Thanks Todd, that's what I thought

I did the same, but found it a bit pushed time wise. You can encounter road works and numerous police stops on the way up and coming back into Mae Sai from Tacheleik there was a bit of a wait in a queue. We made it back to the Mae Sai bus station with 5 mins to spare. It was stressful doing it in this time frame and a quickly gobbled meal was hardly enjoyable but otherwise we would have been ravenous during such a long day. If I did it again, I would go earlier and allow myself more time over in Tacheleik

Yes you do

The English on this is so poorly written thst it is confusing and not very useful to people trying to make sense of their TM30 obligations

If you only require a short time definitely do the Mae Sai border run, it costs much less than an extension at immigration, it can be done in a day and will give you the additional 30 days as others have mentioned and can be extended for an another 30 days at immigration thus potentially giving you an extra 60 days in Thailand

The immigration office in Chiang Mai break for lunch, so either go when they open in the morning or be queuing up 15 mins or so before they return at 1.00pm. Count on being there at least a couple of hours

Patricia Wohlwend the advantage of applying for a multi entry non immigrant OA in your own country before you come to Thailand is that you get two years out of that visa by exiting and re-entering Thailand just before your first year is up. As opposed to applying for a non immigrant O within Thailand and extending this for 12 months on the basis of being aged over 50 ie applying within Thailand will only give you 12 months only

You need a photocopy of your passport ID page and a photocopy of your entry stamp into Laos, as well as your passport photos. You can do these at the Thai consulate in Vientiane cheaply 5 baht each from memory. But if you're wanting to get a low number in the queue to give you an early pick up time the following day (important if you have a plane or a bus to catch back the same day as you collect your passport with your new visa in it) then if possible try to have all your photocopies done before you get to the consulate ie ask at your guesthouse or go to an internet cafe

Phil Taylor if October 2018 is the expiry date of your first year on the multiple entry non immigrant OA visa, and you are planning to exit and return to Thailand just before this date to give you the second year out of this visa, you do not need to show proof of funds for the second year, nor do you need to move 800,000 baht into a Thai bank for that year ie your money can remain in your own country, working for you there

If it is a non immigrant OA visa as it sounds like it is, you can actially get two years out of this visa by exiting and returning just prior to when your first year would have been up, and again getting stamped in for 12 months. Just be aware that for the second 12 months you will need to buy a single or multiple entry permit if you plan to travel in and out of Thailand in that second year 1,200 baht or 4,000 baht respectively