oncearugge

If you both get single entry tourist visas they can be extended by 30 days at an immigration office for a fee of 1900 Baht

By doing this you can enjoy almost 90 days in the Kingdom without leaving the country.

I very much doubt you will qualify for an O/A or any other type of visa

Joe

I remain puzzled by this alleged restriction on visa exempt entries which are said to affect only a few land border crossings.

This "restriction" does not seem to accord with the Immigration Act so how can it be put in place and under whose authority.?

I realise I may be asking the unanswerable but would welcome your view(s)

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/doc/Immigration_Act.pdf

There is no mention of visa exempt entries in the immigration act. They were created by a ministerial regulation done a lot of years ago.

I don't think it effects tourists that leave that leave the county for a period of time and then re-enter. It is only meant for serial border runners going for out/in visa exempt entries at the crossing I mentioned.

Authority? Perhaps article 44 of the interim constitution.

Thankyou

Joe

I remain puzzled by this alleged restriction on visa exempt entries which are said to affect only a few land border crossings.

This "restriction" does not seem to accord with the Immigration Act so how can it be put in place and under whose authority.?

I realise I may be asking the unanswerable but would welcome your view(s)

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/doc/Immigration_Act.pdf

Another Option, which is not mention yet is:

- Investement Visa (10 Million baht investement which, as far i understand could be property (condo) or bank assets.

Unfortunatelly there aren't many information on this kind of visa..

Information is easily available to those wealthy enough to seek it !

You can get a 30 day extension of your visa exempt entry at an immigration office for a fee of 1900 baht.

Not sure about Poi Pet yet. Ban Pakard and Ban Laem will allow out/in visa exempt crossing if you have not exceed a limit of 90 days on visa exempt entries in a calendar yea.

Joe

Any official word on this 90 day limit on visa exempt entries?

Will any refusal of entry be formally recorded in passports?

Does this apply to all entry points to the Kingdom?

The requirement has been set by immigration division 3 from info I have gotten. I it only covers the 4 southern Cambodia and Khachaturian crossings that are in their area of responsibility

More info on the rules is here on http://www.thaivisaservice.com/ website..

Thanks I had seen that but it makes no reference to Immigration Div 3 or any other official source for their statement.

I accept that "thaivisaservice" service has,in the past been proven to provide reliable information.

Try obtaining a job, appropriate visa and a work permit.

Or marry the G/F and apply for an extension of stay based on marriage with 400.000 in a Thai Bank.

Then there is the Thai Elite Visa (link above).

NO!

Last week I paid the 5000 baht at my school for my 90 days extension. The school brings the paperwork and your passport to the immigration.

The only thing I did was showing up at the immigration today, no cue number, just collect my passport with a 90 day extension, no questions asked.

In and out of immigration in 10 minutes.Perfect !

What did the 5000 Bht buy?

Extensions of stay cost 1900 Bht.

Care to mention where this "school" is based?

Wow, looks like a whole discussion evolved around what the reason for the 6 month requirement is and as to how valid it is. While it screwed me over personally somewhat, I do think it is understandable enough that countries want to protect themselves from contingencies that might arise with foreigners having their documents expire while in a different country. 6 months seems kinda long, but probably every time requirement could be questioned so 6 months might be as good as any.

As to personal responsibility and stupidity:

Personally, I did feel kinda stupid when I found out at the airport that Vietnam and actually most countries on this planet require 6 months of passport validity upon entry.

My ignorance might arise from the fact that I'm still somewhat young-ish: I'm still on my first passport ever issued, so this is the first one ever expiring. When I entered Thailand in June on this visa I still had 9 months left on my passport so I naively thought things would be fine if I get a new passport in December back at home.

Maybe more interesting: How did things turn out for me on the weekend?

I had planned a nice, relaxed trip to Hanoi to get out of BKK, so Hong Kong was not exactly what i was looking for. The Philippines were interesting enough, but getting a flight the very weekend would have been crazy expensive. At first, I looked into getting an extension of stay and a new passport to then do a trip in a couple of weeks. But the more I thought about it, the more the border run started to be attractive. One big reason being: I didn't particularly feel like paying a couple hundred dollars extra for on an express passport outside home when I am back so soon anyway.

