90 Day Limit On Entry Stamp Visa

[vatti]

Hi everyone,

I have a visa question related to the 90 day limit on entry stamp visas. I'm sure it's really straightforward, but I couldn't manage to find the answer despite a few hours of online research. Here goes:

I first came to Thailand on Dec 5 2007 on a 30-day entry stamp visa, have stayed continuously except for a week spent in Malaysia. I've been on a couple of visa runs during this time, as well as two 7-day extensions. My latest extension runs out this weekend and I was planning to leave for home, but circumstances have arisen that make me want to stay a bit longer. But I don't know what exactly can be done, seeing that I'm nearing the 90 day limit.

If I do a visa run to the Cambodian border, for example, will they give me another 30 days? Because if they do, that will mean I would have been given permission stay longer than 90 days in six months. Or will they refuse me entry altogether? Or will they count the number of days I have left of my 90 day allowance, and if so, will they take into account the week I spent in Malaysia, or just count 90 days from Dec 5?

I hope that put it clearly.

I'm aware that going to a nearby capital and applying for a tourist visa is an option, but all I have in mind at the moment is another couple of weeks. That said, I do want to keep the tourist visa option open--so here's another question. Will out staying my 90 day stamp visa allowance affect my chances of getting a 2 month tourist visa in the near future?

Any thoughts from the visa veterans would be very welcome.

Cheers

[Crossy]

The limit is 90 days in Thailand in a six month period from your first entry, any time spent outside the country does not count.

Without knowing your exact dates it's difficult to give a definitive answer, but I suspect you're pretty near the limit.

Let us have your entry and exit dates together with the dates covered by the extensions and we will try to come up with a definitive answer

The 7 day extensions DO NOT (AFAIK) count towards the 90 days in 6 months (others may correct me).

Edited February 25, 2008 by Crossy

[vatti]

Thanks for your reply Crossy,

I've got my passport out, and here are the dates stamped in it:

6 Dec 07 - Entry at Suvarnabhumi Airport

4 Jan 08 - 7 day extension at immigration office in BKK, to Jan 11

11 Jan 08 - Exit into Malaysia at Padang Besar

17 Jan 08 - Entry into Thailand at Satun

25 Jan 08 - Exit/Reentry into Thailand at Sadao

(I still had more days valid on my visa, but just went along with a friend)

22 Feb 08 - 7 day extension at immigration office in BKK, giving me permission to stay until Mar 1

I hope this sheds some light on the issue. Not really sure when the 90 day limit is, but do you think they will let me back in at a border crossing if I tried a visa run?

Cheers again

[Maestro]

...The 7 day extensions DO NOT (AFAIK) count towards the 90 days in 6 months (others may correct me).

I believe they do count.

--

Maestro

[Lite Beer]

...The 7 day extensions DO NOT (AFAIK) count towards the 90 days in 6 months (others may correct me).

I believe they do count.

--

Maestro

If that is the case , on my reckoning he will get until around 12th March.

Hopefully there are better mathematicians here than me.

Go get a Visa and save the headache.

[vatti]

Thanks for the input guys. Seems the general consensus is that I won't be thrown out at the border, which is a relief!

But I might take your advice and go for a tourist visa afterall.

Cheers again

[jstumbo]

Thanks for your reply Crossy,

I've got my passport out, and here are the dates stamped in it:

6 Dec 07 - Entry at Suvarnabhumi Airport

4 Jan 08 - 7 day extension at immigration office in BKK, to Jan 11

11 Jan 08 - Exit into Malaysia at Padang Besar

17 Jan 08 - Entry into Thailand at Satun

25 Jan 08 - Exit/Reentry into Thailand at Sadao

(I still had more days valid on my visa, but just went along with a friend)

22 Feb 08 - 7 day extension at immigration office in BKK, giving me permission to stay until Mar 1

Bys my count when you leave on Mar 1, you will have used 83 days. That means that you will only have 7 days remaining, which would get you to Mar 7.

[Maestro]

[vatti]

OK--a visa run for 2 weeks would have been worth it, but not if it's just for another week.

