Does Visa Extension Re-Start 90-Day Process?

[funlovinkid]

My most recent 90-day reporting notice indicated that I must report again before August 22nd. However, my current visa extension was expiring on July 7, so I went in on June 29 to renew it for another year, which I believed automatically restarted the clock on my 90-day reporting requirement. Unfortunately, when I mailed in my next 90-day reporting notice around September 20, I received a postcard in the mail from Thai Immigration saying that I should have reported before the original date of August 22, and that I owe the 2000 Baht fine. Was I mistaken in my belief, or did they accidentally overlook the fact that I renewed on June 29?

[Mario2008]

You were mistaken, only the first extension of stay is considered a 90 day report. After that it are two seperate things. Only when you leave the country does it reset the 90 day clock to zero, with or without a re-entry permit.

[tombkk]

The regulation says you have to report when you stay in the country for 90 days, no mentioning of whether you received an extension of stay in the meantime. Therefore I understand that the 90-day process is not restarted. But then, I am not a lawyer.

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/en/base.php?page=90days

In practice, I am usually out of the country several times within 90 days, so I don't have to worry. But one time two or three years ago, I was in the same situation as you and believed that the extension would cover the 90-day report. I was not fined. Maybe the regulations got stricter in the meantime or the officer simply was of the same opinion as you and me.

[FarangBuddha]

You were mistaken, only the first extension of stay is considered a 90 day report. After that it are two seperate things. Only when you leave the country does it reset the 90 day clock to zero, with or without a re-entry permit.

Exactly, they are two separate timelines...mark your calendar accordingly.

[Mario2008]

The regulation says you have to report when you stay in the country for 90 days, no mentioning of whether you received an extension of stay in the meantime. Therefore I understand that the 90-day process is not restarted. But then, I am not a lawyer.

http://www.immigrati...php?page=90days

In practice, I am usually out of the country several times within 90 days, so I don't have to worry. But one time two or three years ago, I was in the same situation as you and believed that the extension would cover the 90-day report. I was not fined. Maybe the regulations got stricter in the meantime or the officer simply was of the same opinion as you and me.

The regulation didnt change, but some immigration officers are very accomodatiing if you miss your report by accident.

[BWPattaya]

When I saw the topic I knew that someone would have already clarified that the two processes are two distictly seperate events.

[tombkk]

(...) In practice, I am usually out of the country several times within 90 days, so I don't have to worry. But one time two or three years ago, I was in the same situation as you and believed that the extension would cover the 90-day report. I was not fined. Maybe the regulations got stricter in the meantime or the officer simply was of the same opinion as you and me.

The regulation didnt change, but some immigration officers are very accomodatiing if you miss your report by accident.

Yes, some immigration officers are indeed nice.

You were mistaken, only the first extension of stay is considered a 90 day report. After that it are two seperate things. Only when you leave the country does it reset the 90 day clock to zero, with or without a re-entry permit.

It is also possible that it was the first extension after changing companies and getting a new work permit.

[mca]

The rule of thumb for 90 day reports is (apart from I believe the first extension which counts as reporting your address) that if you haven't physically filled out a TM 47 form ( for 90 day reports) and presented it to the officer then you haven't reported. Even if your visa extension and 90 day report were to fall on the same day you'd still have to give a TM 47 along with your visa extension paperwork.

Edited October 2, 2010 by mca

[funlovinkid]

I appreciate all the guidance here on this--I'm learning as I go. But another, related question has now popped up: do I have to go to Thai Immigration to pay this fine before I can travel? I'm thinking of leaving the country for a few days (departing tomorrow [sunday], or early on Monday), but I'm not sure if I will have a problem, either leaving Thailand, or returning, because of the situation. If it's just a matter of paying the 2000 baht fine at the airport checkin, or at airport Immigration upon my return, that's OK with me, but if it prevents my travel, then I shouldn't take this trip.

[lopburi3]

As you are likely flagged for not reporting I would not take the trip until after I settled the fine and made a 90 day report. I don't believe there is any method to pay at the airport.

[funlovinkid]

Thanks, Lopburi. By the way, wondering if you (or anyone else) might have an opinion on one more little related issue: I've already applied for a new passport (because my old one will expire in a little over six months), and the new one is available to be picked up, but I'm not sure if I should resolve the existing 90-day reporting problem on the old passport before having it replaced with a new one. I know I need to transfer some stuff from the old passport into the new one at Thai Immigration (and it would be convenient to resolve the 90-day problem during the same visit there), but I'm a bit concerned about cancelling an existing passport which contains a problem that is considered yet unresolved by the Thai immigration officials. I guess the conservative approach would be to go to Thai Immigration, fix the 90-day problem, then get the new passport and go back to Thai Immigration to transfer the relevant stamps into the new passport (which would mean two trips to Chaengwattana), and I'm wondering if this is necessary.

[lopburi3]

Go with both passports and a TM.47/2k and take care of both items on the same visit.

[funlovinkid]

Many thanks to all!

[Tod Daniels]

It is my experience that 90 day reporting, AND flyin' either in or outta the country are "whores of a different color", errr (SORRY to the Modz, please don’t ban me!!) I meant; "horses of a different color" .

At Suvarnabhumi there is NO 90 day reporting desk, nor do they care if you have EVER reported in thailand, as that is NOT their job. Immigrations at Suvarnabhumi either stamps you in or out of the country (and IF you have an OVERSTAY), nothing MORE nothing less.

