What visa options are available for expats in Thailand who frequently travel between work and staying with a Thai girlfriend?

No new rules. You can still enter for 60 days or get a visa.

My suggestion would be, get a 12 month multiple entry visa

I heard if U got to many stamps in your passport they can refuse u entry,

Just get the services of a Visa agent to lay out a plan of action and answer all your questions. It will reduce a lot of stress and time.

If you leave and comeback and don’t do border runs your fine and pretty sure it’s 2x60 days every 180 days

Stay visa exempt but don't apply for any extentions and no border runs to renew after 60 days you will be fine

There are no new "visa rules" and there is no new law.

There is no “reset” when a new calendar year begins.

There is no limit of two visa-exemptions within a 1-year period, and definitely not within a calendar. This is simply not true.

What has changed, mandated from above, is the strict scrutinizing of your number of visa-exempt entries and the thorough check on "visa runners" (actually they meant to say "back-to-back border runners").The new approach taken by border officials is intended to ensure that the option to do a "visa run" is not abused.

Now as far as regarding extensions on visa-exempt entries, it does appear that the Immigration offices are indeed only issuing 7-day extensions if you already got one previous 30-day extension on any visa exempt entry

It is totally up to the discretion of the immigration officer you are in front of when you apply for the extension and they will tell you if you can get the 30-days extension, or if you only get the 7-days extension.

Fact is right now it is totally subjective and up to the officer you are standing in front of when you go to stamp into the country, for them to decide if you're a "real tourist" or if they think you're milking the visa exempt entry program.

There is just no clear directive as far as what's what, however from a few interviews with Immigration top officers, a few basic patterns have crystallized.

Some people with a 30-days extension already on a previous visa exempt entry reported getting another 30-days extension without any issue, however some have reported they only got a 7-days extension issued. Thus, your experience might vary.

60 + 30 + 60 + 7 = a maximum of 157 days per year... and it seems this is regardless of whether you arrived by air or across a land border (some say that for a land border visa-exempt entry, you cannot get any extension at all)

Visa-exempt entries themselves are not limited, even though some believe that unlimited visa-free entries are possible by air. This is simply not true.

Visa-exempt entries are not limited to two entries per calendar year. It is totally irrelevant if you enter via a land border or by air.

This is a misconception, and some agents and lawyers spread this information to make profit from panicked people.

Many agents and Immigration Volunteers (!!) are warning you should not believe those alleged news telling you that visa-exempt entries are limited to two per calendar year. It simply is not true.

In the past visa-exempt entries were limited to two across land borders, this old rule got discontinued on July 15th, 2024.

On the paper, visa-exempt entries by air or across land and sea were “unlimited” after this date. LET ME EXPLAIN: this wording “unlimited” is not a fixed rule of Immigration – THEY decide when your “personal limit” is up, not any text printed on the websites of Thai embassies or posted by barstool experts on Facebook.

On a few conditions, but always at the individual discretion of the border official, multiple visa-exempt entries are possible - like four, five or even more times, if you do not milk the system.

In this case the entry history in your passport and your profile on Immigration’s Central Computer must prove that your stays were short-term holidays (like only 2-4 weeks), and the total annual stay is not exceeding 157 days (some will say not exceed 180 days, some will say 150 days – it remains unclear)

There should be several weeks (or months) abroad between each visa-exempt stay.

Your best proof that you are not milking the visa-free system is when you can show that you returned to your home country between each visa-exempt stay, or stayed abroad for a long time. Plus - when you show an onward travel proof

ATTENTION: an “onwardticket” can be scolded upon by Immigration and you can be accused of showing a faked ticket, denied entry and being forced to buy a ticket back to your origin.

The new approach was to prohibit "visa runs," where you only entered a neighboring country briefly and then immediately re-entered.

You must be able to prove the planned short stay at the immigration counter—for example, with proof of onward travel or a return journey, such as a flight ticket.

It seems that a border official would consider you being a "genuine" tourist based on such short holiday trips within a year.

In this case, they expect to see on their Central Computer that you never extended the 60-days visa-exempt stay permit – i.e. maximized – any of these short trips.

The 7-day extension is a REAL extension. It is not the same as the stamp "application for extension denied, you have 7 days to leave the Kingdom" even if for some people it looks like the “7-days grace period”.

I have already seen the stamp of a 7-days extension, it takes up half of a passport page.

What is crystal-clear, is that "per year" is defined as "per one-year period”.

Some people still say they meant “calendar year” however, this doesn’t make any sense, and we have received many confirmations after January 1, that nothing “resets in a new calendar year”. The count will be for a full one-year period

Those who want to be on the safe side should obtain a single-entry tourist visa in advance for stays of up to 60 days, with the option to extend for 30 more days. You can definitely do two stints on a SETV within a 1-year period, no problem.

There is no new rule limiting visa exempt entries to two per year. What has been limited are the EXTENSIONS to visa exempt entries.

The first extension you will get 30 days, but on the second extension only 7.

So long as you have a legitimate and justifiable reason for visiting Thailand - and you are not doing visa runs - then you can make several visa exempt entries in a calendar year.

I don't think limits apply to a 60 day tourist visa.

But they are watching boarder runs to continually extend stays

The EXTENSION of the tourist visa is only possible 2 times in one year.

Not the exemption... It is allways mixed up, similar words but what a difference 😁

No new rule saying only 2 entry in a year. Fake news

There are no rules changes, but there is stricter enforcement of visa exempt entries. If you actually mean visa exempt rather than a tourist visa then yes that could potentially affect you but nobody can say for sure. It might be worth looking at a retirement visa. A Non-O visa gives you 90 days in Thailand and you can extend for 12 months when you are down to the last 30 days of the 90 but does require funds in a Thai bank account

If you are 50+, you can apply non-o retirement visa