does my Thai visa need to be stamped regardless?

[REDROO265]

Hello,

I will fly into Thailand Oct 1 with a USA passport and need some advice of which visa would work best in my situation.

I will fly out of Thailand to Burma Nov 1. I will then return to thailand for an extended amount of time (not exactly sure how long) but longer than 30 days... So I know I will get the basic 30 days when I arrive, along with another basic 30 days once i return from my international flight... This without needing a visa.

Would it be wise to still get my mutiple entry tourist visa before I left New York?

Do they have to stamp the visa when I first arrive, even if I only need 30 days. Can I wait to start using my visa until after returning from the Burma trip. This way I can stay longer. Or do they not allow you to choose? Do i just ask them at airport to give me the normal 30 day stamp?

Best thing would be not using my visa until I have to. This way I have as much time as i might need.

is this allowed?

thanks for any advice in advance

[Maestro]

Do they have to stamp the visa when I first arrive, even if I only need 30 days.

It is up to the immigration officer, but I haven't seen any recent reports by members where it was allowed.

[wayned]

IMHO to avoid any hassle, I would get a double entry tourist visa. If you get a single, it is doubtful the the immigration officer will give you a "30 day visa exempt" entry on your first entry if you have a visa in your passport, but it's up to the officer at that time. The double only costs you $40 more and will eliminate the hassle if you want more time. You don't say how long you will be in Burma, but the second entry must be used by the "must enter" date on the visa.

If you enter on a single entry, you could also purchase a re-entry permit, 1000 baht, at immigration to keep you current permission to stay alive. It depends on your itinerary and would require a trip to immigration to get the permit - hassle. Double entry, hassle free and at current exchange rates only $8.66 more

[Maestro]

I will fly into Thailand Oct 1 with a USA passport and need some advice of which visa would work best in my situation.

I will fly out of Thailand to Burma Nov 1. I will then return to thailand for an extended amount of time (not exactly sure how long) but longer than 30 days... So I know I will get the basic 30 days when I arrive, along with another basic 30 days once i return from my international flight... This without needing a visa.

Arrival 1 OCT, departure 1 NOV makes it 31 days because the both the day of arrival and the day of departure are counted. No fine will be collected for one day's overstay but a note of it will be made in your passport. Since your second stay in Thailand will be longer than 3 days I suggest that you get a tourist visa valid for two entries.

[sometimewoodworker]

Do they have to stamp the visa when I first arrive, even if I only need 30 days.

It is up to the immigration officer, but I haven't seen any recent reports by members where it was allowed.

As I said in this thread I got the 30 exempt stamp this year

[Stjohnm]

You can always wait & go to a Thai Embassy/Consulate in Burma if you know you're deffinately staying longer than a month

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[iamanisland]

Easy easy way. Play be the rules ok then your life will be easy easy.

To answer your question one entry one strike through in your passport. For single entry visa is now dead. For double entry your visa has one more life. Two entries and you need a new tourist visa.

Try this way... is if it is easy then get a double entry visa in ny. When you arrive Do Not enter your visa number on your embarcation card and try to explain if asked by immagration that you are only staying for 2 weeks and plan to use your visa on arrival back from burma.

If you win the conversation then you will have the entilement to stay for longer than you proberly want too. I.e. 2 x 60 days with a depairture mid point.

If you dont win then no loss you have one strike for 60days then when you return you can stay for another 60 days with the chance of extending for an extra 30.

There are many other ways to di this involving getting visas in other countries employing "local services" etc...

The answer is they all may work or not work but general rule of thumb is syay within the law and you will be fine and if you have the opertunity to apply at home then do so

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Sophon]

I will fly into Thailand Oct 1 with a USA passport and need some advice of which visa would work best in my situation.

I will fly out of Thailand to Burma Nov 1. I will then return to thailand for an extended amount of time (not exactly sure how long) but longer than 30 days... So I know I will get the basic 30 days when I arrive, along with another basic 30 days once i return from my international flight... This without needing a visa.

Arrival 1 OCT, departure 1 NOV makes it 31 days because the both the day of arrival and the day of departure are counted. No fine will be collected for one day's overstay but a note of it will be made in your passport. Since your second stay in Thailand will be longer than 3 days I suggest that you get a tourist visa valid for two entries.

Actually, it's 32 days so there would be a fine of 1,000 baht involved. I doubt that the immigration officer would allow visa exempt entry when the OP has a valid visa and the 30 days wouldn't cover his stay.

To the OP: Both your stays in Thailand would be over 30 days so you would need a visa for each of them. As others has suggested, you should get a double entry tourist visa.

Sophon

Sophon

[NomadJoe]

Easy easy way. Play be the rules ok then your life will be easy easy.

