Visa Run Burma

[Tijmen]

So I went to the immigration office to get a 30 day extension on my current visa. When I was there I also asked how many days you get on your visa after leaving the country, spend a day in Burma, and re-enter Thailand again. He insisted I would only get a 7 day visa, but on this page http://www.thaivisa.com/308.0.html it says 30 days. Which is also what I had heard from other people, who I asked about it.

Is the guy at the immigration office just making things up, or is the 7 day visa a new rule, that no one heard of yet?

Edited October 2, 2011 by Tijmen

[CMSteve]

Citizens of most foreign countries are given 15 days for walking across the border and 30 days for flying across. If you are flying to burma and back we would assume you will have a 30 day exemption, if you do the standard visa run to Mai Sai, you will come back with 15 days.

BTW, your posted link is from 2006 and a little bit out of date.

Edited October 2, 2011 by CMSteve

[Tijmen]

Citizens of most foreign countries are given 15 days for walking across the border and 30 days for flying across. If you are flying to burma and back we would assume you will have a 30 day exemption, if you do the standard visa run to Mai Sai, you will come back with 15 days.

BTW, your posted link is from 2006 and a little bit out of date.

But with every 15 day visa that you get by walking across the border, you can still get the 30 day extension by visiting the immigration office in Chiang Mai itself, right?

[CMSteve]

No, you can only get a 30day extension on an actual tourist visa. By walking across or flying in you are using an exemption( not visa) and can not get a 30 extension. I believe you may be able to get a 7 day extension, but doubt it and don't see the value in it.

[happysanook]

No, you can only get a 30day extension on an actual tourist visa. By walking across or flying in you are using an exemption( not visa) and can not get a 30 extension. I believe you may be able to get a 7 day extension, but doubt it and don't see the value in it.

15 days by walk/bus (which really ends up being 13-14 because it counts the day you're doing the run and the day you have to do another). Not sure about extending the 15 days...but if you can it's surely only for 7 days.

Edited October 2, 2011 by happysanook

[IanForbes]

From what I've understood, you can get a 7 day extension from Chiang Mai immigration if you are planning on leaving Thailand by air on a booked flight that is just a few days BEYOND your 30 day tourist visa. It is a one time deal to save people the bother of doing the Mae Sai trip. But, like all things in Thailand... nothing is etched in stone. I needed an extra 2 weeks one year to complete some dental procedures and was refused despite having a doctor's letter. In that case I had to take the one day trip to Mae Sai and back. Thailand doesn't accept dental work as a medical emergency for an extension. If someone is not sure if they want to stay in Thailand longer than the normal 30 day trip It really makes sense to apply for a triple entry tourist visa before leaving. It entails a bit extra work, but it sure saves headaches when you get to Thailand and want to stay longer.

[Thighlander]

you can get a 30 day extension on a 60 at immigration.........otherwise it is 7 on a 30 VOA.

[bristolgeoff]

they also only let you do one or two mai sai runs.then you will be told no more this is your last one

[el jefe]

From what I've understood, you can get a 7 day extension from Chiang Mai immigration if you are planning on leaving Thailand by air on a booked flight that is just a few days BEYOND your 30 day tourist visa. It is a one time deal to save people the bother of doing the Mae Sai trip. But, like all things in Thailand... nothing is etched in stone. I needed an extra 2 weeks one year to complete some dental procedures and was refused despite having a doctor's letter. In that case I had to take the one day trip to Mae Sai and back. Thailand doesn't accept dental work as a medical emergency for an extension. If someone is not sure if they want to stay in Thailand longer than the normal 30 day trip It really makes sense to apply for a triple entry tourist visa before leaving. It entails a bit extra work, but it sure saves headaches when you get to Thailand and want to stay longer.

Dental work as an emergency? Even a broken leg won't get you more than 7 days.

Where are you getting the triple entry visa? I don't know of any Thai embassy in North America that is still issuing those? I tried as recently as last week. Double is all they'll give.

[thaimiller]

they also only let you do one or two mai sai runs.then you will be told no more this is your last one

Not anymore, I have a friend that has been doing the 15 day run for the past 6 months with out problems

[Tijmen]

After some more searching on the forum, I found you don't get a visa on arrival for Burma but need to go the Burmese embassy first if you fly to Rangoon from Thailand? And that would take 3 days before they processed it. It was in a thread from 2010, does anyone know if this is still true?

I don't think I want to waste 3 days just waiting in Bangkok. I think I might then just fly to Phnom Penh then and try to get another 60 day tourist visa there.

[thaimiller]

Just cross the border at Mae-Sai and you pay 500thb to enter Burma, then walk back across the bridge in to Thailand and you get a 15 day VOA.

[alexpoker]

How much is total cost? 500 baht for burmese visa but how much for thai 15 days visa?

[JRA]

they still take crisp $10 bills (US) as of 2 weeks ago if you rather not pay 500 baht...just saying

[serenitynow]

If you\re going to fly to Phnom Penh, you might as well fly to Xiamen. They'll give you 3x 60 day tourist visa, each of which can be extended by 30 days. Asia Air usually has pretty cheap fares there but the downside is it it take 2 days to process the visa once there, so arrive early in the week.

