onward ticket 53 days later ?

[jimmyaaa]

Question is----im an american flying to thailand on a oneway ticket . I have another flight ticket , leaving thailand 53 days later ( neighboring country)....i plan on extending 30 days initially . Technically i should buy a throw away ticket (i wont be leaving first 53 days) that leaves during first 30 days ? Or will the later ticket suffice ? .....thanks in advance !!

Edited October 23, 2017 by jimmyaaa

[stevenl]

Maybe it will suffice, but officially not.

 

You can check in early, if any issues buy a quick ticket online and check in again with onward ticket within 30 days.

[donnacha]

Instead of wasting $60 and a day of your vacation on getting an extension after 30 days, why not simply spend $40 on a 60-day tourist visa before you leave, so that the onward travel requirements simply won’t apply to you?

[jimmyaaa]

42 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Instead of wasting $60 and a day of your vacation on getting an extension after 30 days, why not simply spend $40 on a 60-day tourist visa before you leave, so that the onward travel requirements simply won’t apply to you?

definetly good advice for next time but im leaving shortly

[dogfish180]

http://www.onwardflights.com/

[Nick ZepTepi]

The embassy in ho chi Minh city allowed 88 day onward flight ticket. They were ok with including an extension

Sent from my mobile, please forgive the autocorrect.

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, Nick ZepTepi said:

The embassy in ho chi Minh city allowed 88 day onward flight ticket. They were ok with including an extension

Sent from my mobile, please forgive the autocorrect.
 

what about the airline?

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

what about the airline?

Not a problem with the airline. A return or onward ticket is not required if you have a valid visa for entry.

[FritsSikkink]

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

Not a problem with the airline. A return or onward ticket is not required if you have a valid visa for entry.

True, the OP should check though.

[jimmyaaa]

41 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Not a problem with the airline. A return or onward ticket is not required if you have a valid visa for entry.

pretty interesting sidenote here....i stopped in airasia office in phnom penh today....couldnt get on website....when i tried buying ticket ( throwaway)  counter girl said no need . She called boss over , looked at book , internet , ect....Keep in mind i went in to buy ticket , not look for reason not to . Manager and employee swore no need after investigating for solid 20 minutes or so . She claimed coming from cambodia to thailand dont worry , no problem......ill just show up early and buy if needed....give the staff credit at airasia , they went out of their way trying to SAVE me money....without being asked , bitched at , ect.....

 

 

 

[Dipterocarp]

16 hours ago, donnacha said:

Instead of wasting $60 and a day of your vacation on getting an extension after 30 days, why not simply spend $40 on a 60-day tourist visa before you leave, so that the onward travel requirements simply won’t apply to you?

 I don't work/ live near a country having a Thai consul/embassy that will issue me a visa

due to residence requirements. Can't mail a passport anywhere due to constant international travel.

Getting a Tourist visa is impractical.

 

Also the retired and idle rich, who can't get a tourist visa as they cannot provide an employment certificate  Then there are the stories of those who arrive with a valid tourist visa to Thailand and are refused entry due to "coming too many times". 

[donnacha]

3 hours ago, Dipterocarp said:

 I don't work/ live near a country having a Thai consul/embassy that will issue me a visa

due to residence requirements. Can't mail a passport anywhere due to constant international travel.

Getting a Tourist visa is impractical.

 

Also the retired and idle rich, who can't get a tourist visa as they cannot provide an employment certificate  Then there are the stories of those who arrive with a valid tourist visa to Thailand and are refused entry due to "coming too many times". 

The citizens of some very poor countries, such as India or Nigeria, are required to apply for Thai visas from their home countries but that does not affect the majority of travelers, especially from the West. The OP is a US citizen, so, we're covering the options available to him and most other users of this forum.

I'm not sure what you mean about employment certificates. We're talking about 60-day tourist visas, you just fill in a form, attach a photo and hand them your passport along with $40, you get it back with the visa later that day or the next day, no need for anything else. I have done this in embassies and consulates throughout Europe and Asia, always fast and easy. If you get asked for ridiculous documentation, that is the staff's indirect way of saying "We don't like the look of you, so, we're just going to make it impossible rather than actually say No". 