I'll consider my other options. Thanks everyone for all your hard counting.

[neion2000]

Maestro, or anyone that get shed some light..

I keep hearing different rules concerning when you can return after you have completed 90 days in a 6 month period..

In Vatti's situation, lets say he does the 7 days to get the total amount of 90 days... When can he return after he departs Thailand? I've heard different things, which this is my understanding of how it works.. For Vatti, when he arrived in Thailand on 6 Dec, that's when the clock started towards the 6 months.. So he would be able to return to Thailand in July??

Another example... Let's say someone arrived on 01 January... They complete 90 days, broken up into 30 day periods, 30 days in January, 30 days in March and 30 days in June.. So that first 6 month period is from 01 Jan to 30 Jun.. Would they be able to start the new count of 90 days on 01 Jul??? Or is it, that you need to leave the country for 6 months straight?

Which does not make any sense to me, cuz I'm looking at what I normally do, which is 60 days a shot... Let's say I stay in Thailand from 01 March to 30 April (60 days) then return on 01 Sep for (30 days), that would make 60 days in 6 months - (01 April to 30 Sep)... or 90 days in 7 months (01 Mar to 30 Sep).. So, March would fall off towards the 6 months??

I've actually done something exactly like this last year.. I had a 5 month break from my first 60 days, to my second 60 days in 12 months.. I was worried the entire trip, from customs on arrival to the border run.. According to the travel agent, upon my border run request to get my second 30 day visa stamp, she said I would be able to do another border run.. I don't know if I'm just lucking out, and if I do this again, will I get screwed??

What's the real deal... I'm so confused...

[jstumbo]

It is supposed to be six month periods. So theoretically, if you came for the first time on Jan 1 for one day, that would start your 6 month period. Then you could come back for your other 89 days right before that period ended on June 30. That would complete a 6 month period. You then could remain for another 90 days right away, which would be for the second 6 month period. Which would mean that you would essentially be staying here for ~6 months straight using visa exempt stamps.

I am not sure that I would trust that the border agent would count it this way and not just count back 6 months in your passport and add up the days. In my passport, I have around 75+ entries into Thailand in the last 3+ years. They are all out of order, since I have added extra pages to my passport 3 times. I have a business visa, but if I was coming in on a visa exempt entry, It would take the immigration agent a long time to sift through my passport, trying to find out when I first came after they started the new procedure. Then he would have to figure out when my current 6 month period started, and then he would have to go back through my passport again and find all of the entry stamps during that period, counting up the days.

There were even a few reports when they first started this where someone would come for 30 days, starting their 6 month period. Then they come again a week before the end of the 6 month period and the border agent would only give them one week, saying that their 6 month period would be up in a week, so that was all they could give them, and they needed to do a border run again in a week when the new 6 month period started. I think this was just confusion on the part of the border agent because if they did it this way, then if a person came for one day, starting their 6 month period, and then came again one day before the 6 month ended, they would only stamp them in for one day, and they would need to make a border run. That would be just crazy. Hopefully it was just a confused border agent. But then again, If you get an entry that spans the end of the 6 month period, how do they count it when they are counting up the days? Do they figure out how many of the days for that visit counted on the previous 6 months and how many count for the current 6 months?

I think that it is probably enforced differently in different border posts. I was at immigration a week or so ago, and saw a sign that clearly said that it was 90 days in a 6 month period. The recently someone posted a link to a q&a section in a Pattaya newspaper where some official at the immigration office there said that it was 90 days in 180 days.

To be safe, just figure back 6 months, and make sure you are not over 90 days, then that way, no matter how they want to count it, you would be ok.

Edited February 25, 2008 by jstumbo

[neion2000]

I think that it is probably enforced differently in different border posts. I was at immigration a week or so ago, and saw a sign that clearly said that it was 90 days in a 6 month period. The recently someone posted a link to a q&a section in a Pattaya newspaper where some official at the immigration office there said that it was 90 days in 180 days.

To be safe, just figure back 6 months, and make sure you are not over 90 days, then that way, no matter how they want to count it, you would be ok.

Thank you very much for the explanation...