[chris5346]

if your already in chiang mai it's very easy to get a bus to mai sai (about 4 hrs) and do a visa run or there's private minibuses etc.

you can pay 500 baht or 10$ to enter burma for just the day only ( if you want to do some shopping in the market of tachilek the burmese immigration keep hold of your passport and you get a receipt, if your just going to do your visa run then say no shopping thank you walk straight back into thailand).

when you re-enter thailand you get a free 15 day stamp (unless they have changed to 7 days like you said but i doubt it).

there's 3 buses leave the arcade bus station 7, 8 and 9 am (i think) and 3 or 4 that leave mai sai to return to CM.

i recommend you buy both tickets the day before you want to go (recommend the first class or VIP seats 300 baht each way or something, some buses are second class so ask when buying the tickets).

if you get the last bus from chiang mai 9 am ish and you want to get a bus back to chiang mai on the same day you haven't got much time for shopping etc .

the bus station in mai sai is a 10 min red taxi or tuk-tuk trip to the border.

also takes about 20 mins at the border filling forms etc.

how long are you plannimg to stay in thaiand ?

i used to get double entry tourist visas from laos (vientiene) - can stay in thailand upto 6 months if used properly).

or there's KL or back to cambodia like you said.

loads of options depends what you like doing.

any questions please ask,

chris

[IanForbes]

From what I've understood, you can get a 7 day extension from Chiang Mai immigration if you are planning on leaving Thailand by air on a booked flight that is just a few days BEYOND your 30 day tourist visa. It is a one time deal to save people the bother of doing the Mae Sai trip. But, like all things in Thailand... nothing is etched in stone. I needed an extra 2 weeks one year to complete some dental procedures and was refused despite having a doctor's letter. In that case I had to take the one day trip to Mae Sai and back. Thailand doesn't accept dental work as a medical emergency for an extension. If someone is not sure if they want to stay in Thailand longer than the normal 30 day trip It really makes sense to apply for a triple entry tourist visa before leaving. It entails a bit extra work, but it sure saves headaches when you get to Thailand and want to stay longer.

Dental work as an emergency? Even a broken leg won't get you more than 7 days.

Where are you getting the triple entry visa? I don't know of any Thai embassy in North America that is still issuing those? I tried as recently as last week. Double is all they'll give.

I applied for a triple entry permit today. It's right there on the visa information at the Canadian Thai consulate. However, you CAN'T apply for the multi-visit visa from within Thailand. You have to do it BEFORE coming to Thailand. Once you are in Thailand you are kind of screwed. I don't know how it works from countries surrounding Thailand.

[Tijmen]

how long are you plannimg to stay in thaiand ?

i used to get double entry tourist visas from laos (vientiene) - can stay in thailand upto 6 months if used properly).

or there's KL or back to cambodia like you said.

loads of options depends what you like doing.

any questions please ask,

chris

I'm planning on staying in Thailand, or even Chiang Mai itself for the next few months. So the 15 days for crossing the border, doesn't really work for me. I should really get a double 60 days entry visa. The flights to Cambodia are cheaper then to China, and I'm sure spending a few days in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore is going to be a lot more expensive then in Cambodia

Thanks for all the responses

[chris5346]

hi,

i'm not sure what would be the cheapest especially if your flying .

KL you don't pay to enter and can fly direct from CM with air asia.

if you get a double entry here's some options :

60 days

or 60 days + extend extra 30 days (1900Baht)

or 60 days + 60 days (have to do a border run to activate second visa - 500 baht to enter burma)

or 60 days + 60 days + extend extra 30 (have to do a border run and pay 1900 to extend it)

or 90 days + 90 days (have to extend twice 3800 baht plus do 1 border run)

if your doing the last option to get the most out of the double entry keep an eye on the expiry dates of the first visa (3 months from issue not 3 months from entering thailand).

[Thighlander]

take the Green Bus from Arcade--as the guy above stated 300. Maybe go to Chiang Rai the night before--then take the very frequent buses to the border the next morning. I hate the vans--at least one person will make you late--and that is after 1 hour of going to every guesthouse inside the moat. I quit doing the single day--just not in that kind of hurry, and CNR is becoming very familiar to me. It is always nice to "come bake" to CNX.

[el jefe]

From what I've understood, you can get a 7 day extension from Chiang Mai immigration if you are planning on leaving Thailand by air on a booked flight that is just a few days BEYOND your 30 day tourist visa. It is a one time deal to save people the bother of doing the Mae Sai trip. But, like all things in Thailand... nothing is etched in stone. I needed an extra 2 weeks one year to complete some dental procedures and was refused despite having a doctor's letter. In that case I had to take the one day trip to Mae Sai and back. Thailand doesn't accept dental work as a medical emergency for an extension. If someone is not sure if they want to stay in Thailand longer than the normal 30 day trip It really makes sense to apply for a triple entry tourist visa before leaving. It entails a bit extra work, but it sure saves headaches when you get to Thailand and want to stay longer.

Dental work as an emergency? Even a broken leg won't get you more than 7 days.

Where are you getting the triple entry visa? I don't know of any Thai embassy in North America that is still issuing those? I tried as recently as last week. Double is all they'll give.

I applied for a triple entry permit today. It's right there on the visa information at the Canadian Thai consulate. However, you CAN'T apply for the multi-visit visa from within Thailand. You have to do it BEFORE coming to Thailand. Once you are in Thailand you are kind of screwed. I don't know how it works from countries surrounding Thailand.

It does vary from consulate to consulate. I tried 3 different Thai embassies in the US and none would give a triple entry visa. According to the Canadian website - http://www.thaiembassy.ca/en/ there are only single and double entry visas. The online application http://www.thaiembassy.ca/en/forms/VISA_FORM.pdf asks how many entries you want but doesn't say what the maximum is. If you got a triple that's great. I had to buy a one year visa.

[Thaifan2]

they also only let you do one or two mai sai runs.then you will be told no more this is your last one

Not anymore, I have a friend that has been doing the 15 day run for the past 6 months with out problems

Know a guy doing the same for nearly a year now .