30-day Stamp On Arrival

[karTER]

We will be leaving BKK at the end of the week (6th November) having stayed on a 60-day, single entry tourist visa for pretty much the full entitlement (58 days). This is the second such visa we have entered on in probably the last 15 months and on both occasions we have obtained them from Georgetown, Malaysia (the last one was free, which was a bonus).

In that 15-month period, we have also returned on perhaps three occasions via the 30 day exempt stamp and have so far not had a problem.

Leaving BKK we then meet up with wifey's mum for a week in Cambodia before flying back to BKK for another week- it'll be her first visit (she's 71) and she's very excited. Then we all fly back to KL, she goes back to the UK and we fly onto Borneo for another fortnight. Thereafter, we will be flying in to BKK again, around the 8th December for another thirty day exempt stamp, before we fly out to Indonesia for a month (January 2010).

We then wish to spend February 2010 back in BKK, before we head off to Oz and thereafter we will be travelling around for a couple of months or so, and don't plan on coming back to Thailand until the summer.

The question is, will this itinerary cause us problems flying in and out of the Kingdom? Has anyone ever been refused a 30 day exempt stamp?

Wifey and I are in our mid-forties, on full UK passports* and have never worked in Thailand (nor do we wish to)- we have sufficient funds to cover our needs.

Sorry about the protracted question(s) but having browsed the forum recently, I just wonder if we may be in for a nasty shock with our "to-ing and fro-ing" and possibly be refused entry? Appreciate any help on this one and apologies if this has been covered elsewhere- I did look but couldn't find anything close to our situation.

*We also need to renew our passports as they are nearly full and will be doing this in BKK in December.

[Mario2008]

I can see no problem with your itinerary, especially if you buy the tickets in advance. The airline can refuse you boarding if you don't have a visa OR a ticket out of the country within 30 days.

[thaiphoon]

There is no restriction on the number of 30 day visa exempt entries. Your airline may, however, ask for sight of air ticket out of the country within 30 days, but often not asked for within the region.

After renewing passport you will need to go to Thai immigration to get your permission to stay stamp transferred to your new passport (you can't leave with entry stamp in expired/cancelled passport). It is free.

[siamjj]

you will have no problem at all.many people here at tv try to flirt the system to stay forever but you will have no problem.

[karTER]

Gentlemen (I assume?), you have just made me feel much more relieved. Thank you for taking the time to trawl through my dribblings and responding so swiftly.

Yes, all tickets are already booked and we have onward flights and hotels booked for all stays this year and this will be the case for 2010 too.

We do love Thailand and in particular Bangkok and always do what is legal and right as we hope to continue to drop in every few months whilst we spend the next year travelling around the rest of the SE Asian countries we haven't seen so far.

As to transferring the 30 day stamp onto our new passport next visit, I've already asked this and been expertly advised on what to do and where to go, but thanks again.