30-day Entry Stamp Confusion About Maximum Length Of Stay

[truthordarrenta]

Hi, sorry if this question has been asked before. I've been reading everything I can and still am confused about the 90 day limit rule on the 30-day entry stamp.

USA Passport, 23 years old

I am interpreting this rule two ways depending on where I read about it. Please tell me which (if any) is the case:

1) You can stay for a maximum of 90 days in 6 months, regardless of how short each stay is (but maximum 30 days), and regardless of whether they are consecutive.

Example: You come to thailand once for 30 days, leave for a few weeks, come again for 30 days, leave for a few weeks, come again for 20 days, and then leave for a few weeks. Does this only leave you with 10 days if you come for a fourth time, since you already "spent" 80 days already in the last 6 months?

2) The rule only applies to 3 consecutive 30-day stays.

Example: You stay 30 days, do a visa run, stay 30 days, do a visa run, stay 30 days, then have to stay out of the country for 90 days, because it's your third consecutive 30-day stamp.

So, basically, do they count the number of days stayed in Thailand in the past 6 months, or only count consecutive 30-day stays, or something else completely different?

Thanks

[Crossy]

Your option 1 is correct, a TOTAL of 90 days in any 6 month period.

[sweetchariot]

You are correct in number 1 above, its the total number of days in a 6 month period.

Edit - apologies for duplicating, Crossy beat me to it

Edited January 29, 2008 by sweetchariot

[PhilHarries]

There is a twist to all this that has been discussed many times before. Your date of first entry starts the 6 month clock ticking. Therefore taking your scenario and assuming, for simplicity, you first enter Thailand January 1st. Your six month period ends 30th June and if you arrive back for your final ten days on 25th June you'll only get a permitted stay to 30th June. Then you'll have to leave Thailand for one night re-entering 1st July when you start all over again with up to a 30 day stay.

Confusing? You bet.

[bkm]

Yes, I'm confused :-(. You say that he has 10 days left on his 180-day quota when he arrives back Thailand on 25 June. Why would he be given only 5 days stay then when he has 10 days left? Pls explain....

This is my situation... 38, American & living in the Philippines cuz frankly all this Thai visa stuff gives me a headache and I took the easy way out. There's no website called philsvisa.com so that gives you an idea on how easy it is to stay here long time without leaving all da time. However, of course I'd rather live in the LOS which I plan to do once I hit 50. But in the meantime I plan to go LOS every month or so on short trips just using my passport (no visas or anything like that). So are ya'll telling me that I need to keep track of the lengths of my monthly trips starting with the very first one and then as soon as 6 month passes from that very first entry, my clock hits 0 again and I can stay 90 days again during the next 6 months? Or is the 6 months quota thing rolling and I just have to be sure I haven't stayed past 90 days in the any previous 6 month period? I did a search on this subject but came up empty (probably entered worng keywords). Is there a sticky or long posting thread that exactly explains the rules of the 90 days stay in a 6 month period thing? Please dircect me here, I'm lost in da phils. THanks for your time, bkm

[jstumbo]

There is a twist to all this that has been discussed many times before. Your date of first entry starts the 6 month clock ticking. Therefore taking your scenario and assuming, for simplicity, you first enter Thailand January 1st. Your six month period ends 30th June and if you arrive back for your final ten days on 25th June you'll only get a permitted stay to 30th June. Then you'll have to leave Thailand for one night re-entering 1st July when you start all over again with up to a 30 day stay.

Confusing? You bet.

I don't believe this is true. If this was true, it would be impossible. A person comes on Jan 1 2007, stays 2 days. Then they come back June 30th, one day before the 6 months ends. Having only spent only two days in Thailand ever. You are saying that they would only let them stay for one day? I remember hearing a little about this when they first started this, but I though it was disproved and was just a matter of the immigration agent not understanding the new policy.

[jstumbo]

So are ya'll telling me that I need to keep track of the lengths of my monthly trips starting with the very first one and then as soon as 6 month passes from that very first entry, my clock hits 0 again and I can stay 90 days again during the next 6 months? Or is the 6 months quota thing rolling and I just have to be sure I haven't stayed past 90 days in the any previous 6 month period?

It is supposed to be 6 months from your first entry. But an easy way to figure it is to just to figure it as a 6 month rolling thing. If you have not used more than 90 days in the last 6 months, you will be ok. Theoretically you could come on the last 90 days of one period, and then turn around and use the first 90 days of the next period. But I am not sure that all the immigration guys figure it the same way and they might have a problem if you tried it.

The whole 6 month from the first date is really a bad way to do it. My passport has over 40 stamps for Thailand. If they had to go through them all and figure out when my first one was, they would take forever. I have a b visa, so they do not need to do it, but it would be a mess if they did, especially because I have added several sets of pages to my passport, so the stamps are all out of order.

Edited February 7, 2008 by jstumbo