5 hours ago, kokopelli said:

I do agree with you ubonjoe.  The validity of the visa starts the date issued and, I believe, it is valid for 3 months (at least for a Tourist Visa).

 

 

 

METV is valid for 6 months from the date it is issued. As was explained earlier you can enter Thailand until the expiry date and get 60 days with every entry plus a chance to extend it for another 30 days period, making it effectively (almost) a 9 month visa.

On 11/9/2019 at 4:17 AM, genericptr said:

My parents address is in Colorado so I could use that. Do they require you to use the closest embassy to your address?

The Denver Consulate only does short term, single entry Visas.

Also...  forgot to add.

My wife and I went to LA Consulate,  dropped off Passports, few hrs later picked them up.

We both got a 6 Month METV.

That was in October 2017

2 hours ago, rabang said:

METV is valid for 6 months from the date it is issued. As was explained earlier you can enter Thailand until the expiry date and get 60 days with every entry plus a chance to extend it for another 30 days period, making it effectively (almost) a 9 month visa.

Does that mean if it was issued and then used 5 months later you could only stay in the country one month before it expired? I thought it was valid for 6 months after the first entry. Otherwise I need to be careful not to apply too early but this is dangerous also to cut it too close.

4 hours ago, genericptr said:

Does that mean if it was issued and then used 5 months later you could only stay in the country one month before it expired? I thought it was valid for 6 months after the first entry. Otherwise I need to be careful not to apply too early but this is dangerous also to cut it too close.

The visas expiration date is only the last day you can use it to get a new 60 day entry.

If you use the visa on or before the date it expires you will get a new 60 days that can be extended for 30 days. You can get almost 9 months of total stay from it by doing that.

14 hours ago, kokopelli said:

I do agree with you ubonjoe.  The validity of the visa starts the date issued and, I believe, it is valid for 3 months (at least for a Tourist Visa).

 

But this is what I was questioning and what ChristianBlessing posted:

 

 "I sent my passport and documentation by post and everything was returned within about 10 days. The LA consulate also has walk-in hours so if you have several days in LA prior to your flight you might use that option. Do keep in mind that the visa is in effect from the time of its stamping, so if you're pushing it to the entire 6 months the walk-in option will buy you a few more days."

 

I don't understand how a walk in option would buy any extra time?  Not trying to quibble.

 

As reiterated by ubonjoe, the METV begins validity once it is issued (added to ones passport). Thus, in my case, my METV began its validity on October 22, and returned to me on October 28, all of which is a little over 2 weeks prior to my entering Thailand. Were I to have been issued the visa as a walk-in in LA and then immediately boarded my flight to Thailand its validity would have begun just a couple of days (taking into consideration travel time and time zone changes) prior to my entry into Thailand. I would then have had an extra 15 days longer stay in Thailand without considering possible extensions. In my case, the duration of my stay is considerably less than 6 months so it was of little concern.

I do believe we are talking oranges and apples; not on the same wavelength. ????