Got this from them on email this morning...

"Please note that with effect from Saturday 06 December 2008 any person eligible to enter Thailand under the "Visa Exemption Rule" will be granted a maximum stay of 30 days only if entering Thailand via an international airport. Persons entering Thailand through a land border checkpoint from a neighboring country will be granted a maximum stay of just 15 days.

Any person intending to enter Thailand under the "Visa Exemption Rule" for a stay of either 30 days or 15 days must:-

a)hold a valid passport of any of the 48 countries which are a signatory to the "Visa Exemption

Rule" including:

Australia Austria Bahrain Belgium Canada

Denmark Finland France Germany Greece

Iceland Ireland Italy Luxembourg Monaco

Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal South Africa

Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States

b)be visiting for tourism purposes only. It is not possible to enter Thailand under the "Visa Exemption Rule" with the intention of working.

c)hold a confirmed flight ticket to show they will be exiting Thailand within 30 days or 15 days of entry, as

appropriate.

Persons who do not meet conditions 'a', 'b' and 'c' above can no longer expect to be allowed to enter Thailand under the "Visa Exemption Rule". They may find they will not even be allowed to board their flight to Thailand.

Accordingly persons are advised to obtain a visa appropriate to their purpose of visit and length of stay.

There is also another rule to take into account which says that a person wishing to enter Thailand under the "Visa Exemption Rule" will not be allowed to spend more that a total of 90 days in the Kingdom in any six month period. These days include the day of entry and the day of exit. If exiting and re-entering Thailand on the same day, that day will count twice.

UK Travel Documents

A person wishing to travel to Thailand on a "UK Travel Document" (blue cover), a "UK Certificate of Identity" (brown cover) or a "British National Overseas Passport" (brown cover), whatever their nationality, can not enter Thailand under the "Visa Exemption Rule". "

I wouldn't be surprised if they're completely wrong about their own rules. It's not unkown for them to be wrong, afterall.

EDIT: It's now been updated on their website too.

Apologies if this has already been discussed elsewhere. Couldn't see it.

Edited December 10, 200817 yr by ThaiRack

Utter farce as usual-must say my patience in light of ongoing problems is about to expire.

Trip number 138 could well be one of the very last for me.

Chivas

As much as we love the Hull Thai Consulate. A lot of the info. on their website has always been wrong.

This is what they say.

It seems the Oz government has issued the similar advice.

From http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Aust-Govt-Is...-V-t228663.html

"Tourists who reside in Thailand for 90 days must depart Thailand for at least 90 days before they will be permitted to re-enter Thailand, unless they obtain a valid visa at a Thai Embassy or Consulate in another country outside Thailand."

Confusion reigns

Edited December 10, 200817 yr by Farma

Confusion reigns

Same-same but different.

No confusion here on TV. We know what the new rules are.

The 90 day rule is gone gone gone.

No confusion here on TV. We know what the new rules are.

The 90 day rule is gone gone gone.

Yes. The Red Card.

Hi not sure if i'm in the right thread or not, sorry if I should look for answers elsewhere.

My wife and I both British, currently have a retirment visa which expires at the end of this month I don't have the funds in the bank to do this again.

I thought of going to Penang to get another multi entry non immigrant o visa, is this possble?

any advice would be most appreciated.

Zimmy

The 90/180 rule is really a moot point now for most as 15 day visa runs or flying out every 30 days are both totally impractical and expensive options.

On a humorous note, the owner of my visa run company told me yesterday that I can now stay as long as I like doing 15 day visa runs and I wouldn't need to purchase a 200 baht "transportation ticket" at Ban Laem.

Perhaps he actually thinks (or hopes) that we will start doing visa runs every fortnight. That's only 26 days wasted in the bus and 52k per annum.

Hi not sure if i'm in the right thread or not, sorry if I should look for answers elsewhere.

My wife and I both British, currently have a retirment visa which expires at the end of this month I don't have the funds in the bank to do this again.

I thought of going to Penang to get another multi entry non immigrant o visa, is this possble?

any advice would be most appreciated.

Zimmy

Have you looked at all possible options. Do you have any income/savings that could be used to get an income letter from the embassy/consulate. You could mix the annual total of that income with a bank deposit to reach the 800,000 baht mark. Also it does not have to be in the bank for 3 months that way.

I don't recall any reports of getting a multiple entry non-o for retirement at Penang. I have seen reports of it being done for marriage using an agent. Why not send an email to this guest house and ask them if it is possible they have helped those getting a marriage extension before and reply to emails promptly.

http://www.banananewguesthouse.com/

You can get a single entry at most consulates.

If you are unable to get a multiple O then you might consider getting a 2 entry tourist visa from Vientiane. That would allow you to stay for 60 and then get an extension for 30 days at immigration giving 90 days total for each entry. Then you would do a border run and use the 2nd entry and repeat the 60 + 30.

Edited December 11, 200817 yr by ubonjoe

Just a bit more proof that our friends at the consulate in Hull are wrong - there are notices on the walls at Satun immigration office to say that there are now no limits on the amount of times you can re-enter Thailand under the visa exemption rule.

I think we can put this thread to bed now.

I agree.

If anyone finds there is a limit on border runs please start a new thread.

This one is CLOSED.