30 day extension question.

[tomx2]

Hi.

Currently in Phnom Penh for 1 month. Will return to Thailand October 31. Have 57 days before returning to the U.S. On arrival I will get 30 days. For the remaining 27 days, can I apply for a 30 day extension at Jomtien (Pattaya). Or should I get  a 60 day tourist visa durning my 1 month stay in Phnom Penh Cambodia. Used a METV for 6 months prior to leaving for Cambodia.

Thanks.

Tc.

[JackThompson]

If entering by land somewhere other than Poipet/Aranya (avoid!), and you do not have 2x land-border visa-exempts this year (guessing you don't, given you had a METV), then you are unlikely to have a problem getting a visa-exempt entry entering Thailand. 

 

If flying in, you could have a problem - especially visa-exempt - given the IOs at the Bangkok airports may claim you have stayed "too long" already (though no such rule is published).  With a Tourist Visa, problems are much less-likely, but still possible.  Be sure to have 20K Baht in cash to show, and proof of your flight out to the USA.

 

You could apply for a TR-Visa in PP.  But it is possible they could put a "This person travels to Thailand on Tourist Visas frequently...." stamp on their visa, which would prevent you from getting another Tourist Visa at many consulates in the region, until you get a new passport.  They will also require some/all of: a bank-statement showing $1000 USD, proof of a flight-out, and a hotel-booking.  I would visit the visa-service in "Lucky, Lucky Moto Shop," and ask their opinion on the likelihood of getting the visa, and of the warning-stamp.

 

If entering visa-exempt, and planning to get an extension at Jomtien, be sure where you stay registers you with a "TM-30" submission, and get a printout showing this, if possible. You must have a TM-30 receipt before they will accept an extension-application.  If the TM-30 is done late (within 3 days of arrival was reported recently as OK), you could be dealing with a fine that must be paid (by you or the landlord/hotel/guesthouse) before they will allow you to apply for the extension.  If not dealing with an Immigration-Office, you don't have to worry about the TM-30 business.

Edited October 10, 2018 by JackThompson

[tomx2]

2 hours ago, JackThompson said:

If entering by land somewhere other than Poipet/Aranya (avoid!), and you do not have 2x land-border visa-exempts this year (guessing you don't, given you had a METV), then you are unlikely to have a problem getting a visa-exempt entry entering Thailand. 

 

If flying in, you could have a problem - especially visa-exempt - given the IOs at the Bangkok airports may claim you have stayed "too long" already (though no such rule is published).  With a Tourist Visa, problems are much less-likely, but still possible.  Be sure to have 20K Baht in cash to show, and proof of your flight out to the USA.

 

You could apply for a TR-Visa in PP.  But it is possible they could put a "This person travels to Thailand on Tourist Visas frequently...." stamp on their visa, which would prevent you from getting another Tourist Visa at many consulates in the region, until you get a new passport.  They will also require some/all of: a bank-statement showing $1000 USD, proof of a flight-out, and a hotel-booking.  I would visit the visa-service in "Lucky, Lucky Moto Shop," and ask their opinion on the likelihood of getting the visa, and of the warning-stamp.

 

If entering visa-exempt, and planning to get an extension at Jomtien, be sure where you stay registers you with a "TM-30" submission, and get a printout showing this, if possible. You must have a TM-30 receipt before they will accept an extension-application.  If the TM-30 is done late (within 3 days of arrival was reported recently as OK), you could be dealing with a fine that must be paid (by you or the landlord/hotel/guesthouse) before they will allow you to apply for the extension.  If not dealing with an Immigration-Office, you don't have to worry about the TM-30 business.

Thanks jackthompson for your detailed reply. Based on your info stated:

Getting a visa-exempt on arrival then a 30 day visa extension:

 

I will be flying in from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. If all goes well I should get a 30 day visa-exempt at the airport. I will have bank statement proof showing income. I also do not have any prior visa-exempts in my passport. 5 days prior to my visa-exempt expiration, I will go to Jomtien immigration having my hotel's current month paid receipt as proof of where I reside in Pattaya. I should be granted a 30 day extension.

 

Getting a 60 day tourist visa in Phnom Penh:

If I go this route (will check with lucky lucky visa). I will bring bank statement having financial proof,

Hotel booking in Pattaya, and air flight out of Thailand to U.S.

But may still not get new TR visa  due to having a METV visa used this year.

 

Tc.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

5 hours ago, tomx2 said:

I will be flying in from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. If all goes well I should get a 30 day visa-exempt at the airport. I will have bank statement proof showing income.

If asked to financial proof it will have to be in cash. Best to have the equivalent of 20k baht in any exchangeable currency. The rules state 10k baht is only needed for a visa exempt entry but immigration often ask to see 20k baht.

[JackThompson]

8 hours ago, tomx2 said:

Thanks jackthompson for your detailed reply. Based on your info stated:

Getting a visa-exempt on arrival then a 30 day visa extension:

 

I will be flying in from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. If all goes well I should get a 30 day visa-exempt at the airport. I will have bank statement proof showing income. I also do not have any prior visa-exempts in my passport.

