CHiangMaiMuu

7 minutes ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

You don't need TM30 for a 30 day extension. They don't ask.

They did it to  me last time .Big to do about nothing. The hotel I had moved to did not know what they  were doing - I had to go back and get them to download the form and then fill it out and take it to I/O. 

6 hours ago, LingUan said:

Anyone know if KL or Penang is an option?  I can give financial proof just not in a thai bank.  HCMC just worries me if the IO decides to bust my nuts and send me back. I don't think I would be allowed back into Vietnam unless I went for the Multi entry there which is pricey.  I am american so do not get the visa free entry to vietnam.  I guess Savannakhet is the safest route to go.  

Don't know if this pertinent to you but I went to Vietnam from here - Chiang Mai - in March and again in June this year. Just made the online application and the officer gave the 3- month visa to the group of us within an hour or so at the airport. 
Simple and straight-forward, without any silly b.s like in Thailand. 

Many thanks to BritTim, Toadie, and CM Dad for the input and advice.

Now I am still confused but with different things to think about.

The trip to Lao next week was intended to be the "leaving the country for a Non Ed visa" and I thought that a Tourist visa filled that requirement. 

But now I think I understand that the Thai embassy in Vientiane is just going to tell me to take a walk no matter what I tell them. 

There is no way that I will ever have  bt 800,000 in this lifetime.

I get over $3,00.00 a month from my good old Uncle Sam.

I had no idea this bt 65,000 had to be in a Thai bank account.

When i first applied for a visa to Thailand about 10 years ago in L.A. they made it so crazy I could not understand how anyone ever got a visa. They demanded a notarized bank statement from my bank; Wells Fargo told me they did not do notarized statements and for me to go tell those [ .... Asians] that bank statements are official documents and do not need to be notarized .... so i had to find a private notary and pay her $100.00 to notarize my signed statement; and the mean, ugly Thai woman who threw my papers around and complained I did not have enough - or any - copies of some things - I had them all, and in order when I walked into her space. But she said to go across the alley with a bunch of other farangs to an office where they ran off copies of documents for us,... back to the mean woman with more sheets of paper and she explained that what she was giving me was not really a visa visa - it was just the visa that permitted me to go to Thailand to apply for the actual visa there.... and the people there followed their own rules and were not bound to O.K. my application just because she approved it. 

When I came back to Thailand this January, after a few years in the States, without any visa I believed I was hep enough to the system to be able to handle the visa thing here.... But I find it is much worse than crazy now. I made it on 30-day exempts and trips out to Vietnam and to Canada and a walk-over to Myanmar. But I have run over the putative 180-day limit in country for this year.

I did not realize the bt 65.ooo per month had to be in a Thai bank account until now. I know I did not have that requirement in 2009 in L.A. when I got the first visa to this country. It does not seem possible to show bt 65,000 in a Thai bank by the time I go to the Thai embassy in Vientiane this month.

I once had an account with Bangkok Bank but that was over 4 years ago. Dealing with that is a challenge I have not felt up to yet.

So now it looks like after my vacation in Lao this Dec-January I can only count on getting a 30-day visa exempt - and people are saying that this can be converted to a one-year visa at the I/O. But the Immigration officer in Chiang Mai  did not know this when I was there in November. He gave me only an extension to my 30-day exempt, as I had received in the past.

I don't understand why farangs on the Thaivisa are saying that a 30-day exempt can be converted to a one-year visa at the I/O, when the Thai officer tells me it cannot; and why no one believes that a school in Chiang Mai is able to legitimately make a one-year visa out of the Tourist Visa that in my dreams I expected to get in Vientiane. 

The reason I don't say to hell with these .... [little Asian people] and go somewhere else is that I want to marry my girlfriend. That is not a visa issue; it is personal. 

Any further constructive advice is welcome. 

4 hours ago, CM Dad said:

The US Embassy does not give letters verifying income of any kind to anyone.

O.K. what do people do to show proof of income - if the income is a VA disability allowance? 

Does the I/O accept a printout of several months of bank statements from and American bank?

4 hours ago, BritTim said:

There are several points that need to be made:

1. As others have stated, Canadian citizens need a visa to enter Laos. This is most easily achieved with a visa on arrival. Make sure you have US currency to pay for the visa as otherwise you pay more.
2. If you have spent several months almost unbroken already in Thailand recently as a tourist, you will likely not be granted a tourist visa in Vientiane.
3. To apply for a visa in Vientiane, you need a prior appointment which you request through the website https://thaivisavientiane.com/.
4. If you are unsuccessful with a visa application, you can still enter visa exempt via the Friendship Bridge to Nong Khai is you do not yet have two visa exempt entries by land in 2019.