So on Sunday morning it was time to visit some classy Cambodian border town casino "resorts". I was a bit anxious about what Cambodia would do about me; after all, at that time I had already left Thailand so not getting into Cambodia would have been a big deal. But sure enough: After some okay brunch I got my passport back with a fresh used Cambodian visa. That would mean I get another 60 days upon re-entering Thailand and that while it's not the same as a Vietnam trip at least my visa and stay issues would be solved.

The only downside: Seems like half Cambodia decided to visit Thailand that Sunday or sth like that. It took full 3,5 hours (!!!!) to queue up and pass immigration with people fainting because of the heat. Still all in all, after I had been really worried about on Friday, I guess I can be happy with how things turned out.

I am pleased it worked out for you.

What was the cost of the Cambodian Visa and entry exit stamps ?

I've tried it today. The page will just always reload as you type in Chrome or Firefox, but it worked in Internet Explorer.

If using Chrome or Firefox an IE emulator must be used.

I use Chrome+IE Tab

You can get a 30 day extension of your visa exempt entry at an immigration office for a fee of 1900 baht.

Not sure about Poi Pet yet. Ban Pakard and Ban Laem will allow out/in visa exempt crossing if you have not exceed a limit of 90 days on visa exempt entries in a calendar yea.

Joe

Any official word on this 90 day limit on visa exempt entries?

Will any refusal of entry be formally recorded in passports?

Does this apply to all entry points to the Kingdom?

Just a question for my own curiosity :

Is not the rule that whatever immigration stamps into your passport is valid?

Even if "wrong".

Immigration is staffed by human beings who deal with thousands (millions?) of passports every day. Very occasionally one of these human Immigration Officers will make an unintended error when stamping a passport.

It is the passport holder's responsibility to ensure they have received the stamp they were expecting.

A stamp made in error may or may not be "valid"

No. For some things it might go unnoticed, but it is your responsibility to check dates, etc and request a correction be made. Of course quite often the passport holder thinks there's an error when there isn't and comes racing to TV to announce that immigrations made a mistake, when they didn't, but in this case it does appear an error was made. And if it is an error, whether you would gain or lose by it, you're expected to report it. It's not like winning the lottery.

A genuine question....

You both seem adamant that it's the responsibility of the foreigner to report/fix the problem. Where do get that information from?

It seems to me that it's the IO's responsibility to get it right in the first place and if IO makes an error the foreigner will gain or lose out accordingly. Surely if an IO stamps a passport with a given stay that person has the right to stay for the given time.

Sorry I disagree.

What you are attempting to argue is that someone with a single entry tourist visa which allows a 60 day stay would be "entitled" to remain longer if the IO made an error and stamped an entry for one year ie instead of xxx2015 the stamp read xxx2016.

I think that person, in failing to take any personal responsibility for what was in the passport, would get a very nasty 20,000 Bht shock when they eventually decided to leave.

This is not something "exclusive" to Thailand and when I last visited Australia I received an erroneous stamp but being a responsible person I checked my passport before leaving the vicinity of Immigration and the error was immediately corrected.

Thanks

That just demonstrates the incompetence of the Company's HR department.

A new visa will not be issued unless applied for with a full set of the required documentation.

Visas which are nearing the end of validity will be cancelled by the Embassy/Consulate and replaced but only if the application is properly made and accompanied by all the necessary paperwork.

Just a question for my own curiosity :

Is not the rule that whatever immigration stamps into your passport is valid?

Even if "wrong".

Immigration is staffed by human beings who deal with thousands (millions?) of passports every day. Very occasionally one of these human Immigration Officers will make an unintended error when stamping a passport.

It is the passport holder's responsibility to ensure they have received the stamp they were expecting.

A stamp made in error may or may not be "valid"

The Manic,

For me personally I doubt it will be a problem.

However, there will be a significant amount of foreigners affected by this who can not print out a bank statement to verify their funds. Thousands of English teachers, for example, fall into that category... which would be catastrophic for the already severely lacking level of English instruction in Thailand... which impacts strongly upon Thai students.

For that reason, and for the reason that often there are crackdowns which soon blow over, I would doubt it will stay that way. That place has been the last place available for those in the know for some time now, and in such an informal economy it seems that it has been a bit of a nod and a wink approach - as is often seen in Thailand.

