@Gilly **********

One slight amendment to what I said before:

I used the word "always" when I should have used "long".

When I first got here in 2013, I'd run into people while on visa runs who were basically living here for years on end on tourist stays. Thai wife, off-the-cards teaching jobs in some village somewhere, the lot.

But then the 2014 coup happened, and they started enforcing things. The requirement to have proof of onward travel, accommodation, and 20,000 Baht (or equivalent) was already there on paper, but very rarely enforced.

After 2014, they started enforcing it, and demanding it from people they suspected of not being genuine tourists.

Obviously, this relaxed over Covid - but then after the pandemic ended, they cracked down again.

@Gilly **********

Its always been the case that immigration pulls aside & questions people they suspect of just living here on back-to-back tourist visas and/or border-bounce stamps.

Including Chiang Mai airport. I was pulled to the back office and questioned there in July last year when entering on a tourist visa. I had had just two border-bounce stamps that year, and previously had been on a Non-B for teaching for 4 years.

I was allowed in, but had to show them proofs of inward travel, finances etc.

Obviously some people are able to stay here for quite a while (over a year or so) on nothing but short-term tourist stays. Other people get questioned on their third or even second entry. But while the amount of time you can stay here per year on tourist visas is technically unlimited, entry has always been at the individual immigration officers discretion.

"Well I know someone who knows someone who lived here for two years on visa-exempts" means nothing.

The amount of time you can get away with here on back-to-back exemptions is a roll of a dice.

The point is that sooner or later, your number *will* come up.

Worth taking those warnings seriously, as people can and do get denied, all the time.

If you've already attracted their attention enough to get onto their radar, best not to push your luck.

Probably "unlimited" in the same way that visa-exempt air entries already are "unlimited".

No legal limit, but after 4-8 months (give or take) on nothing but back-to-back border bounces, you have a *high* chance of being pulled out of line to the back office & questioned about what you're doing here.

@Brandon ***********

Post from Tod Daniels appears to confirm removal of 2X-a-year limit with photo evidence.

But yep, like you say, the removal of the *legal* limit doesn't mean people can now stay for years on end on back-to-back visa-exempt stamps.

If you have a visa, there is no land entry limit (though if you've already been here multiple months on short-term tourist stays, you run the risk of being questioned or even denied).

There is a legal limit of two *visa-exempt* land entries in a calendar year.

So to clarify; your 4 land entries:

1) Were they all visa-exempt?

2) Did you make them before or after Jan 1st 2024?

"How long can I stay in TH on tourist visas" is like asking "how long is a piece of string".

No official limit; you can do it until you can't.

But that "until you can't" point *will* come, sooner or later.

@Marc *********

The immigration officer will, ultimately.

If you've been here 4 months, six months, or longer on nothing but visa-exempt entries, just going out then straight back in, however, then the likelihood of an immigration officer viewing your history as "extensive" goes up several notches.

It depends on whoevers dealing with you.

Technically they can insist on 20K B in cash. They may do exactly that.

However, last year I was pulled aside at the airport and asked for the Three Proofs, and a copy of my Thai bank book was accepted. (I had already had to show it in KL to get the visa in the first place).