@John *********

The rules are clear as stated. Misinformation from these senile "waiting to die" idiots that there are no rules is not helpful to anyone.

@John *********

The thing is your view is completely irrelevent. Thailand has set the policy there is a limit of two visa exempt entries each with 60 days and one 30 day extension and one 7 day extension. So a maximum 157 days. If you don't like the rules here then go to another country.

@Rick ********

I don't want to stay longer. The current Visa exempt option is perfectly fine with me. The issue I have is the limit of two Visa exempt entries which simply can be solved by using Malaysia as my base for visting other countries in the region. And we are back to my original statement that tourism will be damaged as most tourists want to visit other countries as an add-on to a trip to Thailand.

@Dennis ********

You are spot on with the idiotic "correct visa" non-sense. You are 100% correct about clear communication being required. Even the hotel association in Thailand is calling for clear rules. The big problem is there are people in Thai govenment that understand there are different kind of tourists and at the same time have a uneducated xenaphobic running the immigration department. Who also sqawks the idiotic "Anyone staying more than two weeks is not a tourist and is a criminal". Really all this non-sense started with scammer call centers on the border with Cambodia and Myanmar. So Immigration decided to go after western tourists. The stupidity is mind boggling.

@Rick ********

You seem to have a bizare idea people only take 2-3 week holidays. I have never taken less than 5 weeks with banked hours and extended leave. I am not even from Europe where starting at 4 weeks is the norm.

@Rick ********

I fall into this category and know many others.

@John *********

What is "short term tourism" and what is "extended stay". The 60 days visa exempt with a 30 days extention was created to accomodate more wealthy tourists that have more freedom to travel.

@Rick ********

It sure is going cause a loss of a lot of lost tourist dollars. There is a category of tourist that travel for extended periods of time and have no desire to live in Thailand. This is the reason for the 60 day exemption and the reason EU, Malaysia and Taiwan etc have 90 day visa exempt. They are also "high value" at the higher end of the spending range. They also travel around the country and not over-crowd a few spots like the chinese tour groups and western tourists on a two week trip. If they want to cut the abuse, just set a max number of days to 150 which I understand is also a new rule. Easy.

Thailand doesn't want tourists other than Chinese and Indian tour groups. Just take your money and go elsewhere. Malaysia is a good option.

@John *****

The regulation does appear to allow for bank statements. However, dealing with any uneducated Thai robot; if there three options they will only know one of the options and will insist there is only one option. It is safer just to bring some cash and as the universe works... if you have the cash, you will never be ask for it.