Can anyone please advise me? I will be arriving back in Thailand with a valid retirement stamp and a valid re-entry stamp, where is asks for a visa number on the TM6 which number do i put?

The number on the reentry permit. Also, I suggest presenting the passport opened to the page with the permit and telling the officer you have a permit.

The number on the reentry permit. Also, I suggest presenting the passport opened to the page with the permit and telling the officer you have a permit.

Yes, that's what I do and smile and say "just to help you.

Yep. Re Entry Permit number.

Yep. Re Entry Permit number.

I always add after the re-entry permit # in blank space: "RE-ENTRY PERMIT"

Mac

The number on the reentry permit. Also, I suggest presenting the passport opened to the page with the permit and telling the officer you have a permit.

Thanks for that one worry gone, just one more question, when i left, i left through Samui immigration and they took the old TM6 card as normal and stamped me out as normal, but they left in the document given (stapled in the passport) which tells me when i should return for my next 90 day update which would be 31st May. Is this normal.

Sounds normal to me. Your next 90 day report should be due 90 days from when you reenter Thailand again, that is, unless Samui enforces that differently.

Yes that is normal.

The 90 days start again when you return.

Keep the paper though as proof that you reported last time.

Probably a non-necessary reminder, but I'll blurt it all the same: Even if you properly put your re-entry permit # on the TM.6 form, and even if you present your passport opened to the re-entry permit page, always, always, ALWAYS check the date on your entry stamp before you leave Immigrations.

Twice in the five years I've been using the retirement visa with re-entry permits, I've been stamped in for 30-days. The Immigrations officer, for whatever reason, just thought I was entering on a visa-exempt status.

ALWAYS check the date on the stamp before you leave Immigrations.

The number on the reentry permit. Also, I suggest presenting the passport opened to the page with the permit and telling the officer you have a permit.

It has been my experience that whenever I proffer my passport opened on the page with the visa, the first thing the officer does is close the passport, then open it on the page with the machine-readable code, swipe that code, look at his computer monitor, and then look at the arrival card and leaf through the passport to look for the visa. It probably makes sense, because if the computer were to show that I am blacklisted he could stop his work right there; no need to check my visa.

That's interesting. Perhaps another tactic would be to present the passport with the card IN the passport on the correct page. Everybody wins!