Thanks for the info. It helps.

I am travelling as U.S. citizen, having been without a CND passport for some years.

My (U.S. ) passport is new in 2019 and has only 30-day exempts including one by land from Myanmar.

I plan to try for a Tourist Visa in Vientiane. 

There are a couple schools in Chiang Mai that have told me they are sure they will be able to make my T.V. into a 1-year visa - for a fee of about $1,100.00.

But now I am confused again about what people use for proof of monthly income. 

Is a printout of my monthly statements from my American bank account good enough?

Also some people on this website say that one can take a 30-day exempt to the I/O and get it changed into a 1-year visa. This November the I/O in Chiang Mai told me NO!. He would not consider doing that - but they O.K.'d my request for another 30 days - after I went and got the hotel keepers to print out the TM 30 form they were supposed to have sent in. 

I have a simple question.

In Chiang Mai without a visa, gotten several 30-day exempts and extensions this year, between going to Vietnam and to Canada,

I plan to go to Laos with my Thai g/f this month to apply for a Tourist visa to Thailand in Vientiane. 

It seems to me I can go to Lao for 30 days without a visa. 
Can anyone confirm that for me?

Also re: a TV to Thailand - it has been years since I lived here on various visas - what documents should I have on hand to take to the Thai embassy in Vientiane?: printout of monthly statements from my U.S. bank? or letter from the U.S. embassy stating that I have a monthly disability allowance?

If so, how much trouble is that to get from the U.S. embassy? Need an appt. to talk to them ?

On 11/29/2019 at 2:23 PM, Seismic said:

Seriously, Adding insurance to your exotic overseas trip is not that expensive. I doubt it will put a dent in tourist numbers, after all scams, ripoffs, unsolved crimes, and the huge numbers of sick buffalo's do not seem to have done much to those numbers.

Seriously medical insurance in this country is way too expensive for some of us to pay for. 

I, for example, get "free" medical coverage in the U.S.A. at the VA hospitals - but the medical care there is often delayed or refused,  and  sometimes fatal  - or I can pay for my own medical expenses here when I need to go to the hospital.

But to get mandatory insurance coverage in Thailand - NO! it costs far more than a single, old man living on a disability allowance can afford. 

When I went to the I/O in Chiang Mai this month to renew my 30-day visa exempt they gave me a hard time about the TM30. The hotel I had recently moved to - Tarntong Boutique - did not have a clue about a TM30. They made a big deal about going online and downloading the form, in  Thai. ANd then the girl filled the info. into the wrong place. So I had tog et her to run it off again and then I filled it in and went back to Immi and through several lines just to get to make the request for the extension. 

Gives one the feeling of not being wanted here.

2 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

Fascinating. So if someone is staying in Pattaya he should travel to Hua Hin ( or Hui Hin) to get an extension?

 

From my experience  the officers at Jomtien are very accommodating.

In my experience - this was a few years ago - the I/O in Jomtien refused to do anything for me. He said to go back to Chiang Mai to get my extension. He had a job to do.. He just had to recognize me as a human being and stamp my passport and he refused.

Sorry, I have no answers for you.

I am in pretty much the same boat with the same plans/wishes.

On a U.S. p.p. I went to Vietnam, not Lao, twice this year and back and got only 30-day exempt permits here in Chiang Mai. 

I would just like to read any advice about the consulates in Lao - which city: Vientiane or LP easier to deal with for T.V... which I would get an extension for Ed from one of the schools here.

6 hours ago, Kaopad999 said:

There is no reason why you would not be able to apply for an ED visa in Vientiane, Laos. 
It would be a good idea to prepare bank statements & current balance to prove that you are able to fund your stay in the Kingdom.  

I thought I had a plan but  after reading these posts about the Ed visa process I am more confused.

I thought I might get on the plane to Vietnam this month - already paid for this ticket when i came back to Thailand in Oct - and while there apply at the Thai embassy in Saigon for the 3-month T.V.

Back here in Jan., I would go to the language school in Chiang Mai that I have already talked with and expect them to make a 1-year Ed visa out of it @ a cost of about $U.S. 1,100.00.

But from some of the Posts today it seems that one can apply for the Ed  visa itself at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane. 

I could write-off the ticket to Vietnam anyway, and travel to Lao, but I thought people  were saying recently that it is easier to deal with the Thai  embassy in in Savannaket for visas than in Vientiane.

