At the end of October I have to go for my yearly extension of the permission of temporary stay. However, my passport expires in April 2013.

Are the rules still as they were 5 years ago. i.e. I will get an extension of stay until April 2013?

Or have the rules changed that a passport must have a certain validity when applying for an extension of stay.

Thanks in advance.

Same rules, you get an extension till April and once you have the new paspsort you get the rest of the 1 year extension of stay till Oct 2013 for free in your new passport.

Rules are the same but why not obtain a new passport so you can do both transfer of old stamps and new extension on the same visit. Passport with less than six month validity would prevent most travel except to home country if you decided to take a vacation.

Thank you very much for your swift reply, Mario2008 and lopburi3.

Obtaining a new passport is an option but time is not on my side to get it done before the end of October.

Lopburi3, quick question if I may,

My passport will expire July 2013. My extension to stay will expire April 2013. I understand that I need to renew my passport (am in the US now) prior to my return to Thailand in February or I will not have 6 months validity left on my passport passport.

Will my Retirement Visa, Extension of Stay and Re-Entry Permit, all in the soon to expire passport be just as valid with my new passport once I get the new one?

Thanks,

Khun Falang

You can return using your current passport if you have a re-entry permit - it will cover your period of stay allowed by the re-entry permit. Six month validity is not required by Thailand so as long as you do not try to stop at other locations it will be fine and you can obtain a new passport here for your March/April new extension application and transfer stamps at the same time. It takes about 10-14 days to obtain passport from Embassy here.

If you want to obtain prior you should be allowed entry on your current re-entry permit by showing both passports. But expect short delay as airline personal can be confused even by the re-entry permit in the current passport.