Visa Start / End Dates Flexible?

[scottydel]

Hello,

I'm a 34-year-old American male. I'm currently planning on entering Thailand on Jan 17th, as that is when my flight arrives. However, there is an off chance that my current job in the US will be extended 1-2 months, and I would have to change my flight and enter the country in Feb. or March. I plan on applying for a Visa from the US consulate as soon as possible (when they re-open after the holidays). I have a 2-year-old son living in Thailand, and I'm going to apply for a non-imm visa, hoping to be able to stay for a year.

My questions is this: Assuming I am successful in obtaining a 12-month visa (might be a big assumption I'm not sure), and when I applied for that visa I submitted my airline ticket showing I would enter the country on Jan 17th, if my job ends up getting extended and I change my flight, and enter the country on, say, March 5th on another flight, what would happen to my original visa? Would it still be valid/usable? Would I have to cancel it and apply for a new one with the new flight info? Are there a certain # of grace days that you have to use your visa by before it cannot be used?

Any thoughts at all on when non-imm visas start/end/expire, or what the consequences might be of coming in on a different/later flight than originally stated on the visa application, would be greatly appreciated. Even thoughts on which visa I should apply for would be helpful too. FYI, the mother is a Thai national, and we are not married. I have proof that my son is mine from the US Embassy in Bangkok (US Report of Birth Abroad), a copy of his Thai Birth Certificate, and he already has dual citizenship (US and Thai) and a US passport.

Thanks much!

-Scott

[Jingthing]

You need to START to use your O visa within 90 days of issuance. This date will be on your visa. Once the visa is issued, the expiration date for first use will be set and not changeable. There is no problem at all with changing the flight dates you state on the application as long as you enter Thailand before the expiration date of the visa.

[scottydel]

You need to START to use your O visa within 90 days of issuance. This date will be on your visa. Once the visa is issued, the expiration date for first use will be set and not changeable. There is no problem at all with changing the flight dates you state on the application as long as you enter Thailand before the expiration date of the visa.

Jingthing,

Thank you very much for the info. That's great to hear and makes things easier than I was anticipating.

-Scott

[ubonjoe]

I plan on applying for a Visa from the US consulate as soon as possible (when they re-open after the holidays). I have a 2-year-old son living in Thailand, and I'm going to apply for a non-imm visa, hoping to be able to stay for a year.

You don't have to apply so soon it only takes 3 or 4 days to get the visa by over night delivery service. Next day if you do a walk in. The honorary consulates give the best service. I don't know which consulate you plan on using. For a list of honorary consulates use the pull down menu near the top of this page of the DC embassy website. Link: http://www.thaiembdc.org/AboutEmb/EmbDirect.aspx

If you get multiple entry visa every day you don't use it is a day that you loose at the end of it to make your last entry.

After you get here you could apply for a one year extension of stay to support your child. You then would not have to make border runs every 90 days. You just need to be able to show an income of 40,000 baht per month or have 400,000 baht in the bank.

[Maestro]

You need to START to use your O visa within 90 days of issuance. This date will be on your visa. Once the visa is issued, the expiration date for first use will be set and not changeable

If it is a single-entry non-O visa it will be valid for travel to Thailand within 90 days from the date of issue of the visa.

If it is for multiple entries, it will be valid for an unlimited number of entries within one year and it is not necessary to make the first arrival in Thailand within 90 days from the date of issue.

--

Maestro

[astral]

If you are planning on the multi-entry I would leave the application for a few days until your work plans are firm.

It will be a pity to waste 2 months of the validity of the visa whilst you are still in the US especially as you want to

maximise your stay to one year.