@Liquorice @DrJack54 @Red Phoenix

Evening gentlemen,

An acquaintance of mine arrived by plane last year, visa exempt, then extended that by 30 days, and then extended again by 60 days for reason of visiting his Thai wife, so he got a total of 150 days. He has just done a visa run and obtained another 60-day visa exempt, and he intends to repeat the process.

I have told him, though, not to attempt the 30-day extension on his second visa exempt as this is not allowed anymore and he will get the infamous 7-day stamp. To my knowledge, he still could do the 60-day family visit one and therefore get a total 120 days on this entry. But he insists he can do the 30-day extension for this entry too.

Am I correct in telling him this is a bad idea?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Bad idea.

Clearly milking the system.

Reports of 30 extension + 60 to visit wife being refused.

60 ve entry may soon be back to 30.

Suggest best option is Non O e-Visa + 60 to visit wife. = 5 months.

Still better is Non O with 12 month extension + reentry permit ongoing rather than snowbird games.

An METV is an option for some folk for extended stay however requires exit + reentry from Thailand.

Suits some.

2 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Bad idea.

Clearly milking the system.

Reports of 30 extension + 60 to visit wife being refused.

60 ve entry may soon be back to 30.

Suggest best option is Non O e-Visa + 60 to visit wife. = 5 months.

Still better is Non O with 12 month extension + reentry permit ongoing rather than snowbird games.

Thanks DrJack54. I did tell him to get a non-O in Vientiane, but he wants to try this avenue…

I'm pretty sure a second 30-day extension would be refused as this has been officially announced, but I am unsure regarding the 60-day one. Are there official announcements regarding the 60-day family visit extension on a second back-to-back visa exempt entry?

3 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

Are there official announcements regarding the 60-day family visit extension on a second back-to-back visa exempt entry?

Haven't seen anything official.

Previously a 30 day extension followed by 60 was a given.

However that was when ve was 30 days.

The extensions had to be done in that order. 30 then the 60.

Your advice to obtain Non O is best option.

The e-Visa, can be abained anywhere outside of Thailand. For many that would be pp country.

The process is entirely online

In Laos application requires visit to embassy for payment = messy

3 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

In Laos application requires visit to embassy for payment = messy

May I ask, messy in what way?

Just now, rattlesnake said:

May I ask, messy in what way?

Just that it's very easy to apply for eVisa in home country.

Payment is done online.

When you apply for eVisa to Thailand you need to be in the country where application is being made.

For Laos that requires visit to embassy for payment.

That's not the case in other countries.

Also entering Thailand with a visa is better than visa exempt.

Various reasons such as onward flight requirements from airline etc

2 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Just that it's very easy to apply for eVisa in home country.

Payment is done online.

When you apply for eVisa to Thailand you need to be in the country where application is being made.

For Laos that requires visit to embassy for payment.

That's not the case in other countries.

Also entering Thailand with a visa is better than visa exempt.

Various reasons such as onward flight requirements from airline etc

Got it, thanks!

6 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

Thanks DrJack54. I did tell him to get a non-O in Vientiane, but he wants to try this avenue…

I'm pretty sure a second 30-day extension would be refused as this has been officially announced, but I am unsure regarding the 60-day one. Are there official announcements regarding the 60-day family visit extension on a second back-to-back visa exempt entry?

Good info provided by drJack54.

Your acquaintance could give it a try to apply for the 60-day extension for reason of family visit, and it looks from what you wrote that he is determined to do that.

But it would be wise to consider the possible rejection, and prepare to leave Thailand for a trip abroad where he could apply for the 90-day Non-O eVisa (if he can provide evidence of meeting the financial and other requirements).

As drJack54 indicated > Applying for the 1-year extension from that original eVisa (and buying a Re-Entry permit on exit) would be the best option to avoid any future entry/stay troubles considering his lengthy 'tourist' stays will trigger scrutiny by Thai Immigration.

6 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

I'm pretty sure a second 30-day extension would be refused as this has been officially announced, but I am unsure regarding the 60-day one. Are there official announcements regarding the 60-day family visit extension on a second back-to-back visa exempt entry?

After visa exempt changed to 60 days, many immigration offices stopped allowing the 60-day visiting Thai family extension if you entered visa exempt.

Will they go back to allowing it if visa exempt returns to 30 days? Who knows.