And another question is about having visas in the passport - that some people would  reject an application for an Ed visa. I got a new passport in Vietnam this past May, and it has only 30-day permits in it and no previous visas to Thailand. But I lived in Thailand previously in 2009-2014 , so the I/O could certainly see this history on his computer, but is the policy on concerned with visas  entries in the current p.p.?

Any input and advice would be appreciated.

Regarding this health insurance issue, has there been a final decision made on how mandatory it will be.

For us old, retired Farangs trying to hang on here in Thailand, even if I am able to get a long-term visa through a school or with the help of an agent, if the cost of the insurance is more than my monthly disability check then I have to move on to Vietnam. 

My entry/exit record looks even worse. I came back to Thailand in January, this year, after having lived in Pattaya and Chiang Mai for most of 2009-2014 - having started out with a retirement visa. This time it was an impulsive decision to leave the U.S.A. and I came w/o a visa. 

So i started with a 30-day visa-exempt permit, extended it once for a month and flew to Vietnam - where I had been 50 years ago in the military -,  where I found the government surprisingly more accomodating to Farangs, and stayed there 3 months and came back to L.O.S. again without a visa and got another 30-day permit, walked over the line into Myanmar at Tachileck and got one more 30-day exemption....

I got a new U.S. passport in May and it shows the stamps where I entered the kingdom and left again in June, came back to Thailand again in July and got the 30-day permit again and the one at Tachilek in August.

I flew to Canada in Sept and back early this month and they stamped me with a 30-day with no questions.

So this passport shows my Vietnam visa of June and the stamps for June, July, August and Sept. 

My Departure Card has a date of 13 Oct stamped beside it.

I had thought I was under the limit of 30-day exemptions since there was one by land and two by air with once extension.

Now my plan is to make an extension in Oct at C.M. Immigration and then fly to DaNang (with an online application for a visa to Vietnam) in November and apply for a 3-month Tourist visa to Thailand over there.... I have been talking to the the language schools and martial arts school and they are sure they can get a one-year Ed visa for me when I bring my T.V. , around the end of 2019.

- My question is do I fall below the annual limit of 30-day visa exemptions - 2 by land and no limit by air was the last I heard?

Or will Immigration think that I am trying to stay in Thailand (which is true)?

-And, before that, will Immigration just look at the current passport entries and disregard my travels before May of this year, which are on their computer??

I am sure the answer to that is No!

-Can I expect the Thai embassy in Saigon to O.K. my T.V. in Nov? I will have my two bank books showing a few thousand dollars in American banks and showing my monthly disability allowance from the U.S. Veterans Administration.

-Will I need to have an onward flight booked out for the Thai Immigration at CNX when I get back in Dec? 

- again, is reasonable to think the Thai Immigration Officer will not stop me from entering the kingdom since it might look like I am trying to just stay in Thailand. ?

Sometime in 2020 the odds are I will get married and want to apply for that visa.

But that is not part of the equations right now.

Any advice or warnings will be appreciated.

Anyone who just wants to throw out insults and put-downs, please pass on to someone else - I don't need trash talk right now.

Thanks

I 

On 9/7/2019 at 1:11 PM, sfokevin said:

To say not eligible is incorrect... You can buy the insurance but to receive any benefit you must be in the US hospital or pharmacy... and if you don't buy in at 65 the insurance cost rises 10% every year and can only be bought during a special enrollment period every year...

What SSI told me when I was back in the States 2014-2018 was that I had to pay the full premium for every year that I had been without Medicare coverage. So I told them to get screwed. They ripped me off for about $1,000.00 off the top when I first got SSD, and I cancelled Medicare then in protest. 

To get back I would have to pay a penalty that is stupid expensive and dishonest. 

I wanted to make a report of my "visa-exempt" run of Tuesday 27 August to Mae Sai-Tachileck from Chiang Mai. (New U.S. pp that I got in Saigon this year, 2 V.E. entries by air on this pp.)

The summary is that I had no problems: the gov't officials were all business-like or friendly and courteous.

Cost was Bt 500 to the Myanmar official. 

The trip was somewhat awkward for me. I started out not able to flag down a tuk-tuk to go from my g.h. to the Bus Terminal 3 in C.M. I got a Songteaw driver who agreed to take me there for Bt 50 - or  65 ?. I hurried around to the #20 platform at 08:00 exactly and saw everyone standing at attention and then noticed the national anthem being played. Had not realized they played it in the morning. ....

On the road at a few minutes after 8 o'clock. Uncomfortable seats, but what the hell? we have all been through worse.. Slowed down by roads being constructed or washed out....

At the station in Mae Sai a little past 12:30 noon. No one around seemed to know about the border run I wanted to make. Found a place to eat a plate of fried rice.

