We always get some people posting claiming to have found the kind of holy grail, the formula etc which imm officers use to determine if someone can come in or not.

Some even claim to have found *the* way to *always* get in every time. The proverbial keyboard shortcuts.

The reality is, after 1 or two entries, it basically is just dumb luck. There's no pattern or reason to why some people get questioned after their third or even second entry, while others get away with it for more than a year, ir even two years.

@Cary *****

If the non-B is related to employment, then yes.

If the non-B is related to business, then thats a different matter.

There are some individuals who are in a special state of denial there's any kind of tightening and that its totally stress-free to just stay here indefinitely on Tourist visas & exemptions.

I've been here since 2013, just before the coup. When I got here, people were just living here for decades on serial border runs, Thai wives, illegal work in a small town school etc.

Then the crackdown happened circa Feb-March 2014. Everyone said it wouldn't last, everyone said that it would totally go back to the old days soon.

Welp, turns out they were in fact serious, and the rules simply got codified, or at least made less chaotic, leading us to the current situation where imm officers are given all the discretion, but with guidelines that anyone suspected of using the tourist visa system to just live here should be questioned.

@Tin *********

Perhaps you mean, can I keep coming in and out on tourist visas (which with the extension each get you a 90 day stay)?

If so, then I'm afraid thats no longer the easy way to stay here it once was.

First of all, more and more (probably most, at this point) Thai consulates will no longer issue you a second tourist visa if you've just had one.

Secondly, immigration officers at the airports and land border checkpoints are becoming more strict about people using short-term tourist stays as a means to basically live here.

These days, at some point after being here anywhere between 6-12 months (maybe longer or shorter depending on which immigration officer you end up in front of), on your way back in, immigration officers are likely to pull you aside and question you on what you're doing here for such a long time on tourist visas. At some point, you risk being denied entry.

A pertinent question is *why* you overstayed so many, many, many times?

I got a 20K Baht overstay in 2015 which was 100% my own fault. What happened was I confused the "report your address by" date with the visa expiry date. Since then I have learned from that mistake.

I also got one in 2018 which was *not* my fault; the agency I was an employee of as a teacher cancelled several employees' work permits without telling us, thus invalidating our reasons for extension and causing us to be on overstay without our knowledge.

How did you not learn from the first, or at least the second one? You say you've had "a few" 20K overstays, which implies it was more than two. To get a one year ban means you then went on to overstay by more than *90* days.

Like.....how?

@Salvo ***********

Maybe not Myanmar, where the money you spend there is funding an active genocide.

@Steve ******

Its at the discretion of the immigration officer.

If denied entry, and you're lucky, they will give you the option of flying out to a country of your choice.

If you're unlucky, they'll insist you go back to where you just came from. If you're *very* unlucky, you'll be forced to return to your *passport origin* country.

Its a gamble.

Obviously, they very much *can* see your entire history with a scan and a click of a button, across all passports past and present.

However, they won't *necessarily* do that check, like if they've had a long day, are about to come off shift, theres a very long line etc. So getting a new passport isn't *completely* without advantages.

That said, the days of being able to get a 100% pristine new slate with a new passport are very much over, and if they *do* make that check..... well, be prepared for a long chat in the back room, and potentially a denial of entry.

Probably depends on what the sentence, and what kind of visa you're going for.

When I got the teaching job I have now, I was required by my school to get an International Child Protection Certificate from my home country (UK), which as the name suggests entails a thorough background check for any convictions or allegations made against you ever, when it comes to children.

However, the IPCC requirement was particular to my school, I think, and I believe for most schools the legally required process for getting the visa is that the authorities contact your home authorities and ask for a basic check. Don't think there will be any Stat of Limitations on the serious stuff for that visa though.

Probably some overzealous officer trying to impress someone and failing.

A few years back, here in Chiang Mai, a load of officers turned up to Zoes at like 11pm and took into custody a load of foreigners who didn't have their passports on them (because of course; who *doesn't* have their passport with them while they're out partying?).

After all that malarkey, questioning, and even blood testing, looking for visa overstayers and people who'd taken or smoked anything illegal, they found a grand total of.... ZERO such cases.

Zilch. Nowt. Nada. To use the Thai word: Soon.

From what I hear, a few very sheepish individual officers got summoned for "clarification on what happened" (Thai cultural translation: Getting a massive bollocking), and there were a few "transfers to inactive posts".