E -Visa : Multiple Entry O Visa

[Bob Mason]

As one completes the online application for an O Visa, multiple entry, it asks not only for a date when one enters Thailand but also for the date of leaving. I will be returning to Thailand in a couple of months prior to the completion of the sale of my house. I want to spend a week in Thailand and return to the UK in order to transfer funds to Thailand. The visa is subject to extension by Immigration in Thailand, I know that. Now, if I return to the UK after only a week, and put an exit date only a week after my entry date, will my visa still be valid for my second entry, please? On completing the application it automatically gives a number of days and it does not make it clear what these days mean.

I want a multiple entry visa but would not pay for one if the period of its validity was very short.

Thanks.

[Edmond]

Multiple entry visa can be used for 12 months, but each stay needs to be 90 days or less (unless you get an extension inside Thailand).


Thus, regardless of holding a single-entry or multiple-entry your stay (or first stay in using a multiple-entry) will still only be 90 days or less.

So write down the date that is 89 days after your planned arrival, as you will need to leave by date regardless of single or multiple entry.


Those that abuse the multiple-entry system get the 12 month multi-entry, get 90 days when arriving, leave on day 90, come straight back in 5 minutes later to activate the next 90 days, do that last one on the final visa date and get the last 90 days on day 365, to make it just about 15 months with 4 border hops.

[Edmond]

Or to put it short.

The visa is subject to extension by Immigration in Thailand

No, it isn't.

The M-E visa will last for 12 months as long as you come and within 90 days at a time.

if I return to the UK after only a week, and put an exit date only a week after my entry date, will my visa still be valid for my second entry, please?

You can come and go 365 days if you want, it won't matter as long as each stay is not longer than 90 days. So, yes, still valid. That's what a multiple entry visa is. You can enter multiple times as long as the visa is valid for 90 days at a time.

[Mendip]

I thought the multiple entry O visas were being phased out.

That's what I always used to use as it meant I could avoid the immigration offices and in the past, with work rotations, I practically never stayed in Thailand more than 90 days anyway. On the rare occasion I was staying in country for more than 90 days the visa also gave me a very good excuse for some much needed relief from Korat and Thailand in general.

The last time I checked at the start of Covid, neither the Thai embassies at Singapore or Oslo offered the multiple entry O visas. Maybe they do again now?

[Edmond]

^ They're apparently readily available at regional consulates/embassies again. Sav, Vietnam, etc.

Haven't heard about in non-dodgy countries such as Osloland etc, but would presume there's little issue. Office to office in non-dodgy countries may vary wildly, though.

[Bonecollector]

^ ^^

I got mine last year from London, so, I think they are back on. I seem to remember they are given at the discretion of the embassy and you have to proof why you require a multiple entry and not an extension once in Thailand. They know me quite well in the London embassy and are fully aware that I work between the two countries and that was and has always been acceptable.

So, Mendy, explain the situation to them and I am sure they will give it to you. Show them your rotation sheets etc

[Edmond]

the London embassy and are fully aware that I work between the two countries

Working in Thailand = work permit = easy extension = no need for multi-entry visas.

[Edmond]

Thinking back to my first non-imm visa, must have been 2005/2006.

Was a multi-entry B visa, of all things. Used one my dad's companies to write up an official headed letter stating I'm being sent there to investigate potential commercial opportunities, and no bother, got a 12 month multi-entry business visa 2 days later.


Lemme know if yer stuck and have a kg or 2 spare in yer suitcase Mendy.

[Mendip]

So, Mendy, explain the situation to them and I am sure they will give it to you. Show them your rotation sheets etc

I looked on the Singapore Thai Embassy site out of interest and they now only seem to offer the single entry Non O. I always used to enjoy a trip to Singapore once a year to get the visa but to be honest I've now tired of the place and the last couple of times I went were an expensive chore and not very enjoyable. I very much doubt I'll ever visit again.

Covid forced me to go down the extension route and that seems to be working OK for the time being.

[Ghost61]

Previously I wanted an ME-O but could not see option online e-Visa application. However, in & out of Thailand working away, found that ME-O Visa was available online at next application. Submitted application prior to planned return to Thai, submitted on Sun, recd on the Tues. Super quick. Been in & out several times on this ME-O now. GLA.

[Bob Mason]

I am very grateful for your help and understand about the 90 day part of this. However, I want to enter and leave the country well before the 90 days, just about ten days so as to get my dogs and wife there, and then return for the completion of my house sale. If I put a return date which is only a short time from entry, how does this affect my visa, please?

[Edmond]

how does this affect my visa, please?

It doesn't.

