Inquiry About Staying 180 Days On Tourist Visa

[JakeSully]

I am planning on a 5-6 month trip to Thailand soon. I'm below 50 so the retirement visa is out of the question.

I've heard that if someone gets a 60 day multiple entry visa.. they can stay 180 days on it by means of..

1. having the first 60 days extended.

2. doing a border run into laos/ cambodia/ burma/ malaysia and re-entering before the 90 days the visa is valid till expires and getting 60 days again.

3. having the 2nd 60 days EXTENDED even though the visa may be expired at this point.

Is this exactly how it is done or it is not possible to extend the visa the second time around? Or the next 30 days is based on the nationality on the passport and requires another border run?

I live in New York City so that's where I'll be getting the visa. Also on the visa application where it states, how long will you be staying in thailand, should I write down 60 days or 150 days or 180 days?

What would you advice? Thanks!

[moe666]

You may want to read the thread on more requirements for tourist visa.

Check with your local office and see what they may require for the multipl visa before you apply, you may have to find a different consulate. Apply for the multply visa each entry gets you 60 days and each can be extended for 30 days at immigration. There will be a use by date and that is the last day you can activate the last entry usually 6 months from date of issue. Do not apply for the visa months in advance as it has to be activated within 90 days of issue, something to check with the consulate is there turn around time.

With the new requirements not known if these are being enforced at all consulates and Embassies or just in the countries around Thailand. The Portland office has always been friendly about issueing visa.

[Mario2008]

You are talking about a double entry tourist visa. When you arrive you get a stay of 60 days, which you can exted by 30 days for 1,900 baht. Than you leave the country and can come right back for another 60 days and extend for 30 days. But you must enter before the visa is valid. That is either 3 months or 6 months from the day it is issued by the consulate.

If you leave and re-enter on the same day your last and first day are the same day, so you only get 179 days out of it.

[lopburi3]

There is no requirement to "activate" any visa. You either use it for entry before it expires (which may be 3, 6 or 12 months or more) or you do not.

[roly]

The double entry is probably your best bet.

I noticed Thaivisa has a recent report on going to Laos to obtain a visa. I myself have been recently to get a double entry tourist visa but was refused and got a single, as I already had lots of holiday stamps, followed by an O (12 month) visa which had expired, and they seem to be clamping down. If you've not got a passport full of stamps and previous visas, it should be easy enough to get a double entry visa which will give you 180 days altogether. After the first extension expires and your first 90 days is up, you can just go to the nearest border for the day, re-enter Thailand, at which point the next visa (the double entry part) starts and just repeat the process.

http://huahin.thaivisa.com/hua-hin-to-vientiane-visa-run/