Be aware: Re-entry permit

[RafPinto]

My daughter and her mother had an issue today at Suvarnahbumi airport.

Both have their "permission" to stay with expiry date 31/07/2023

Daughter on "student visa".
Her mother on "guardian non imm O visa".

 

As school finished last week, they went early to renew their permission to stay.

They both took 2 queue numbers at Chaeng Wattana. 1 for renewal of permission to stay and 1 for re-entry permit (single).

 

Renewal of permission of stay was going into the afternoon as so many people at immigration.
Queue for re-entry permit quite short.

They went to the counter to renew their re-entry first. First question of agent was: When are you leaving and when are you coming back to Thailand.
Will you be back before 31/07/23?

Yes was the answer as they return on 15/07/23

So, they got their re-entry permit first and paid each 1000Baht

In the afternoon, they got their permission to stay until 31/07/24

 

Today, they were 3 hours before flight was leaving at Suvarnahbumi airport.
Arriving at passport control, the agent said: you need a re-entry permit if you want to return to Thailand.

Mom said: we got it.
Agent said: no, not valid. You have now a permission to stay until 07/24 and can't use this re-entry permit!

 

What? 

The agent went to ask colleagues and they also said: need new re-entry permit.
Off they went to the counter to get one. They had no Thai baht in cash and there is also no ATM close by.
One of the agents was "happy" to take foreign currency and to exchange. 2.122 baht

The whole thing took more than 1 hour. Back and forward. Another agent came and said that no new re-entry permit is required.
Later they agreed that there is the need for a new re-entry even so there is a valid one.

After losing 1 hour, having paid and getting stressed to get too late to the gate, they finally got their "new" re-entry permit and off they went to the gate.

A bit stressful.
Imagine you are not 3 hours before your flight at the airport and get into this situation.
Imagine they agent, checking your passport thinks that your re-entry permit is valid but when coming back, another agent might not agree.

Question now is: Can you get a re-entry permit before getting the new extension of stay?

Just wanted to make you guys aware of what happened.

 

 

 

[Sandboxer]

Confusing.

 

So what was the actual date on the permission to stay stamp in their actual passports? 31/7/23 or 24/7/23 i.e. where did the airport immi officer get the 27/7/23 from? 

 

 

[BritTim]

A re-entry permit can only be used to protect your current permission to stay. A re-entry permit for a superseded permission to stay is no longer valid. If it was accepted, you would be stamped into the country until the date specified on the re-entry permit (31/07/2023) and would need to apply for the one-year extension of permission to stay all over again. (However, Immigration has decided to not allow this, and to declare superseded re-entry permits as invalid). 

[lopburi3]

Re entry is keyed to current permission to stay - that was superseded with the new one year extension of stay obtained later so indeed it is not valid.  They were very lucky immigration officers caught this while there was still time to fix.

[RafPinto]

4 minutes ago, Sandboxer said:

Confusing.

 

So what was the actual date on the permission to stay stamp in their actual passports? 31/7/23 or 24/7/23 i.e. where did the airport immi officer get the 27/7/23 from? 

 

 

Not confusing:

Actual date of expiry was 31/07/23

As school is finished, they went last week to Chaeng Wattana to renew the permission of stay and to get a single re-entry permit.
Queue for permission of stay was very long. Ticket for the afternoon.
Queue for re-entry permit quite short.
They went to the agent to ask if re-entry permit can be purchased before having the new "permission of stay".
She looked the actual permission of stay which was dated: 31/07/23. She asked when they would come back. Answer: 15/07/23

Agent said: ok, no problem. Pay 2x 1000baht and they got their re-entry permit.

In the afternoon, they got their new permission to stay, which is now dated 31/07/2024

 

At the airport today, the agents were arguing between them because some said, the re-entry permit is valid and others said, that a new one is required. At the end, they paid 2x1200 baht to get a new re-entry permit.
Imagine leaving the country because agent accepted the valid "first" re-entry permit and coming back, another agent doesn't agree.

[RafPinto]

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

A re-entry permit can only be used to protect your current permission to stay. A re-entry permit for a superseded permission to stay is no longer valid. If it was accepted, you would be stamped into the country until the date specified on the re-entry permit (31/07/2023) and would need to apply for the one-year extension of permission to stay all over again. (However, Immigration has decided to not allow this, and to declare superseded re-entry permits as invalid). 

