'O" Visa By Post

[nong38]

Hello can you help me help an expat with a query, His visa has expired and needs to get another 'O' visa can this be done by post ? UK expat does it have to go to Hull consul? With a multi entry visa is it just 90 days or is there a 180 day version. Thanks for any help that may be forthcoming.

[beechguy]

Multi entry is one year, single entry is 90 days, and he cannot post from Thailand. but could return to Hull or Perth, Australia if applying and not married to a Thai or some other basis..

Edited August 31, 2010 by beechguy

[Lite Beer]

Perth would be the only choice in the area if applying for visiting friends.

It closes in October though.

[Rama]

He can do it by post to Hull if he is in the EU. Otherwise, no. Mailing your passport from within Thailand to another country for a thai visa is illegal. A sharp eyed immigration officer will spot that there is no exit stamp and will fine for overstay and blacklist.

[IMA_FARANG]

The first problem is that you say "his visa is expired and he needs to get another".... First he has to deal with the expired visa thing. He needs to leave the country, pay any fine for overstay, and get a new visa to return to Thailand. But be warned, he probably won't be able to get a "O" visa in Thailand.

In order to give good advice we need to know some more detils about his situation. Is he married to a Thai? If so he might be able to get a visa to return to Thailand by showing his marriage papers. If he is over 50 he might be able to get a visa and apply to stay in Thailand on a retirement extension. But without more details, it's hard to advise him what to do.

But first of all, if he wants to stay in Thailand, he must leave, pay any fine for overstay, then try for (just as an example) a 60 day tourist visa in Vientianne, Laos. Once he had that he would have 60 days (plus a 30 day extension applied for in Thailand) which would give him time to decide what to do about another "O" visa if possible. But first, he has to deal with that expifred visa, and any overstay fees when he leaves the country.

Edited September 1, 2010 by IMA_FARANG

[Tod Daniels]

While I’m not thrilled to hafta agree with the poster known as “IMA_FARANG” , just as I’m sure he’s not thrilled with me being on the same side of the proverbial fence too ; I wholeheartedly agree, the "currently his visa is expired" dealy is a 'deal breaker' .

He has very few (as in ZERO options) other than exiting thailand, paying his overstay, and then attempting to secure another visa what ever the type in a neighboring country.

How about some info on this 'friend'?

Nationality:? possibly UK but not clear in your post

Age:?

Current expired visa: Non-O, Non-B, Tourist, what?

Situation: is he married to a thai, is he over 50, does he have the financial requirements to secure a yearly extension of stay? Is he a 'perpetual tourist' or a 'runner'?

What I am writing below doesn't violate ANY Thai Immigrations Laws, and could be a possibility as I know it is done routinely.

In theory;

Your friend could pay his overstay, exit thailand, and camp out in a neighboring country for a few weeks. He could post his passport to a friend in the UK via FedEx, DHL, with the proper application form for a visa from Hull, and have his friend in the UK forward it on to Hull with the return address being the friend's UK addy. Once the friend receives the passport back with the visa in it, he could post it back to what ever country your friend is holed-up in waiting for this all to transpire and he could then re-enter thailand on the new visa.

I know people who routinely go to Philippines, or Cambodia and do this year after year. As they already have a thai exit stamp, and they're NOT posting their passport from inside thailand, it does NOT violate ANY thai Immigration Law. Nor does Immigrations bat an eye or even notice that the visa from Hull was issued whilst the person was in a different country (as it is not spelled out in ANY thai immigration law that a person hasta secure a new visa from the thai embassy of what ever country he happens to be in).

Now whether hanging around in Cambodia or the Philippines without a passport in hand for 8 or 9 days violates any law in those countries, I couldn't and wouldn't hazard a guess. I'm sure other more illustrious posers <sic> err posters will weigh in on the legalities of this, cry foul, or cry it is not the intent of the law, which thankfully operates more by the letter than in a good spirited, fair type of take on things.

Last time I checked, I thought Hull was asking for an 'invite letter' from someone in thailand for a person to secure a Multi-Entry Non-Immigrant Type O visa, but I could be wrong on that.

I do know that passports hafta be posted either from a UK addy or an EU addy. (Even though I’m an American, I emailed Hull about hypothetically posting my passport from an EU country and they said fine, no problem; just allow more time in the post, ship it via a secure shipper, FedEx, DHL, etc and to make the cashiers check, money order payable in pounds.)

Good luck, hope your ‘friend’ gets sorted. What he doesn’t need is to get ‘caught out’ on an expired visa here in thailand. That is a “horse of a different color” altogether.

Edited September 1, 2010 by tod-daniels