@Graham *****

They might see on their screen.

Ken Gunderson indeed there are no rules that say you cannot come back, but visa exempt is only for tourist use, and living there a long time is not tourist use, that is the rule, and it is up to the individual immigration officer to decide if you are already tourist, that is the loophole.

A lot of other countries solved this kind of problems by saying you can stay for example 90 days in a 180 day period.

@Shake ****

the fact that visa runs happen frequently does not make it normal.

It is just difficult to stop this behaviour, because normal tourists then also get limitations.

How can you think it is normal to get in and out a country every time to stay there legally?

They invented visa for that, and in case you cannot or do not want to comply to the requirements, that simply means you are not welcome.

A lot of countries have a much stricter policy.

Here in this group are a lot of Australians, but if I want to live in Australia, that is nearly impossible.

USA about the same, so I don't really understand why those people think Thailand should let in everyone.

Ken Gunderson border run obligations??

Nobody says people should do border runs.

In fact that is most times against the rules.

Visa exempt is for tourists, not for people living for 20 years in Thailand.

The fact that immigration is trying to stop these practices is not corrupt as you call it, but just the contrary.

Vietnam more open? I need a visa when I want to stay as tourist for a few days, in Thailand that is free.

@Sam *****

there are already long term visa available quite a long time.

If you considered those too expensive, that is not an excuse.

You have 5 years to enter, but when you got the visa for soft power, it might be better to be in Thailand during the appointments.

It might give a strange impression when you book a training and arrive a year after.

@Sean ******

Doing a visa run never is something the country issuing the visa will like very much.

And about the working in Thailand before, I think they might be right.

@Nicholas *************

I think you highly underestimate the immigration officers we are talking about here, not agents.

@Dennis ***********

never had problems at the airport, but having 2 years in a row a 30 day extension, made the immigration officer tell me there were more appropriate visa for my purpose, so I did.

Quite easy to get a DTV visa. In 5 years I might be retired and not a remote worker anymore.

By then I might apply for the non-o retirement, but that is inconvinient because the extension has to be done inside the country.

Anonieme deelnemer That means you belong to the group for which the visa is not meant, because you already live in Thailand.

It is not meant for people living whole year in Thailand, so that is why it is made inconvenient for this group.