I just got my extension of stay based on retirement so I am good for one year. Plan to travel abroad next week for a month. My previous multiple reentry permit will have expired by then so I plan to get another at the airport on my way out. But being the worrying kind I wonder what happens if for some reason I don't get it. How do I get back in? Visa-exempt entry as a US citizen? Which means cancelling the extension of stay? And starting all over again? Help. Thanks.

Exit without reentry permit your permission of stay is gone. Start over.

 

Why would you forget to obtain permit at airport? 

 

Travelling through airports is a stressful situation for many people. Some forget their passports. Some forget their wallets, luggage, money, partners... the list goes on.

 

I can easily see how some people might forget to go to the counter to get their extension of stay because it's not a "normal" thing to have to do at an airport and it is not something you MUST do to be able to catch your flight.

 

That is why, when it's possible, I would ALWAYS advise to get your re-entry permit locally, well before you even travel to the airport. Having to go through the whole process of applying for the visa is so much hassle, so why leave it until the last possible moment to get the re-entry permit? It's a last resort, not the best option.

23 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Exit without reentry permit your permission of stay is gone. Start over.

Thanks. Could you expand on start over? What happens when I present my passport to the Imm officer at the airport? He cancels the extension of stay on the spot, waves me in on visa-exempt and I have the usual deadlines to start the extension of stay process again?

 

26 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Why would you forget to obtain permit at airport? 

I don't think I will. But it would be peace of mind to know it won't be the end of the world if for some reason if I fail and that all I have to do is xyz and I am good again.

14 minutes ago, Woof999 said:

Travelling through airports is a stressful situation for many people. Some forget their passports. Some forget their wallets, luggage, money, partners... the list goes on.

Exactly. Though the reentry permit will be top of mind every moment after I get to Suvarnabhum. But still all kinds of emergencies can happen. And it's good to know what Plan B is.

9 minutes ago, Chicksaw said:

And it's good to know what Plan B is.

There is no plan B to for exiting without a reentry permit. You simply enter with visa exempt and start over the process. 

7 minutes ago, Chicksaw said:

But it would be peace of mind to know it won't be the end of the world if for some reason if I fail and that all I have to do is xyz and I am good again

I'm sorry but that's slightly ridiculous.

It's of prime importance that one would obtain reentry permit in situation that you describe.

 

As for the other part of your question immigration needs to do nothing when you depart without reentry permit.

 

Your permission of stay is gone when you are stamped out (without reentry permit) and yes you could return visa exempt and start over ....obtaining new non O retirement and subsequent extension.

 

Crazy thread really. 

Simply don't forget or alternatively obtain reentry permit at immigration. 

33 minutes ago, Chicksaw said:

What happens when I present my passport to the Imm officer at the airport? He cancels the extension of stay on the spot, waves me in on visa-exempt

No. Your extension of stay is cancelled when you leave the country, not when you re-enter.

If you leave country without re-entry permit, then your extension granted is terminated by that exit stamp.

 

It may be a hassle to start all over. If you know when you're going, why not go to immigration office, and request a reentry permit, which is valid anyway only for the duration of the extension, which means best would be to just get it at the time your request extension of stay?

 

It is a 15 minutes formality to get it, filling one form, adding photocopy of the passport with the new extension of stay stamp in it, and handing over actually less than at the airport, as there you have to pay service fees as well, although they fill up the forms and make copies for you (at least they used to).

 

So do yourself a favour and go to immigration to get this done before trip.

6 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

.....as there you have to pay service fees as well, although they fill up the forms and make copies for you (at least they used to).

The service is optional. 200baht.

You can do it yourself. 

Quick simple process 

 

OP, I'm like you, I tend to stress over silly details. That's why I take care of what can be taken care of ASAP.

 

I see that you are here based on retirement. Hence, I'm sure you'll be able to clear your schedule and make your way to immigration before your departure.

 

Just for peace of mind as you said.

 

Otherwise, go to the airport and get it done then. If you forget or can't do it for whatever reason, then blame yourself I guess.

3 hours ago, Woof999 said:

Travelling through airports is a stressful situation for many people. Some forget their passports. Some forget their wallets, luggage, money, partners... the list goes on.

That is why I do the following:

1. I have a generalised travel checklist that I go through the night before a journey to make sure I have not forgotten anything.
2. To deal with the specific issue of a forgotten re-entry permit, I insert post-it note into my passport where I am certain to see it to remind me.

 

38 minutes ago, BritTim said:

That is why I do the following:

1. I have a generalised travel checklist that I go through the night before a journey to make sure I have not forgotten anything.
2. To deal with the specific issue of a forgotten re-entry permit, I insert post-it note into my passport where I am certain to see it to remind me.

 

Clever! Btw, is the reentry permit desk before/after the Imm line?

5 hours ago, Chicksaw said:

Clever! Btw, is the reentry permit desk before/after the Imm line?

At Suvarnabhumi, it is immediately to the left of the immigration line in immigration zone 2. If you forget until inside immigration zone 1, you are still able to double back once airside to get the re-entry permit.

 

At most other airports (including Don Muang) the re-entry desk is close to or combined with the overstay desk, immediately behind the immigration line.

I was very lucky.  Once I forgot to obtain a reentry permit on my retirement visa. The Immigration officer at CM kindly asked if I needed one and directed me to the counter!

I had no passport photo nor photocopies!  An official took through the back route to get a photo taken and they did the photocopying for me.

The Office in CM is now moved to the front, before you get to Immigration. I didn’t know about this change and went through Immigration last October. An Official escorted me out to the Office and I had to go through Immigration again!

