My passport is thick with Cambodian visa stamps. Prum, Daung and Cham Yeun are the closest border crossings to Pattaya. I know them well. Several of the immigration officers know my face. This ritual of popping over the border to re-new a visa stay for Thailand was easy. Four hour mini-bus ride/ one hour at the border / four hours back. This trip has been replicated by thousands of Thai-hungry farangs over the past two decades despite ever-tighter regulations enforced by the Thai immigration authorities, however the loophole appears to be joining the dodo bird, woolly mammoth, and GM on the extinct list with the Thai Immigration's proclamation that from this date onward any foreigners who enters and leaves the country more than 4 times on a 15 days tourist exemption stamp will have to leave Thailand the next time via an international airport to get another 30-day stay.
Panic for border-runners was not witnesses on Thai Visa, although the usual losers called for the offenders to get a real visa.
Wankers.
Thai Immigration was quick to point out that this new regulation will not affect holders of visas issued abroad.
"As usual, holders of Tourist visas will be given 60 days stay while Non-Immigrant visa holders will be allowed 90 days stay."
Many long-term residents without the proper credentials will resort to an OS visa ie over-stay adopting the Indian and African tactic of relying on Thai authorities' inability to differentiate farangs.
"They all look the same."
OS visa offenders must number in the thousands.
Darwinism at its best.
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