Travelling South East Asia and flights to and from Bangkok 92 days apart

[Johnnie89]

Hi All, 

 

My partner and I are travelling south east asia with our flight to Bangkok from UK on 21st November and we are flying back from Bangkok on 20th February which works out as 92 days. In hindsight it seems booking over 90 days may have been an error as I am having trouble understanding how we can get an appropriate visa. 

 

Our plan, though not set, is to go from Bangkok to Chang Mai and then travel into Laos on around 4th December before spending next couple of weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam. We have a hotel booked from 23rd December for the Christmas period in Phi Phi. We have no set plans after 4th January but would like to spend our remaining time in Thailand. 

 

Can any of you advise on the best approach we should take with Visas? I am getting increasingly confused as to what is possible and everywhere seems to discuss options for up to 90 days and I really don't want to overstay our visa by two days but the price of changing flights is huge.

 

Any help would be much appreciated. 

 

Thank you 

 

John

[ubonjoe]

What is your nationalities? 

You could get a single entry tourist visa that will allow one 60 day entry or a multiple entry tourist visa that will allow unlimited 60 day entries.

But if you qualify for a 30 day visa exempt entry you could do your trip by getting one for each of your entries to Thailand. If your last entry will be longer than 30 days you could get a 30 day extension of it at a immigration office for a fee of 1900 baht.

[Johnnie89]

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

What is your nationalities? 

You could get a single entry tourist visa that will allow one 60 day entry or a multiple entry tourist visa that will allow unlimited 60 day entries.

But if you qualify for a 30 day visa exempt entry you could do your trip by getting one for each of your entries to Thailand. If your last entry will be longer than 30 days you could get a 30 day extension of it at a immigration office for a fee of 1900 baht.

Thank you very much for your reply. 

 

We are both British. Can we get a 30 day visa exempt entry, go to Cambodia and get a 60 day entry and then extend that in Thailand for an extra 30 days?

 

Will it be a problem getting into Thailand on a 30 day visa exempt entry because if they ask for proof of the flight home it will show that we are there for 62 days beyond the visa limit?

 

Are there any chances of an extension or a 60 day one being rejected?

 

Appreciate your help!

 

John

 

 

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Johnnie89 said:

We are both British. Can we get a 30 day visa exempt entry, go to Cambodia and get a 60 day entry and then extend that in Thailand for an extra 30 days?

To get a 60 day entry you would need to get a tourist visa in Cambodia while you are there.

If you got a tourist visa you could get a re-entry permit to keep the remainder of the 60 day entry when you enter the country from cambodia. It would add not day to the 60 day since it would expire at the end of the 60 days.

Will you traveling overland or by air for your trips to the other countries?

4 minutes ago, Johnnie89 said:

Will it be a problem getting into Thailand on a 30 day visa exempt entry because if they ask for proof of the flight home it will show that we are there for 62 days beyond the visa limit?

Immigration seldom asks to see the ticket out of the country within 30 days when entering on a visa exempt entry. The airlines are normally the ones asking to see them.

Immigration routinely issue the 30 day extensions for the 60 day entry from a tourist visa or a visa exempt entry.

[Johnnie89]

Thank you again for your reply. 

 

I think I may not be understanding the top part properly though. Could you explain the re-entry situation in a bit more detail please? We will most likely travel by land to other countries. 

 

In your experience will entering on a 30 day visa exempt entry be an issue for the Airline considering my flight home is 92 days later?

 

Sorry for my basic understanding, I really appreciate your help. 

[ubonjoe]

7 hours ago, Johnnie89 said:

I think I may not be understanding the top part properly though. Could you explain the re-entry situation in a bit more detail please? We will most likely travel by land to other countries. 

If you applied for a tourist visa in the UK you would get a 60 day entry when you enter on November 21st that would allow you to stay until January 19th. You could get a re-entry permit before your trip out of the country that would be valid until until January 19th. When you enter Thailand after your trip using the re-entry permit you would be allowed to stay until January 19th. You could then extend that stay for 30 days that would allow you to stay until February 19th. When you leave on the 20th you would have one day of overstay but leaving from Bangkok you would not be fined for the one day overstay which is 500 baht.

You could also get the tourist visa and leave without the re-entry permit and then get a 30 day visa exempt entry when you return to Thailand  that can be extended for 30 days. If entering at a land border crossing you would not be asked to show a ticket out within 30 days. If you left Thailand on December 4th and re-entered the country on the 20th that would allow you to stay until January 18th and then with a 30 day extension it allow you to stay until February 17th. If you skipped the 30 day extension and made a short trip out of the country and re-entered in January and and got the 30 day extension that would take you well past your scheduled departure date.

After your stay in Koh Phi Phi you would have a choice of doing a border crossing to Myanmar or Malaysia that are in that part of the country. Perhaps a trip to Satun and take the ferry to Langkawi Island in Malaysia and then back to Satun to get the 30 days.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

7 hours ago, Johnnie89 said:

In your experience will entering on a 30 day visa exempt entry be an issue for the Airline considering my flight home is 92 days later?

You could very well be asked to show a ticket out of the country when leaving the UK without a visa. One option would be buy one way tickets to Laos for the first part of your trip to show the airline. Perhaps Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang, Laos.

[BritTim]

My main recommendation would be to get a single entry tourist visa in the UK before your trip. That will eliminate any issues with the airline wanting to see onward flight reservations out of Thailand. Following this, there are many possible approaches for the rest of your trip. It depends on the exact dates and itinerary you decide upon which will be easiest.

[Johnnie89]

I honestly can't thank you enough, your replies have helped more than the many many websites I have visited to get an idea of what to do. 

 

Is the maximum punishment of overstaying your visa only 500 Baht per day? Is there a maximum of how many 30 days exempt visa's you can get?

 

Thanks again

 

 

[Johnnie89]

4 hours ago, BritTim said:

My main recommendation would be to get a single entry tourist visa in the UK before your trip. That will eliminate any issues with the airline wanting to see onward flight reservations out of Thailand. Following this, there are many possible approaches for the rest of your trip. It depends on the exact dates and itinerary you decide upon which will be easiest.

A single entry tourist visa will give me 60 days but my flights from and to London are still 92 days apart. Will this be a problem?

 

Thanks

 

John

[ubonjoe]

49 minutes ago, Johnnie89 said:

Is the maximum punishment of overstaying your visa only 500 Baht per day? Is there a maximum of how many 30 days exempt visa's you can get?

That is the only punishment until you overstay more than 90 days.

The only restriction for visa exempt entries is at land border crossing which is 2 per calendar year. By air their is none.

48 minutes ago, Johnnie89 said:

A single entry tourist visa will give me 60 days but my flights from and to London are still 92 days apart. Will this be a problem?

That is not a problem.