It's a bit different than Vientiane's policy, as there you would get no further tourist visa at all after two double entry tourist visas. In Savannakhet they are still offering single entry tourist visas... which makes it look like either a money grab (foreigners will have to spend more in Thailand in expenses to go the extra distance from BKK - where most foreigners are based) ... or a crackdown where the local officials are still trying to leave a bit of a common sense loophole to the ill thought out higher up's change in policy.

Asiantravel,

Happy or unhappy, grateful or ungrateful... it is irrelevant. Luckily I am both happy and grateful with everything in life though. I'm quite sure I didn't say otherwise. The point of the original post is simply to let others know who may need to be informed so that they are better off as a result.

There are many good people who will be negatively affected unless this is a short term thing and things go back to normal soon. It could have a serious impact on education, among other things, in the kingdom. Let's hope reason will prevail.

"Thousands of English teachers, for example, fall into that category... which would be catastrophic for the already severely lacking level of English instruction in Thailand... "

Your mention of the thousands of English teachers being affected while asking for tourist visas is reassuring. I have nothing against English teachers personally, as long as they are working on valid WPs. The one working on-the-fly and the schools employing them, IMO, are one of the problems you state in the education system.

How are English teachers are "the problem"?

They are young, have degrees and Education that Thailand sorely miss, they come and work for poverty salary, they spend a good part of their salary and time on immigration and visa runs. If discovered they go to prison, have to pay fine and get deported like criminals.

They are some of the most exploited ESL teachers in the world.

If the "teachers" did in fact have relevant degrees they would also have a Thai teaching license, an appropriate visa and a work permit.

Such teachers would also earn a decent salary and not be reliant on back to back tourist visas which do not permit work.

Autonuaq

"Visas " can only be obtained from a Thai Embassy/Consulate.

Extensions of stay based on having a Thai child cannot be obtained unless the applicant can prove legal parenthood.

As said Allopurinol is not used to treat acute gout attacks.

Some useful information in the link.

http://www.hopkinsarthritis.org/arthritis-info/gout/gout-treatment/

It is important that you undergo regular "testing" of renal and liver function as well as a full blood count.

It is an appeal for Funds from the Phuket Sunshine Village Foundation.

The Foundation is totally reliant on voluntary contributions to fund the care provided by the foundation to some 100 children.

In my opinion voluntary contributions should be matched Bht for Bht by Government.

The Phuket Governor should be lobbied for assistance.

Your question is perhaps misplaced in this forum however, the answer is in the link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

^ UP

Can anyone really confirm this one? Because I found out that one of my friend got denied for another Non-B under the same company recently.

"Companies" do not deny the issue of visas.

Only an Embassy or Consulate can deny a visa application

Working under the same company ^

when applying for visa

If you mean your friend was denied a visa by an Embassy/Consulate because "The Company" failed to provide all the necessary documentation that would be understandable.

It is extremely unlikely that a visa was denied if a well documented application was made to an Embassy/Consulate.

Clarity of expression and the written word assists in the provision of good responses/advice.

Thanks guys, looks like the best approach is go for the "Non-O" either from one of the surrounding countries or doing it from a 30 day Visa Exempt (assuming I can open/seed a bank account for a couple of months beforehand).

I understand that with the Non-OA you get a 1 year "Stamp" (which you can squeeze 2 years from if you exit/re-enter before the Visa expires) whereas with the Non-O the visa is only valid for 90 days at which time you need to get a 1 year extension, but is that the only difference between the 2?

The only other significant difference is the fact that the O/A visa is a multiple entry visa whilst it is valid. Every entry made during the visa period of validity secures a new one year permission to stay.

If thinking about "converting" from a 30 day visa exempt entry be aware that you will have to prove you are qualified to make application for an extension of stay. In practical terms this means you will have to have 800,000 Bht in a Thai bank or evidence, certified by your Embassy, of 65,000 Bht/month income, before the "O" visa will be issued.

Thaivisaservice posted it in the newsletter today

Thank you.

I believe Thaivisaservice to be mistaken. There is, as far as I am aware, no 90 day "rule".

It is certainly true that the immigration service has been actively discouraging the use of "back to back" visa exempt entries at land borders for some time. There are also many reports of people being interviewed by Immigration officers at airports if they are found to be frequent users of visa exempt entries. However, refusal of entry can only be done on the basis of legal,allowable reason which does not include a 90 day rule.

You, with a valid visa, will have no problem obtaining new 90 day entries whilst the visa is valid.

I have no information about tour operators .