Tod Daniels

SWD Transport runs from Bangkok to the Ban Laem border with Cambodia every day from the Lotus's Parking Lot at the On Nut Skytrain Station every morning at 4:30. They use the bigger VIP mini-vans (where you have a bigger chair) and their drivers are pretty darned good SWD Transport

@anotherfarangishere You sure you can use the eVisa system IN Hong Kong

Nope there is no app for iPhone or Android anymore where you can do online 90 day reporting, the old app which I think was called "Immigration E Services") is not supported anymore You use the web-link (which you can do on a mobile phone 😉 ) Online 90 Day Reporting

Sadly for you (and everyone else who needs to transfer extensions to a new passport) there is no appt choice available for that meaning you show up and queue up with the zombie horde in the section that issues your extension and wait it out. If you book an appt for an extension renewal for the reason you have your extension they'll tell you that you can't use that appt to just move the stamps. One other thing IF you're on an extension based on retirement you need to update your bank book, and make a copy of the page with the balance the day you move the stamps

60 day entry didn't start yet, although it was approved by the thai cabinet, so you got stamped in for the correct number of days Just so you're clear IF you decide to get the extension in Bangkok you DO NOT go to the main immigration office in Building B at the Government Complex on Chaengwattana Road, 😮 Because you came in free entry stamp you would go to the immigration office located at IT Square Laksi Plaza at this location. IT Square Laksi Plaza Keep in mind Surat Thani province has FOUR different Immigration offices so whether you go to the main on IN Surat Thani town, the one on Koh Samui the one the "Island of Misfit Toyz" aka Koh Phangan or the one on "Turtle Island" Koh Tao https://suratthani.imm.police.go.th/contact/ No one can predict how long it will take to get your extension, at ANY immigration office, comes down to luck of the draw and how big the zombie horde is there when you show up . Get your ducks in a row, have the correct signed copies, the filled out form the passport photo stuck on and you should be able to skate thru pretty painlessly. I would avoid going on a Monday or Friday or the day after a holiday no matter what office you choose

Looks like the log jam of appt booking might ease up I checked the system this morning and there WERE openings for Friday July 5th a the consulate 🙂

You can pay 1200 baht for a single and 4000baht for a multiple re-entry and not need any copies, photo, or form. the 200 baht is a "special processing fee" and you skate thru fast by doing it

These "I'm going to save money and bounce myself" border bounce ideas often don't save a baht and if you don't know what you're doing end up costing you far more than just using a service (if there is one that bounces from where you are) to get you thru the process. With that being said, at either Ban Pakard or Ban Laem you can indeed pull off a "do it yourself" bounce. Just be prepared to be told you have to stay 24 hours in cambodia OR pay the "fee" to get right back into thailand. It's hit or miss if the officers on the thai side will tell you that

There has been nothing announced that would indicate that 30 day extensions on visa exempt entries will stop once the visa exempt entries go from 30 days to 60 days and cover 90+ countries We really don't know because nothing was said about it, BUT I personally can't see them stopping 30 day extensions even though they increase the visa exempt time from 30 to 60 days Then again, what I think or believe isn't worth the time it took you to read this We'll all know when they make the announcement on the official starting date that the 30 day visa exempt entries to go 60 days

typically so the foreign father can get some type of long stay visa (seeing as they're not married to a thai) is the primary reason to get granted "legal parental rights" factor in he said he lives with the mother and children, I was just "jumping to conclusions" 🙂

I still think you're confused on what a border run is It only counts as a border run if you EXIT/RE-ENTER thailand WITHOUT a visa 🙂 He's GOING to Lao (stamping out of thailand) but while he's there he's going to BUY a tourist visa and use that to come back. <- That ISN'T a border run, he's just exiting thailand by the land border to GO get a visa to come back It's only if he is denied the tourist visa and has to come in on that second free stamp entry that it would be a "border run" 🙂

I think you're over thinking it You get TWO free entries by land in a calendar year (Jan 1 - Dec 31) I said don't use BOTH of the two land entries, in case when you go to get the tourist visa you're denied, because that way you could come back to thailand by land on the second and final free land entry stamp

At this time there is no immigration office in the country that I'm aware of which requires you show proof of funds origin for the 400k baht to get the initial 90 day Non-O visa based on marriage to a thai. And I believe it's only Bangkok that requires proof of funds origin for the 800K baht to get the initial 90 day Non-O visa based on being over 50 (retirement) no other office asks about where the funds came from.

That was said quite succinctly, and I will give you three thumbz up for that 👍👍👍

I thought this was a thread about the proposed (and approved but not yet enacted) changes to the entry/visa/extension process. Seems to be turning into people saying "look how much I spend here, I'm important, I contribute, why isn't my visa category changing?" If long stay foreigners factored in to the equation in the least believe me they'd have fooled with the visa/extension rules to reflect it. Sadly we do not..

Thailand is expected to welcome 36 million foreign tourists in 2024. You do the math @Mike Lister. What us long-stay expats spend doesn't even factor into the grand scheme of things. We are too small a number to make a difference. It is what it is just have to accept it Believe me you're far from the first foreigner who has a skewed perception of their contribution or their importance to this country.. How about we agree to disagree and call it a day?

