Wrong Visa Time Period

[jacktheokie]

I have a U.S. passport and entered Thailand on a Tourist Visa on March 17th. It has stamped "until 15 Apr 2011. I didn't even look at it until yesterday, assuming it was the 60 day tourist visa time frame. I'm 7 days over now and am in the city of Prachuapkhirikhan. I called the Thai Consulate in Bangkok and they said to come back to Bangkok. What to do? I should have 60 days on my tourist visa. How to get it changed?

[Richard4849]

What's the "Thai Consulate in Bangkok"?

[Crossy]

If you have a Tourist Visa issued by a consulate outside Thailand you should have received 60 days on entry, if you didn't get it you should be able to get things fixed by visiting your local immigration office.

If you arrived with no visa you would have received a 30 day visa-exemption, if this is the case you are now on overstay and will be fined 500 Baht for each day past your permission to stay.

[Mario2008]

As said, go to the local immigration office and see if they can fix the stamp. If not, you might need to go to bangkok, Chang Wattana Road. There is a counter there where they routinely fix this kind of mistakes.

[jacktheokie]

I just left Bangkok, so i really don't want to turn right around an go back. I was wondering if you guys think it will be as easy to fix in krabi as Bangkok, or if I should just get back to Bangkok, so I can go in Monday morning? Thanks for the replies, they are greatly appriciated!

[jacktheokie]

Also, is the immigration office closed on sat and sun, as the embassy is? And is the office on Chang wattana rd., in bkk, an immigration office or the american embassy. Thanks!

[lopburi3]

Chiang Watanna Road, Soi 7 is the immigration office and it is closed on weekends and holidays. No place would be as easy to fix as in Bangkok but have not seen enough reports to rate your odds at Karbi.

[phuketrichard]

if u have a tourist visa its good for 60 days. My gf flew in from Camboida and they stamed the arrival card the coreect date 60 days, But on her passport they stamped 30 days . Made a trip to immigration in Phuket and they changed it.

So go to ANY immigration and they will take care iof it for you. No charge. Krabi should do it for you, if not go over to Phuket

Dress nice and plead ignorance :-)

[powderpuff]

The reality is you should have checked it when the officer handed the passport back in the airport. Probably next time you will.

[Tod Daniels]

Not to be 'thick' or beat a dead horse but just to re-cap for my own sanity.

1.) You applied for and received a Tourist Visa from a Thai Consulate or Embassy in the United States BEFORE flying in to Thailand, yes?

2.) Did you write your Tourist Visa number on the arrival/departure card they hand out on the plane?

While you may already know this; a Tourist Visa is a "stamp" or "sticker" which a Thai Consulate or Embassy puts into your passport. If you just flew in like say from the US without getting a Tourist Visa first, you get what's called a 30 day 'visa exempt stamp".

If you answered YES to the first question, (as in you really did apply for and receive a 60 day Tourist Visa), and you answered NO to the second one, (as in you DIDN’T write your Tourist Visa number on your arrival card) there's a good chance that the Thai Immigrations staff at Passport Control at the airport didn't look in your passport to see you had a valid Tourist Visa, and mistakenly just gave you a "30 day visa exempt" stamp instead. Sometimes even IF you write the correct visa number on the arrival card they mis-stamp you, so it can happen.

It happens SO much there is an entire section out at Thai Immigrations in Changwattana which deals ONLY with "stamp corrections". You MAY be able to get it fixed at what ever Thai Immigrations office is nearest you, but for sure they'll correct it in Bangkok.

Now if you didn’t apply for a Tourist Visa in the US before comin’ here you got the right stamp, as you received a “30 day visa exempt” one, meaning you showed up without any type of visa and being from the US were granted 30 days to stay.

Just an FYI: There is NO Thai Embassy or Consulate INSIDE Thailand ; just like there's no US Embassy inside the US . You want to go to a Thai Immigrations Office, like Changwattana in Bangkok, or to the one which is closest to your current location in Thailand. I'm sure you're not the first foreigner they've ever seen with a wrong stamp.

I only asked the questions I did because I honestly couldn't tell what you arrived with. Sorry for not being the sharpest knife in the drawer. .

