embassy or consulate while physically in the country you are applying at. Seems some folks have managed to acquire the DTV e-visa from their home country while not actually being present there at the time of application. For what that's worth. Maybe not advisable, but some have done it, apparently.

A couple questions. What's the hangup about doing it? Have you been in-country on a long-stay extension prior to your most recent arrival? And if so, have you had occasion(s) to do the 90-day reporting? You can do them online, it's not any hassle whatsoever, unless you were/have been rejected and had to do it/them in-person. Whether you do it or not won't have any effect on a subsequent 'due date', because the '90-day clock' is reset when one returns from a trip abroad. OK, the fine for not doing it is 2000 baht, it's not a biggie, and maybe you might slip by and not get caught out. (And if you don't have further business to attend to at immigration, you're home scot-free.) But if doing some biz at immigration, there will be that one time an IO will be looking at the computer screen, look at the passport, check the screen and passport again, study....hmm...and inform the person before them, 'hey, looks like you didn't do the 90-day report for such-and-such period'. You could do yours anytime from Oct. 1 to Oct. 17, certainly well before leaving the country, and online, 5-10 minutes max, why not just do it?

Yes, I understand, it's just a choice one could make, to skip 'em entirely. If you don't have any reason to do business with immigration, there's does not seem to be any way not doing the 90-day reporting would crop up. And the OP has been here for sometime on retirement extensions, so presumably he's got a lot of things set up, whereas a 'fresh arrival' on a DTV will likely need some interaction with immigration (certificate of residence, potentially, to open a bank account, possible TM 30, and so on.)

Excuse me, I needed to read the initial post better. Thanks, understand it now. Guess I got a tad confused by seeing 'Savannaket', as that locale is used by many here to get a visa from the consulate there. But yours was a true border hop, a fast turnaround, in conjunction with activating the new DTV visa on coming back in to Thailand. And exiting on the day before your retirement extension's validity would expire. Played like a champ!

OK, got it. Thanks.

Could you elaborate? Your DTV was approved in Cambodia, but you could 'pick it up' in Laos? Was that planned for? Seems there would have to be some kind of coordination between the Thai embassy in PP and the Thai consulate in Savannakhet. How did that work?

Are you not obligated to report 90 days of continuous stay in-country, i.e. the 90-day report? Is that a selling point of the DTV, that holders are exempt from 90-day reporting?

Well, it has been getting rather jam-packed in the office there in recent times. Hope they can get a system going in place similar to the one at the temporary 90-day reporting off-site office they had at Muang Thong Thani. (During the earlier covid time frame, it moved out there in the interest of 'distancing'.) They pretty much moved 'em in, moved 'em out at a good clip there, even without an appointment.

And this is another good reason for folks to check up on info being shared in this forum. With the abundance--over-abundance, actually--of topics related to passport renewals, exit and entry issues with both old and new passports, and Thai immigration stamp transfers to new passports, all the info one would need to avoid this issue is available right here. That said, a visit to your immigration office (which office?) should get this sorted without too much fuss, I believe. At least it should. This will be a test case. Perhaps immigration could go as far as directing you to have the first passport officially cancelled by the German embassy?

Agree. If there were ever instances of this having happened before, there surely would have been at least one report of it in this forum. As far as I'm aware, there's never been a single report of someone's '90-day report compliance' being checked, and a fine issued for not having fulfilled it, at an airport or border.

Very intriguing situation. Of course, the OP has gone MIA after the initial post. Hit-and-run it appears, wonder if it's just another 'wind-up'.

Nice! That's when a more rural or outlying immigration office does have its benefit. I've done this twice now. The first time, ten years ago, it was rather chill, even at CW, and close to your experience. The most recent one, nine-plus years later and also at CW, wasn't a 'walk in the park' thing. As I said earlier, it's not all that onerous, but the experience was of a borderline 'mini-extension' type, doing the stamp transfer and then the 90-dayer. Even had a holdup at the 90-day desk at CW, issue with the my rental agent's freshly-issued updated TM-30, which took about an hour to resolve.

Right, you really want to stay up on these things, be 'pro-active' if you can. Being outside the country brings an added challenge to navigating all the bank stuff going on.

I edited my post before having seen that you replied. Did that because I realized you are on top of things, so I didn't need to 'ask' if you had done it!