Great. You made it clear.
But at passport control today, agents were arguing because some agreed with the re-entry permit and others said, that a new one is necessary.
Just to get it right, they got a new re-entry permission without using the other one.
If they agents get confused, imagine us.

[RafPinto]

5 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Re entry is keyed to current permission to stay - that was superseded with the new one year extension of stay obtained later so indeed it is not valid.  They were very lucky immigration officers caught this while there was still time to fix.

Thank you.
We never stop learning.
My bad that I didn't know this.

[lopburi3]

1 minute ago, RafPinto said:

Thank you.
We never stop learning.
My bad that I didn't know this.

Not bad that you did not know - but very lucky it was taken care of before departure.

[DrJoy]

12 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Just to get it right, they got a new re-entry permission without using the other one

Old re entry gets automatically cancelled , when your permission to stay date changes

[BritTim]

11 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Great. You made it clear.
But at passport control today, agents were arguing because some agreed with the re-entry permit and others said, that a new one is necessary.
Just to get it right, they got a new re-entry permission without using the other one.
If they agents get confused, imagine us.

When the officers manning the check out desks are confused, ask if they can get a senior official to sort things out. The staff at the re-entry desk at Suvarnabumi should know the rules, even if some of the officers stamping exit stamps sometimes may not.

[AAArdvark]

19 minutes ago, DrJoy said:

Old re entry gets automatically cancelled , when your permission to stay date changes

You made it way to simple. 55

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, RafPinto said:

Not confusing:

Actual date of expiry was 31/07/23

As school is finished, they went last week to Chaeng Wattana to renew the permission of stay and to get a single re-entry permit.
Queue for permission of stay was very long. Ticket for the afternoon.
Queue for re-entry permit quite short.
They went to the agent to ask if re-entry permit can be purchased before having the new "permission of stay".
She looked the actual permission of stay which was dated: 31/07/23. She asked when they would come back. Answer: 15/07/23

Agent said: ok, no problem. Pay 2x 1000baht and they got their re-entry permit.

In the afternoon, they got their new permission to stay, which is now dated 31/07/2024

 

At the airport today, the agents were arguing between them because some said, the re-entry permit is valid and others said, that a new one is required. At the end, they paid 2x1200 baht to get a new re-entry permit.
Imagine leaving the country because agent accepted the valid "first" re-entry permit and coming back, another agent doesn't agree.

Your first re entry permit was keep their then current permission active. You need to do the extension BEFORE you get the reentry for that permission. Quite logic actually.

[NoDisplayName]

1 hour ago, RafPinto said:

They went to the agent to ask if re-entry permit can be purchased before having the new "permission of stay".
She looked the actual permission of stay which was dated: 31/07/23. She asked when they would come back. Answer: 15/07/23

The agent was correct.  You can get a re-entry permit anytime, valid until the expiration of the CURRENT permission of stay.

 

Agent asked when you would return.  You gave a date before the end of the CURRENT permission of stay.  I'll have to assume the agent did not ask if you were going to get a new permission of stay that very day, nor did you offer than information.

 

There is a reason we all get the permission of stay first, then the re-entry permit.  Note that we have to provide a copy of the current permission of stay to the IO at the re-entry desk.  The re-entry permit is keyed to the permission of stay, with the POS number and expiry date written on the re-entry permit.

 

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

An argument to do the re-entry at Suvarnabhumi (against my preference).

But sure: always extension first however long the queue might be and then re-entry permit on that.

[LukKrueng]

Just to make it short - the re entry permit is based on the current permit to stay. The got it, and then got a new extension. So obviously the re entry was no longer valid. They should have told the officer at CW that they're also waiting to renew the permit of stay BEFORE they applied for it. S\He would have told them to come back AFTER they got the renewal

[khunPer]

4 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Just wanted to make you guys aware of what happened.

That's however how it is, your re-entry permit is – and shall be – valid for the length of your stay. Always extend stay before applying for re-entry permit, if you cannot do it at the same time, as you can in smaller immigration offices.

