Yes it works, my friend did it just a few weeks ago there. In any case, in Ranong they only stamp you out if they are also willing to stamp you back in.
I uploaded a pdf file that had my Vietnam entry stamp, photo of my boarding pass, my visa for Vietnam and the hotel confirmation from Agoda. Was not asked for additional documents
as someone who switched from kickboxing to Muay Thai I can tell you they are absolutely not the same sport 😉 and it is very difficult to find genuine, authentic Muay Thai gyms in Europe (where indeed kickboxing is the more popular sport).
But I agree that probably a lot of people are signing up for gyms and cooking classes just to get the visa. If they ever start checking continuous activity at borders, these people are going to be scr*wed 😏
If we’re talking about becoming really good at either Muay Thai or cooking, yes that takes years and years of practice, gaining experience and honing skills. Just because the initial course is 6 months, doesn’t mean you stop doing this activity after that. I can imagine in the future that for example a stage at a Thai restaurant would be acceptable as proof of continuing activity. The soft power version of this visa was implemented to promote Thai culture and that’s exactly what it does.
Is it easy to abuse this by ‘just’ booking a few months and then doing border runs? For now yes, going forward, time will tell 🤷🏻♀️
Proof of location: make sure you include your entry stamp to Vietnam. I uploaded a (merged) pdf with entry stamp, visa, boarding pass and hotel confirmation
Financials: yes 6 months, up to the day you apply (e.g. I applied
****
and included
***
/24 -
*****
/2025)
No need for proof of residence, it just asks you for an address in Thailand and whether it’s a hotel or private residence, etc. Just fill in the address, that’s it.
Some embassies (London, Kuala Lumpur) ask for rental agreements etc. But not in Vietnam.
yeah but still, you already paid for the visa (benefits) when you applied… anyways, I’ve never used an agency to do a border bounce, can’t imagine I ever will… especially now that I know this 😏