This is going to be my first visa run in Thailand. How long do I have to leave Thailand for? Does anybody know what is the official rule?

From context, I do not think you are enquiring about a "visa run" (going to Kuala Lumpur, Penang or Kota Bharu for a visa). Your enquiry is about rules for a quick in/out for a visa exempt entry, right? Malaysia has no rules that I know of that impacts people doing border hops. In principle, you can immediately turn around and re-enter Thailand. When you return, Thai immigration may ask to see 20,000 baht equivalent in cash or travelers' checks. Also, if doing this by land, recognize that Thailand will only allow two visa exempt entries when entering by land in a calendar year.

3 hours ago, SovietChild said:

How long do I have to leave Thailand for? Does anybody know what is the official rule?

There is no rule. You can return the same day.

3 hours ago, BritTim said:

From context, I do not think you are enquiring about a "visa run"

Yes they are. Visa run is the term that’s been used for years to describe what some members of TVF now describe as a “border hop”. It’s the term used by immigration and every “visa run” operator.

5 hours ago, elviajero said:

There is no rule. You can return the same day.

Correct but there have many reports of the crossings to Malaysia saying than an overnight stay is required.

If you go on a organised visa/border run you will have no problem returning same day, if you go by yourself then avoid sadao border post, they will try to scam you unless you spend a night in Malaysia. 

16 hours ago, elviajero said:

There is no rule. You can return the same day.

So, I can fly to Malaysia. Stay there for few hours and go back to Thailand at the same day, right?

44 minutes ago, SovietChild said:

So, I can fly to Malaysia. Stay there for few hours and go back to Thailand at the same day, right?

Yes you can.

Well it IS a rule, but it is nowhere published. The rule they showed me dec 2016 said you can only have two landborder stamps within one year. I was aware of that , this would have been my second.

After talking to three immigration people seperately they all said the same thing and pointed to the same 'change of law'. I would hardly call that a scam but more a self made up rule they all enforce.

This is valid for 'visa on arrival'. I noticed the men in immigration tried to help, the women though, bunch of witches. The only thing out of their mouths was 'can not'.

 

Notice that i said RULE, as it is not a LAW. They just made that rule up by themselves for whatever reason. They have the power to refuse anyone so why not use it, right? Makes for good fun after work.

 

Edited February 19, 20188 yr by Khun Jean

1 hour ago, Khun Jean said:

Well it IS a rule, but it is nowhere published. The rule they showed me dec 2016 said you can only have two landborder stamps within one year. I was aware of that , this would have been my second.

Posted by me in December of 2016. It has a translation of a ministerial order that you can be downloaded.

 

I meant there is no LAW that requires a one day stay in the bordering country. That is just a made up rule by this particular immigration point.What it tries to accomplish is a mystery. It does make me reconsider living in Thailand full time as this is just another inconsistency that is screwing up my stay in Thailand. (19 years, last 6 years on yearly extension of non-0 marriage. I just made a tiny mistake (made new bankaccount as i moved and wanted a local branche, my old and new books were not accepted and i needed to have the new book with at least two months 400k on it, all the while my previous bankbook/ same bank having more then 400k for at least 10 years was not good enough) and was adviced by immigration to just hop over the border twice and then get back on the non-o again. So that was what i did. As i was in Bangkok for the first one i used Kanchanaburi border and that was no problem, now i was much closer to sadao and thought to do the same but now with above mentioned result. 

The max 2 visa on arrival exemption over land border is clear. The one day stay took me by surprise, and as alwasy with these things it could not happen at a worse time. It does remind me though that live in Thailand can be abruptly ended if an immigration officer gets out of the wrong side of his bed. Doing everything by the book with correct visas still does not help at all. What would be the next made up 'rule' that disrupts peoples lives.......

Edited February 19, 20188 yr by Khun Jean

On 1/24/2018 at 6:16 PM, SovietChild said:

So, I can fly to Malaysia. Stay there for few hours and go back to Thailand at the same day, right?