If you have a valid tourist visa but get stopped by immigration due to "coming too many times", the real reason is that they have taken a severe dislike to you for some other reason. If you have too many entries into Thailand, the embassy or consulate would have already rejected your visa application.

Immigration have the right to refuse entry people with visas, but they only do it in exceptional circumstances, it creates far more paperwork and possible repercussions than refusing someone depending on the visa waiver.

Edited October 24, 2017 by donnacha

[donnacha]

Sorry, misunderstood which situation ubonjoe was referring to, please delete this post.

Edited October 24, 2017 by donnacha

[Fujionrye]

The airline check in counter in Canada red flagged me because my return flight date was past the visa expire date. Same as you, I was going to get a 30 day extension. 

[Dipterocarp]

13 hours ago, donnacha said:

The citizens of some very poor countries, such as India or Nigeria, are required to apply for Thai visas from their home countries but that does not affect the majority of travelers, especially from the West. The OP is a US citizen, so, we're covering the options available to him and most other users of this forum.

I'm not sure what you mean about employment certificates. We're talking about 60-day tourist visas, you just fill in a form, attach a photo and hand them your passport along with $40, you get it back with the visa later that day or the next day, no need for anything else. I have done this in embassies and consulates throughout Europe and Asia, always fast and easy. If you get asked for ridiculous documentation, that is the staff's indirect way of saying "We don't like the look of you, so, we're just going to make it impossible rather than actually say No". 

If you have a valid tourist visa but get stopped by immigration due to "coming too many times", the real reason is that they have taken a severe dislike to you for some other reason. If you have too many entries into Thailand, the embassy or consulate would have already rejected your visa application.

Immigration have the right to refuse entry people with visas, but they only do it in exceptional circumstances, it creates far more paperwork and possible repercussions than refusing someone depending on the visa waiver.

Sorry I thought the letter of employment is Required for the SETV it is only required for the METV according to the Los Angeles Consul website. I still could not see any practical way (for me ) to apply for Tourist visas to Thailand without applying for a second US passport and doing it by mail. With the crackdown on visa exempts,  I ended up going for the elite program to tide me over until I make it to 50. 

 

 

[donnacha]

2 hours ago, Dipterocarp said:

... I still could not see any practical way (for me ) to apply for Tourist visas to Thailand without applying for a second US passport and doing it by mail. With the crackdown on visa exempts,  I ended up going for the elite program to tide me over until I make it to 50. 

 

 

What, you're American, you have a US passport? Are you saying that US citizens can only apply for an SETV from their home country? I don't mean to contradict you, as I am not a US citizen, but I'm pretty sure that most of the American digital nomads I meet up here in Chiang Mai are hopping in and out of the country on a combination of SETVs and visa waivers.

There is nothing wrong with the Elite visa, apart from being expensive, but it probably does work out cheaper if what you want to do is stay in Thailand and not have to travel out every 90 days. You mentioned, however, that you have "constant international travel" anyway, so, I don't understand why the Elite visa would even be necessary, that sounds as if you could get by entirely on visa waivers and the occasional extension.

No Thai immigration officer is going to care how many times you enter Thailand if you have a constant pattern of legitimate trips (not obvious visa-runs) elsewhere, that represents the category of visitor they want. Problems arise when someone stays for exactly 59 days on a visa waiver + extension, goes to Laos or Cambodia, stays there one or two nights and comes straight back to Thailand on another visa waiver. If you keep doing that, you are clearly living in Thailand and only leaving on visa runs, they presume you have an illegal job.

If, on the other hand, you frequently fly out of Thailand sooner than required, and you spend varying amounts of time in those places, that tells them you are not holding down an illegal job. In your position, with "constant international travel", I would just keep doing visa waivers until an IO actually tells me it is becoming a problem, and only then would I think about applying for the Elite. Hell, as a wealthy American citizen in your forties, they're not going to say boo to you.

Just as a side-note on the Elite, they would make a lot more money if they sold a one-year version for 100,000 Baht. The main reason I hear why people decided not to buy it is not that it is too expensive but that paying for 5 years in advance is too much of a commitment, especially when we have no idea what will happen in Thailand's turbulent politics over the next few years, not to mention our own projects and relationships.