You get a ME visa valid for 12 months from the date it is granted. Nothing will change that visa other than overstaying your 90 days permission of temporary stay.

You enter the kingdom as many times as you want during this 12 months, as long as each stay is 90 days or less. Whether you stay 1 day or 89 days during each entry matters not a jot.

[Mendip]

^^ I like that the dogs come before the wife on the list!

[Bob Mason]

Thank you. I am not allowed to give thanks by way of "greens".

[Topper]

just about ten days so as to get my dogs and wife there

Why not come in on a VOA tourist visa? Tell them your staying 20 days, if you need more than 30, get a 30 day extension?

[Edmond]

Why not come in on a VOA tourist visa? Tell them your staying 20 days, if you need more than 30, get a 30 day extension?

You mean a 30 day Visa Exemption?

You arrive with no visa and they stamp you in for 30 days. This is then extendable for 30 days or 60 days (based on family) at an immigration office for 1900thb at any point of the 30 day stay.

[Topper]

^ Whatever it's called...but yes.

[Bob Mason]

I can see that my first visit to Thailand could be made on a VOA. I would apply for an O Visa, get the authorisation for that but not actually use it on my first entry. My only problem is that I wish to open two additional bank accounts in Thailand on my first visit and those banks may not let me open them if I am not actually operating under an O Visa. I will have a large of money following the sale of the house and need it in Thailand to build a new house on land which my wife owns.

[Topper]

Ah, I understand now...you need some sort of long term visa in order to open a bank account. Always apply for a long term visa outside of the country you plan to reside in if you can, usually the process is quicker and easier. Take a look at the requirements at the closest embassy/consulate for the visa you want and go for it.

I wonder...you arrive here on a tourist visa and want to change to a Non-O, but need to open a bank account in order to deposit the funds needed to qualify for the visa, but can't because the bank won't let you open an account because you're on a tourist visa.

I'm guessing most solve this problem by having their wife open the account, you deposit the money in it and go from there or simply open a savings account on your tourist visa with someone like Bangkok Bank. Apparently they're cool with tourists opening a savings account. Transfer the money in the account, go get the visa you want and then use it to open other accounts. Personally, I prefer Krungsri to Bangkok Bank, but BB is a true international bank.

[Bob Mason]

I already have an account with Bangkok Bank but want to open accounts with two more banks. I will be transferring a lot of money and want it to be spread over three banks. It would be foolish of me to send it all to Bangkok Bank.

[Seekingasylum]

I can see that my first visit to Thailand could be made on a VOA. I would apply for an O Visa, get the authorisation for that but not actually use it on my first entry. My only problem is that I wish to open two additional bank accounts in Thailand on my first visit and those banks may not let me open them if I am not actually operating under an O Visa. I will have a large of money following the sale of the house and need it in Thailand to build a new house on land which my wife owns.

Don’t do it.

Invest in bonds, now around 4-6% return in UK for e.g., and rent in Thailand.

Also cash deposits in Thailand are only indemnified by the BoT up to 1 million baht per account.

Keep your money in UK, and transfer when required as if you are operating a drawdown account.

Thailand is no longer the destination it once was and in truth the presence of farang westerners is ever diminishing by the year - ASEAN, Indians, Chinks, ME and Russians are the main drivers in tourism and sectors related thereto.

If you are intent on establishing your residence among the peasants in some dystopian rural ghastliness then might I suggest you seek guidance from a suitable mental health therapist.

[Bob Mason]

Thank you. So, why do you live in Thailand?

[Seekingasylum]

Family commitments and an increasing senescence militating against upping stumps, yet again.

Twenty five years ago Thailand was a totally different place to what it is now. Before, their idiocy and reckless indifference to fate was charming and beguiling which when combined with their juvenile appetite for fun was very much a cultural draw compensating for the incoherence of the country and the medieval nature of its Establishment. But that innocence is no more, the society is riddled with a debt burden that has quenched their former joie de vivre to be replaced by a greed born out of desperation and turned them into automata manipulated by a despotic regime exploiting its power for the benefit of an elite few. Cynicism, apathy, drudgery and fear is the leitmotif for the average Thai and any hope for the future has been extinguished by the current coup.

But stupidity, ignorance, recklessness and a cognitive dissonance remain.

We’ve just lost the fizz and effervescence that was in the bottle, and what is left is an ever increasing rancid soma.

[malmomike77]

We’ve just lost the fizz and effervescence that was in the bottle, and what is left is an ever increasing rancid soma.

are you saying that you cant get it up even with little blue pills?

[Seekingasylum]

Is it the the utter paucity of your life that ensures the sole focus of it is shooting your load?