If flying back, I hope you do not have a "longer stay history" in Thailand.  The IOs at the airport are known to make up all sorts of non-existent rules, and have denied entry more frequently to those attempting"visa exempt" entries, than those arriving with Tourist Visas.  They are likely to notice your quick-return. 

 

You might want to fly to Hat Yai domestic, take the train across and back, using the Pedang Besar crossing.  That is what I would do, since I will never fly international into Thailand, due to inconsistent IO-policies in Thai airports (scary).  If you plan to stay more than a month after returning, better to take the train from Pedang Besar to Penang, and get a Tourist Visa there.

 

 

One of the remarks was that i already had too many stamps in my passport. These were all stamps from 1 year extensions for my non-0 marriage (2013-2017) and a transfer of visa from my old to new passport in 2012. Apparently for this IO it does not make any difference. They are stamps, so....

 

The official reason as written down on a TM.35 "Legal notice to aliens","Notification of the expulsion" document is "having no lawfull passport, document or visa". And yes lawfull was written with a double 'l'.

You could not even make this idiocy up.

 

Edited February 21, 20188 yr by Khun Jean

4 hours ago, Khun Jean said:

The official reason as written down on a TM.35 "Legal notice to aliens","Notification of the expulsion" document is "having no lawfull passport, document or visa". And yes lawfull was written with a double 'l'.

That was harsh! It seems they were relying on the policy introduced in mid 2014 to prevent people living long term in Thailand on back-to-back visa exempt entries. It was advised that this policy should be "applied flexibly", but they are within their rights to claim this is an abuse of the visa exempt process (saying you have no lawful visa) when they have a desire to deny you entry. While they have been known to invent their own rules, this is a real one (albeit almost never applied at land borders).

On 2/19/2018 at 8:43 PM, Khun Jean said:

i was much closer to sadao

 

4 hours ago, Khun Jean said:

One of the remarks was that i already had too many stamps in my passport. These were all stamps from 1 year extensions for my non-0 marriage (2013-2017) and a transfer of visa from my old to new passport in 2012. Apparently for this IO it does not make any difference. They are stamps, so....

 

The official reason as written down on a TM.35 "Legal notice to aliens","Notification of the expulsion" document is "having no lawfull passport, document or visa".

 

I think this may have been around the time Sadao was busted by the higher-ups for their "money in the passport or else" bribe scheme.  During this period, they were hopping mad.  Even people returning with Non-O Multis were even getting hit up to "show 20K baht" to return. 

They tried to fire up the "cash to enter" scheme 2nd time, after the first crackdown from higher-ups, and got slapped-down again.  I would bet land, homes, cars, etc were lost - given the level of total-income they had become accustomed to, from the amount of extorted/corrupt money from all the victims passing through.  They were desperate.

To all others - use Pedang Besar, not Sadao.  Sadao IOs may still be angry that they are expected to do things legally and not steal from the cattle.

On 2/20/2018 at 3:37 PM, JackThompson said:

If flying back, I hope you do not have a "longer stay history" in Thailand.  The IOs at the airport are known to make up all sorts of non-existent rules, and have denied entry more frequently to those attempting"visa exempt" entries, than those arriving with Tourist Visas.  They are likely to notice your quick-return. 

 

You might want to fly to Hat Yai domestic, take the train across and back, using the Pedang Besar crossing.  That is what I would do, since I will never fly international into Thailand, due to inconsistent IO-policies in Thai airports (scary).  If you plan to stay more than a month after returning, better to take the train from Pedang Besar to Penang, and get a Tourist Visa there.

 

 

I flew from Chiang Mai to Malaysia and back twice last year, both times making a visa exempt entry after being out of the country for less than 12 hours. I had been in Thailand for 13 1/2 years on a variety of different visas at that time and had no problems. Not a guarantee that someone else won't have problems of course but I wasn't asked any questions at all.

Two land border crossing's per year, does this also apply to METV?.

1 hour ago, Polaky said:

Two land border crossing's per year, does this also apply to METV?.

No, it's visa exempt entries via land borders. 

20 minutes ago, lamyai3 said:

No, it's visa exempt entries via land borders. 

Thx.