I was turned away for trying to enter for a third time on visa exempt within a 6 month period and personally know several over 50 who have been told if they don't get a proper visa they will be denied entry next time and this was only trip 1 this year, so while yes you are technically correct they are deciding to be more strict on things if your over 50 or your history looks like your not a tourist, as plenty of others have said any entry regardless of any visa you may have is always at the discretion of the IO.....

Arrange airport VIP service before he arrives, cost varies with passport history from about 3k-10k baht, needs to pay before he takes off usually

@David ********

as I am sure every agent will vary with price and process I advise you look for Airport VIP service, looking online I saw fees from 3k baht to 10k baht, mine was 7k, for me I sent a photo of my passport and latest stamps and then was given a price, so maybe it depends what computer says for the price depending on any risk for the IO, and for me I had to pay before I flew in, I assume that all would need that. I advise you start making arrangements 3-4 days before you fly

@Nitzan ****

All I can tell you is my own personnel experience and what I witnessed, read in to that as you wish, there was one lady who they let through immigration when I was there to get to the ATM and I saw cash exchange hands and then she left....so hmm, also the supervisor on that day told me herself that the reasone for denial was insufficient funds for my stay, so again I agree it may not be the real reason but it is what I was told that day by immigration...so yeah...basically lack of cash maybe the simplest one to use and does not affect passport status, I don't know...also please note that despite being denied entry I did not get any kind of stamp in my passport saying that...again this maybe down to the chosen reason....end of the day this is Thailand and when you have sent time in Thailand you beging to see deeper if you let yourself and then you begin to see the underlying secrets and reasons for things, much of what you see in Thailand is not 'real' but is there to keep face....once again please understand that I am not claiming to be any kind of expert, but having lives in a Thai home for close to 2 years I have seen and learned many things and seen many people who have double lives....

Hmm so I had a similar boarder run situation to you and in Feb went to Vietnam for a few days to do the renew, I was denied and ended up back in Vietnam, I looked at all of the visa options I could potentially get and I ended up not getting one and instead I used an agent for the VIP airport service which was not expensive and got in again for visa exempt, the problem with any actual visa is the IO can still say no. This was my reason for doing as I did and after this I got the 30 day extension no issue through an agent and then also did another land boarder run using agent at boarder no issue, they are becoming more strict, I have heard this from many people, my advice is when you head back to Thailand make sure you have 20k baht per person on you in cash and I mean Thai baht not dollars, the reason I say this is because the deny entry came down to I didn't have physical cash on me, if I had then then looking at what happened to others getting questions they would of taken my cash and passport away to get pics and then brought it back to me, potentially I also would of made a donation to the tea fund, but as this didn't actually happen to me it is pure speculation and cannot be true, but also you should know if you get denied and have to go to the detention room you have to pay cash for your stay 1070 baht a night....the more you know

Yes can buy a used car or bike quite easy, just don't buy anything that does not have a full book, if no book it's a risk that it's stolen, if only front photocopy of book then there is probably a loan against the car/bike, so I strongly advise you avoid these kinds of purchase, any reasonable owner or dealer is generally willing to go to the transport office with you to transfer ownership, do note that if the item is registered in a different province then you will need to pay for the transfer, for a bike it's between 4-5k baht, don't know for a car and also it can take a couple of months for the new book to get to you, also watch out for anything that has missing tax, if it's more than 3 years or very close too I would avoid because after 3 years re-registration is required and I understand that's a pain, but only a couple of years is ok and can pay the back tax easy enough, but also note that you can take anything to the test centre and get a new test and do the tax a couple of months early and for a bike of 150cc it's under 1k baht for all, for cars I think it's 10-15k depending on car type and engine size, I would also advise you to get a full Thai license, it's simple enough and you won't require an agent, cost for both car and bike if do yourself is under 1k baht, if they require you to do the theory test I think there is a small extra charge and I strongly advise you do the practice tests online, easy enough to find, because some questions do not translate well. If you want to do the license make your first stop the local DVT office to get an appointment because they are quite busy and they will also give a list of what you need to prepare to get your licenses.

If you consider that Thailand is looking to tax any foreign income, which would include the income for a visa, meaning you would need to bring in more to account for the tax amount it does begin to make the 800k lump sum more appealing because if you can show it's 'old' money from savings it's not taxed, which would mean you could in theory and depending on lifestyle being over much less to live on each month, which would potentially mean paying lower tax because of a lower tax bracket, so you could say the embassy is trying to save you money....

So I feel like my original statement is true, if apply in country with an agent it seems they get around the insurance part, but if you apply from UK you would need it, please can you provide a source or link to where it specifically says you don't need insurance for either visa, not looking to argue or annoy just trying to understand

@Stuart ********

so I decided to look online and confirm or deny and from what I can find you DO require medical insurance to apply for a non-O or non-oa now since 2021, this is from several sites, TIT they change the rules a lot and don't always update people, so like many things in Thailand it seems it can depend on what agent you ask, so like many things it's as clear as mud

@Stuart ********

so then you need the medical insurance, so em yeah, in regards to bank account it seems to vary a lot, a friend of mine who is 36 did it on his own on a visa exempt about 3 months ago, so it's not impossible just need to maybe try a few places, for him he got first place he tried and didn't need to get any extra insurances, so it does really seem to depend on the mood of staff any given day