@David ********

Thats your tax residency status.

Thats a completely separate issue from whether the individual immigration officers *discretionary* view is that you've been spending too long in Thailand and that your behaviour does not look like that of a tourist.

Tax law is not the same as immigration law.

@Jason *****

However you think it "should" be, "has to" be, or "must be", unfortunately that isn't the way things *are* here, and that likely won't change.

Governments and policies might change, but the fundamental operations of the immigration bureau, basically, won't. By all means start a campaign or petition to try to change it. However, the authorities likely won't listen to farang.

@David ********

If you're spending most of the year every year in Thailand, then to the eyes of an imm officer, your passport stamps do not resemble those of a tourist.

Its generally the total amount of the year you've been in TH that makes the difference.

The only thing that used to be "reset" by the new year was the land-entry-without-visa allowance. Taking a break from TH before the end of a calendar year doesn't fool anyone. They can still see you've been here for most of the year on exemptions, and may well have questions on what you're doing here.

@Jason *****

Visa-free entries are indeed unlimited.

However, the law also says that they are for the purposes of tourism, and that each entry is at the discretion of the immigration officer you're in front of.

If the immigration officer suspects that you are not using the exemptions for tourism purposes (for example, you'll *generally* have a hard time convincing them that you are not actually just living here, if you've been here for a year), they will likely question you or give you the "last time" warning.

When exactly this cutoff point varies. Depends on the imm officer you're in front of.

Some people get away with living here for over a year on nothing but exemptions, others get questioned on entry 3 or even entry 2. But eventually, your number *will* come up.

Judging by your last post for advice here, it appears he's been here on border-bounces since March or April.

Generally, six months (give or take) appears to be the point at which people who've been using tourist visa-exemptions to stay long-term start to run into problems.

Another idea merely *floated/proposed*.

Which was quickly jumped on and reported on by the media as if it had been 100% approved, Gazetted, and become law.

@Gilly **********

One slight amendment to what I said before:

I used the word "always" when I should have used "long".

When I first got here in 2013, I'd run into people while on visa runs who were basically living here for years on end on tourist stays. Thai wife, off-the-cards teaching jobs in some village somewhere, the lot.

But then the 2014 coup happened, and they started enforcing things. The requirement to have proof of onward travel, accommodation, and 20,000 Baht (or equivalent) was already there on paper, but very rarely enforced.

After 2014, they started enforcing it, and demanding it from people they suspected of not being genuine tourists.

Obviously, this relaxed over Covid - but then after the pandemic ended, they cracked down again.

@Gilly **********

Its always been the case that immigration pulls aside & questions people they suspect of just living here on back-to-back tourist visas and/or border-bounce stamps.

Including Chiang Mai airport. I was pulled to the back office and questioned there in July last year when entering on a tourist visa. I had had just two border-bounce stamps that year, and previously had been on a Non-B for teaching for 4 years.

I was allowed in, but had to show them proofs of inward travel, finances etc.

Obviously some people are able to stay here for quite a while (over a year or so) on nothing but short-term tourist stays. Other people get questioned on their third or even second entry. But while the amount of time you can stay here per year on tourist visas is technically unlimited, entry has always been at the individual immigration officers discretion.

"Well I know someone who knows someone who lived here for two years on visa-exempts" means nothing.

The amount of time you can get away with here on back-to-back exemptions is a roll of a dice.

The point is that sooner or later, your number *will* come up.

Worth taking those warnings seriously, as people can and do get denied, all the time.

If you've already attracted their attention enough to get onto their radar, best not to push your luck.