Some m.c. taxi drivers would have taken me to the border for  Bt 50. But i was chicken....

Eventually got a Songtaeow driver to take me for Bt 15. But he dropped me off at the Immigration.

I walked into that office and the asked the lady at a counter and she said - No. Go to the bridge - a couple km on down the road.... I walked b/c there were not public transportation vehicles seeming to be looking for Farangs heading to the border. ...

Waived on from here to there.... among the crowds of ppl on different missions. To a counter where I explained what I was doing  and could I get a V.E. ?? She scanned my pp. on her machine and said the words I always like to hear: "Daai ca" and told me to go one... 

A man in a different uniform waived me into his office "please come in..." and filled out a form and charged me Bt 500. He said to pick up my pp on the way back at the office cross on the left side of the bridge. O.K.

That was what I had read and did  not understand before....

Walked into Tachileik and around past the touts shouting "boom-boom," and "Pussy," and showing photos -

what kind of a guy did they think I was?.... nothing much of interest in that town - like others have written:

the farther you go into the city the more you see the poverty and cripples and that was not what I was there for. Lots of tobacco shops. I hoped to find some good Burmese cigars, like my Thai Yai g/f had brought back for me from Myanmar when I lived in LOS 6 or 7 years ago. But no one I asked knew what I was talking about. ( i guess she had bought them in Yangun).

Hot, sweaty, tired I walked back over the bridge, got the pp at the place it was supposed to be ,

got the Arrival/Departure card from a helpful young man who seemed to just know what i was doing there, among all the Orientals who were coming and going through various gates and lanes....

They stapled the Departure card in and stamped it - for 25 August - and I went on the rest of the way to a m.c. taxi stand.

Paid the guy Bt 50 for a not-terrifying ride to the bus station. with 40 minutes left to my 3:30 bus.

I tried to snag an earlier bus or van even tho it was a waste of money just to avoid the uncomfortable slow ride on the big bus. But the people I asked just pointed to my bus and said something in Thai and I eventually gave up.

The bus left promptly at 7 minutes past 3:30. This was a newer bus and the seats were comfortable. The driver managed the slippery, wet clay stretches of roads in the dark rain without getting stuck. So I didn't have to get out and push at any time.

Five hours to Chiang Mai. A tuk-tuk driver wanted Bt 150 to take me to the Phrat thu Chang Puak. (What do I look like a tourist)? I said no: Bt 50. He yelled all right Bt 100. Still too much. But i was too tired to look for a different driver. He drove like he was a little drunk and angry but managed to miss collisions that could easily have happened with the impatient drivers in the cold, dark, wet rain.

So, there and back in just about 11 hours. 

Not as difficult as the trip I almost took to Timbuktoo in 1982. 

On 1/9/2018 at 8:50 AM, ubonjoe said:

You will pay 500 baht or $10 US for a border pass to enter Myanmar. They will not hold your passport.

You will not be question when you re-enter the country. Since the 2 visa exempt entry rule went into effect they just count those.

Ubonjoe, 

You are just about to give me a panic attack.

I am back in LOS, ( after living in Pattaya and C.M. for a few years and then in the U.S.A.) , with a new U.S. p.p. that I got in Saigon this year. I have two (2) visa exempt entries, with extension on the last one, in this p.p. Flew in to C.M. every time.

Now I was convinced that I could go by bus to Mae Sai and Tachilek and walk back and get a new visa exempt. This is next week I am talking about.  I understood that there were unlimited visa exempt entries allowed if by land in one year.

You said above there is a 2 visa exempt rule in effect now? Is that right? 

Why did I not get a T.V. in the first place. ? I thought it was to much trouble and was not sure if it was going to be here of Vietnam that I wanted to end up.  

As far as countries in SE Asia that are easier to get into: when I went to Vietnam twice this year, I got a 3-month visa there in a matter of an hour or so, having made the application online already. The whole group of a couple dozen people, as I remember, were processed together at the airport.

What's the big deal.?

I could have gone through the process of applying for a TV to Thailand over there in Saigon but the thought of bank statements - not just my bank books from the U.S. - and proof of a reservation made at my favorite guest house in Chiang Mai .... it seemed like too much trouble.

No trouble to get the 30-day exempt. in Chiang Mai and one extension and I had thought I could just bop over the border and apply for a new TV in Vientiane until I read these posts. 

Now I am hoping I can get away with a run to Tachileck and back the same day and slide in once more on a 30-day. 

Any advice? Should I make a plane reservation to fly out of LOS ahead of time? Have cash in hand ?