 

The problem is, you will need a flight-out in 30-days - possibly to board the plane w/o a Visa, and the IOs can also demand to see this as part of their criteria for issuing a Visa-Exempt stamp.   If your flight-out to the USA was within 30-days, I would say you would be OK - provided you also had 20K Baht worth of cash to show.   A "throw-away" flight-out to somewhere like Kuala Lumpur would get you on the plane, and could potentially help with immigration, though no guarantees on the latter.

 

The bank-statement might be helpful, but they have discovered the people they are denying have plenty of money (show cash, have bank-statements, etc).  Applicants also often stay-out long enough to make it ridiculous to claim they could be working illegally. 

 

Frustrated by this, and unable to corral more of the targets into other "services," they have resorted to using unpublished "too many days in Thailand" rules - and are reported to vary the days-count, or time-frame of the days, to claim the applicant was "abusing" the system (whatever that means - given no published definition exists).

 

Quote

5 days prior to my visa-exempt expiration, I will go to Jomtien immigration having my hotel's current month paid receipt as proof of where I reside in Pattaya. I should be granted a 30 day extension.

That, plus their business-card was requested in some recent reports.  I would also ask them about their TM-30 reporting when you check-in, and let them know you will need this to deal with the immigration-office.  Hopefully, they can print-off the confirmation page for you.  I'd even offer to pay them 100-baht or so for this service, just to avoid possible hassles later.

 

Quote

Getting a 60 day tourist visa in Phnom Penh:

If I go this route (will check with lucky lucky visa). I will bring bank statement having financial proof,

Hotel booking in Pattaya, and air flight out of Thailand to U.S.

But may still not get new TR visa  due to having a METV visa used this year.

 

Tc.

Because this is a 60-day entry, your flight-ticket timing will work for this.  I would be surprised if you could not get the TR-Visa, given your flight, money-proof, and a hotel-booking.  If flying in, this is definitely the way I would suggest - not coming in Visa-Exempt.

 

Even if the PP Consul adds the "extra-stamp" warning to your visa, it won't affect this trip, or future TR-Visa applications in the USA.  If planning to get further TR-Visas near Thailand on your next visit, you could get a new passport before returning.  Getting a new passport is suggested by consulates who cannot give a TR-Visa if an extra-stamp warning is present.

Edited October 11, 2018 by JackThompson

[tomx2]

@JAckThompson

Hi Jack.

Just to give you an update.

My request for a 60 day tourist visa was apparently rejected at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh. They put in the visa stamp but then wrote "Void no discrimination".

This is the first time I've been rejected for a 60 day visa  in Phnom Penh.

 

So i'm left trying to get the visa exempt on arrival at the airport.

I bought a "Throw away" ticket to Kuala Lumpur that would fall within the 30 day timeline with the visa exempt. I have enough cash-on-hand if they ask. So hopefully on 31 OCT (on airport arrival),  I will get the 30 day visa exempt and further get the 30 day exemption at Jomptien.

 

TC.

[JackThompson]

16 hours ago, tomx2 said:

@JAckThompson

Hi Jack.

Just to give you an update.

My request for a 60 day tourist visa was apparently rejected at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh. They put in the visa stamp but then wrote "Void no discrimination".

This is the first time I've been rejected for a 60 day visa  in Phnom Penh.

 

So i'm left trying to get the visa exempt on arrival at the airport.

I bought a "Throw away" ticket to Kuala Lumpur that would fall within the 30 day timeline with the visa exempt. I have enough cash-on-hand if they ask. So hopefully on 31 OCT (on airport arrival),  I will get the 30 day visa exempt and further get the 30 day exemption at Jomptien.

 

TC. 

Yes, new development - see the thread here:

I am very sorry to have advised you to apply for this.  Did you use an agent?  That consulate have been known to dislike in-person applications (no tea-money) for years.  Until this latest report, we only had reports of "void" visas when the applicant had several prior TR Visas from PP - or a "this person frequently travels..." stamp on a visa.  Others got the visa - maybe with the "this person frequently travels..." stamp.

 

If someone has a longer-stay history (months in the past year or so) and does not have 2x Land-Border Visa Exempts in a calendar-year, I would recommend any Visa Exempt entry be made at a Safe Land Crossing (not Poipet).  For longer-stayers, one should save Visa-Exempts for exactly these circumstances - when a TR Visa is unexpectedly denied.

 

In your case, a bus to Battambang, a shared taxi to Ban Laem, then van to Chanthaburi or beyond.  There are vans to many destinations from Ban Laem - but you could switch to a more comfortable bus at Chanthaburi, which is also a decent place to spend a day or so. 

 

If intent on flying in visa-exempt, follow the above - 20K Baht, flight-out-proof, ready to explain exactly what you plan to do, "using Thailand as a base for tourism in the region" - and using your final "return home" ticket to show, in this context.  There is some VIP through immigration service one can purchase, which some report is helpful to avoid problems, but I don't ever fly in (even with my Non-O ME Visa), so cannot say.  Good Luck.