[jacktheokie]

Yes, I did get a full page sticker in my passport, BEFORE leaving USA For Thailand, and yes I did write the visa number on the arrival card, and NO, I did not check it as he stamped it, as after 24 hours flying( and I can't sleep on planes, buses, etc.) I didn't think to check the stamp. So hopefully in krabi, They will see I had a tourist visa sticker before entering(good for 60 days), and only received a 30 day transit visa stamp, and be so kind as to let me off with just a finger shake. I feel bad as I was just in bkk, and could have easily got it taken care of, and also I should have spotted it, even though I was under the impression I SHOULD have a 60 day visa, to go with the GIANT full page sticker in my passport!

[jacktheokie]

Thanks again for all the help! I feel quite stupid as I hate paperwork, such as this, and got the 60 visa, just to avoid this sort of thing... But I guess these things just happen, and next time I will definitely make sure to check my stamp as it gets handed back to me! Thanks all!

[jacktheokie]

So, I get the feeling bkk would be best.., what would be the worst possible outcome at krabi? Anyone have an idea, or would they just tell me to go to bkk if I refuse to pay for the overdays? I'm quite scared to have to pay, as by Monday it will be a pretty penny, and also I would hate to have any bad marks that would make it hard for me o return in the very near future.

[jdinasia]

So, I get the feeling bkk would be best.., what would be the worst anyone has heard

If you entered Thailand on a Tourist visa and not a visa exempt entry, there should be no penalty at all in getting the correct date restamped into the passport. Dress decently and be polite and you will have no problems at all.

[orpheus454]

So, I get the feeling bkk would be best.., what would be the worst possible outcome at krabi? Anyone have an idea, or would they just tell me to go to bkk if I refuse to pay for the overdays? I'm quite scared to have to pay, as by Monday it will be a pretty penny, and also I would hate to have any bad marks that would make it hard for me o return in the very near future.

I have always found Immigration at Krabi to be efficient, courteous, helpful and professional. If they can help, I reckon they will.

[lopburi3]

Several flame/language posts removed.

[jacktheokie]

Thanks again for all the helpful words, and to those deleted and useless posts, no worries! Good luck one and all! Now to the highway checkpoint in prachuap to catch the bus south, haha, this should be a fun sit and wait!

[Tod Daniels]

Im at a loss that there seems to be a great amount of negativity directed to the O/P by some posers , errr, I mean posters . ..

This situation clearly came about due to an ERROR by Passport Control at the airport when he flew in.

The O/P stated he DID have a valid Tourist Visa in his passport and did write that visas number on the T.M-6. Yet he was still given a 30 day stamp by mistake.

Now should he have checked BEFORE he walked away from the counter? Probably, but he didn't and instead put faith in the Immigration Official to do their job correctly.

Its my experience that Thai officials in ANY branch of the government are the some of the most stamp happy bunch o people Ive ever come across in the world! They all have a pile 'o various sized stamps on their desks, and at least a coupla different colors of ink pads too! Mistakes like this can and do happen, regularly. It most certainly IS NOT the fault of the O/P.

If being stamped wrong was in fact, a rare occurrence here; I highly doubt Changwattana would even have a section to correct wrong stamps.

I think he can get it sorted where he is with a visit to the local Immigrations Office, but for sure Bangkok will do it too.

To the O/P: Good Luck, report back and let us know where you go, and how it got resolved if you can. …

Enjoy your stay in Thailand; please remember to turn out the light when you leave the country, lol.

Edited April 24, 2011 by tod-daniels

[Tanaka]

I never had a tourist visa but is it possible that the OP's stamp saying "until April 17,2011" is a "use before" stamp? Meaning that he must enter Thailand on his visa before that date? Just a thought.

[lopburi3]

Where do you see any such reference to a stamp? All I can find is he entered on 17 March and got stamp until 15 April.

[mack01]

I had the same problem in Jan and was told buy the local imigration office(Pattaya) that corrections could only be fixed at bkk.

[Jingthing]

Good luck to the OP.

Another example of the wisdom of my advice that in addition writing your visa or permit number on the landing card, ALSO politely tell the officer that you have a visa or permit as you hand him your passport. Of course also check your stamp before leaving, but I'd rather prevent any error before it happens.