8 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

An acquaintance of mine arrived by plane last year, visa exempt, then extended that by 30 days, and then extended again by 60 days for reason of visiting his Thai wife, so he got a total of 150 days. He has just done a visa run and obtained another 60-day visa exempt, and he intends to repeat the process.

I have told him, though, not to attempt the 30-day extension on his second visa exempt as this is not allowed anymore and he will get the infamous 7-day stamp. To my knowledge, he still could do the 60-day family visit one and therefore get a total 120 days on this entry. But he insists he can do the 30-day extension for this entry too.

If he already stayed 150 days and just did a border run for a further consecutive 60 day VE entry, then he was very fortunate indeed.

Immigration have stated extensions from VE land border entries are no longer permitted.

It was always a given that you could apply for a 60 day extension to visit Thai spouse 'once' per new entry, but since changing to 60 day VE entries, my IO limited 60 day extensions to once per year to avoid abuse of the system.

Thanks to all of you for your replies.

12 hours ago, Liquorice said:

It was always a given that you could apply for a 60 day extension to visit Thai spouse 'once' per new entry, but since changing to 60 day VE entries, my IO limited 60 day extensions to once per year to avoid abuse of the system.

Thanks Liquorice.

I advised him to go ask his IO directly now and not leave it to the last minute. However, out of curiosity, when you mention 60-day extensions are now limited to once per year at your IO, is that one extension per 12-month window (starting from the actual extension date), or is it counted from 1 Jan to 31 Dec? He got his previous 60-day extension at the end of last December.

45 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

Thanks Liquorice.

I advised him to go ask his IO directly now and not leave it to the last minute. However, out of curiosity, when you mention 60-day extensions are now limited to once per year at your IO, is that one extension per 12-month window (starting from the actual extension date), or is it counted from 1 Jan to 31 Dec? He got his previous 60-day extension at the end of last December.

One 60 day extension within a 12 month period, not a calendar year.

Immigration are now looking at the history of VE entries within a certain period as well as the total number of days spent within a year, again not a calendar year as before.

The only way to circumvent the new rules are to use an agent.

4 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

One 60 day extension within a 12 month period, not a calendar year.

Immigration are now looking at the history of VE entries within a certain period as well as the total number of days spent within a year, again not a calendar year as before.

The only way to circumvent the new rules are to use an agent.

Got it, thanks!

59 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

He got his previous 60-day extension at the end of last December.

Think about it. He obtained 60 extension in Dec. Most likely from visa exempt entry. So that's 4 months minimum.

Now planning what? Another ve entry + 60 extension to visit wife?

Your friend needs change of plan.

16 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Think about it. He obtained 60 extension in Dec. Most likely from visa exempt entry. So that's 4 months minimum.

Now planning what? Another ve entry + 60 extension to visit wife?

As I understand it Jack, his friend entered VE around Sept 2025 VE + 30 day ext in Nov, followed by a 60 day ext in Dec, then another VE entry in Feb and looking at a further 30 day ext in April, followed by a further 60 day ext.

If correct he has already been allowed to consecutively stay for 210 days.

Perhaps @rattlesnake can confirm.

39 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Think about it. He obtained 60 extension in Dec. Most likely from visa exempt entry. So that's 4 months minimum.

Now planning what? Another ve entry + 60 extension to visit wife?

Your friend needs change of plan.

He wasn't initially planning on staying this long (not a long-term Thai expat), but I agree it is tedious. He could even have obtained a tourist visa and that would have worked out fine, but he was under the impression that it was now possible to do back-to-back visa runs with no problems (and if I recall correctly, the Thai authorities did imply this a while back before reverting their stance). Liquorice has got the timeline right in his above post.

23 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

As I understand it Jack, his friend entered VE around Sept 2025 VE + 30 day ext in Nov, followed by a 60 day ext in Dec, then another VE entry in Feb and looking at a further 30 day ext in April, followed by a further 60 day ext.

If correct he has already been allowed to consecutively stay for 210 days.

Perhaps @rattlesnake can confirm.

Yep, that's it. The second visa exempt entry was with a visa run company, not sure how it would have gone if he had done it himself.

I have told him (and showed him the announcements to prove it) that if he asks for a 30-day extension on this second entry, it will be denied and he will be given 7 days to leave. However, where there is a grey zone is whether or not he will be able to do a 60-day extension to visit his Thai wife, a second time in a row on a visa exempt (bearing in mind this one was by land whereas the first one was by air).