How about you tell you friend to make sure he gets the 30 day extensions on his free entry stamps at the immigration office for 1900baht. AND He wouldn't be using the second and final border run to go to Lao to get a visa, because he's not stamping back IN to thailand until he has the visa 😕 To use that entry he'd have to ENTER thailand without a visa, he's just leaving that doesn't count for anything You can exit thailand by land as many times as you want, you can only ENTER free stamp 2 times in a year

I think you are more than a little confused 😕 Long Stay expats (even ones married to thaiz who support the obligatory in-lawz & out-lawz) are NOT significant contributors to the country as a whole. It is TOURISTS that "grease this wheel" here. They outspend long stay foreigners day in day out AND most importantly after they're done touring, they leave and go back to where they came from 😛

I believe you have your wires crossed a bit @248900_1469958220 about how to go from one extension to another extension based on employment It does NOT include getting that "application for extension not approved" 7 day stamp that gives you a week to get out of dodge. <- That stamp can't be switched to anything inside the country, you just leave on or before that date What you'd do is get documentation from your current employer, saying you stop work on xxx date, you'd cancel the work permit and go to the immigration office about a week before the date on the termination paperwork. The office will cancel your current extension and stamp you in until the termination date. (Most offices allow you do go up to 2 weeks before your last day to cancel your extension) That gives you time to get the NEW documents from the new employer and apply for a brand new extension of stay based on employment at the immigration office. Now on the rare chance your office won't let you early cancel, you really have a gun to your head because you have to cancel your extension AND apply for the new extension with the new employer at the same time (hopefully they're at the same immigration office) It definitely can be done and is actually done quite a lot, One person recently cancelled their employment extension in Chiang Mai and then went to Hat Yai and applied for a new extension based on employment there 😮 So even between different offices/provinces it can be done if BOTH the old and new employer will "play ball" and supply the correct documentation for you.

IF I was a betting man, I'd bet dollars to durian NO you can't use a WISE account because it's not a bank. I mean they can try it but I'd sure take either their foreign OR thai bank account statement for the last 3 months in case they nix that lemme use WISE idea 🙂 They don't care if you burned your two free 30 day entries to thailand or not when you're up there applying for a tourist visa, just remember though IF you burn the two 30 day free entry stamps you get by land in a year, AND you get denied the visa at the thai consulate in Vientiane you aren't coming back to thailand by land 😕 You'll have to fly back I always tell people to hold at least one of the free entries by land in reserve in case you come off the rails getting a visa OR get denied entry by air, that way you can still enter by land free stamp

Nope that change from 30 day visa exempt to 60 days visa exempt was not officially approved yet, they are expecting it to roll out end of June or the beginning of July, BUT that is only an expected date Right now still 30 days by air or land

The fact they have their name on the birth certificate when a thai child is born to a foreign father without him being married to the mother is not enough to give him "legal parental rights" <- where he can use that child for a visa/extension to stay long term IN thailand.

Because you can only get ONE 60 day extension (per entry or per extension) depending on the office and if you'd taken one on this extension you were on, (no matter how many years back) as long as the extensions you were daisy chained together year after year, you couldn't have gotten one 😕 And then you'd have had to exit/re-enter and start from square one Wasn't suggesting you use an agent, so dunno how you mis-remembered what I said 😕 You were definitely lucky insofar as you had that 60 day extension available to you AND that the officer was willing to issue it to you (which they were under no obligation to do seeing as you were already on overstay with an expired stamp 🙂 ) You seem to have an fair idea of what you're doing (other than the self inflicted problem that arose with the passport expiring 😉 ). Shouldn't have much problem getting the year extension when you go apply. Sincerely good luck with it 👍 And I will agree with you That KKP office is fine to deal with, I think you're correct, it's the fact they are swamped by hundreds/thousands of foreigners every week that makes them take a much more "well, let's see what we can do for you" approach rather than the "CANNOT!!!" that you you see at so many offices

They had a year extension inked into their new passport which had expired by one day. They went to the immigration office applied for the 60 day visit thai family extension for 1900baht and then once they have the proof of funds, all the documentation required they'll go BACK to the immigration office when this stamp is running down and apply for a new yearly extension based on marriage for another 1900baht. They didn't lose their old extension (even though it was expired when they went in to get the 60 day visit thai family extension. They were just fined a day overstay and sold that 60 day extension <- which was REALLY a good thing that the immigration office didn't have to do in the least. The office/officer could have said, you ran your stamp out, leave/come back, start the whole process all over again, from square one with a 90 day Non-O, then a year extension. Seems like they lucked out and just will have to get the year extension when this time burns down

The "pinch" those hotels are feeling are not from the foreigners who aren't slogging there to get year-long, multi-entry Non-O visas based on marriage It's from the consulate going to limited online only appointments to get in the gate and cutting down the 300+ people a day standing out in front of the consulate to get visas 😮 The year-multi-Non-O's they issued to foreigners married to thaiz was just a tiny drop of the overall number of visas they cranked out (mostly to burmese and chinese)