Single Entry O Visa Question

[phildavid]

My wife and I are here volunteering with a foundation for a year. We applied for and got a 12 month single entry* visa and arrived in September, but (without thinking it through) hopped over the Burmese border to explore for an hour in Mae Sai. Upon return, we were given the usual 30 day stamp with an "admitted until" date — which we then realized might have invalidated our original visa.

Can anyone tell me if our original visa might still be valid? Or did we screw ourselves by crossing the border?

*I also realize now that we may have misunderstood from the start, and that there might not be such a thing as a 12 month single entry (they didn't give us an "admitted until" date when we arrived, so I never thought about it). We just happened to go to Mae Sai on our 90th day, so this might all be a blessing in disguise.

Thanks for the help..

[Jingthing]

Or did we screw ourselves by crossing the border?

Sorry, I do believe you are screwed. You will need to look into getting new visas in Laos. Double entry tourist visas will be easy. Others can advice if you can get a new O on Vientianne or Penang.

[Lite Beer]

Yes. There is no such thing as a single entry 1 year Visa. You were lucky to get 30 days as the rule has just changed to 15.

As said you can go to Vientiane Laos and get a Double Entry Tourist Visa from the Thai Consulate.

With extension this will give you almost 6 months.

[Lite Beer]

Why don't you see if you can get a 12 month extension from Immigration because of working for a foundation.

This is the rule. 2.21 In the case of working

for a public charity organization, private foreign organization, foundation,

association, Foreign Chamber of Commerce, Thailand Board of Trade, or

Thailand Federation

of Industries:

Permission will be granted for a period of not more than 1 year at a time.

In the absence of the official

confirmation set out in clause (3), permission will be granted for a period of not more than 90 days at a time.

(1) The alien has obtained a temporary visa (NON-IM);

(2) Confirmation and request has been made by the authorized

officer or head of that organization; and/or

(3) Confirmation and request has been made by the chief

government officer division level or equivalent and higher or chief of state enterprise or other chief of government agency who deals with that organization

[phildavid]

Thanks everyone. Guess there was a stroke of luck in taking our Mae Sai trip on the 90th day. I'll just pretend we knew what we were doing the whole time.