Utilization Date On Double Entry Tourist Visa.

[tomx2]

Hi.

I just received a double entry Tourist Visa from a U.S. consulate.

I leave in April and return to the U.S. in September. Six months in total.

So I will use 6 months of the visa which includes the two 30 day extensions.

It seems I may have applied for the TV to early.

It states the visa must be utilized before 08/06/2012.

I start my 2^nd entry of the visa in July , and it carries over to September.

Should I not do the 30 day extensions and apply for a new single entry tourist visa in August?

Thanks.

Tom.

[TerryLH]

"I just received a double entry Tourist Visa from a U.S. consulate."

Was it a tourist visa from a Thai Consulate in the US?

Yes, too early I'd cut the first entry short. No extension.

Make sure you do the second entry prior to the expiration, and get an extension for that entry.

That should carry you into early September. You can decide then on whether you need to get another visa or just a visa exempt entry.

[Maestro]

I doubt that your visa says it must be used before 08/06/2012. Please give that date information exactly as it is stamped on the visa.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[tomx2]

Hi Maestro.

Here is the exact wording from The Royal Thai consulate-General in Boston Massachusetts.

“Good for two journeys to Thailand. This visa must be utilize before 08/06/2012

If passport remains valid. Issue on 02/06/2012. “

P.S. The visa stamp for the Boston consulate is a stamp in my passport then hand written in by the Thai consul-general versus the Thai embassy in New York where a preformatted form is typed and stapled onto your passport.

Question: Can visa stamps differ in appearances at Thai embassies and consulates?

Tom.

[Maestro]

All Thai visas I have in my passports give the dates in the format 08 JUN 2012. The way the Boston consulate writes the date is ambiguous.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[wayned]

You are okay because the visa is a 6 month double entry visa. The date is written in the format mm/dd/yyyy. So your last entry must be made before 6 August 2012. The visa only allows you permission to enter Thailand. You can stay even after the visa expires. As an example: If you enter 15 April, you will be given 60 days permission to stay, until about 15 June. You can extend that for 30 days at immigration for 1900 baht, so that's about 15 July. Then you must leave and re-enter. When you re-enter you will get 60 days, until about 15 September which can be extened for another 30 days - 1900 baht - until about 15 October. You just have to use both entries before the must use by date.

All visa do not look the same, some are stamps, some are stickers.

Edited February 9, 2012 by wayned

[lopburi3]

I strongly suspect that visa may not be accepted by Thai immigration after month 6 as is uses the American m/d/y rather than normal d/m/y format. Although US Consulates often due use their xx Feb xxxx format have never seen them use just numbers on a visa. I would check with Consulate to confirm they have not made a mistake (natural as most Americans are clueless in this matter) informing them Thailand uses d/m/y format for stamps..

[tomx2]

Thanks Wayned.

This is my actual date:

1. Enter Thailand on April 5^th, 2012.

2. Get a 30 day extension after 2 months on June 5(60 days).

3. On July 5^th , my 30 day extension runs out and I will do a quick visa run to jump-start

my 2^nd entry.

4. From July 6^th to September 6^th (60 days) my second entry runs out.

I will then leave Thailand actually on Sept 1^st 2012.

Just to verify with you, my Double entry tourist visa states it must be utilized before 08/06/2012.

You are stating I can still stay after 08/06/2012 using the above scenario. Until my visa actually runs out?.

Hi Lonburi3.

I will contact the Royal Thai Consulate in Boston tomorrow (Thursday) to verify if I can enter Thailand with a mm/dd/yyyy format date on my tourist visa. Apparently what the consulate (In Boston) do is stamp with a preformatted template(having the Thai logo) on my passport and then hand-write the date and number of entries within template.

Thanks.

Tom.

[Lite Beer]

By my reading your Visa must be utilised before 8th June 2012.

This is where you may have a problem.

[lopburi3]

That indeed is the issue as non Americans read it that way and most of us Americans don't have a clue why. If using the US m/d/y it must have month spelled out to be clear.

[wayned]

I agree with LB and Lopburi, it's not the normal way for an American to write the date. But look at the issue date, post 4, it is written the same way. The visa could'nt have been issued on 2 June 2012. The OP should check with the Consulate and get the date issue resolved.

Yes, you can stay after the expiration date of the visa. It's like a bus pass, it allows you to get on the bus (Thailand) and you can ride it as longs as the driver (immigation) allows you to even if the pass has expired.

[IMA_FARANG]

Good for two journeys to Thailand. This visa must be utilize before 08/06/2012

If passport remains valid. Issue on 02/06/2012. “

What they mean is 6 August 2012 I believe. (08/06/2012 is exactly 6 months from 02/06/2012 in mm/dd/yyyy format)

It was issued on 6 February 2012 and is valid for 6 months.

They are using the month/day/year format....not the day/month/year format.

Being an American who has been working all over the world and now living in Thailand. I've had to deal with that problem for many years...so I now think in either format.

But, yes, that date is unclear. So is my birthdate. Usually they are stamped as this example 02 Feb 2012.

I was born on 6 October 1946 so I've seen my birthdate recorded both as 10/6/46 and 6/10/46 many times.

But if you're still in the U.S. call the Thai consulate....and ask them exactly what date they meant.

You're visa has a reference NUMBER on it. The immigration can use that reference number to get the details of your visa...but you may have to do some talking to get them to understand the problem.

[Maestro]

I believe in the USA August 6, 2012 would be written as 8/6/2012 or 8/6/12, ie without leading zeros for single-digit days and months. Either way, with or without leading zeros, that visa would look highly suspect to the immigration officer and he would have no means of looking up the visa details on his computer.

