BritTim

Try a few agents to see what they say. The best option, if leaving Thailand for a tourist visa is necessary, might be to spend a few days in Singapore, getting the visa there. However, Singapore can be strict about giving tourist visas to those who have been a long time in Thailand. In this case, where I assume your wife has no previous tourist visas for Thailand, I think an application would be successful. Clearly having left, it becomes critical that a visa application of some kind is successful, as coming back visa exempt is impossible, and a visa-on-arrival solves nothing. Good luck!

I can well believe it. However, I do not think they teach formal courses which qualify for a Non Ed visa, and associated extensions of your permission to stay in Thailand.

It was more than a handful of rogue officials that drove policy changes restricting the use of border bounces to stay long term in Thailand. The same is true of limitations on tourist visa issuance at nearby consulates, including the elimination of double and triple entry tourist visas, and stiffer requirements, in general, for visas with few exceptions. Some officials are sympathetic towards families with low incomes, trying to survive, but the consensus is definitely that long term residents should use long term extensions. This should not affect you. You say that you work abroad, and come to Thailand on visits. That is what everyone (even the strictest immigration officials) would regard as appropriate use of a multiple entry Non O visa. However, if Covid had not happened, the steady tightening of controls on making in/out border runs to stay indefinitely would have continued.. It remains to be seen whether, when borders reopen, sentiment among the powers that be will have changed. I hope they will lighten up, but if the authorities can figure out a way to eliminate multiple entry Non O visas, without hurting people like you, I fear they may do so. The online e-visa system has already eliminated them.

It is a fact that certain land borders (e.g. Poipet) have been known to block border runners trying to use multiple entry visas (including Non O) purely to extend their stay in Thailand. Their argument for doing so is that you should use a long term extension when living in Thailand. While I am not aware of anyone being denied entry at airports when trying to use a multiple entry Non O, some airports have denied entry to people trying to do something similar with multiple entry tourist visas. In my opinion, Immigration has no legal right to deny entry to those with valid visas (except pursuant to clearly defined reasons in the Immigration Act). The fact that they sometimes do anyway at some locations indicates the strong view of Immigration on the "correct" way of staying long term in Thailand. Another indication is that it steadily became harder to get multiple entry visas (of any kind) outside of your home country.

First, I sympathetic to the problem you and others face in staying in Thailand with family when you have limited income. My answer below reflects reality, not any criticism. The use of border bounces to remain in Thailand with a multiple entry visa was never the intended way for someone to live full time in Thailand. It was expected that holders of such visas would use them for visiting Thailand, not living here. It is true that, as long as you avoided certain strict border checkpoints, your use of border bounces to stay indefinitely in Thailand was tolerated. However, from the point of view of the Thai authorities, the closure of the border should not have affected your ability to live in Thailand with your family, because the fully approved method for doing so (long term extensions of stay) was unaffected by the border closures. Your argument that the simple fact that you have fathered a child in Thailand should entitle you to live in Thailand for ever, regardless of any other immigration rules may or may not have merit. What is certainly true, however, is that the Thai authorities do not accept such an argument. You will need to find a way to stay that satisfies the laws as they are written, not the way you feel would be just.

One thing to verify is the maximum length of time, consecutively, you are allowed to be in Thailand when using a Non Ed visa based on a non formal school. I believe it used to be true that you could not extend your stay, when using such a visa, past the 12-month anniversary of your arrival in Thailand.

The airline is supposed to check that he has a Thailand Pass before allowing him to check in for his flight.

Note that there is no reason to wait until after the day 5 test to do your extension. As long as the day 1 test is clean, you then have three days of freedom, one of which you could use to get your extension.

You should be able to find a reliable agent in Pattaya who will handle the retirement extension for around 14,000 baht. There are rumours of scrutiny by the higher ups, but the better agents with their friendly officials can still navigate their way through the difficulties. I personally do not think trying to get a Covid extension would be a good investment, even if possible. There is no guarantee that there would not still be complications with a later retirement extension. Medical extensions are difficult to get unless actually in hospital.

Correct procedure: As soon as you know you must quarantine, and unable to leave by the expiry of your permission to stay, call Immigration (preferably your local office, but the immigration hotline to set things in motion if necessary). Hopefully, agree to attend the immigration office as soon as able for backdated medical extension, based on the fact that you were unable to get the actual stamp earlier, but had already been granted the extension. If you do not have an extension approved before the expiry of your permission to stay (even if it is because you were in a coma) the fine can only be waived by an official of very high rank. This very rarely happens.

