Never ever, in innumerable trips to LOS, have I been asked for an onward booking by Thai immigration, neither at airports nor at land borders. Never have I heard about anybody being asked.

Yes, airlines often ask/require, but I regularly fly vietjet and they rarely ask.

Seems to be different now, arrived at Suvarnabhumi, and 2 out of 8 ahead of me in the queue, both Asian, were pulled aside, looked like because of onward booking problems.

My routine, postcovid, has been 3 months Vietnam, 1 month Cambodia, 1 to 3 months Thailand (always VE), so I thought there wouldn't be any issues, I was wrong.

Found out the IOs have 2 buttons in their cubicles, a red one (I imagine for emergencies like someone being aggressive), and a green one, which she (yes, female IO) pressed, and I was escorted to the "special area", and lectured by another Female IO, about not getting a visa, accused of coming to Thailand for "free". She explained what she meant by free, that I wasn't paying taxes in Thailand, and she was, which wasn't fair.

Then she handed me the dreaded form to fill out, and I thought that's it, it's back to Vietnam.

While I was filling out the form, she asked how long I had stayed in Vietnam. I said 3 months, she said no way, I showed her my Vietnamese stamps, and that in between had been a month in Cambodia, where they don't stamp anymore.

She then stamped me in.

My guess is, that she didn't pay much attention to my timeline. She saw all these big vivid Thai stamps, the Vietnamese stamps are small, blurry, lacking color, Cambodia at airports no more stamps ;so she assumed, falsely, that I was living in Thailand on VEs.

Nevertheless, right now, they seemed to be routinely asking for onward flight bookings. So don't arrive without one if you are on exemptions.

On 5/26/2026 at 3:46 PM, thecyclist said:

Never ever, in innumerable trips to LOS, have I been asked for an onward booking by Thai immigration, neither at airports nor at land borders. Never have I heard about anybody being asked.

Yes, airlines often ask/require, but I regularly fly vietjet and they rarely ask.

Seems to be different now, arrived at Suvarnabhumi, and 2 out of 8 ahead of me in the queue, both Asian, were pulled aside, looked like because of onward booking problems.

My routine, postcovid, has been 3 months Vietnam, 1 month Cambodia, 1 to 3 months Thailand (always VE), so I thought there wouldn't be any issues, I was wrong.

Found out the IOs have 2 buttons in their cubicles, a red one (I imagine for emergencies like someone being aggressive), and a green one, which she (yes, female IO) pressed, and I was escorted to the "special area", and lectured by another Female IO, about not getting a visa, accused of coming to Thailand for "free". She explained what she meant by free, that I wasn't paying taxes in Thailand, and she was, which wasn't fair.

Then she handed me the dreaded form to fill out, and I thought that's it, it's back to Vietnam.

While I was filling out the form, she asked how long I had stayed in Vietnam. I said 3 months, she said no way, I showed her my Vietnamese stamps, and that in between had been a month in Cambodia, where they don't stamp anymore.

She then stamped me in.

My guess is, that she didn't pay much attention to my timeline. She saw all these big vivid Thai stamps, the Vietnamese stamps are small, blurry, lacking color, Cambodia at airports no more stamps ;so she assumed, falsely, that I was living in Thailand on VEs.

Nevertheless, right now, they seemed to be routinely asking for onward flight bookings. So don't arrive without one if you are on exemptions.

They have been cracking down on people using excessive entries with and without proper visas and also enhancing checks on those same folks against all the regs. Nothing new, it just wasnt enforced as much in the past but its gone on for months now. Been all over the vews as well. The old days are gone.

Crack downs happen every so often, the Thai public likes to hear about this sort of thing.

10 minutes ago, Dan O said:

They have been cracking down on people using excessive entries with and without proper visas and also enhancing checks on those same folks against all the regs. Nothing new, it just wasnt enforced as much in the past but its gone on for months now. Been all over the vews as well. The old days are gone.

With proper visa to ?

Last summer, a Suvarnabhumi IO asked for my onward flight info. This for the first time since 1979 (not all on visa exempt) but definitely the last 18 months or so. Luckily, I had just remembered to buy one of those cheap online "bookings" before leaving Vietnam. The booking they provided was on Emirates and it also appeared in their app as I am a member. I showed this to the IO, rather than the email attachment from the ticket shop as it looked more official than generic.

Subsequently, I have used safe entry services.

Edited June 9Jun 9 by NanLaew

18 minutes ago, Hummin said:

28 minutes ago, Hummin said:

With proper visa to ?

18 minutes ago, Hummin said:

If you use excessive numbers of back to back tourist visas without going back to your home country it can imply you attempting to live long term here without a long term visa. It starts to open up the question for the descretion of the imm officer to decide what your doing and how are your supporting yourself here. Your will probably be allowed in with cautions about future visas that match your travel visits

57 minutes ago, Dan O said:

1 hour ago, Hummin said:

1 hour ago, Hummin said:

1 hour ago, Hummin said:

If you use excessive numbers of back to back tourist visas without going back to your home country it can imply you attempting to live long term here without a long term visa. It starts to open up the question for the descretion of the imm officer to decide what your doing and how are your supporting yourself here. Your will probably be allowed in with cautions about future visas that match your travel visits

I thought 180 days in and out still counts even the claim leads to discussions every time I mention it.

3 hours ago, Dan O said:

They have been cracking down on people using excessive entries with and without proper visas and also enhancing checks on those same folks against all the regs. Nothing new, it just wasnt enforced as much in the past but its gone on for months now. Been all over the vews as well. The old days are gone.