[wayned]

I believe in the USA August 6, 2012 would be written as 8/6/2012 or 8/6/12, ie without leading zeros for single-digit days and months. Either way, with or without leading zeros, that visa would look highly suspect to the immigration officer and he would have no means of looking up the visa details on his computer.

Fill out a form requesting your DD214 from the NRC, the preceeding zeros are required or it won't accept it. The common method of dates in Thailand is month, day, year unlike the US method. I taught it in Thai schools for 6 years. The immigration officer should recognize this date as the common method in Thailand, but the OP should still check with the issuing Thai Consulate in Boston.

[Maestro]

Question: Can visa stamps differ in appearances at Thai embassies and consulates?

Tom.

Honorary consulates use rubber stamps, government-staffed consulates use printed adhesive labels.

[lopburi3]

Local method is day/month/year in normal progression (unlike USA); and Wiki and every hospital/bill or other transaction I have ever received here confirm this. Thai do not use month/day/year format in my experience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country

[JimGant]

Enter Thailand on April 5^th, 2012..... I will then leave Thailand actually on Sept 1st 2012.

Not to worry, unless there's something important about doing your border run in July.

Just do your border run at the end of your first 60-day permission. This would be somewhere around June 3 or 4. Then, 60 days later, get your 30-day extension, which will get you to your Sept 1st departure date.

Thus, if Thai Immigration has a problem with "08/06/2012," and interprets it as June 08, 2012 -- you're still good-to-go.

The only difference is doing your border run in June. You're still only going to need to get one 30-day extension, only this time it's at the end of your second permission of stay vice your first.

Cheers.

[tomx2]

Hi.

Just a follow-up.

I emailed the Royal Thai Consulate-general in Boston yesterday, regarding the Utilization date format in mm/day/yy instead of d/mm/yy. They said it will not be a problem.

BTW: Not sure if this makes any difference. The Consulate-general who processed and signed my visa is American.

When I mailed in my visa form for processing it was on February 3. The issue date stating February 6 appears correct. One item I should have corrected(it’s my fault using leading zeros.) The Issue date is stated 2-6-12 and the utilization date is stated as 8-6-12 in my tourist visa.

I don’t believe the Utilization date is June 8th 2012. Since I have a double entry. They would not just allow me just 5 days to enter Thailand. If the Issues date is June 2nd 2012.

But I will definitely point out to the immigration officer at the airport my dates are in m-d-yy format. And I will check the stamp in my passport before I leave the counter.

Thanks.

Tom.

[wayned]

Local method is day/month/year in normal progression (unlike USA); and Wiki and every hospital/bill or other transaction I have ever received here confirm this. Thai do not use month/day/year format in my experience.

http://en.wikipedia....rmat_by_country

I knew what I was trying to say but said it backwards. Maybe I should pay attention to my signature more. The common method in the US is mm/dd/yyyy and the common method in Thailand and many other countries, one from which LB must be from, is dd/mm/yyyy. Immigrtion must see this alot from Hororary Consulates in the US that use stamps and hand written dates. Sorry!

[tomx2]

Hi.

This is the OP giving you an update on my initial Post (see above) I posted regarding having my new double entry Tourist Visa

process from the Thai COunslate in Boston Massachusetts. With the issue and Utilization date in mm/dd/yy format

instead of the traditional d/m/yy format.

The question was ask by some board members, how would immigration react seeing the dates in this format.

Ok, so I arrived in Thailand on April 4th 2012. Went up to immigration officer and showed my passport.

Before the imm officer could speak, I showed him a printed document (in THai I typed) explaining the TV dates were in

mm/dd/yy format because my country(USA) normally writes in this format and the Boston Counslate who is American

stamped the dates as he was conditioned in his education and ignored the Thai version.

I noted in my letter,immigration should reverse the order of the date seen to reflect d/mm/yy.

The immigration officer looked puzzled for a moment then said Ok. Stamped my passport and I walked through.

However before I left his area, I wanted to check the stamp to verify he put a 2 month date from today.

I couldn't find the date in my passport(not knowing it was just under the departure card on that page)

So I fiddled through my passport for about 30 seconds. The same immigration officer left his

booth and grabbed me to come back in. I realized now If I just left nothing would have happen.

He gave my passport to a female officer sitting next to him. She was middle age and looked angry when I approached her.

She stated to the fact I have a Visa for June(Her looking at the foramt date in d/m/yy format w/o any consideration that it was in mm/dd/yy

format. She asked me when did I get the Tourist Visa. I leaned forward to point to the date(Feb 6, 2012) on my passport she was holding. She

jumped back in her chair and raised her hands up as if I was going to attack her. Where as I was only pointing to the issue date

on the TOurist Visa. All this time I was calm and never raised my voice.

Now every time when I tried to explain to her and show my paper, she would interrupt me and just keep saying No, no.

Finally, not getting any where, a supervisor came and she immediatly started talking to him in (Thai) a loudly manner

showing him my passport.

The supervisor then took me around the corner and I explain to him calmly the USA write dates in mm/dd/yy format.

ANd this Boston Counslate stamped the dates on my TV in this fashion. It seem a bell must have ranged in his head as he stated America

writes dates differently sometimes. Anyways He shows me where my new stamp was on the passport and indeed it was for 2 months.

He smiled and I was on my way.

Some Takeaways:

Do not get any future new double entry TV from the Boston COunslate.

THis is nothing new, but many Thais appear to have a negative attitude towards farangs and it erupts on occasions. How she thought I was going to harm her

in front of thousands of people was absurb. And then to save face, she would not even let me get a word in.

I still have Two 30 day extensions and a second entry to kick in wit this TV. God help me when I have to explaing this again.

TC.