Tod Daniels

It is totally possible to get a tourist visa in Savannakhet, IF you don't have an extensive entry/stay history in your passport.

If you milked 2+ years of covid extensions, have a b/s, back door ED or volunteer visa or took two free visa exempt entries last year and then the two this year already, you may run in to problems.

They also appear to be a "one and done" consulate, if you have a previous recent tourist visa you can't get another one.

They tightened up because they were being hit hard by the visa run companies and some Mondays there'd be over 300 people in line.

You definitely show the funds in a bank account like it says on the website as well.

Word has it Vientiane (which requires à booked online appt to get in the gate, and more stringent requirements) doesn't care about previous entry stay history as much of at all

9 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Have a chat with @ThaiVisaCentre

 

Thai Visa Centre doesn't do visa runs, they hawk visas.

From Bangkok, Thai Visa Service runs to Savannakhet twice a week and leave from the Tesco Lotus On Nut parking.

http://www.thaivisaservice.com

1 hour ago, stratocaster said:

Posters on another forum

You sure that isn't "posers" on another forum? ????

The way a single entry tourist visa works is:

You enter, get stamped in for 60 days, the visa itself gets stamped USED or struck thru, and you can extend that one 60 day entry by 30 more days at the immigration office where you stay for 1900baht.

A re-entry permit WOULD let you exit/re-enter thailand
BUT
re-entry permits do NOT add any additional time to your entry/extension stamp, you'd get stamped in for the same expiration date you stamped out of the country on ????

11 hours ago, JimTripper said:

Why would immigration care where you got the visa?

They totally DO care where you pull your extensions and any immigration officer can look at that stamp and know that it's an agent gotten out of province stamp. The reason they care is you didn't use THEIR office to get the back door, under the table, year extension <- which is a real extension just not from a province you lived in, or from an immigration office you use.. 

In fact most people with out of province agent gotten extensions don't even have the slightest idea what address is in the system for the extension in their passport. ????  

To go from a yearly extension based on marriage to a thai to a yearly extension based on being over 50 (retirement) requires you to have the 800K baht in a thai bank account in your name only for 2 months before you apply for the extension.

People switch the reasons for their extensions (from marriage to retirement and retirement to marriage all the time)

Once you did get the year extension based on retirement issued you'd have to follow the seasoning requirements of the banked money method which means you would need to leave the 800K baht in the account for 3 months after you get the year extension granted, then the balance couldn't go below 400K baht the rest of the year..

Once you get back into thailand GO to your immigration office and get the hand out listing the requirements for the year extension based on being over 50 (retirement) so that when your current extension comes due you know what documents you'll need. (you've done it before so shouldn't be tough to meet the documentation requirements)

Sheesh this is a slow motion train wreck of a thread ????

FWIW: Jomtien has been requiring the 800K baht banked money method funds be in the account for 2 months to apply for the initial 90 day Non-O visa for a good long time now (as other groups Pattaya related have been talking about it for months and months).

There's not much you can do.  There's really no one to "complain to" as it's been their policy for a good while and you're unlikely to get high enough up the food chain of immigrationz to get to someone who could change it IF they wanted to.  

Your choice is to figure out how to do it ???? Astute posters pointed out that if you come here on a REAL single entry tourist visa, get your sh*t together, open the account, transfer the funds in, take the 1900baht 30 day extension and apply for the 90 day Non-O once the funds hit 2 months WILL work.. 
OR
get the initial 90 day non-O from a thai consulate in a nearby country
OR
get the 90 day Non-O from your country before you wing your way here
OR
via an agent in Pattaya (of which there are possibly hundreds down there)   

It can be done, and hundreds, possibly thousands of people manage to pull it off without too much issue.

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Totally correct, because stamping in to the country at the airport doesn't have anything to do with 90 day reporting.

As people pointed out your NEXT 90 day report is due 89 days from the date you stamp in to thailand (because no matter what time you stamp in that is DAY ONE) ???? 
You can file a 90 day report in person from 14 days before the due date until 7 days after the due date
AND
You can file a 90 day report online from 14 days before the due date down until the due date

I would suggest exiting the country at the mukdahan border, going to the Thai consulate in Savannakhet Lao and getting either a 90 day single entry non o based on marriage, then come back and bank the 400k baht money for 2 months and apply for a year extension based on marriage.

OR

Get the year long, multi entry Non-O visa based on marriage at that consulate (no proof of funds needed) and just bounce in and out at the border every 90 days for the next year. You can get almost 15 months of stay out of that Visa in 90 day increments

Reluctant or not, if you want to change the reason for your yearly extension from retirement to a yearly extension based on marriage or raising half Thai children you bank 400,000 baht in a Thai bank account in your name only.

For marriage the money must be banked for 2 months before you apply for your extension. There is no required seasoning for extensions based on raising children.

If you've registered your address with the tm30 receipt and are filing 90-day reports with the immigration office where you live now, even with an out of province stamp you might be able to pull off the extension.

Keep in mind if you used your friend to get that extension for you based on retirement and they banked the money for you, you were require to keep the 800k funds in the bank for 3 months after the extension was granted and then the balance could never go below 400,000. <-that could catch you out, or not

You want the clause 2.18 in the current police order which is married to a Thai or raising half thai children.

We are seeing this more and more since the new 90-day reporting program rolled out because the TM47 database and the TM30 database are combined and when you file an online 90-day report it crossed checks against your last registered address in the TM30 system.

No matter what your immigration office policy is about filing a new TM30, it is apparent from the many online 90 day report denials that if you travel inside Thailand and stay at a place where they register you in the TM 30 online system, when you return to your primary residence you will need to refile or update your tm30 information.

If you don't, your next 90-day report online has a high chance of being rejected.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=th.go.immigration.section38

That should link to it

They are not.. There is no extension available to Cambodian or Burmese when they enter on the 14 day free entry stamp.

They could apply for an extension get denied and the buy the 7 day get out of dodge "extension not approved"  stamp for 1900 at the immigration office.

That gives them a week to get out of the country.

12 hours ago, StayinThailand2much said:

Never heard of a limitation for visa-free entry extensions.

 

I believe the O/P is asking how many 30 day extensions you can get per entry. And that answer is ONE..

I think they are under the false impression that you can get more than one 30 day extension per entry you cannot.

That's why I use the term "1-n-done" .

You can get one 30 day extension per entry.

19 hours ago, NewishAsianTraveller said:

Tod, you really scared us with your response on FB! Your exact words were a bit rough and caused us quite a lot of anxiety!????

Will let you know on FB when it's all over.

I will freely admit I am blunt, terse, acerbic and coarse in my responses. I'm not trying to be your friend, I'm trying to give you the unvarnished truth as far as what you're plans are and what if any exposure you have trying to execute that plan.

Even the posters on here said entering by land would be a better choice. And all I was doing was pointing out, no matter what you think, 90 days here then bouncing out and back thru Bangkok could open you up to scrutiny.

I have literally hundreds of photos of denial of entry stamps from both suvarnabhumi and don mueang sent by people who contacted me after their plans for a quick bounce out and back went off the rails.

Will it happen to you? Dunno..

Could it happen to you? Most definitely.

Sorry my responses weren't what you wanted to hear.

I was trying to impress upon you there were easier ways to get a new free 30 day visa exempt entry rather than the plan you have. One you cooked up on your own without asking about it until after your bought the tickets..

Could it work without any hiccups?

Certainly could, and you might indeed skate right thru passport control.

As I said, good luck with it, I wasn't trying to fear monger.