@Will *****

IF, and that's a big 'IF', If Thai immigration pick up a ringing phone (unlikely) and they understand that it is another countries embassy with a complaint on how their citizen was treated, that call will be put on hold, passed around, staff to staff, office to office, and that is if you're lucky, probably they will give you another office/telephone to call, but probably, They won't speak enough English to understand or pretend to not understand, and keep that up until the call drops. As ultimately no crime has been commited, no abuse of human rights. And immigration officers have the power and authority to deal with any matter as they see fit.

Have you any experience in post sales customer service here in Thailand?

Tried to get a refund or exchange over the telephone?

What is your experience of Thailand, and immigration ?

@Ken ******

you should be OK then. Fingers crossed for you. How long does retirement application take from handing it in ? Can you apply in advance of your 50th, so that it is ready and waiting ? Or its only valid to start processing from the very day of our 50th's ?

Why on earth are you sleeping on a bench in the airport ? Did you have any 'airport business' within 24 hours ? Sounds like you didn't.

With due respect, you do come across a little entitled here. Sounding off on Facebook, after being DESERVEDLY pulled aside, shookdown and frisked, like many others daily, is an example. Nothing special/unusual or even unpleasant happened to you, yet you report it like a sexual abuse. Using the airport benches as your private hotel room, when arriving 'just after midnight", is another great example. Most hotels have 24 hour reception/check in. Do you see for yourself the picture I'm painting ? And this AFTER your entry permitted through immigration.

You have some holes in your history you don't talk of. What is your exact history of entry exit to Thailand since your 2 year covid break ?

What is the purpose of your lengthy stay in Asia ? What do you do for work ? What do you do for income ? It sounds a little like Thailand has been your 'base' certainly since covid, and maybe before, but only a little.

You also did not display or even mention to them or us, the three proofs. Onward flight, 20k in cash, proof of paid accommodation booking. Did immigration not ask for this ?

With regards to rules, there is in reality only one rule, and that is "Entry to Thailand is at the sole discretion of the immigration officer

@Will *****

good luck with that 🤣

@Ken ******

yes your time is coming. I lasted 22 months on tourist visa excempt stamps, but that was 'agent assisted' through friendly border checkpoints. After I bought the Elite Visa, but yet to be issued into my passport, my next entry was Suvarnabhum and I was flagged, interrogated for an hour, and had to show my acceptance letter emails, opened direct from my email account, not screenshot, then the receipt for payment, then the bank account from which the payment was made. I think they would have bumped me had I not had that Elite Visa coming.

@Manfred *********

in all fairness though, how many zero dollar tourists have been picked up by police for begging outside a 7-11 ? Arrested for drugs offences or any other crimes ? Absconding from a hospital without paying their bill ? Or just arrested for not being able to pay the above ? Sitting in a prison or immigration detention center unable to move on ?

'Well travelled' is the opposite of 'big spender'.

Not sure of the figures, but immigration and other departments like to quote "average daily spend", "average duration of stay", "total spend per average visit". I think they chose to ommit things (facts) that will dampen their positive results.

@Kev *********

they don't keep records of travel outside of Thailand, which is a possible trigger for them in this case. And to search beyond the most recent 2-3 years of history, they need to click a button and scroll, but only if they have reason to....

@Judy ******

I dread to think of the condition of his well travelled passport - That will trigger alarm bells with most authorities around the world. Biometrics only kicks in if there is a positive match of facial recognition or fingerprints with that on a record within any number of databases, certainly an immigration blacklist and a national criminal database. Travel history to Thailand will only be pulled up at the immigration desk when swiping the passport through a reader. Unless its a known criminal, or someone on the immigration blacklist (which they might already have determined from the Airlines passenger list), the first thing they will know is when you approach the immigration desk and hand your passport.

@Jennifer *******

typically a perpetual traveller is seen as a 'bum'. Low budget, non-conforming and well rehearsed in all the tricks to live life on a shoestring, and hoodwink immigration and other authorities. Actually now a very undesirable type of visitor. A new passport would do a lot to erase any travel outside of Thailand. There are some undesirable country stamps in his passport too. This would literally clean up that murky travel history - Imagine a new passport held up against the old dirty worn out passport. Also, I think the immigration officer is able to see past 2 or 3 years at a glance (so to reduce data access times) and to go deeper, further back, they need to click a button and scroll. The old looking passport will trigger further digging.

@Thomas ******

yeah, maybe she has, or certainly will.....