2 minutes ago, WuhanVagabond said:

We're in agreement, Peter. Our issue is the dearth of reports. 1 or 2 fall into the anecdotal category. A lot of hassle and additional expense to fly off and find disappointment.

 

Perhaps the facebook groups some talk about have more DPs. The added problem is that one TV poster posted screenshots from a FB group with an American being denied a regular 30 day extension in Chiang Mai. He hadn't used it and the IO insisted that he get an embassy letter. AFAIK, there is still only 1 report of the regular 30 day extension in Ubon too. 

 

Perhaps I missed a thread with more actual success stories, but I haven't seen them.

There are 2 reports of successful 'regular' 30 day-extension of stay in Ubon Ratchathani for holders of a Visa Exempt or Tourist Visa entry that did not use it yet.

The 2nd report was made by @edwardandtubs who went to Ubon after he read about the successful Ubon application, and he even reported that - contrary to the first applicant who was a Ubon local - that no TM-30 was asked for his successful application.

 

11 minutes ago, WuhanVagabond said:

Perhaps I missed a thread with more actual success stories, but I haven't seen them.

If you're looking for guaranteed success and don't want to use your embassy option, Pai I/O might be your best shot. Even though it's somewhat of a trek (fly to CM then a few more hours on a bus). Someone who is close to Pai immigration/works there himself has posted on a local community Facebook group that his I/O is the only one in the country processing 30-day extensions for tourists (who have not yet used theirs) without a letter.

 

Again, it's a constantly evolving situation, depends on the mood of the officer when you get there, etc etc. so take everything with a pinch of salt. I did the math and wasn't worth it for me personally to pay for accommodation, travel etc to CM just for a slight chance at obtaining the extra 30-days, would rather let that go to use an embassy extension here in Bangkok instead which would only take up a few hours of my morning (also: visa agents telling me I could still jump onto a medical/volunteer visa after my embassy extension was helpful, if the embassy letter was something that stopped me from switching to other visa types I might not have done it).

Edited September 21, 20205 yr by tabbycat

3 hours ago, tabbycat said:

You should be fine - I've received confirmation from multiple visa agents that I'd be able to switch onto one of the 'medical' or 'volunteer' options they have for 60/90 days even after getting the embassy extension with the under consideration stamp, as long as there are a few days still remaining on my stay.

 

That's the only reason why I'm not traveling up to CM to try my luck at a non-letter extension, as the 4 months I plan to get (30 days with embassy + 90 day 'medical') until January should be long enough to get by.

In my case, I'll actually qualify for a non O and be able to avoid the graft expense of using an agent. So that's part of my cost calculation.  

3 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

There are 2 reports of successful 'regular' 30 day-extension of stay in Ubon Ratchathani for holders of a Visa Exempt or Tourist Visa entry that did not use it yet.

The 2nd report was made by @edwardandtubs who went to Ubon after he read about the successful Ubon application, and he even reported that - contrary to the first applicant who was a Ubon local - that no TM-30 was asked for his successful application.

 

Thank you

3 hours ago, tabbycat said:

If you're looking for guaranteed success and don't want to use your embassy option, Pai I/O might be your best shot. Even though it's somewhat of a trek (fly to CM then a few more hours on a bus). Someone who is close to Pai immigration/works there himself has posted on a local community Facebook group that his I/O is the only one in the country processing 30-day extensions for tourists (who have not yet used theirs) without a letter.

 

Again, it's a constantly evolving situation, depends on the mood of the officer when you get there, etc etc. so take everything with a pinch of salt. I did the math and wasn't worth it for me personally to pay for accommodation, travel etc to CM just for a slight chance at obtaining the extra 30-days, would rather let that go to use an embassy extension here in Bangkok instead which would only take up a few hours of my morning (also: visa agents telling me I could still jump onto a medical/volunteer visa after my embassy extension was helpful, if the embassy letter was something that stopped me from switching to other visa types I might not have done it).

Thanks for the new information. 

 

Tips the scale to CM vs Ubon for me. Figure if I fail in CM, I could head to Pai.

Anyone know: will they see in their system that I was in another IO? If so, is that a potential problem?

14 minutes ago, WuhanVagabond said:

Thanks for the new information. 

 

Tips the scale to CM vs Ubon for me. Figure if I fail in CM, I could head to Pai.

 

Just make sure you arrive at either city the day before your appointment and check in to a hotel first. Both offices are (confirmed to be) checking your TM.30/residence.

 

Hence if you fail in CM, head to Pai that same day so you can check into another local hotel - then go to immigration the next morning. Should Pai I/O see your address in their system as registered in CM, you'd be told to go to that office instead, so might take you a couple of days in total. Good luck ????

Edited September 21, 20205 yr by tabbycat

6 hours ago, tabbycat said:

Just make sure you arrive at either city the day before your appointment and check in to a hotel first. Both offices are (confirmed to be) checking your TM.30/residence.

 

Hence if you fail in CM, head to Pai that same day so you can check into another local hotel - then go to immigration the next morning. Should Pai I/O see your address in their system as registered in CM, you'd be told to go to that office instead, so might take you a couple of days in total. Good luck ????

Good advice. I wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks.

10 hours ago, tabbycat said:

Just make sure you arrive at either city the day before your appointment and check in to a hotel first. Both offices are (confirmed to be) checking your TM.30/residence.

 

Hence if you fail in CM, head to Pai that same day so you can check into another local hotel - then go to immigration the next morning. Should Pai I/O see your address in their system as registered in CM, you'd be told to go to that office instead, so might take you a couple of days in total. Good luck ????

@WuhanVagabond > Also the Hotel in Pai is required by Thai law to notify local IO within 24 hours of your arrival that you are staying there.  So the IO TM-30 should be updated with you staying in Pai when you got to the Pai IO.  To make sure ask the Hotel/guesthouse for a print-out of the TM-30 notification or take the Hotel address and telephone-contact with you when applying for the 'regular' 30-day extension of stay.  As a Tourist you do not have a 'fixed residence' for immigration purposes and are free to stay anywhere in the country.  Given the above, it is well possible that IO will not even ask for it.

Just got informed by a message from a member who got his 30 day extension of a tourist visa entry at immigration here in Ubon today. Took about 2O minutes to get it done.

He flew from Bangkok yesterday evening and stayed in a hotel. Immigration checked to confirm the hotel did a TM30 report online so no problem with that.

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Just got informed by a message from a member who got his 30 day extension of a tourist visa entry at immigration here in Ubon today. Took about 2O minutes to get it done.

He flew from Bangkok yesterday evening and stayed in a hotel. Immigration checked to confirm the hotel did a TM30 report online so no problem with that.

What I would say about Ubon having done it myself is that it's a very small office so when I turned up last week late in the morning they asked me to come back at 1 because they were dealing with two people. They would really struggle to handle anything more than a small handful of people turning up within the next few days.