@Richie ***************

I agree with your reasoning, the situation at the time was not a good one, but it was my own actions that put me in it, I underestimated how hard it would be to find any kind of work in Thailand, either in country or online, lots of things had happened to get me to this point and I was not always thinking clearly, but I got the help I needed and go through it all (fyi my issues were not caused by drugs or alcohol, but by stress and worry causing mental health issues)

@Richie ***************

the full 90 days, so 90 boarder bounce and 90, it wasn't really a surprise it happened and it was not a nice experience but after 15 days in Vietnam I paid the VIP and went back and now I'm somewhere else.....

One option maybe a airport VIP service, and I say this because even with a applied and approved tourist visa and IO can still say no, price of the VIP service is between 2-8k baht depending on your passport history, basically and IO would come and get you from one of the big doors close to the immigration ramp and walk you through and stamp you in no questions asked and then they go and get a nice cup of tea....also I would advise that the cash you have on you is in baht and not pounds because if you do get pulled aside to the questions area, your only hope would be to pass the IO your passport with the cash in it so they can take a photo of it and also show their supervisor it, as I understand it, while they look at it they may have a cup of tea and let you in, if you play nice that is, if they do say no then you would get taken to the inner guts of the airport and told very little until an airline rep turns up to say you need to book a flight back to UK asap, cannot pop to Vietnam and come back in a few days, and then you will get taken to the detention centre in the basement where you will stay until your flight and you have to pay 1070 baht a night, you do get food and water, but there is no paper or bum gun in the toilet, and then when your flight is happening they will collect you and walk you through the airport and they keep your passport for the whole thing, you only get it back from and IO at your destination and your first on the plane and last off and taken by ground crew to the IO where you get more questions, if it's UK you should be ok, but for me when I was denied it was DaNang airport and I did wonder what would happen if they said no, all this happening to me is why I choose to use the VIP option because like I say an IO can say no to any visa if they want, playing their game is a little scary but it works, anyway good luck with whatever you decide to do, but you may want to use VIP for Aug and Oct as they as close together.....oh and the reason given to me for my denied entry was returning for a third time within a 6 month window, it's true I was but I had no overstays or anything else dodgy, I have heard from many people they really are asking more questions and a few friends over 50 have been questioned as to why they don't have a retirement visa.....

I think several months ago now I did see a post about the move to fully online and they said minimum time would become 14 days, I don't recall if it mentioned working days or not, I believe it's now the same for applications from Vietnam and Laos now too!

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.