@Nongnuch *******

The law is called “Thai Immigration Act of 1979”. Section 12 of that law lists exhaustive reasons to deny a person entry into Thailand. And while deny of entries happen despite the fact of there not being any hard limitations, it is hard to defend yourself in that very moment. The Thai Immigration Act also gives the right to appeal against a wrong decision by the immigration officer (I believe regulated in section 22 of the Thai Immigration Act) and a dedicated appeal form exists for that - but hardly anyone makes use of that option as it gives them 7 days for a superior from the ministry to respond. And those 7 days you would likely spend in detention. Who wants to risk that.

All income brought into Thailand generally will be subject to income tax in Thailand, if you become a tax resident by staying in Thailand for more than 180 days per calendar / tax year. Having said that, that does not automatically lead to you having to pay taxes on your pension. A tax treaty between the two countries might prevent that by making sure you don’t have to pay (full) tax on incomes that was already taxed, twice. If that applied for US-Thailand I cannot say.

@Todd ********

Gotta admit: great video. Confirms all the facts we presented here before. Only side still really unclear seems to be the Thai Soft Power side and what classes would actually qualify.

The actual law (Thai Immigration Act of 1979) doesn’t have and never had any hard limit on maximum entries or total amount of time spent on tourist visa. That is why whenever immigration officers denied entry, they had to use alternative “excuses” instead. In the vast majority of cases they rejected entry by relying on Thai Immigration Act sections 12.2 (insufficient funds) or 12.3 (illegally working in Thailand). They followed a non sustainable logic that if someone spends too much time as a tourist he / she cannot have enough funds to live off of them and thus must be working illegally. This has always been bs but they had to use something for lack of a better reason in the actual law. Having said that: IF that former guideline (as in never covered by the law) of 2 land border entries has fallen, then that does NOT in turn mean that you will be let in UNLIMITTED times on visa exemptions automatically. Immigration officers can still deny entry if they have cause to believe you are in breach of the underlying conditions. Just as they did on air entries before. I think Tod (great guy) was misinterpreted here.

Ok. So I made an exception and had to watch that video. And I gotta give my props and admit that he made a good video this time. Most facts we knew and presented here many times already. What I took as new confirmation is that extensions will only be the regular 1,900 baht. I really feel for this guy, because he had to deal with many wrong opinions and misinformation, too, by people claiming plain wrong facts. Good job. 👍

@Nongnuch *******

Yes. I heard that, too. Hopefully that will prevent fake schools from popping up. Still wired that with a short term course one will seemingly get a 5 year visa.

@Nongnuch *******

I also don’t see any reason why this multiple entry visa should be any different. I think close to almost 6 years it is what can be squeezed out.

@Danny ******

Any mention of what qualifies under the Thai Soft Power category and what doesn’t? Will a days cooking class really enable people to obtain a 5 year visa? Did he ask any of those open essential questions or did he just have reconfirmed the facts?

@Nongnuch *******

Over my years in Thailand I learned to trust as proof only what ends up being published as law in the Royal Gazette. Everything else I take with a goon grain of salt - no matter what uniform or politician says something. But good to know we have our known facts confirmed once again. 👍

@Danny ******

Thank you. Much quicker to read than to endure a long video.