5 hours ago, Kandinski said:

Common knowledge but that doesn't stop the keyboard warriors from a good Thai bashing. Often wonder what the grumpy crowd sees in Thailand?

Hear, hear!

16 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

The DTV is the backdoor, at least under the assumption it's really 5 years of back to back entries. Sure no banking and you need to do visa runs but that's still good enough for most people. 

ok thanks, but i see a problem, 180 days would not allow a thai driving license

For those of us that have just turned 50, there are other ways and means.

 

One door closes...another one opens 🙂

The AN brain trust is hard at work in their self appointed role as gatekeepers for the Kingdom of Thailand. 

 

You lot were the geezers we loved to taunt as children, mostly because you rose to the bait every time.  Stamped on that burning bag of dog excrement on the front porch, shaking your fist at the air.  The angry geezers who despised people that  didn't look or think like them, or hated kids for being young and full of life,  and here you are now. 

 

The vast majority of overstayers and border runners are not engaged in crime. That's clearly apparent by the numbers, if not common sense.  If catching these evil scumbags who are living here on 40k/month was  priority to the ****Thais****  they'd have been rounded up by now.  

I thought they were already cracking down on this.  Already limiting to 180 days of short term visas in any given year, limited number of short term visas at crossing even if less than 180 days total, etc  It would be nice if the rules were clearly and unambiguously listed

22 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

Why don't the immigration police receive filtered data of people who have overstayed? Your entry and visa data is registered on arrival so it should not be hard to provide a list, or lists by district, of people who have not left the country in accordance with their entry permission?

It would require work.

17 minutes ago, flaming dragon said:

The AN brain trust is hard at work in their self appointed role as gatekeepers for the Kingdom of Thailand. 

 

You lot were the geezers we loved to taunt as children, mostly because you rose to the bait every time.  Stamped on that burning bag of dog excrement on the front porch, shaking your fist at the air.  The angry geezers who despised people that  didn't look or think like them, or hated kids for being young and full of life,  and here you are now. 

 

The vast majority of overstayers and border runners are not engaged in crime. That's clearly apparent by the numbers, if not common sense.  If catching these evil scumbags who are living here on 40k/month was  priority to the ****Thais****  they'd have been rounded up by now.  

Weird phenomenon. You would expect Thailand to be last place for bootlickers. Maybe somewhat reasonable that reaching 50 makes one want to pull the ladder up.

6 hours ago, BE88 said:

 

Why did you forget the Chinese?

And the Brits 🤣😂🤣Oh the Indians too.

6 hours ago, crazykopite said:

If that’s the case they will have to compensate all those who paid for that particular visa I’m on an O visa have been for many years why they can’t offer a five year multi entry visa at a reasonable cost is beyond me 

They wont compensate. They just gonna make you go to immigration office or ask you documents when it's time to stamp your passport at the airport. Then they just gonna turn you down at the airport like they do for 60 days exempt.

9 hours ago, it is what it is said:

 

excellent news. keep the 60 days exempt entry, but stop the abuse, visa exempt is for tourists, not people staying long term. there are plenty of visa options for people who want to stay long term.

That’s very easy to say! There are no exact rules to the 60 days exempt. 
If they want to stop the abuse,

 then they should Print the  details.

For example, « only one 60 day exempt allowed per 6 months «  or similar. 

Nothing is clear. Some people get away with 2 extensions with no problems, some get a stern warning, some are categorically refused re entry. 
Im a snowbird and have been since 1984.  I have never had a problem. I do not work/ abuse any Thai laws. I’ve usually stayed 4 months, but less as I’m getting older. If I was told I could stay only 2 months , then I would, or go elsewhere. 
Then is the question of home owners. A lot of my neighbors have been snowbirds like myself,  lots not retired and still working in their home country. Lots are under retirement age. Lots only stay 3/4 months . 
So which visa is correct for them ? Are they abusing the system ? 

 

4 hours ago, Chalky0w said:

I’m on a DTV and agree!

 

5 years for remote work is ok but with minimum income. I’d say at least equivalent of 65k per month (same as retirement) but 130k would be better - younger people should be doing more!

 

Soft power should be separate. Maybe 1 year renewable if reason ongoing.

 

Hope they don’t throw the baby out with the bath water and cancel it completely.

 

100%. Just make an income requirement ONLY with proof of recurrent revenue. That's it. Simple.

 

No more soft power fake Muay Thai, Cooking or dental appointment. It's way too easy. For soft power, just give them the METV visa.

They will crackdown eventually when they catch scammers with DTV. 

2 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Meanwhile the most questionable new people I came across in recent times all have DTV or illegal business setup visas.

Sometimes one think he is dreaming with this crazy ever repeating cycle of the same half assed laws and rules on every possible end (visa, alcohol, weed, poker etc etc).

 

Or to first sell off islands and allow anything to then blame foreigners that run a business when tourism in general is down a bit.