He is going to ask Hua Hin IO so I will post their answer once he tells me.

Okay, so here we have another perfect example of 'rules' being at the discretion of the various IOs.

The main protagonist of this thread went to Hua Hin IO this week, hoping to be granted a 60-day family visit extension on his second consecutive visa-exempt entry… and the staff there told him he should first get a 30-day one and then do the 60-day one. They were categorical that this was the way it should be done.

Their only criterion was that he mustn't have done any extensions in 2026. As his last one was in December 2025… no problem.

HH IO have therefore contradicted what I was adamant about (that you can't get a second 30-day extension on a second consecutive visa-exempt entry), and also what @Liquorice said (that the time frame taken into account is a 12-month window, not a calendar year).

So he's already been told by the authorities that he's good to stay for another 90 days visa-free, for a total of 300 days, without a frown or even a hint that it isn't right in any way. If (and I am willing to bet that it would be the case) he was able to do another border run after that, he could potentially do a year of visa-free stay.

Edited April 27Apr 27 by rattlesnake

2 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

If (and I am willing to bet that it would be the case) he was able to do another border run after that, he could potentially do a year of visa-free stay

What is the point of the thread.

Just to demonstrate that with Thailand's flexible visa exempt + visit wife extension + visa exempt extension etc someone can play the system?

The point? Better to obtain an more appropriate visa, option.

2 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

The main protagonist of this thread went to Hua Hin IO this week, hoping to be granted a 60-day family visit extension on his second consecutive visa-exempt entry… and the staff there told him he should first get a 30-day one and then do the 60-day one. They were categorical that this was the way it should be done

The 30 day extension for visa exempt entry must be done first.

The 60 day extension to visit family is a different category to tourist visa so needs to be obtained after 30 day extension.

Soon visa exempt will be back to 30 days.

12 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

What is the point of the thread.

Just to demonstrate that with Thailand's flexible visa exempt + visit wife extension + visa exempt extension etc someone can play the system?

The point? Better to obtain an more appropriate visa, option.

The thread was initially a question to know whether a guy in a specific situation (which is nobody's business) could prolong his stay a little. We now have the answer.

Personally, I think there have been directions received from higher up to 'facilitate the free circulation of foreigners in the country', as it used to be more complicated than that.

6 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

The thread was initially a question to know whether a guy in a specific situation (which is nobody's business) could prolong his stay a little. We now have the answer

No. The game worked at HH immigration.

Certainly would not be the case at the other 75 immigration offices.

BTW: What does the "specific situation" have to do with anything.

2 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

No. The game worked at HH immigration.

Certainly would not be the case at the other 75 immigration offices.

BTW: What does the "specific situation" have to do with anything.

You are misreading this and shifting it to a bipolar opposition where one party defends 'playing the system' and the other (you) defends 'doing the right thing'.

I'm on a non-O myself and don't advocate for anything, I asked a straightforward question and we now have the answer.

3 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

I'm on a non-O myself and don't advocate for anything, I asked a straightforward question and we now have the answer.

The answer backed by one immigration office. Which amounts to very little.

Read earlier post from @BrandonJT (who gives expert advice) ..here.,

"After visa exempt changed to 60 days, many immigration offices stopped allowing the 60-day visiting Thai family extension if you entered visa exempt."

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

The answer backed by one immigration office. Which amounts to very little.

Read earlier post from @BrandonJT (who gives expert advice) ..here.,

"After visa exempt changed to 60 days, many immigration offices stopped allowing the 60-day visiting Thai family extension if you entered visa exempt."

I know but this specific situation pertained to HH as was clearly stated on March 29th:

On 3/29/2026 at 9:27 PM, rattlesnake said:

He is going to ask Hua Hin IO so I will post their answer once he tells me.

Are you saying I should have withheld this information and not posted it?

7 minutes ago, rattlesnake said:

Are you saying I should have withheld this information and not posted it?

One office counts for little.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1373792-visa-exempt-thai-wife-extend-30-or-60-days/

3 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

One office counts for little.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1373792-visa-exempt-thai-wife-extend-30-or-60-days/

No denying that. Was it worthwhile to mention that this is the way it happens in HH? If only for HH residents?

6 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

One office counts for little.

What do you think I meant when I said:

3 hours ago, rattlesnake said:

Okay, so here we have another perfect example of 'rules' being at the discretion of the various IOs.