Hello,

My family and I are living in Ao Nang Krabi from America on Multiple Entry Non-Immigrant B Visa (me) and O Visa (family - wife, 4 y/o son, and 1 y/o daughter). We are approaching our first 90 day mark in the country and as I understand from Immigration we must "leave the country". From my research this just means we have to exit the country, turn around and re-enter Thailand with an entry stamp. Since we plan on living here for a while we have purchased a Toyota Hiace mini-bus and my plan was to drive down to Malaysia in our own vehicle and then return (possibly with an overnight stay somewhere in the South or in Malaysia if needed). The vehicle is correctly registered in my name and I also have Thai insurance in case that matters.

So the help I am requesting:

1) I would like to know specifically what "leave the country" means to fulfill this requirement? (i.e. drive to Satun pick up 'x' cross border at 'y'...)

2) Will there be any issue driving my vehicle to accomplish this? I would prefer to do this than take a hired bus since I have kids if it is not a problem to do so.

3) What is the closest (reasonably safe) place from Krabi to accomplish this?

Thank you so much for your help. I know this is probably a totally newbie question, I just don't want to end up in Malaysia with my children and not know specifically what I am doing.

Blessings,

Jeremy

Cross any border. Enter the other Country. Turn round and come back again.

From your area I think most go to Ranong. Get stamped out of Thailand at Immigration. Travel across the river into Burma. Get stamped into Burma. Turn round and get stamped out. Cross the river and stamp into Thailand at Immigration.

A $10 bill is needed to enter Burma.

If you travel to Malaysia, no Visa is needed to enter. Motorcycle taxis will be waiting to take you round the checkpoints. All done in a few minutes.

Hat Yai would be a good place to stay the night.

The Ranong option is more fun. There are many boats waiting to take you across.

Thank you for the suggestion on Ranong. It seems via the map that Ranong is about the same distance as the border near Hat Yai so I wouldn't mind going there. Have you ever been to Ranong? Is it a nice place to stay over night?

Check out http://www.andamanclub.com/

They also will also handle your visa stamps.

Check out http://www.andamanclub.com/

They also will also handle your visa stamps.

looks like a nice place to stay, would that count as a visa run stamped out and into thailand again?

Check out http://www.andamanclub.com/

They also will also handle your visa stamps.

looks like a nice place to stay, would that count as a visa run stamped out and into thailand again?

Yes.

From the homepage:

The Immigration Office at the Ranong Pier will issue visitors with a border pass. The document required is an Identification Card for Thais and a Passport for foreigners. The office is open daily, from 08.30-17.00 hours. A representative from Andaman Club will escort you through Myanmar Immigration.

Edited September 8, 201015 yr by PoorSucker

For your more info.

You can get there on Ranong Downtown Map (See B6 grid line on the map)

http://members.multimania.co.uk/nara80/Map.html

Actually Google maps puts it at.

Krabi to Ranong 347k.

Krabi to Padang Besar 304k.

So Malaysia would be a little nearer and you do not need a Visa to enter.

The choice is yours though.

A lot of members do recommend the Andaman Club Ranong.

thanks poorsucker, may try that on next visa run.

Thank you for your assistance.

You don't need to bother with Club Andaman, you can do everything yourself.

You don't need a 'border pass' for Burma, but do allow a couple of hours to get there and back.

Burmese Immigration want you to provide them with a photocopy of the ID page from your passport along with the required ten dollar's worth of bills per person which must be in PRISTINE/BRAND NEW condition.

In Ranong there is now a 'one stop' passport control counter located at the long-tail pier in Ranong just being the Petrol Service Station on the right when you drive into the port area.

The border run process at Ranong is thus now a little quicker than it used to be, because you no longer need to go to the Thai immigration building on the main road. You can just park at the gas/petrol station, walk straight through to the border post (which is by the river front on the right of the actual pier) then negotiate a return price and catch a long tail direct to Burma. On the way back, you get stamped in at the pier border post and you are done.

Note that the long tails (and your hand baggage) often get checked by Thai customs on the way back across the estuary to Thailand.