I'm in on my first retirement visa, american passport, that expires in mid-January 2011 . . I'm going to do a quick in & out a come back into Thailand the day before it expires which, as I understand it, will allow me to be stamped in for another year (till January 2012) without having to deal with any of the financial issues . . it is a mutiple entry visa

Is what I think I understand actually true? Will the mutiple entry part of it also continue in place and allow me to come & go in and out of LOS throughout 2012?

Thank You

What kind of visa is it, a non-O or a O-A visa?

Make sure it is the VISA that expires and not your permission to stay. You can only enter again if you leave and re-enter Thailand before the VISA expires.

If it is a non-O visa, you will get 90 days, if it is a multiple O-A visa you will get a new permission to stay for 1 year.

After the day the visa expires you will need a re-entry permit if you want to leave Thailand. If you leave Thailand without a re-entry permit you will need a new visa from abroad.

If you have a multi entry non immigrant O-A visa (long stay-retirement) that expires mid January 2011 and you enter the day before it expires you will be stamped until mid January 2012 but you can not leave Thailand again without obtaining a re-entry permit first to keep your new permitted to stay time alive.

To expand on that, if it is a multiple entry O-A as it sounds like, the new annual permission you will get on reentering Thailand will reflect the final ending date for that original O-A visa (which you can of course preserve with new reentry permits you purchase as stated above if you leave Thailand during that period). So near the end of that year you will need to enter the retirement extension system in Thailand or if you wish obtain a new O-A in your home country.

Edited December 20, 201015 yr by Jingthing

It is an O-A and I have been coming in & out of Thailand for the past year . . sounds like from the replies that the mutiple entry permit that I have been using during 2010 dies as of mid-January 2011 and that if I wanna do the same again for 2011 I will need to get a new multiple entry permit? I can get that at my local Immi office with proper forms and baht I am guessing?

Yep. Local Immigration Office and 3,800 Baht.

It is an O-A and I have been coming in & out of Thailand for the past year . . sounds like from the replies that the mutiple entry permit that I have been using during 2010 dies as of mid-January 2011 and that if I wanna do the same again for 2011 I will need to get a new multiple entry permit? I can get that at my local Immi office with proper forms and baht I am guessing?

I am not clear on your question exactly but it sounds like you may not have gotten this right. To me, it sounds like you might think buying new multiple entry permits makes your current O-A behave the same way again, but it doesn't.

Let's break this down, maybe this will make it more clear.

1. Person gets multiple O-A and enters Thailand, gets one year permission to stay.

2. Just before the permission to stay above ends, person reenters Thailand, gets a new one year permission to stay.

3. Six months from that, person takes a quick trip in and out of Thailand. If he didn't apply for a reentry permit (multiples also for sale) at Thai immigration when he reenters Thailand, he will get a 30 day stamp. If he has a permit (single or multiple), he will get permission to stay until the ending date in item 2. That's it! No new years just for reentering Thailand.

4. Near the ending date in item 2, if person wants to continue living in Thailand, they apply for extension based on retirement at their local immigration office OR go back to home country for new O-A.

Edited December 20, 201015 yr by Jingthing

Is it a multi entry O-A visa, which gives you a one year entry stamp on entry, if so why did you obtain a re-entry permit.

If it is not a multi entry visa then it is of no further use.

Thank you Lite & Jing (we're singing the same song but you have the better voice)

I think you have me sorted . . I recognize the permission to stay extension and the multiple entry are two different things . . I'll come back in in mid-January and get the one year permission to stay and prior to my leaving the country again I'll go to the local Immi office and get the multiple reentry permit

Then in late 2011 I will have to enter the retirement extension system to stay on past Jan 2012

Edited December 20, 201015 yr by bluebluewater

Is it a multi entry O-A visa, which gives you a one year entry stamp on entry, if so why did you obtain a re-entry permit.

If it is not a multi entry visa then it is of no further use.

He obtains a re-entry permit for the one year permitted to stay which is beyond the one year visa validity. Once the visa expires his last stay is still alive unless he leaves - and by obtaining a re-entry permit prior to any travel he can return with the same permitted to stay until date.

Yes i can understand that, but why was a re-entry permit obtain before mid Jan 2011, could the multi entry not have been used and saved money?

I understand that once the visa has expired, a re-entry permit would be required to preserve the second year permission to stay stamp.

No re-entry permit was mentioned before expiration of visa - he said he would return (re-enter with the visa) just before expiration for a new one year entry - that can not be done with a re-entry permit. Once he obtains that one year stay he will get a re-entry permit for the same period of stay before leaving.

sorry but doesn't post 5 say that he has a re-entry permit, that he has been using in 2010??

quote - It is an O-A and I have been coming in & out of Thailand for the past year . . sounds like from the replies that the mutiple entry permit that I have been using during 2010 dies as of mid-January 2011 and that if I wanna do the same again for 2011 I will need to get a new multiple entry permit? I can get that at my local Immi office with proper forms and baht I am guessing? quote

I was only thinking that if he was using a re-entry permit, then maybe he only had a single entry visa.

He has a multi entry visa - non immigrant O-A and has been making a number of entries since issue and each entry gets him a new one year permitted to stay - but that will end when the one year validity of the visa expires seems to be what he is saying.