[Gaccha]

This is genuinely difficult to pull off in one day. 

 

I tend to walk out of an extension to stay at chengwatana immigration at some time around 7:00 p.m.. They keep going long after the doors are shut. That effectively makes it impossible for me to get the multiple reentry on the same day.

 

Partly I might be to blame as I tend to turn up at around midday when the crowds have reduced. It's possible, although I have never attempted it, that if I turned up at the crack of dawn, and then constantly got new queue tickets for the re-entry until it eventually coincides with completing the extension of permission to stay then it could be pulled off.

 

I did do something similar with the 90 days notification. I had to repeatedly get a new 90 days ticket as I kept missing my spot because I was stuck at the extension of stay counter. The extension of stay for my visa typically takes around 5 to 7 hours (this drops to 4 hours with an appointment), though my understanding is the retirement visa and other such visas can be done much more quickly than my one.

[BritTim]

8 minutes ago, Gaccha said:

This is genuinely difficult to pull off in one day. 

 

I tend to walk out of an extension to stay at chengwatana immigration at some time around 7:00 p.m.. They keep going long after the doors are shut. That effectively makes it impossible for me to get the multiple reentry on the same day.

 

Partly I might be to blame as I tend to turn up at around midday when the crowds have reduced. It's possible, although I have never attempted it, that if I turned up at the crack of dawn, and then constantly got new queue tickets for the re-entry until it eventually coincides with completing the extension of permission to stay then it could be pulled off.

 

I did do something similar with the 90 days notification. I had to repeatedly get a new 90 days ticket as I kept missing my spot because I was stuck at the extension of stay counter. The extension of stay for my visa typically takes around 5 to 7 hours (this drops to 4 hours with an appointment), though my understanding is the retirement visa and other such visas can be done much more quickly than my one.

For those who use the appointment system, it is pretty easy. If you just want to do a walk in application, you must wait until officials have dealt with those who have appointments. You can get lucky, but are usually going to be in for a long wait.

[lopburi3]

3 minutes ago, BritTim said:

For those who use the appointment system, it is pretty easy. If you just want to do a walk in application, you must wait until officials have dealt with those who have appointments. You can get lucky, but are usually going to be in for a long wait.

Appointments are limited and are at one desk at set times and may not even keep that desk busy.  Other desks are processing normal walk in queue tickets in first come first served order.  But yes it could be 2 or 3 hour wait so appointment makes sense for most.

[David Whitemore]

Thai immigration like to mess you around sometimes I wonder if they know what do or know of any changes within the system, I also don't understand why we have to report every 90 days if you are on a marriage or retirement visa because if you stay in a hotel they know where you are or been plus if you leaving the country for a visit or going to see your family you need a re-entry, if you take your wife and children to England they get a 6 months visa and no reporting in that time, 

[VocalNeal]

10 minutes ago, David Whitemore said:

I also don't understand why we have to report every 90 days

Because it is a requirement of us staying here???? 

[NoDisplayName]

If you're going to CW for retirement extension or certain other extension services, you can make appointments both for extension and re-entry permit.

 

If you don't want to bother with the appointment system, get a queue number for re-entry just before your extension number is called.   Re-entry desk works pretty quickly.  Odds are your re-entry number will be called as you're rushing back upstairs with the photocopy of your new extension.

[DrJack54]

5 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

The re-entry permit is keyed to the permission of stay, with the POS number and expiry date written on the re-entry permit.

Good post. 

[rwilem]

9 hours ago, BritTim said:

For those who use the appointment system, it is pretty easy. If you just want to do a walk in application, you must wait until officials have dealt with those who have appointments. You can get lucky, but are usually going to be in for a long wait.

Yes, it's easy to do both, get the extension and then the re-entry permit the same day using the appointment system. This is at CW. Good rule of thumb is to make the re-entry appointment about an hour fifteen minutes after the extension appointnent. (Re-entry appointments are offered 15 minutes apart from each other.) 

 

Even if you get to the re-entry booth later than your appointed time---which I did one year when it took 50 minutes (a record!) for my passport to be returned to me at the extension section--with my appointnent booking in hand the re-entry staff just waved me in. 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by rwilem