@Robert *******

first off, the source that you posted there is not supported by any facts. Not much of what you read there is true. There is no border run limit of one, neither has there ever been one. There used to be a limit of two, but only for land borders, it didn't apply to entries by air.

The part there that is true is that there is an effective (unofficial) limit on the time you can stay in Thailand. You might get problems entering again once you pass six months.

However, coming back to the issue of whether or not a tourist visa yields an advantage, this still isn't one. Like exemption can be refused, a tourist visa can be refused. You can even get a stamp from an Embassy warning their colleagues that you abuse the system with too many exemptions/tourist visas. The main difference between exemption and a tourist visa is knowing at an earlier stage whether or not you are deemed ok to enter. That is why immigrations officers advise entrants to have a visa next time around. That is so that they don't risk flying all the way there and then find out after that their travel history is not supportive of a new entry.

@Robert *******

no reason to doubt, this one is quite established. If nobody publishes, announces or even talks about a tourist visa extension becoming 60 days (totaling 60 + 60), the fact that it no longer yields an advantage over exemption is still no reason to assume that it would.

A regular tourist visa extension is 30 days and you can only get one. To avoid leaving the country, you could apply for a visa in-country if you apply for one, or get the visit family extension (obviously only if you visit family).

@Andy *******

I have no clue.

@Lee ****

it's normally not sufficient. It's worth a shot, but I've been forced to book a new onward ticket before checking in.

@Jared *********

I've been checked for entry eligibility by my airline at virtually every instance since 2018. Before then it was less common. Is my passport weak?

The most common interpretation of the onward travel rule is that extendability is not accounted for. So within 60 days. You could try, maybe you get away with the 85 days story. However if they check they should *normally* not accept the story. Then you could book a refundable ticket on the spot and refund it after arrival. Don't waste any money on pointless stuff.

@Robert *******

it's not rare, people are checked more often than not. It used to be more rare before covid.

If you go back to Thailand immediately after applying, your visa will not be activated upon return. It will only get activated when you cross a border again after your visa is approved. So indeed you could do a little "hack", apply for the visa, come back, and then bounce a border when it gets approved, to minimize your time out of the country (in exchange for doing two trips).

It is however not entirely free of risk; sometimes visas are refused if you leave the country from where you applied. They could notice if you entered Thailand. I do not know the embassy in Vietnam's standards on this.

@Andrew **********

I think they don't bother about a few bucks. It's just to cover the time the embassy spends on the application. I think the advice to get a visa has a different purpose: protection against refusal. If the embassy checks your travel history upfront and decides to not give you a visa, you won't fly to Thailand and come out very disappointed. If they instead give you the visa, it means you have permission to enter. It isn't always honored by immigrations (some embassies don't fully understand their responsibility in this and give out visas too easily) but this is how it is supposed to with and it is why the advice to apply for a visa is sound.