Depending on your local immigration office, if in Thailand on a Non Immigrant entry, Covid extensions will be impossible or difficult to get. If already in Thailand for many months on a tourist entry, Covid extensions will vary from very difficult to pretty easy to get. If in Thailand on a tourist entry, but only for two to three months, it should not be difficult to get a Covid extension before March 26 at most offices.

Visa exempt entry is not the same as a visa on arrival. Some differences: For a visa on arrival, you must pay for the visa as you receive it, and you get a full page sticker in your passport. A visa exempt entry does not require a visa, and is, thus, free. Nationals of countries eligible for visa exempt entry cannot get a visa on arrival (and it would be nonsensical for them to get one, even if allowed). A visa exempt entry gives 30 days on initial entry, and can be easily extended for a further 30 days at immigration. A visa on arrival gives you a 15-day permission to stay, and cannot be extended under normal circumstances. When you enter visa exempt, you can (under a number of circumstances) convert to a Non Immigrant entry by applying for a visa at Immigration in Thailand. That option is never available for those using a visa on arrival.

Even with the assistance of an agent, it is impossible to switch to a Non O visa (or receive most kinds of extensions) when you enter Thailand using a visa on arrival.

To change the reason for your extension in country based on working to another extension type does require the cancellation of your extension based on working. It is incorrect, in principle, to state that you need to leave the country and return before you can apply for an extension (such as retirement) that only requires you be in Thailand on a Non Immigrant entry. Bad luck if you run into officials that try to create their own extra rules.

If someone gives you problems over the overdue return on the under consideration stamp, just ask them to call Chaiyaphum Immigration who can explain better than you can why you have done nothing wrong. Go back next Wednesday as they told you to. Do not worry.

If you are still on a tourist entry and do not encounter strict officials, you can probably get a further Covid extension. If you ever converted to a Non Immigrant entry, you will not get a Covid extension, and there are no guarantees even if still on a tourist entry.

No: open the document that I provided a link to. I am talking about all the standard reasons you can use to justify your application for an extension of stay in Thailand, according to the update by Immigration in 2014. Technically, there have been some minor adjustments since, mainly affecting retirement extensions, but the document I linked lists all the necessities (reasons) you can cite for an extension of temporary stay in Thailand, together with the conditions that must be satisfied. . The Covid extensions are a temporary special extension type, offered by Immigration for a limited period because of exceptional conditions (Covid-19 epidemic) preventing people from leaving Thailand as usual at the end of their stay.

Anyone else agree that's about as clear as the muddy sewage polluting the chao praya river? To anyone who has read the document that describes valid reasons for extensions to your permission to stay as "in case of necessity", the wording is pretty clear. For convenience, there is a link to that document in a pinned thread on this forum. See Immigration Order 327/2557 (2014) To simplify: after your permission to stay as extended due to Covid ends, you will either need to leave or find another valid reason for an extension of stay.

I think the important thing is that you can switch to a Non Immigrant entry from a tourist entry (by applying for a visa at Immigration) but you cannot go the other way, from a Non Immigrant entry to a tourist entry. Things like Covid extensions or medical extensions do not affect the underlying type of your entry (tourist vs Non Immigrant).

Do you happen to know the minimum seniority level of the official who must sign off on the extension under these exceptional circumstances?

It is unlikely that you will get a further Covid extension without using an agent. There may be a few friendly immigration offices where you would be lucky, but (without question) you are on a Non Immigrant entry and not entitled to a Covid extension under the intention of the updated rules.

In very rare circumstances, the 7-day order to leave stamp can be cancelled. In March 2020, exceptional conditions prevailed which is why you were probably able to get it done.

The only possible exception is a medical extension, right?

Yep Presumably, that will be true even when land border are open? Travel to North Korea has always been difficult (indeed I have never visited because of that, although curious). Thus, like with Vietnam in your case, it appears that any country making it difficult to visit should justify everybody asking for unlimited stays in Thailand.

Let me refresh your memory: https://aseannow.com/topic/1131311-visa-woes/ I also remember one notable example where someone flew from Hanoi to CMX, was denied entry and also denied re-entry in Hanoi. You commented on that thread. CNX was much less likely to deny visa exempt entry, and invariably honoured visas. However, in 2019, trying to enter visa exempt anywhere (with the possible exception of U-Tapao) was fraught with risk for anyone longer than six months in Thailand on tourist entries.