Thread: Visa, Extension, Permission to Stay. Explained.

Originally Posted by Wasp

It would cost me far far more in money , time , exasperation and stress than paying 1900 Baht .

Christ you sure got a LOT of excuses on why you can't manage to get a tourist visa before winging your way here.

Have some cheese with your whine.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

Christ you sure got a lot of excuses on why you can't manage to get a tourist visa before winging your way here.

Have some cheese with your wine.

You ask a question then you whinge to get an extremely sensible answer. Unfortunately that seems to be automatic with so many of the pricks of the internet.

Originally Posted by toddaniels

FALSE..

TRUE..

A 60 day Tourist Visa (every entry) and, since 29.8.2014, also the 30/15 days visa exempt stamp, will be extended for 30days at Thai Immigration, THB 1,900.-. However some countries, example India will get 7day extension only.

Visa Rules - Visa on Arrival, Tourist Visa, Non-Immigrant Visa

Originally Posted by Sumbitch

TRUE..

FALSE AGAIN
It would serve you well to actually know what you're talking about concerning visas, visa exempt entries and a visa on arrival. Plus it would help if you didn't quote out dated information like it's the gospel of Somchai . . .

As of Dec 31st there are NO MORE 15 day visa exempt entry stamps when entering by land (like they had). Now 51 countries get a 30 day visa exempt entry stamp when entering by land or air, BUT 44 of those countries are limited to 2 visa exempt entries by land per calendar year.

FYI: people from India DON'T get into thailand on a visa exempt entry, they get into thailand by BUYING a "visa on arrival". Visa on arrivals are good for 15 days, and people from most of the countries that buy them when they enter thailand cannot extend them. It is totally at the discretion of the immigration officer.

FWIW: the visa on arrival fee was increased to 2000baht on 27th Sept, but when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Thai Immigration Office decided to make single entry tourist visas free at all thai consulates from Dec 1st until Feb 28th they also reduced the price of a visa on arrival to just 1000baht..

You can fool me on a LOT of things about the glorious "Land 'O Thais", but it's pretty darned hard to fool me about visas and/or extensions of stays.

Hope that helped clear up your confusion..

I have a 30 day visa on arrival. I will need to go to Immigration Office to get a 4 day extension 1,900 baht in February. I will then leave the country for 4 days and return via DMK.

In March again I will have to go to the Immigration Office to get a 15 day extension 1,900 baht in March.

Is getting the 1,900 baht extension 2 months consecutive going to create problems? Will they issue the second extension? I will leave the country for an extended period.

How long will it be before Thailand denies American citizens to enter the country? Several other countries have done this in reply to Trump's new immigration moves.

Originally Posted by CalEden

I have a 30 day visa on arrival. I will need to go to Immigration Office to get a 4 day extension 1,900 baht in February. I will then leave the country for 4 days and return via DMK.

In March again I will have to go to the Immigration Office to get a 15 day extension 1,900 baht in March.

Is getting the 1,900 baht extension 2 months consecutive going to create problems? Will they issue the second extension? I will leave the country for an extended period.

It will probably depend on the immigration officer. Be sure to smile.

Originally Posted by CalEden

I have a 30 day visa on arrival. I will need to go to Immigration Office to get a 4 day extension 1,900 baht in February. I will then leave the country for 4 days and return via DMK.

In March again I will have to go to the Immigration Office to get a 15 day extension 1,900 baht in March.

Is getting the 1,900 baht extension 2 months consecutive going to create problems? Will they issue the second extension? I will leave the country for an extended period.

IF you got stamped in for 30 days you certainly don't come from one of the 21 countries which BUY a 15 day visa-on-arrival when they land here.

You got a 30 day "visa exempt" entry stamp.

It has that catchy name because you didn't BUY a visa for thailand at a thai consulate before you flew in & you didn't BUY a visa-on-arrival at passport control when you landed here either. You got stamped in for free for 30 days without ANY visa, hence the "visa exempt" entry..

Be that as it may,

You can go apply for a 30 day extension on a 30 day visa exempt entry without a problem at your local immigration office. They aren't gonna just sell you a 4 day extension or a 15 day extension. They're gonna sell you a 30 day extension for 1900baht <- which is the price of ALL extensions inside the country no matter how long they are issued for.

You shouldn't have a problem getting a 30 day extension on either of the two planned visa exempt entries you're going to do.

BTW: not that anyone particularly cares BUT these are the 21 countries which BUY a 15 day visa-on-arrival to thailand when they land are Andorra, Bhutan, Bulgaria, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Romania, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine & Uzbekistan

Originally Posted by toddaniels

You got stamped in for free for 30 days without ANY visa, hence the "visa exempt"

No, the 30 days you get is actually a visa. Any stamp, in your passport, permitting one entry into a country is classified as a 'visa'. Thailand gives tourist that 'visa' free so it should be called a 'free 30 day visa'. Without that so called 'visa exempt', free visa, you wouldn't be allowed into Thailand, so it is a visa. Have a nice day Tod.

Pragmatic: you like oh-so many people are confusing a visa; which is something stamped in your passport; either at a thai consulate BEFORE you come here or at passport control when you get here (if you're BUYING a visa-on-arrival) with an entry into the country on the visa exempt program.

All a visa does is give you the ability to "request entry" to a country for a specific period of time (depending on the type of visa itself)

On a visa exempt entry all you get is an "entry stamp", which also has your permitted to stay until date on it. I call that a "permission to stay stamp". But any way you look at it, it's NOT a visa.

In fact, when you go to extend a visa exempt stamp entry at the thai immigration office they call what you have a ตรายกเว้นวีซ่า <- stamp on a visa exemption <-(meaning you were exempt from having to get a visa BUT got stamped in).

