5+ month stay from late September - flight reservation and visa extension questions

[JakeHopper]

Hi,

 

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts anyone has about this visa inquiry, as my inquiries to Thai Immigration and Embassy haven't produced many clear answers:

 

I am going to be traveling from the U.S. to Thailand with my Thai citizen wife (and daughter) in late September,  as my wife will be giving birth in late November. For various complex family reasons, it is important to be in Thailand during this time. Since newborns are pretty fragile for the first three months, we are planning to return to the U.S. in early March.

 

I have a couple questions about the visa implications of this plan:
 

1) My current flight reservation has me arriving Thailand in late September and departing Thailand in early March. I assume immigration at Suvarnabhumi will give me the standard 30 days visa on arrival as a U.S. citizen. But will they give me a hard time about the return date being so far out?  Would it be better to have a reservation with a return date within 30 days, and then change the return date later? Or maybe they won't really care?

 

2) Options for visa extension - 

I saw in another thread someone suggested renewing the initial visa (30 days + another 30 (or 45 since it would be after Oct. 1?)), then leaving the country and getting another visa on arrival and extension (45 + 45). That takes me to 150 days, but I may need to stay about 170. Is it possible to again leave the country and get a new visa on arrival?  Also, since I will be in the north, can I just briefly duck across the Myanmar border at Mae Sai to get a new visa? I have done that before in the past, but not sure if it can be done twice within a 5 month period. And not sure how safe Myanmar is lately.

 

Or is it possible to enter Thailand with visa on arrival and then apply for a visa as a spouse of a Thai national?

 

Thanks a million!

 

[DrJack54]

You have many option and clearly you have outlined a few.

Be aware that the extension to visa exempt will be still 30 days even after Oct 1 when visa exempt entry increases to 45 days 

As far as your onward flight for visa exempt entry that would/may be required by the airline not immigration when you arrive. 

There are options to show onward flight discussed in many threads.

You did not mention 60 day extension to visit wife.

That can be applied for at immigration.

You mentioned non O from visa exempt entry (also available in the states eVisa);..that gives a 90 day stamp and rather than 12 month extension you could tack on the 60 to visit wife.

You also outlined border bounce and are familiar with that. 

Many options. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by DrJack54

[ubonjoe]

You could apply for a single entry non-o visa based upon marriage to a Thai that will allow a 90 day entry that can be extended for 60 day to visit your wife.

You will apply for it online and get a e visa sent to you by email. 

Requirements are here: https://thaiembdc.org/2020/07/11/foreigners_family/

[JakeHopper]

On 9/15/2022 at 2:04 AM, DrJack54 said:

You have many option and clearly you have outlined a few.

Be aware that the extension to visa exempt will be still 30 days even after Oct 1 when visa exempt entry increases to 45 days 

As far as your onward flight for visa exempt entry that would/may be required by the airline not immigration when you arrive. 

There are options to show onward flight discussed in many threads.

You did not mention 60 day extension to visit wife.

That can be applied for at immigration.

You mentioned non O from visa exempt entry (also available in the states eVisa);..that gives a 90 day stamp and rather than 12 month extension you could tack on the 60 to visit wife.

You also outlined border bounce and are familiar with that. 

Many options. 

Thanks for your kind advice.  I currently have the same round trip flight reservation as my wife and daughter (both of them have Thai passports) to fly to Thailand in late September and return to U.S. in early March (about 170 days). I guess if immigration at Suvarnabhumi asks me how long I plan to stay, I should say less than 30 days to avoid trouble?

 

On 9/15/2022 at 2:16 AM, ubonjoe said:

You could apply for a single entry non-o visa based upon marriage to a Thai that will allow a 90 day entry that can be extended for 60 day to visit your wife.

You will apply for it online and get a e visa sent to you by email. 

Requirements are here: https://thaiembdc.org/2020/07/11/foreigners_family/

Thanks for that.  I did look at that marriage based visa option.  However, the embassy website says the application process takes 15 days, and unfortunately I only have a little over a week before my flight. So I guess if I apply now the visa would not be ready by the time I reach Thailand. Do you have any experience applying for this visa online?

 

So I was wondering if I could arrive in Thailand with visa on arrival, and then within that 30 days apply within Thailand for an extension based on the marriage visa. My wife said that is possible based on what she has heard from friends in Thailand in similar situations, but I though visas typically have to be applied for from outside the country. Or maybe I am misunderstanding the process.

[DrJack54]

8 minutes ago, JakeHopper said:

I guess if immigration at Suvarnabhumi asks me how long I plan to stay, I should say less than 30 days to avoid trouble?

Most likely will not be questioned.

BTW...You would be aware that traveling with wife/family you can use the Thai passport control exit.

You will not be questioned. 

With visa exempt exempt the throw away line would be plan to leave in 28 days. 

Edited September 17, 2022 by DrJack54

[persimmon]

Perhaps someone should mention here that the border crossing at Mair Sai is not operational at the moment .

[ubonjoe]

12 hours ago, JakeHopper said:

So I was wondering if I could arrive in Thailand with visa on arrival, and then within that 30 days apply within Thailand for an extension based on the marriage visa. My wife said that is possible based on what she has heard from friends in Thailand in similar situations, but I though visas typically have to be applied for from outside the country. Or maybe I am misunderstanding the process.

You can extend your 30 day visa exempt entry (45 days on October 1st) for 30 days and then apply for the 60 day extension to visit your wife.