My Swedish friend arrived in Thailand December 1 on a double entry tourist visa. His stamp says he must leave by January 29. Can he go to the local immigration office (Korat) and extend that first entry for 30 days or must he leave, exit Thailand and come back. The idea is that we want to go to Laos on Feb 4 and not before, so would like to find a way to keep his double entry "alive", but not leave Thailand until after January 29.

Yes, he would have to get the 30 day extension at a fee of 1900 baht at the immigration offices. He will just need to sign the forms and give passport copies and pictures

Yes he can go to any immigration office usually best around a week before the current permission to stay date,29th of Jan in this instance,fill in the form supply a passport photo and pay 1900 baht and extend for a further 30 days,although given that he only wants an extra 5 days this seems a little expensive in my opinion.

Thanks for the replies.. Yes, 1900 Baht is a little expensive , but an extra Nong Khai trip would cost more.

Though this is not the exact topic of your question, just be aware tht BOTH of those two possible entries on that double entry tourist visa may be extended for 30 days each if wanted.

On a double entry tourist visa when you enter the country on one of those visa entries you get stamped for a 60 day stay on entry.

You can then go to immigration and extend that 60 day entry for 30 days.

When that extension is running out you do a "border run" to activate your 2nd entry for another 60 days.

Then you can go to immigration again and extend that 2nd entry for another 30 days ... paying another 1900 baht for that extension also.

So you can stretch that double entry tourist visa to 180 days toatl like this:

first entry ..... 60 day stamp

first extension .... 30 day extension

second entry ....... 60 day stamp

second extension 30 day extension

total.......180 days in country

You may already have been aware of that, but just thought I should make it known.

IMA_FARANG. Thanks for posting that. I was thinking that was the way it would work, but thanks for confirming.

But both entries must be made within the validity of the visa (which often is only 90 days from day of issue).

If he wants to get more time out of both entries he could ask for a re-entry permit (1000 baht) for his current entry and extension when he goes to immigration. That way he would not have to use his second entry when you make the trip to Laos.