Tourist Visa Plan

[BrianB9]

Long time reader, first time posting.

 

Hoping to stay in Thailand until the 2nd week of September and I was wondering if this plan sounds okay.

 

Before Covid, I traveled to Thailand 2-3 times a year always staying less than a week. Last November I was here for a week and this past February I was in Thailand for ten days. This time is a little different as I have a block of time. I arrived the end of March and received a 45 tourist visa on arrival. I plan to apply for an extension this week which I guess will give me 2 more weeks. At the end of this month I will fly somewhere (Phnom Penh or Saigon?) for a few days and return. That should be another 30 days and then I will apply for an extension which should bring me to the end of July. I will then fly out again as I did before. That will give me until the end of August. I want to fly back home (already have my ticket) the 2nd week of September so I guess I will need to apply for another extension before the end of August. I have a US passport and have never overstayed or been in any trouble in Thailand.

 

Does this sound like a reasonable plan or am I missing anything? Thank you for any advice or comments.

 

 

[DrJack54]

Sounds like a workable plan.

 

Suggest the last flight out and reenter better of with a land border run.

Depends where you would be at that time in Thailand.

 

As for Saigon v PP for me it's a no brainer. Saigon. 

 

BTW if you enter visa exempt and applying for extension in Bangkok you would use Laksi immigration (IT mall) and not CW. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by DrJack54

[Upnotover]

18 minutes ago, BrianB9 said:

......I guess will give me 2 more weeks

Extensions are 30 days.

[GameMaster]

An extension isn't 2 weeks but 1 months.

So you can recalculate everything and tell us what you new plan is.

[Lemsta69]

18 minutes ago, GameMaster said:

An extension isn't 2 weeks but 1 months.

So you can recalculate everything and tell us what you new plan is.

Extensions are 30 days, not one month.

[Badger18]

I think your logic was that visa exempt entries are now 30 days, extendable to 60, so they may not give you another 30 taking you to 75. I think they will but somebody must have done this recently.

 

This means that you can get to mid-September by leaving once and coming back on an SETV which you then extend - no need for the second bounce.

[DrJack54]

7 minutes ago, Badger18 said:

I think your logic was that visa exempt entries are now 30 days, extendable to 60, so they may not give you another 30 taking you to 75. I think they will but somebody must have done this recently.

What does that mean.

 

Every visa exempt entry gives 30 day stamp.

You can apply for extension.

 

Normal that would be done in last couple of weeks of expiry of that stamp.

The 30 day extension dates from expiry of current stamp.

 

In other words that process gives 30+30 days. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by DrJack54

[Badger18]

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

What does that mean.

 

Every visa exempt entry gives 30 day stamp.

You can apply for extension.

 

Normal that would be done in last couple of weeks of expiry of that stamp.

The 30 day extension dates from expiry of current stamp.

 

In other words that process gives 30+30 days. 

If I understood OP correctly he got 45 days because he came in before the cut-off (end March?). He seems to think his extension will only be 2 weeks. I think his reasoning is that since the current process only gives 30+30 = 60 and he has already had 45, they may only allow him to extend by 15 days. I don't think that's correct but it explains where he was coming from. If he actually has 2 weeks more than he thinks it means he only needs the one bounce to get to mid Sep.

[DrJack54]

4 minutes ago, Badger18 said:

If I understood OP correctly he got 45 days because he came in before the cut-off (end March?). He seems to think his extension will only be 2 weeks. I think his reasoning is that since the current process only gives 30+30 = 60 and he has already had 45, they may only allow him to extend by 15 days. I don't think that's correct but it explains where he was coming from. If he actually has 2 weeks more than he thinks it means he only needs the one bounce to get to mid Sep.

OK. Makes sense.

 

As we know extension to his 45 day visa exempt stamp will be 30 days. 

Thanks for explaining.

