Must admit I thought the Non O visa or any visa for that matter could only be issued by an Embassy or Consulate and not by the immigration dept who in turn deal with extensions but not the actual issuing of visas

Keep the money in your UK bank earning interest, when you want to come to Thailand for up to 90 days apply for the Non O, up to 60 days just arrive and get the 60 day visa exemption stamp. having the 800K baht sitting in a Thai bank account earning zero interest when that money could be in a UK bank earning 3.5% around £650. Add on the cost of entry permits, it's actually cheaper just paying £60 fee for the 90 day Non O when needed. The 12 month extension of the Non O only makes sense if you plan on staying in Thailand full time.

@Matthew ********

correct, it's already been announced that two border runs is acceptable, ie 180 days, with one 30 day extension and one 7 day extension, which is quite a long trip to Thailand as a 'tourist'. I'm getting a bit fed up hearing people chat shit about visa changes blah blah blah, there's been zero changes to visas as we both know and the only thing that has changed is a tightening of the existing rules regarding entering Thailand on a Visa exemption and the ability to extend for 30 days indefinitely. Anyone with an ounce of sense knows that people were abusing the rules and only abused the rules because the local immigration officials allowed the abuse of the rules as the 1900 baht tea money came in handy.

@James *******

why should he not just keep it simple, arrive and get a 60 day exemption, leave sometime during those 60 days on the planned trip outside Thailand and re enter Thailand and get another 60 days exemption, surely that would cover 97 days or am I or you missing something?

They responded to myself stating there was a 10 to 15 day delay, I responded and asked if they could prioritise my application and they issued it a few hours later. Non O from London