 

The fact they even think it solves it while it only makes it worse, is a joke too.

 

Or the fact a foreign child enrolled in a cheap billingual school gets a foreigner a year visa hassle free while one with a thai child needs 400k and not get the same visa.

 

I could go on and on.

Just a matter of time before they have eyes on the DTV and shady business visa. They just need to catch big scammers on those visas.

I am fed up with this notion of "quality Tourists" when it relates to the economy. What they really mean is "High spending equals "quality"

 

To my mind, the quality tourist is one who comes to Thailand, and in spite of being potentially scammed and ripped off, has a great time, is not a criminal, breaks no laws, causes no trouble and goes home to tell their friends they recommend it - and come back themselves as a repeat "quality" visitor..

I'm surprised they don't copy the Schengen model of not allowing more than 180 days stay in any 12 month period. That's the most logical way to prevent the visa run abuse.

22 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

I am fed up with this notion of "quality Tourists" when it relates to the economy. What they really mean is "High spending equals "quality"

 

The problem is that they think of a 'quality tourist' as someone who lands, keeps a smile while getting overcharged and ripped off, hands out tips like a king, even if the service is very poor and overpriced, and who leaves after only a few days (or a week at most) with an empty wallet and maxed-out credit card. If he never returns (the fault most probably is on him), so what, as there are many more g̶u̶l̶l̶i̶b̶l̶e̶ people in the world... 😆 

2 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

It's so cliche by now, there is some foreigners who do need to be addressed indeed, but then they just go full out nazi and hating on foreigners staying here long-term, while in the same time claiming they are desperate for more and better spending tourists..

 

I used to stop going to bars as it became nonsense but it now infected many restaurants already too. I slowly start to wonder what I am still doing here as I essentially live the lifestyle of the west by now (cooking home, staying home etc etc). Irony is that I earn much more nowadays but their behavior, lack of service and quality, makes me spend less than when I arrived over a decade ago.

 

Many tourists do the same too, they just eat mostly from 7/11 and Tops as the selection is decent enough to live off that for 2-3 weeks. But of course Thais would never point a finger towards these shops. It's like they promote Vietnam for free while injecting millions of dollars in TAT campaigns.

Last but not least many very rich Thais are heavily invested in Vietnam since years.

Do you means farangs going out less? Thailand is known for being a service and convenient country normally…

5 minutes ago, madmitch said:

I'm surprised they don't copy the Schengen model of not allowing more than 180 days stay in any 12 month period. That's the most logical way to prevent the visa run abuse.

 

That would be fine if they copied the Schengen, UK, USA, Canadian and Australian models of allowing tourists to stay for up to 6 months without the need for extensions or to leave the country after 3 months.

 

10 minutes ago, madmitch said:

I'm surprised they don't copy the Schengen model of not allowing more than 180 days stay in any 12 month period. That's the most logical way to prevent the visa run abuse.

Super simple to put in place.

23 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

I'm surprised they've kept the visa exempt at 60 days.

For my nationality it's actually 90 days! 

3 minutes ago, GanDoonToonPet said:

 

That would be fine if they copied the Schengen, UK, USA, Canadian and Australian models of allowing tourists to stay for up to 6 months without the need for extensions or to leave the country after 3 months.

 

Thailand is no Schengen, that's for sure... 

The thing is, visa runs are in majority not done by criminals specifically but by common joes, so that's going to be work....

29 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

I am fed up with this notion of "quality Tourists" when it relates to the economy. What they really mean is "High spending equals "quality"

 

To my mind, the quality tourist is one who comes to Thailand, and in spite of being potentially scammed and ripped off, has a great time, is not a criminal, breaks no laws, causes no trouble and goes home to tell their friends they recommend it - and come back themselves as a repeat "quality" visitor..

That's true, many backpacking families on a budget are also quality visitors. Even better, most of their spending reach real Thais who need this income not multinational corporations that ship their profits to the outside. 

38 minutes ago, KimchiCurry said:

100%. Just make an income requirement ONLY with proof of recurrent revenue. That's it. Simple.

 

No more soft power fake Muay Thai, Cooking or dental appointment. It's way too easy. For soft power, just give them the METV visa.

They will crackdown eventually when they catch scammers with DTV. 

I know people who have been scammed out of the DTV fee from Thai Embassies in China. Sorry, I cannot be more specific. 

2 minutes ago, Shocked farang said:

That's true, many backpacking families on a budget are also quality visitors. Even better, most of their spending reach real Thais who need this income not multinational corporations that ship their profits to the outside. 

I include backpackers. Many of those on a "budget" come back as professionals, now well off, and now higher spenders arising from good experiences years before. 

5 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

 

Hard to say. All that visa actually is in real terms is a 6 months grant of entry with multiple entries until it expires within 5 years. People have read in to it that this means de-facto residency for 5 years. 