If you need me to post pictures to make it clearer to you what a visa, a visa-on-arrival, a visa exempt entry stamp and/or a permission to stay until stamp looks like, lemme know. I'm here to help

I'm about done tryin' to push this rope with you . I bow to your finite wisdom and/or your hare-brained rational.
You can call it what ever you wanna call it.

Tod,
perhaps I am going to ask a stupid question, but I have a friend that needs this info:

As of Dec 31st there are NO MORE 15 day visa exempt entry stamps when entering by land (like they had). Now 51 countries get a 30 day visa exempt entry stamp when entering by land or air, BUT 44 of those countries are limited to 2 visa exempt entries by land per calendar year.

He arrived in Thailand with a single entree tourist visa from the Thai embassy in Switzerland.
-Is Switzerland one of these 51 countries?
-Does this mean that when his tourist visa is finished and he travels to Laos, goes over the bridge and back, will he get then 30 days and no longer 15 days?
Do I understand this right?
And is Switzerland one of those 44 countries that are limited to only 2 entrees from Laos in 2017?
Or can he do more entrees from Laos in 2017?

Again, perhaps these are stupid questions, but I am trying to understand this.
Thanks for your help.

Don't forget your friend can extend his 60 day tourist visa by 30 more days at the immigration office for 1900baht.

Yep, Swiss people no longer get 15 days so when he crosses the border into Lao and re-enters thailand he'll be stamped in for 30 days on a visa exempt entry.
BUT
it will also count as one of the TWO visa exempt entries in a calendar year you can do by a land border..

If he's planning to stay longer I'd suggest he go to the thai consulate in Vientiane and get a 60 day tourist visa.

if he has a tourist visa it is valid for 60 days
when his visa is nearly up he can
1. go to immigration and apply for an extension for 30 days cost 1,900
2. go to Laos by land and come back and get a 30 day visa EXEMPT
3. go to an embassy or Consolute in Laos ( or anywhere) and get another FREE 60 day tourist visa

ALL countries that can receive now a 30 day visa exempt by LAND are lmited to 2 land entries /year

Originally Posted by Phuketrichard

ALL countries that can receive now a 30 day visa exempt by LAND are limited to 2 land entries /year

Close, but no cigar

Malaysians get 30 day visa exempt entries BUT they were excluded from the 2 entries by land in a calendar year rule.

Also Mongolia, Russia, Lao, Vietnam, Macao, Mongolia & Hong Kong all get 30 day visa exempt entries, due to a bilateral agreement.
BUT
only Hong Kong is listed on the 2 visa exempt entries by a land border rule, the other countries are not.

Another scenario that a friend of mine from the UK will be going through in a couple of days. He obtained a 60 day tourist visa from England and entered Thailand last November. He left Thailand the beginning of January to visit Bali and reentered Thailand after 7 days. He left Thailand to visit Singapore on the 19th of January will be returning to Thailand in a couple of more days. Will he have any problems reentering from Singapore?

Thanks guy's for the info/help.

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

Another scenario that a friend of mine from the UK will be going through in a couple of days. He obtained a 60 day tourist visa from England and entered Thailand last November. He left Thailand the beginning of January to visit Bali and reentered Thailand after 7 days. He left Thailand to visit Singapore on the 19th of January will be returning to Thailand in a couple of more days. Will he have any problems reentering from Singapore?

Why would he get any problem, it is not like he have made those entries into Thailand by walking over a land border from a neighboring country..

Don't forget your friend can extend his 60 day tourist visa by 30 more days at the immigration office for 1900baht.

Yep, Swiss people no longer get 15 days so when he crosses the border into Lao and re-enters thailand he'll be stamped in for 30 days on a visa exempt entry.
BUT
it will also count as one of the TWO visa exempt entries in a calendar year you can do by a land border..

If he's planning to stay longer I'd suggest he go to the thai consulate in Vientiane and get a 60 day tourist visa.

Thanks for the help Tod.
much appreciated.
I will pass the info to my friend.

Originally Posted by CalEden

Thanks guy's for the info/help.

Our resident expert on all things related to Thai visas and visa exempt stamps is Todd Daniels. There are quite a number of threads as well.

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

How long will it be before Thailand denies American citizens to enter the country? Several other countries have done this in reply to Trump's new immigration moves.

What other countries? BS on this one.

Originally Posted by mark45y

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

How long will it be before Thailand denies American citizens to enter the country? Several other countries have done this in reply to Trump's new immigration moves.

What other countries? BS on this one.

Iraq parliament approves &#39;reciprocity&#39; to U.S. ban - POLITICO

BS or not BS?

I have a question. Have been looking around for an answer, but can't get a consensus.

A few Westerners in my city have recently been told they can't "out-in" in one day on their 90 day border runs. These are guys with 1 year marriage visas or with work permits.
From the anecdotes, it seems to me that this "no more out-in" might be an attempt by the border officials to get a bribe as nobody has yet actually been turned away (for various reasons from claiming no money for accommodation and no spare clothes, to saying they simply didn't know of the new "rule" ie it seems to be very lax in it's application).
My guess is that the rule, if it exists, is to curb backpacker types getting another xx days. I can't see the point of forcing guys with 1 year marriage visas to stay away one night (actually, I can't see the point of their border run every 90 days).

So, is there a new rule that says that people with a non O, multi-entry visa who have to go out of the country every 90 days have to stay out for a night, or is this a thing by the local Immigration boss because he has a hotel on the Malaysian side?

[QUOTE=Maanaam;3462902]I have a question. Have been looking around for an answer, but can't get a consensus.

A few Westerners in my city have recently been told they can't "out-in" in one day on their 90 day border runs. These are guys with 1 year marriage visas or with work permits.
[/QUO

^ do it the proper way then, showing dough in a Thai bank