Hi All

I am Australian, 58 yrs old. I have a Non Imm OA Visa in my passport, with "enter before 20 October" written on it.

I have been out of the country recently and had another stamp put in on my re-entry to Thailand, which says "admitted unti 18 March 2012".

My questions are - can I go out safely and arrive back in Thailand AFTER October 20? And, if I do so, do I need a re-entry permit?

I have a plan to go out and come back on 23 October - but having made that plan, I now think I may ned to come back in before the 20th October.

Many thanks for any advice!!

I'm not sure if you have a multiple or single OA-visa, but regardsless you want to return to Thailand after the visa itself has expired. That means you need to get a re-entry permit and when you return you get stamped in again till 18 March.

If you have a multiple OA-visa and you return before the 20th you would recieve a new permisison of stay for 1 year, so if yu come back at the 19th you would get a permission to stay untill Oct. 19 2012. (Any leaving and return after the 20th requires a re-entry permit, or a brand new visa).

Yes, if you plan to return on Oct 20 or later you need a reentry permit.

BTW: can you do a Visa run before Oct 20?

This would give you an admitted stamp for one more year (Sep/Oct 2012) and you can do the extension at this time instead of March 2012.

Thank you both very much.

My current Visa is multiple re-entry.

Sounds like the best thing to do is come back before the 20th?

Yes, if you plan to return on Oct 20 or later you need a reentry permit.

BTW: can you do a Visa run before Oct 20?

This would give you an admitted stamp for one more year (Sep/Oct 2012) and you can do the extension at this time instead of March 2012.

It would give you an extra 6-7 months before you have to get an extension of stay from immigration and you wouldn't have to buy a re-entry permit for 1,000 baht.

On what date did you enter to get this stamp " admitted untill 18 March 2012".?? as in your original post you said you been out of the country recently

Actually, I just found another more recent stamp - "admitted until 20 July 2012". For this stamp, I re-entered Thailand on 21 July 2011. Why? Does it make a difference?

On what date did you enter to get this stamp " admitted untill 18 March 2012".?? as in your original post you said you been out of the country recently

With a re-entry permit returning after the visa itself expires you would get stamped in till 20 july, not till 18 march. So if you decide to get a re-entry permit and return after the visa expires you would lose only a few months.

Thanks very much for this additional information.

With a re-entry permit returning after the visa itself expires you would get stamped in till 20 july, not till 18 march. So if you decide to get a re-entry permit and return after the visa expires you would lose only a few months.

As already posted by mario2008 to sum up - your options are to re-enter thailand before the 20th October, using your visa and get a one year permission to stay stamp, or to re-enter after the 20th october, having obtained a re-entry permit either single for 1000baht or a multi for 3900baht, you would then get a permission to stay stamp until 20th july, it would all depend on your plans for next year.