 

Consider what happens if you follow that to its logical conclusion. YouTubers or drop shippers who have 500k baht in their home bank account can now live in Thailand for the rest of their life doing a border run every 6 months and buying a new visa every 5 years. Boom de-facto residency. Who really thinks Thailand will allow that?

 

The reason they make you leave after 6 months is so they can leave open the possibility to decline your reentry every 6 months. If it weren't for that it would essentially be a Non-O visa. If they really wanted people who take a cooking class to live in Thailand for 5 years they would issue a Non-O with a 5 year entry.

Can you imagine, after 5 years of cooking classes I would have become a world famous Masterchef with my own cooking channels! 

13 minutes ago, Shocked farang said:

Can you imagine, after 5 years of cooking classes I would have become a world famous Masterchef with my own cooking channels! 

How about 5 years doing Dental work. I would have perfect hollywood teeth like George Clooney. 

Nearly 3,000 people denied entry this year only? That is a lot higher than I would have guessed. 

 

It is not mentioned in the article of this thread, but I have very recently seen that the denial of entry risk is for people who do the visa exempt thing more than twice. It was clearly stated like that in that article. 

 

Here is my advice and thoughts on this. Now it is obvious that they are being strict on this. So, sadly, know that you would be taking a big risk if you do it more than 2 times in a row. Also, if you do it even for 2 times, I think there would be a risk if your visit to Thailand before your first one this time was at a recent time (ie less than 6 months ago or so) . Even if you do it only 2 times, make sure that especially on your second entry, have an onward ticket with you, preferably a return ticket home. Proof of funds and maybe even a letter from your place of stay would help too. It is never a bad thing to have such documents etc with you. 

 

Many people who stay longer than 3 months do so to avoid the European/North American winter so for them 2 visa exempt stays are enough, especially if you consider the possibility of 1 month extension each time. 

 

This is argueable and I have even seen people saying the opposite, but I would say air travel entry would  give you less risk than land travel entry. 

 

Also, finally, just know that in the end it is up to the immigration officer to let you enter. So, for example, someone who is on a third or fourth entry in a row might be let through, while someone on even a second entry might have a problem. 

 

Feel free to agree or disagree on what I wrote. 

On 11/13/2025 at 3:54 AM, Artisi said:

Looks like good bye overnight visa runs - oh! what a bummer for some people. 

a few years back I made a rare visa run to cambodia to extend my stay.  I was doing visa exempts.  Around 2012 I think it was.  On the mini van was a nice young lady also from the USA that was teaching english up in Loei. I probably spelled that wrong.  She probably did not have the proper work permit, visa etc. as this was very common in years past.  She was not a professional teacher nor had any credentials.  She certainly was a native english speaker as am I , born and raised in the USA.  She certainly could teach reasonable conversational and basic english alphabet and reading and writing and speaking.  I have no idea of the number of people that did that and worked fairly cheaply and worked with younger Thai students.  No idea how common it is now.  But I imagine such loose teaching arrangements are going to be less common.

15 minutes ago, JemJem said:

Nearly 3,000 people denied entry this year only? That is a lot higher than I would have guessed. 

 

It is not mentioned in the article of this thread, but I have very recently seen that the denial of entry risk is for people who do the visa exempt thing more than twice. It was clearly stated like that in that article. 

 

Here is my advice and thoughts on this. Now it is obvious that they are being strict on this. So, sadly, know that you would be taking a big risk if you do it more than 2 times in a row. Also, if you do it even for 2 times, I think there would be a risk if your visit to Thailand before your first one this time was at a recent time (ie less than 6 months ago or so) . Even if you do it only 2 times, make sure that especially on your second entry, have an onward ticket with you, preferably a return ticket home. Proof of funds and maybe even a letter from your place of stay would help too. It is never a bad thing to have such documents etc with you. 

 

Many people who stay longer than 3 months do so to avoid the European/North American winter so for them 2 visa exempt stays are enough, especially if you consider the possibility of 1 month extension each time. 

 

This is argueable and I have even seen people saying the opposite, but I would say air travel entry would  give you less risk than land travel entry. 

 

Also, finally, just know that in the end it is up to the immigration officer to let you enter. So, for example, someone who is on a third or fourth entry in a row might be let through, while someone on even a second entry might have a problem. 

 

Feel free to agree or disagree on what I wrote. 

I agree in general, certainly for escaping winters and such. And now that the visa exempt starts with a 60 day stay + 30 day extension, that is great.  What is a problem is some people that are on sabbatical or taking a year or two break from things.  They are not really retired  but want to visit and experience for more than just a few months.  Visas pose a challenge.  

58 minutes ago, rumeaug said:

The thing is, visa runs are in majority not done by criminals specifically but by common joes, so that's going to be work....

hmm.  good point.  criminals simply overstay.  They do not want to go through any official immigration thing, ID checks, paper work, etc.