Edited April 24, 2011 by Jingthing

[jacktheokie]

So apart from all the hoopla about what I could and should have done, I think I'm gonna single out mack01, and probably just get back to bkk to get this sorted at changwattana. I will definitely fill y'all in on the steps I try, and the outcome... It looks like the closest place to try right now would be hua hin, as I cannot find out if the muang prachuap kk office is still open. I might try to call krabi in the morn to see if they might be able to help, but it is only a 6 hr busride to back to bkk, then I can try to get it fixed stat, and get back on my merry way to some islands. Thanks again all serious replies!!!

[nkped]

Just a thought--perhaps insert your arrival/departure card into your passport at the page with the visa. You want to help the immigration officer do his/her job quickly and correctly without any non-essential conversation. BTW--The immigration officer decides what is essential.

That, of course, is only for the strap-hangers who want to avoid a similar problem. Good luck to the OP on resolving his problem. Haven't traveled to LOS on a visa yet, but it could easily have happened to me. I normally operate on the principle that if the immigration officer gives my passport back to me rather than turning around to motion for his supervisor to come over, life is good.

Edited April 24, 2011 by nkped

[Tanaka]

Where do you see any such reference to a stamp? All I can find is he entered on 17 March and got stamp until 15 April.

Where does it say that the "until 15th April" was stamped when he arrived and not when the visa was issued?

[lopburi3]

If that were what you had posted I could have understood your question but you said "until April 17,2011" so went on a search of every post trying to find that.

At any rate hope that he has had good luck today whatever the situation was.

[guruofvinyl]

I had the same problem, it is a common one, for an immigration officer to just stamp one in for 30 days and neglect to look for a visa. I learned my lesson, and put the visa number on the entry card and open the passport to the visa page when handing it over for stamping. I discovered this when I was well past the 30days and I was in Hua Hin. At that time the closest immigration office was, ironically in Prachuab Kiri Khan(no need to go to Bangkok, Krabi or any other place). After explaining the problem at the office, the immigration official said her hands were tied and could do nothing and told me to go to Bangkok, not even the office, but to the airport where the stamping occurred. But I had Thai friends with me and we persisted, politely, and the end result was that she extended my visa for 30days and charged me 1900 baht. The extension started after the original 60 days.

Edited April 25, 2011 by guruofvinyl

[David48]

I am a long term traveller to Thailand and this time I decided that I had enough of the usual Visa run ( I fly out and back in) so I decided to obtain a Tourist Visa in Australia before entering Thailand.

When I asked the local Consulate-General about the validity of the Visa, her response was that it "is valid up to 60 days from the date of entry" and that 60 days is not automatically given at Immigration.

The actual length of the Visa is decided by the Immigration Officer at the point of entry into Thailand. The inference being that it is not ‘automatically’ 60 days.

Checking my Passport Visa, no where do is state the Visa validity, only the number of journeys (entry into Thailand), the issue date and the date the Visa must be utilised by.

To smooth entry, I did what some suggest here and insert the Immigration Card at the page of my Visa in the Passport, writing the Visa number on the Immigration Card, also I greet in Thai, dress conservatively, smile a lot and specifically request a 60 day Visa AND state the day that I have a plane ticket to leave Thailand.

Good luck with your problem … we all learn much from other traveller’s misfortunes.

[Mario2008]

Nor is entry into Thailand automatically but decided by the immigration officer, visa or not.

The visa validity is the same as the date the visa must be utilised by. After that date you can no longer use the visa to travel to Thailand.

[jacktheokie]

Ok for some reason my post I put up yesterday, isn't here today. Anyway, I went to Bangkok from prachuap, went straight to the immigration office ( which is in an identical building, in that upside-down pyramid shape, down the street from the WRONG ONE... Very confusing! Haha) , finally found the office, and duely ha the stamp changed within an hour. No problems, and NO BRIBE IN AN UNMARKED ENVELOPE!!!! (bad advice from a private message...). All's well that ends well. After 19 out of the last 26, on a bus, I'm now in Phuket! Thanks again all serious replies, and especially mack01! Your prior dealings saved me some headaches and time, in the end! Best of luck to all!(even the people that had absolutely nothing of value to say!, I hope you find something better to do than simply point out peoples semantically errors!)