 

I just skipped over OP post re the 2 weeks. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by DrJack54

[Pattaya57]

Not knowing the OP's arrival date or departure date to be accurate, however an example arrival late March as he said

 

Arrive 30 March, 45 days visa exempt + 30 days extension = 12 June

 

Border jump for 30 days visa exempt + 30 days extension = 11 August

 

Border jump for 30 days visa exempt = 10 September

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Pattaya57

[Maestro]

8 hours ago, BrianB9 said:

...I arrived the end of March and received a 45 tourist visa on arrival. I plan to apply for an extension this week which I guess will give me 2 more weeks...

The extension will be for 30 days, added onto the expiration date of your current permission to stay.

[BritTim]

9 hours ago, BrianB9 said:

I plan to apply for an extension this week which I guess will give me 2 more weeks.

The extension will give you another 30 days.

 

I second the advice to do the final border bounce by land rather than by air. The first one by air should be no problem but, by August, the officials might be becoming a bit suspicious about why you are staying so long. A denied entry would obviously be a disaster.

 

As an alternative, if you want to use air travel, consider making an appointment to apply for a tourist visa in Vientiane, and fly there. You would need one or two nights in Vientiane, depending on the timing of your return flight.

[GameMaster]

21 hours ago, Lemsta69 said:

Extensions are 30 days, not one month.

Indeed. Sorry. Gotta be precise.

[BrianB9]

Thank you for the comments and advice.

 

I did receive a 30 day extension from Nakhon Pathom Immigration Office.

 

About Nakhon Pathom, I got a TM 30 from the condo where I am staying, but the officer at the Immigration Office said something about the condo not reporting my address or something. It was difficult to understand him. The whole process took about four hours while he tried to contact the condo where I am staying. He was nice to me, but I got the feeling he could be quite difficult if someone got frustrated or was less than polite to him. 

 

So about my plan, I am thinking that I will fly somewhere in mid-June (probably Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam and stay there about a week), apply for a SETV, and then a single 30 day extension in Bangkok will get me to the second week of September. 

 

Thank you again for all of the help. Most appreciated.

[BrianB9]

I will probably go to Phnom Penh for the SETV application and stay there for about one week. I will have close to but less than 90 days in Thailand (75 days this trip and 10 days in February for a total of 85 days) at the time of application for the SETV.

 

If I am denied, is it still possible to fly back into Thailand visa exempt or is it simple a roll of the dice? I am a permanent resident of Japan and my flight back is the second week of September. On a side note, the airline did not question my flying into Thailand visa exempt with a return ticket for September when I left Japan.

 

Would returning to Thailand by land be an option? I have only crossed the border one time a long time ago (10 years ago?) to visit Laos on a short trip to Thailand. 

 

From reading the forum, it seems the safest option would to simply do two land border crossings. I am just outside of Bangkok now and will be in Bangkok (hopefully) after this current 30 day extension expires.

 

Thanks again for any insight.

[DrJack54]

1 hour ago, BrianB9 said:

. I am just outside of Bangkok now and will be in Bangkok (hopefully) after this current 30 day extension expires

Just one person's suggestion.

I would choose Laos.

You most likely have enough time to book appointment at Vientiane. 

Alternatively Savannakhet (no appointment required).

 

For Vientiane a flight Bangkok - Udon Thani and short road trip to Nong Khai is good.

 

The reason for this suggestion this over eg Saigon is that if tourist visa for some reason rejected you can easily reenter visa exempt at eg Friendship bridge. 

 

My choice would be Saigon if you want a holiday from Thailand. 

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by DrJack54

[BritTim]

If you have no other tourist visas for Thailand in your passport, your tourist visa application in Phnom Penh should be successful. In the unlikely event that your visa application is denied, flying in for a visa exemption should be OK. You could also enter by land, but under no circumstances risk trying to enter via the Poipet/Aranyaprathet crossing.

[BrianB9]

Thank again for the advice. A flight from Bangkok to Udon Thani then overland to Vientiane sounds like a good option. I checked the embassy website and it seemed to have 90-100 slots open for reservations on most of the days I would probably go.

 

Any thoughts on positives or negatives of using a company such as Friendly Thai Visa to go up to Laos for a SETV? Seems it just takes a few days.