6 Months Visa...

[ChrisP]

Hi..

I am a US Citizen, Univ Professor, and I wish to spend 22 weeks in Thailand in 2006, partly on Academic Research, part on vacation.

I asked Houston Consulate for advice on a suitable 6-month Multiple Entry Visa:

You can obtain a B visa with a letter from an academic institution or business inviting you to study in Thailand and accepting responsibility for you during your stay. Otherwise, you would apply for a multiple entry tourist visa valid for 6 months at $25 per entry

I can get a letter etc from my Univ. .

Is there any benefit in costs etc, going one way or the other..?

ChrisP

Mod

[ovenman]

Is there any benefit in costs etc, going one way or the other..?

Go with the multiple entry non-immigrant visa. It provides an unlimited number of ninety day entries during the one year that the visa remains valid, whereas the tourist visas are good for the specific number of entries that you "buy". Having unlimited entries available makes it more flexible should you decide to make some side trips outside Thailand, whereas you "burn" one of your tourist visa entries each time you cross the border. (Yes, you could mess around with re-entry permits for the tourist visas by why subject yourself to that if you don't have to?)

[lopburi3]

Plus the entry on the non immigrant visa will be for 90 days each but only 60 days for a tourist entry (you would have to extend 30 days each time).

Edited September 26, 2005 by lopburi3

[ovenman]

...and to complete the thought, the visa extensions and re-entry permits for tourist visas could quickly wind up costing more than the initial fee for a non-immigrant visa.

[ChrisP]

You can obtain a B visa with a letter from an academic institution or business inviting you to study in Thailand

Does the letter HAVE to be from a Thai Institution..? I am visiting many different places for my research and this may be difficult. I CAN produce a letter from my own Univ in Calif authorizing me to travel for academic research. Would that work?

ChrisP

[dr_Pat_Pong]

You can obtain a B visa with a letter from an academic institution or business inviting you to study in Thailand

Does the letter HAVE to be from a Thai Institution..? I am visiting many different places for my research and this may be difficult. I CAN produce a letter from my own Univ in Calif authorizing me to travel for academic research. Would that work?

ChrisP

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That should get you by. Try it.