Two-month Tourist Visa Will Expire Soon. I Want To Stay In Bangkok. What Are My Options?

[muaythaiking666]

Hello, everyone!

This is my first post. I've been reading through many of the threads and they have been very helpful. Thank you!

I came here with quite a bit of money so I don't plan to work here full-time, maybe just a bit of freelancing for extra spending money. I have been in Bangkok for nearly two months on a two-month tourist Visa but my visa expires soon. I hope to stay here for another 3 to 6 months What are my best options for staying here for another 3 to 6 months? There are two options that I am aware of:

option #1 - go on a visa run to get 30 day entry permit (about 2000 baht). I believe I can do this for three months since my two month tourist visa does not count towards the 90 out of 180 days (correct me if I'm wrong). With this option, I believe I would have to leave Thailand in 3 months. With this option, I would need to do 3 visa runs (cost=2000*3=6000 baht)

option #2 - get another two-month tourist visa. Does anyone know how much this would cost and how long I would need to wait to get this tourist visa? Has anyone had problems with doing a two month tourist visa run? What do I need for this visa run as compared to the 30-day entry visa run? After the two month visa, then I can start doing the 30 day entry permits for another 90 days, right? (again, please correct me if I'm wrong). My main concern with the two month tourist visa run is cost and time and problems associated with getting another tourist visa (I was told they may not provide another two month visa).

option #3 - Does anyone know any better options?

Sorry for the long post. I tried to make it as clear as possible in order for someone to help me out. I'm a little stressed right now and would appreciate some advice from those who've been there.

Thanks a bunch,

-Serge

[jstumbo]

Go to immigration and you can get an 30 day extension of stay to your tourist visa. Then when it is ready to expire, you go to Vientiane Laos and apply for a double entry tourist visa. This will allow you to come in and stay for 60 days, extend for 30 more, then make a border run and stay another 60 days and extend for another 30 days.

Just make sure that you make both entries prior to the "enter before" date on the visa, even if you have to leave a little earlier than you want for your border run. Remember, you need to enter before that date, not on that date.

You apply for the visa in the morning at the embassy, and come back the next afternoon to pick up your visa. So you have to spend at least one night there. Right now Vientiane Laos is the best bet for a tourist visa. Some of the other local embassies/consulates are hard to get a visa.

[muaythaiking666]

Go to immigration and you can get an 30 day extension of stay to your tourist visa. Then when it is ready to expire, you go to Vientiane Laos and apply for a double entry tourist visa. This will allow you to come in and stay for 60 days, extend for 30 more, then make a border run and stay another 60 days and extend for another 30 days.

Just make sure that you make both entries prior to the "enter before" date on the visa, even if you have to leave a little earlier than you want for your border run. Remember, you need to enter before that date, not on that date.

You apply for the visa in the morning at the embassy, and come back the next afternoon to pick up your visa. So you have to spend at least one night there. Right now Vientiane Laos is the best bet for a tourist visa. Some of the other local embassies/consulates are hard to get a visa.

Awesome, man! Thanks for your help! Any idea how much is costs to get a double entry tourist visa? How much does the 30 day extension cost? Also, after this double entry tourist visa expires, I can still do the 90 out of 180 days with the entry permit? Or does the 30 day extensions count towards my 90 days out of 180?

It sounds like a lot of visa runs but I guess there's no way around it. Someone else mentioned a student visa where you pay about 23000 baht for thai lessons and you get a one-year student visa for free. Calculating all the visa runs and costs associated with it, this might be a better bet, and I'd be learning thai for a year. Have you (or anyone else reading this post) heard anything about this student visa?

Again, thanks for your help.

[Buzby]

The 30 day extension is 1900 Baht. Not sure about Cost of Double entry???

[jstumbo]

Extensions of stay go with the type of entry that you had that you extended. So if it was on a visa, then it would not count towards the total. You can however get an extension of stay on a 30 day visa exempt entry of 7 days, and then it would count towards your 90 days.

The student visa is a good way to go if you have the money and do not want to have to leave the country. Plus it is a good thing to learn some Thai. Usually though the cost of the school does not include the cost of the visa. So you would need to sign up for the classes, then make a visa run to a consulate in the area. Pay for your own visa and return to Thailand. You will probably only get a 90 visa. Then you get paperwork from the school every 90 days showing that you are still enrolled and in attendance and you take it in and can extend your visa for another 90 days at immigration. You need to pay 1900 baht for this extension each time. So cost wise, you are paying a lot more for using a student visa.

[tropo]

The 30 day extension is 1900 Baht. Not sure about Cost of Double entry???

A double-entry tourist visa costs 2000 baht in Vientiane.