Keep in mind that you can apply for covid extensions for 1,900 baht 60 days from immigration as long as they are being sold to tide you over until you work something else out.

@Heidi ******

as you have discovered Thai embassies actually know very little about thai Immigration offices and how extensions of stay work. And vice versa. If you have a question about extensions of Stay ask immigration.

Copy and paste what you want to Google Translate. Also, you can use Google Lens phone app camera to translate from Thai to English.

@Benjamin *****

Yes, thanks to the French Guiana wormhole.

Again, OP comes into Thailand on a 60-day tourist visa, then applies for a covid extension. Then when those run out he applies for a 30-day regular extension which he is entitled to based on his Tourist Visa. Some offices make you take the 30-day regular extension before they will let you apply for the covid extensions. My understanding is that a person can always apply for a 60-day visiting Thai family extension, even after they have applied for a 30-day regular extension to which he is entitled based on his Tourist Visa, and even after they have been on covid extensions.

I have never seen a rule that the 60-day visiting Thai family extension replaces the regular 30-day extension you are entitled to apply for based on a Tourist Visa.

@Steve ******

The OP is here on a Tourist Visa, how in the world would immigration even know he has a Thai family to visit unless he decides to tell them? 😉

If OP applied for a covid extension it's not clear to me how immigration would even know he has Thai family.

If you want to maximize your time in Thailand arrive with Tourist Visa and get stamped in for a 60-day permission to stay. You can extend that for 60 days by applying for a covid extension. You can repeat doing this last step until they stop selling covid extensions. You are also entitled to a 30-day regular extension of your original Tourist Visa. Finally, keep your 60-day visiting Thai family extension in reserve to be used when covid extensions are no longer being sold. Each extension costs 1,900 from immigration. The regular 30-day extension and the 60-day visiting Thai family extension can be used only once per entry. 60-day covid extensions can be purchased repeatedly up to the point where they are no longer sold. No one knows when that will be.

@Kool ******

I was not able to find any relevant information at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website:

Thanks for that reply. Of course, the link is to the website of a Thai law firm rather than a Thai Embassy. I took a look at some of the questions and answers in the comments at the bottom of that page and I don't think some of the answers were correct. I'm guessing there must be a Thai Embassy website somewhere that gives the same interpretation of the situation because a purported rule seems to have taken hold in the community.

Thanks for the reply. I've seen people refer to this rule which I doubt they are making up, but I would be very interested in the reasoning.

Here's an example that occurs to me:

Scenario 1)

Husband is 55 years old, wife is 49 years old.

Husband and wife are supported by savings and his pension.

Wife has no income of her own.

Husband gets a retirement extension.

Wife gets a dependent extension based on her husband.

Scenario 1 is allowed by the purported rule.

One year later,

Scenario 2)

All is the same except that husband is now 56 years old and wife is now 50 years old.

Scenario 2 is not allowed by the purported rule.

I'm not seeing the common sense behind this purported rule, not that common sense is necessarily required. Can anyone explain what is behind this purported rule?