I wouldn't call 2 entries per year excessive.

3 hours ago, thecyclist said:

I wouldn't call 2 entries per year excessive.

It isn't, but you're not a Thai immigration officer. If you're here more days than anywhere else, and most of those days are under visa-exempt + extensions, you are fair game.

When they scan your passport on arrival, the IO can see your entire history. That history seems to have more weight than the "calendar year" misinformation that was floating around at the end of last year.

If you already have the visa, go ahead and let us know what happened. You will probably have no issues. On the other hand, you may. The way I see it, once flagged for a "secondary inspection", it's only a matter of time.

If you haven't got the visa yet, maybe save your money and check out safe entry? Keep in mind the fee they may quote is inversely proportional to the thickness of the ice you're skating on.

Edited June 9Jun 9 by NanLaew

Moved to the main Thailand visa section as this post has nothing to do with other countries.

15 hours ago, Hummin said:

I thought 180 days in and out still counts even the claim leads to discussions every time I mention it.

No such rule currently exists.

On 6/9/2026 at 4:32 PM, Hummin said:

I thought 180 days in and out still counts even the claim leads to discussions every time I mention it.

On 6/9/2026 at 4:32 PM, Hummin said:

I thought 180 days in and out still counts even the claim leads to discussions every time I mention it.

ays

On 6/9/2026 at 4:32 PM, Hummin said:

I thought 180 days in and out still counts even the claim leads to discussions every time I mention it.

On 6/9/2026 at 4:32 PM, Hummin said:

On 6/9/2026 at 4:32 PM, Hummin said:

There are no imm regulations about limits or connection to 180 day likits. 180cdays triggers you as a taxc resident only

Edited Thursday at 06:27 AM4 days by Dan O
Site error

There are no imm regulations about limits or connection to 180 day limits. 180cdays triggers you as a tax resident only

On 6/9/2026 at 6:40 PM, thecyclist said:

I wouldn't call 2 entries per year excessive.

On 6/9/2026 at 6:40 PM, thecyclist said:

I wouldn't call 2 entries per year excessive.

On 6/9/2026 at 6:40 PM, thecyclist said:

I wouldn't call 2 entries per year excessive.

I never mentioned 2 entries???? Your complete visa history is on the data base and they review it in total, not by year

Edited Thursday at 06:31 AM4 days by Dan O

On 5/26/2026 at 2:16 PM, thecyclist said:

Never ever, in innumerable trips to LOS, have I been asked for an onward booking by Thai immigration, neither at airports nor at land borders. Never have I heard about anybody being asked.

Yes, airlines often ask/require, but I regularly fly vietjet and they rarely ask.

Seems to be different now, arrived at Suvarnabhumi, and 2 out of 8 ahead of me in the queue, both Asian, were pulled aside, looked like because of onward booking problems.

My routine, postcovid, has been 3 months Vietnam, 1 month Cambodia, 1 to 3 months Thailand (always VE), so I thought there wouldn't be any issues, I was wrong.

Found out the IOs have 2 buttons in their cubicles, a red one (I imagine for emergencies like someone being aggressive), and a green one, which she (yes, female IO) pressed, and I was escorted to the "special area", and lectured by another Female IO, about not getting a visa, accused of coming to Thailand for "free". She explained what she meant by free, that I wasn't paying taxes in Thailand, and she was, which wasn't fair.

Then she handed me the dreaded form to fill out, and I thought that's it, it's back to Vietnam.

While I was filling out the form, she asked how long I had stayed in Vietnam. I said 3 months, she said no way, I showed her my Vietnamese stamps, and that in between had been a month in Cambodia, where they don't stamp anymore.

She then stamped me in.

My guess is, that she didn't pay much attention to my timeline. She saw all these big vivid Thai stamps, the Vietnamese stamps are small, blurry, lacking color, Cambodia at airports no more stamps ;so she assumed, falsely, that I was living in Thailand on VEs.

Nevertheless, right now, they seemed to be routinely asking for onward flight bookings. So don't arrive without one if you are on exemptions.

They don't care how long you have been away especially if it's only 3 or 4 months, even using safe entry (8500 THB) at CNX is problematic with the IO boss there, you will be interviewed, asked to fill forms, kept there for a long time, until it's all sorted out without anyone losing face except the farang.

On 6/11/2026 at 12:00 PM, Dan O said:

There are no imm regulations about limits or connection to 180 day limits. 180cdays triggers you as a tax resident only

I never mentioned 2 entries???? Your complete visa history is on the data base and they review it in total, not by year

100% even with safe entry, they talk to the "Boss" of the safe entry company and send them your visa history via whatsapp by photographing the PC terminal

7 hours ago, JosephineMasy said:

100% even with safe entry, they talk to the "Boss" of the safe entry company and send them your visa history via whatsapp by photographing the PC terminal

your comment makes no sense there are no 180 day triggers for entry exclusion or limits. 180 days is for a tax resident

I did get asked very last time I arrived about return/onward ticket which was first time ever

It had followed 2 previous Visa Exempt entries both of which had been extended

I had the sense to use a screenshot on phone rather than a printed " fake onward ticket" for £7.....someone else on thread also says it looks more authentic on the phone albeit they are supposed to be "in the system" for 48 hours after Email delivery

Clearly IO at first port of call wont have access to flights but quite possibly secondary office if directed there may well do

Edited yesterday at 04:21 PM1 day by Chivas