As an aside; maybe you should take the 90 day report slip outta your passport. Just in case it is now different.

Personally I have never seen, nor heard of a single person 'flagged' at Suvarnabhumi flyin' outta here who either did or didn't report EVER!

They are two different entities entirely, although BOTH are run under the "thai immigrations" banner.

Then again my experiences may run counter to yours, please take care when following my advice.

[lopburi3]

Although agree 90 day reporting as such has not been checked previously the big difference is he has been advised by Immigration of his failure to report and a fine is pending and is now likely in the fine plus 200 baht per day category if he fails to take action in a timely manner to correct it. There is a new computer system in-place from my understanding. I would expect this to flag any person at exit desk be it airport or other at some point. I would not advise anyone to take a chance after having been told they have fines to pay. And expect they are not set up for payment at airport so might involve a return to town/jail until it can be resolved. No need to chance it.

[funlovinkid]

Although agree 90 day reporting as such has not been checked previously the big difference is he has been advised by Immigration of his failure to report and a fine is pending and is now likely in the fine plus 200 baht per day category if he fails to take action in a timely manner to correct it. There is a new computer system in-place from my understanding. I would expect this to flag any person at exit desk be it airport or other at some point. I would not advise anyone to take a chance after having been told they have fines to pay. And expect they are not set up for payment at airport so might involve a return to town/jail until it can be resolved. No need to chance it.

Lopburi, another, related question, if you would: When I went to Immigration in October 2010 to have all the relevant information transferred from my old passport into the new one, the officer was kind enough to extend the date on my existing visa extension from April 2011 (which was the expiration date of my old passport, and hence became the expiration date of the visa extension as well, when I applied for it in July 2010) to July 2011. However, she didn't do the same for my multiple re-entry permit, which continues to reflect an expiration date of April 2011. Should I go back to Immigration to request that they extend the date on my re-entry permit to match that of my visa extension? In the past, both the visa extension and the re-entry permit would expire simultaneously, and now I'm envisioning this mismatch continuing indefinitely, as I renew them every year, unless I can get this resolved.

[Mario2008]

A re-entry permit is valid for the duration of your permission to stay. Since your permission to stay was valid till Oct 2010, so was your re-entry permit. if need be, you can buy a new one, which will be valid till April 2011, when you can get a new extension and matching re-entry permit.

I'm not 100% sure if that also is the policy in case of an extension because of a new passport, like in your case. But I believe you need a new re-entry permit.

[funlovinkid]

A re-entry permit is valid for the duration of your permission to stay. Since your permission to stay was valid till Oct 2010, so was your re-entry permit. if need be, you can buy a new one, which will be valid till April 2011, when you can get a new extension and matching re-entry permit.

I'm not 100% sure if that also is the policy in case of an extension because of a new passport, like in your case. But I believe you need a new re-entry permit.

I guess I need to clarify here: my old passport already contained a visa extension, and a re-entry permit, both of which were due to expire in April 2011, the date which coincided with the expiration date of the old passport. I received the new passport in September 2010. So, when I went to Immigration in October 2010 to transfer the relevant information into the new passport, they extended the expiration date on the visa extension to July 2011 (the date which would have been granted for the visa extension when I applied for it, had the old passport not been due to expire before that). I'm glad they did this of course, because I now have an additional 3 months of validity on my visa. However, they didn't do the same thing for the re-entry permit--it still has the original expiration date of April 2011. It appears as if the Immigration Officer overlooked the need to also extend the date on the re-entry permit--assuming that it's possible to do this. Does anyone know if this can be done, and if so, should I go to Immigration to request it?

[MartinL]

I last entered Thailand on 19 October, meaning my next 90-day would have been mid-January. However, my annual extension was renewed on 27 December and the next 90-day was rescheduled by the Immigration Officer for 25 March. This was at Khon Kaen office.

I've read elsewhere that it appears Immigration is trying to synchronise 90-day reports and annual renewals to avoid this discrepancy. Or maybe they just thought that, since my 90-day was only 2 weeks or so away from the annual renewal, they'd save everybody some time by killing two birds with one stone. Whichever it is, I'm happy not to have to report for another 3 months.

But it seems clear from the many different stories we read here that what applies in one office does not apply in another.

[lopburi3]

I believe some people have had re-entry permit changed and some have not. I would just pay for a new single entry if needed but you could ask if not out of your way.

[beano2274]

I did my annual extension at Nonthaburi collected the stamp on December 28th, my 90 day is on 26th January, they noticed it but did not change it, but am not worried as they are very good at Nonthaburi and I do not mind going there.

So not all Immigration offices will do the 90day at the same time as an extension.

[Lite Beer]

I just did my 90 day on Tuesday. My next report date is in 2 months time. The same date as my permission to stay expires.

There seems to be a policy of getting dates in sinc.

Khon Kaen Immigration.

[mca]

When I did my marriage extension at KK last Oct my 90 day report was due about 10 days later. The officer stamped my passport to return the following month to pick up my actual extension after approval, crossed out the date on the 90 day reporting slip stapled in the passport and wrote the same date on that so technically I didn't report for nigh on 4 months.

Edited January 6, 2011 by mca

[mxyzptlk]

Same happened to me when I did my last 90 day report at Nakhon Ratchasima immigration office @ Dan Kwien. They brought my next 90 day report forward to match the expiry of my current permission to stay.