 I live very far from the Immigration, so avoid trips. But it’s worthwhile to save losing your visa!

Go to your local IO and get it before you travel.

One thing that is not forgotten is the passport, so buy some large sticky labels to write a reminder message and stick one on the passport in the days before travel. To avoid forgetting that you might put reminders on your Google Calendar immediately after making the flight booking. Good luck.

You said that a person might forget to get the re-entry permit at the airport, because it wasn't a "normal" thing to do. I can understand that. But I don't understand, when you obtained your Retirement Extension, you said you were going to travel, so why didn't you do the "normal" thing and obtain your permit at that time? 

2 hours ago, Tazmo said:

The Immigration officer at CM kindly asked if I needed one and directed me to the counter!

'Cor blimey, an immigration officer spotted it, and helped you, what a shame they can't all do that. 

13 hours ago, Chicksaw said:

Exactly. Though the reentry permit will be top of mind every moment after I get to Suvarnabhum. But still all kinds of emergencies can happen. And it's good to know what Plan B is.

Only a certain mentality would plan to go to the airport with a recent extension and no re-entry permit. Even in normal circumstances if it is busy could be problematic.

Over the years several times I have turned up at the airport and been off loaded and re-routed which has often been a panic to get you on an aircraft already boarding.

 

18 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Exit without reentry permit your permission of stay is gone. Start over.

 

Why would you forget to obtain permit at airport? 

 

I think the poster is worried that for some reason he cannot get the re entry permit at the airport. I worried about that too, so I always travelled the 50 K to my local IO any time I wanted one.

51 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

I think the poster is worried that for some reason he cannot get the re entry permit at the airport. I worried about that too, so I always travelled the 50 K to my local IO any time I wanted one.

That's up to the individual I guess.

 

The fact is I have NEVER read a report of not being able to obtain a reentry permit at airport. 

 

People need to have their concerns in check. 

Frankly for example for someone to type ..."what if I forget"  is laughable.

Just tripe from the "dog ate my homework" brigade. 

As others mentioned before a Post-It note (with message Don't forget Re-Entry Permit) in your Passport on the page where you would receive the 'stamped out' will do the trick in case you are forgetful.

Note that you need THB in CASH to pay for the Re-Entry Permit.

On 2/9/2023 at 6:57 AM, Andycoops said:

Go to your local IO and get it before you travel.

The big mystery as far as I am concerned is why the OP chose not to obtain a re-entry permit at the same time as his recent extension of stay based on retirement!

23 hours ago, sandyf said:

Even in normal circumstances if it is busy could be problematic.

And at peak times it could be even worse than that, of course. After encountering massive slow-moving queues at check-in (no earlier than 3 hours before the scheduled flight departure time is the norm) and Security, it could then prove a fine call as to whether there is enough time to obtain a re-entry permit before joining another massive slow-moving queue for Immigration and then legging it to some distant departure gate before boarding the flight closes.

4 minutes ago, OJAS said:

And at peak times it could be even worse than that, of course. After encountering massive queues at check-in (no earlier than 3 hours before the scheduled flight departure time) and Security, it could then be a fine call as to whether there is enough time to obtain a re-entry permit before joining another massive queue for Immigration and then legging it to some distant departure gate before boarding the flight closes.

Exactly, there are a multitude of reasons why there may not be time.

Apart from flight changes we have also had delays due to flat tyre and accidents on the motorway.

Catching a flight may not be the simple exercise that some would make out.

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

Exactly, there are a multitude of reasons why there may not be time.

Apart from flight changes we have also had delays due to flat tyre and accidents on the motorway.

Catching a flight may not be the simple exercise that some would make out.

Let's say you will be leaving Thailand with a two-day overstay. Would you say the correct procedure is:

1. Pay the overstay at the airport; or
2. Go to immigration; pay the overstay there; get seven days to leave the country; go to the airport.

In the first case, some might say there are a multitude of reasons why there may not be time. Apart from flight changes we have also had delays due to flat tyre and accidents on the motorway. Catching a flight may not be the simple exercise that some would make out. However (as with re-entry permits at the airport) experience has shown that people with short overstays never miss flights because they need to pay overstay fines.

6 hours ago, sandyf said:

Catching a flight may not be the simple exercise that some would make out.

Strangely enough, I've never missed a flight, and I've been on many. More often than not, my "problem" was having too much time to kill - sometimes because of flight delays, sometimes because things just moved faster than usual. 

On 2/8/2023 at 5:54 AM, Chicksaw said:

Thanks. Could you expand on start over? What happens when I present my passport to the Imm officer at the airport? He cancels the extension of stay on the spot, waves me in on visa-exempt and I have the usual deadlines to start the extension of stay process again?

 

I don't think I will. But it would be peace of mind to know it won't be the end of the world if for some reason if I fail and that all I have to do is xyz and I am good again.

Why not go to your local IO office and get a multiple entry stamp? Costs about 3000 baht and then you don't have to worry about forgetting.

I always got one with my retirement renewal for work reasons

21 hours ago, BritTim said:

Let's say you will be leaving Thailand with a two-day overstay. Would you say the correct procedure is:

1. Pay the overstay at the airport; or
2. Go to immigration; pay the overstay there; get seven days to leave the country; go to the airport.

In the first case, some might say there are a multitude of reasons why there may not be time. Apart from flight changes we have also had delays due to flat tyre and accidents on the motorway. Catching a flight may not be the simple exercise that some would make out. However (as with re-entry permits at the airport) experience has shown that people with short overstays never miss flights because they need to pay overstay fines.

Apples and oranges.

Since when did not having a re-entry permit stop you going through immigration.