normally, with a "real" credit card (Visa, Masters) you get a REALLY good exchange rate at Thai ATM's. You will receive a "day spot rate" which is a really good exchange rate, better than the rate you get on a Thai bank over the counter or when using cash with private money changers on the Southern islands (not in Bangkok and Pattaya, where these people offer you a very good rate). However you should withdraw the maximum amount of the ATM which is 20,000.- THB in ONE draw, or 30.000.- THB when using the yellow ATM's (Krungsri Bank). Of course you must set your daily credit card limit with your bank before you start travelling travel Asia, and most cards also need to be activated for use in either Africa, Asia, the Americas and beyond.

your friend can call himself LUCKY, because he was about to fall for the (fully legal!) ATM scam with the "Dynamic Currency Conversion". When an ATM offers you to show the exchange rate on the screen, and use your bank's rate: You MUST REFUSE the process IMMEDIATELY, or you are loosing some handful of dough

@Brian **********

alright, that's correct then

you have NOT applied for a "Non-O-Marriage visa". You have applied for the "1-year extension of the stay permit based on marriage to a Thai wife". The stay permit you received when entering using the visa. The visa itself expired and became "used" upon entry. Immigration calls it "visa extension" however they don't extend any visa

@Phetnapa *********

don't do any more border bounces and visa-exempt entries! He could get refused entry with his stay history, and that's when the trouble starts. Go get the proper visa in Savannakhet as described.

@Phetnapa *********

30.000.- THB, this could be the price you pay when officials look the other way. Tea money involved. I do NOT recommend it

keep in mind, that with the one-year multi entry non-imm-O visa, your husband must perform a "border run" every 89 days (before each 90 days stay permit expires) in order to activate another 90 days stay permit

a border run and a subsequent visa-exempt entry, or a visa-run to Vientiane and the application for a 60-days Tourist Visa does not make any sense at this point. This is because of the recent "overstay", he CANNOT use the "change of visa type" from a TR visa or a visa-exempt, to a 90-days Non-Imm-O marriage visa anymore. Your ONLY chance is either the "Multi Entry 365-days Non-Imm-O family visa" (or the "90 days single entry Non-Imm-O marriage visa") from Savannakhet, OR he flies back to the U.S.A. and applies for the Non-Imm-O marriage visa over there. The Savannakhet option is absolutely doable, a few hundred of expats do this every year and the officials at this consulate are super friendly.

Pong Nam Ron is the Myanmar border, which is closed for foreigners by now. I would emphatize that your husband flies or drives to Mukdahan, and from there to Savannakhet, Laos (as Vientiane asks for appointment and for the financial proof!) You should accompany him (although your presence is not actually needed, yet is better for the overall picture and you will have to sign documents when there). You need your fresh Thai marriage certificate, your blue housebook and Thai ID-card, and a few other documents (that are listed on the Thai Consulate Savannakhet website under the "single entry 90 days Non-imm-O "family" visa") The consulate offers a walk-in service. Your husband can apply for the "365-days multi entry Non-Imm-O family visa" based on being married to a Thai wife. The fee is 5000.- Baht. Savannakhet is the ONLY one of two consulates in the region (the other one being the Thai consulate Ho Chi Minh City) , where your husband can receive the "1-year Non-O marriage Visa" WITHOUT any financial proof! Upon each entry within the one-year visa validity period, into Thailand, your husband will get stamped in for 90 days stay permit. The 1-year visa will give you plenty of time to amass 400,000.- THB on a Thai bank account in his sole name. He will need this financial proof to be able apply for the "1-year extension of stay permit based on marriage to a Thai wife" (which some of you call "marriage visa" yet actually is not a visa but a stay permit)

collect all the documents you need from the university, get your Vietnamese marriage certificate, collect signed by him copies of his passport, the visa page, and all other documents, copies signed by him in blue ink (!), and fly to either Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. There at the Thai embassy/consulate, you can apply for the "trailing spouse visa" as a dependent of your husband