Can a US passport holder get a visa on arrival in Thailand or do they need to apply for a visa?

I entered at BKK last October, 60 day visa exempt. The lady customs officer didn't ask me anything. No boarding pass, no proof of funding, no address where I was going to stay, no return ticket. Nothing. Just my passport, facial recognition and digital fingerprints. And stamped me in.

58 days later I left in the bio check line (face and prints). No actual person. So I just walked out of the country.

I didn't file for the TM30 (Proof of address: I stayed with my girlfriend. It is mandatory, but is only a problem if you want to extend 30 days, which obviously I did not do, because I had no TM30. I regreted it. If you stay at a hotel of homestay, they file for the TM30).

Mind you, I had already been in January/Februari for 33 days (applied for visa already in the Netherlands months before that) and in March 12 days (Australia in between).

No questions were asked about that either in October.

Remember to take your boarding pass off the plane with you. It's an immigration requirement to have it available for inspection but I've yet been asked to show it

They don’t ask for anything. I just flew from America. All you need is your passport.

Show up with your passport and you’re good for 60 days.

@Doug *****

nope can't do but you can be stamped in with 60-days Visa Exempt. Make sure you have

Passport

฿20k or equivalent

Where your staying

Travel out of Thailand within 60 days

Visa exempt stamp for 60 days.

You can't do visa on arrival because Americans don't qualify for visa on arrival. Visa on Arrival is only available to a few countries who have to apply for and pay for a visa at the airport, and it only grants 15 days to stay in Thailand.

With a US passport you can get visa exempt, which means you are exempt from needing a visa and it isn't any visa at all. Without a visa you'll get a 60 day permission to stay stamp with visa exempt.