Hello folks. I have an issue here. My son (18 yr old) has an Non-Imm ED visa and we travelled to Malaysia for a little R & R. We obtained a proper single re-entry permit, although the dates we put on the permit and the dates we actually went were a few days off. The permit was valid until August.

My question and dilemma: was the re-entry permit valid only for specific dates and destinations? I would think not, but immigration at Suvarnabhumi cancelled his visa (was valid until Jan 2010) and stamped him in under a 30-day tourist visa. We showed the re-entry permit, and noted the number on the entry form, dotted all t's and crossed all i's as far as I can tell. Unfortunately didn't pay close enough attention while at the counter.

What can we do about re-instating the ED visa, if at all possible. Do we have to go through the entire process again?

We are getting conflicting opinions from our corporate immigration lawyer and Whalen, where he's enrolled.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Jeff

A Re Entry Permit is valid up until the expiry date of his current permission to stay stamp in his passport. Whatever his permission to stay stamp was when he exited is what he will be given when he returned.

Or should have.

If his permission to stay was valid until January 2010 that is what he should have got at the airport.

The key is the permission to stay stamp in his passport when he left Thailand.

Maybe the officer did not see his Re Entry Permit.

Go to Suan Plu immigration, or your local immigraiton office and explain that he was given the wrong stamp. They might try and send him back to the airport, because the mistake was made there.

Wouldn't be the first time this happens and is normaly not a problem. That is, if it was a mistake. If they not only stamped him in with 30 days but also actualy cancelled his ED, it would be a different story.

The immigration officer made a mistake it happens all the time he might of just picked up the wrong stamp.

There is no dates on a re-entry permit other than it's experation date. What you put on the application does not matter.

You need to go to an immigration office and get it sorted out.

I have this problem all the time.

Usually Its just you have to enter your visa number correctly on the arrival card.

These guys go through thousands of passengers in a day and often overlook the correct visa page or misuse the date. Otherwise they just stamp you 30 days.

Just go to the suan phlu immigration dept before your 30 days expire to be sure. They can make changes there without having to go to the airport.

If there is a problem its best to just get another education visa. Just bring a letter from the school and pay the 1700 baht.

Hello folks. I have an issue here. My son (18 yr old) has an Non-Imm ED visa and we travelled to Malaysia for a little R & R. We obtained a proper single re-entry permit, although the dates we put on the permit and the dates we actually went were a few days off. The permit was valid until August.

My question and dilemma: was the re-entry permit valid only for specific dates and destinations? I would think not, but immigration at Suvarnabhumi cancelled his visa (was valid until Jan 2010) and stamped him in under a 30-day tourist visa. We showed the re-entry permit, and noted the number on the entry form, dotted all t's and crossed all i's as far as I can tell. Unfortunately didn't pay close enough attention while at the counter.

What can we do about re-instating the ED visa, if at all possible. Do we have to go through the entire process again?

We are getting conflicting opinions from our corporate immigration lawyer and Whalen, where he's enrolled.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Jeff

The same thing happened to our son... They put the wrong stamp!! You must go to the Bangkok Immigraion and have the correct stamp. Obviously this is a common accurence as they have a special booth with the sign "WRONG STAMP" - TIT :-) .

The funny thing was after they gave us a new stamp... my partner check it and it was again the wrong date :-).... no apology from the officer just a silly grin and re-stamp it with the correct date - TIT!!

Thanks for the advice, maybe I hit the panic button a little early. Suan Plu indeed does have a separate counter for stamp corrections!

So glad this is such a common problem..........

JB