Tr Visa Extension

[PREM-R]

I was on a visa run to Laos on 1/6/07 with a friend who is on the second phase of "90 days in 90 days out" entry without visa. On returning to the Thai side he was stamped in for another 30 days and he asked the officer if he was OK to do a third entry without visa in a months time. The officer looked through the earlier entries in the passport and concluded that " you must ask the officer next time you leave Thailand if you can return without a visa because you have a 30 day extension to a TR visa". I have not read anywhere that the 1,900 baht 30 day extension is in anyway part of the "90 in 90 out" deal. I would welcome any comments.

[cali4995]

Prem-R, back in April there was an article in pattayatoday (local tabloid) discussing difficulties foreigners were experiencing at the Cambodian border (article not archived). They made some claims at the time I found skeptical, such as 7-day extensions and 30-day extensions were "at times" being included in the 90 day calculation for some individuals. They (immigration) have a number of cards up their sleeve they can pull out at any time. On the other end of the extreme, people who already have 90 days on exempt entries have also received a 7-day extension. Who can explain it. To be safe, it would seem wise to deal primarily with tourist visas and leave yourself some visa-exempt days for an emergency situation.

Edited June 2, 2007 by cali4995

[lopburi3]

Logic would say that days on a TM.7 extension of stay - be it 7/30 or a year - are not counted toward 90 days in six months. Otherwise every one of us on one year extensions of stay would be in violation of that rule.

[waveydavey]

Last week I obtained a third 30 day visa exempt from Maesai, having 2 previous 30 day visa exempt stamps and a 60 day TV with 30 day extension in the last 6 months so it looks like Maesai don't treat the TV extension as part of the 90 days.

The immigration woman also wrote 'last visa' on my departure card which I assumed was a warning that my 90 days will be up after this time. According to my calculations I should still have 5 days left out of the 90 and have 4 days before my 6 months is up. I didn't bother raising it with her as I'm off to Penang in 2 weeks however. I just took it as an attempt by them to be helpful.

[tropo]

Who can explain it. To be safe, it would seem wise to deal primarily with tourist visas and leave yourself some visa-exempt days for an emergency situation.

I agree. Personally I'm not going to bother with Cambodia border runs. They just seem too problematic if one has too much stamp history in one's passport.