2 hours ago, BritTim said:

According to the Immigration Act, only the Minister has the power to exclude individuals or groups other than for the reasons specified in Section 12 of the Act.

Many people seem to think that because, for instance, US officials have full discretion to deny people entry, the same should be true for Thai immigration officials. However, US law and Thai law are not the same.

Note that with visa exempt entry, Immigration has been given the power to decide whether those arriving qualify. This is logical as Immigration in that situation is being given the same screening responsibility as consular officials have when you apply for visas.

You're mostly right. U.S. immigration officials (CBP) have wider discretion, but even then it's limited. I wrote a lot about this but apparently forgot to click submit and then lost the post.

 

Good points on the difference between visa exempt entry in terms of consular officials having already made the preliminary determination. 

On 1/14/2020 at 4:41 PM, acenase said:

Or does the poor guy need to enter Thailand again through the land border just to be safe...has anyone ever been denied entry after buying and returning with a re-entry permit?

With extensive history of Tourist visa/visa exemption arriving at DMK/BKK is risky but land borders are safe, I read in this forum. I am on my second exemption on two passports. I will fly out in Feb from UTP and enter again using my Korean passport (second entry on that passport). Let's see how it goes. UTP seems to be safe so far.