@Bonnie ******

there is no re-entry fee, and if you are in thailand for only a few weeks over say a two month time and have a return ticket it is highly highly unlikely that you will be refused entry. Why can you not be grateful and, more importantly happy, that you have opportunities that most of the world only dream about. Go holiday in Gaza and then tell us you having to pay a few dollars for a visa is messed up

@Bonnie ******

why is it messed up? Visa exempt is for occassional holidays for people. They assume those using it are taking a one to six week holiday from work, as the vast majority of tourists do. If you are lucky enough to have more time because you are traveling or retired then there are visas you can obtain to suit your circumstances. In your case a 6 month multiple entry tourist visa. For me as a UK citizen Thailand's visa system is far easier for me than the UK's is for a Thai.

The point of the e visa is it is done online not in the embassy. My understanding is the embassies are now closed or are in the process of closing and that you apply online in your home country to the embassy of that country. I recently applied for a 90 day Non O from London, it took about 3 weeks to be approved. An online PDF of my Thai Bank and UK bank were accepted as proof of funds. The process was very straightforward

@Graham *****

yes you are correct that that applied strictly to land entries previously. Now however if someone has two 60 days visa exempts in a calendar year with extensions they use it as a rule of thumb as to whether you are a tourist or a resident, it is not a strict rule. Me I prefer to get visas before I travel. This lady for example could easily have got a 6 month multiple entry visa and would then have no worries

She should be OK. If she were to leave at the end of December and return at the beginning of January she will definitely be OK as they measure days per calendar year...

@Kim ********

I don't think anything has changed with the staff at all, but something has definitely changed 'above' them, meaning they have to do extra work and checking to regular on some issues. I have no idea why or how long it will last.

Good luck, hope it works out OK for you. Something odd seems to be happening at Udon Thani immigration specifically currently so it would be interesting to hear if this is nationwide or just Udon. I have found them to be friendly, helpful and effecient but it seems they are under some sort of outside measures at the moment.

@Greg **********

I think this is perhaps an Udon Thani only issue. 12 months ago the same agency were charging 25,000 for the same service.

@Philip ******

yes that was actually the suggestion of the agent. But as I am back in London for family reasons, I thought I may as well do it here

@Ian *********

thanks for answering the question.