Well, I'm on the verge of obtaining a Non-Immigrant ( and return to the grind of working (teaching) in Thailand...

I worked for four years on a Non-Immigrant (O) but lost both my job and my wife at the beginning of this year.

To stay legal, I switched to a Tourist Visa when the Non-Imm (O) expired. As I live in Phuket, the closest and easiest location for my visa run was Penang.

When that visa was close to expiring and I was no closer to finding a job, I returned to Penang for my second Tourist Visa (having been informed on the forum that Penang would deny my application if I obtained an extension within Thailand). No worries -- I spent some time actually being a tourist, something I enjoyed after four years of employment and marriage.

Lo and behold, I obtained a third Tourist Visa in Penang.

Midway through that third and last visa I signed a contract for a new job. I gathered all of the required paperwork to obtain a Work Permit so that I could travel to Penang when that last Tourist Visa expired at the end of September. I planned to obtain the Non-Immigrant ( at that time and be ready to begin work once the September-October term holiday had finished.

So far, so good. I was delayed a bit waiting for the Police Report/Criminal Background Check to arrive from America. But I turned everything into the school a week ago.

This weekend I was informed that the school couldn't give me the additional paperwork required for the Non-Immigrant ( in time for me to make my visa run on 26 September. I would have to make a quick visa run to add a bit of time on my stay prior to going to Penang for the Non-Imm (.

Okay -- now for my questions:

What are the chances of Penang denying my application for the Non-Imm ( if I have a 15-day "visa-on-arrival" stamp following three straight tourist visas (but without any 30-day extensions obtained within Thailand)?

Or, instead of spending the money on a visa run (roundtrip for the 15-day stamp would cost about 1,500 baht total from Phuket) would I be okay just to obtain a 30-day extension here in Phuket for 1,900 baht? Would Penang deny my Non-Imm ( if I had that one extension?

I've heard enough horror stories about Penang that I want to make sure that I don't jeopardize my visa application. My savings are to the point that I can't easily just do a visa run by air (obtaining 30 days that way) and I don't want to waste the time or money of doing two visa runs in quick succession if an in-Thailand extension will work...

Thanks once again for any all all responses.

Penang will not deny a non immigrant visa because of a tourist visa extension of stay. It was for a new tourist visa that they had that policy.