To answer your question one entry one strike through in your passport. For single entry visa is now dead. For double entry your visa has one more life. Two entries and you need a new tourist visa.

Try this way... is if it is easy then get a double entry visa in ny. When you arrive Do Not enter your visa number on your embarcation card and try to explain if asked by immagration that you are only staying for 2 weeks and plan to use your visa on arrival back from burma.

If you win the conversation then you will have the entilement to stay for longer than you proberly want too. I.e. 2 x 60 days with a depairture mid point.

If you dont win then no loss you have one strike for 60days then when you return you can stay for another 60 days with the chance of extending for an extra 30.

There are many other ways to di this involving getting visas in other countries employing "local services" etc...

The answer is they all may work or not work but general rule of thumb is syay within the law and you will be fine and if you have the opertunity to apply at home then do so

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yes. It doesn't hurt to ask. But don't count on it. I tried it and was told not possible. Only one person I have ever heard of where this was allowed, and he has posted above. Although he does not specify what kind of visa he is on. One incident is as good as none IMO, as peoples knowledge of what is going on with their visa's is not reliable. Even sometimewoodworker's account is sketch, and almost caused him more problems later with another officer:

I did manage to get the officer not to use one of my visa entry's at Suwanaphum this year (I was flying out the next day to Singapore for a week before a 5 week stay here) in Feb. this year but it wasn't easy and the officer on exit almost canceled an entry as he said the first officer had made a mistake in not using the visa.

[ripper15]

This is in my opinion of the best way to go for Americans not looking for the retirement Non O-A visa yet. You will have 1 year from the date of issuance to enter Thailand. I have lifted this from a post by a friend of mine in another forum as I was to lazy to retype it. 55 Make sure you check the box on the application requesting multiple entries. He only had to send his passport, a copy of his drivers license, a prestamped self addressed envelope and pics.

A Non Immigrant Category 'O' Multiple Entry Visa good for one year . You can exit and return as many times as you like to Thailand for 1 year of stay. You will have to do border runs every 90 days and can be extend for up to 15 months of stay. The fee for the visa was $200.00 dollars plus shipping through Fed-Ex with a return envelope. If any one is interested in this type of visa you can contact The Majesty's Thai Honorary Consul General in Dallas Texas at (972) 250-6363 or directly at (972) 407-6528 or by cellphone (214) 641-0992 ask for Forrest Smith. This type of visa was very easy to obtain with no headaches and very little paper workinvolved . He will be happy to email you any information you need or talk to you directly on the phone. I recommend this to anyone who is considering this type of visa to contact the above Consulate for the US you will be happy you did….

Edited August 23, 2013 by ripper15

[REDROO265]

thanks for the advice ..

i will go ahead and get the multiple entry visa. I still have nothing to lose by trying to convince immigration not to stamp my visa until later use, but not hopeful .

and in worst case i give up 30 days by leaving early.

has anyone received their Thai mutilple entry visa in Burma lately ?

just curious how easy is it to get one there compared to Laos, any cost difference

thanks again

[jrtmedic]

Sorry but you may find that things have changed with regard to multi-entry visas

Best check directly with the consulate.

[ripper15]

I had two friends in the last week who got their visa thru Forrest Smith with no problems.

[ubonjoe]

thanks for the advice ..

i will go ahead and get the multiple entry visa. I still have nothing to lose by trying to convince immigration not to stamp my visa until later use, but not hopeful .

and in worst case i give up 30 days by leaving early.

has anyone received their Thai mutilple entry visa in Burma lately ?

just curious how easy is it to get one there compared to Laos, any cost difference

thanks again

Are you writing about non immigrant O visa or tourist visa. There is no multiple entry tourist visa only 1, 2 or 3 entries.

You will not get multiple entry O visa in Burma.

You might get a 2 entry tourist visa but there is a good chance it would be a single entry.

[ripper15]

I am offering advice only about obtaining a Non-immigrant O visa thru the Honorary Consul Forrest Smith in Dallas,Texas, for people located in the US. Not talking about transit,tourist, O-A or business visas using this or any other location. It has been our experience that using other locations you will be asked for different requirements. Everyone should know that there is no hard and fast rules when dealing with the Thai Embassies and Consuls anywhere in the world. Every location seems to have there own requirements specific to them while they are generally operating under the same basic law. TIT is the watch word. you can even get a different answer from the same person depending on which day of the week you talk to them or by talking to a different person. I am sure that by reading this and other forums you can see that there is a lot of confusion about this issue due to the fact that people doing boarder runs also state that depending on which location you go to, you often get contradictory requirements. No one can give you a hard and fast answer as to what you will need at any particular location on any particular day or dealing with any particular official. Maybe he lost at poker last night and needs some tea money or his wife or g/f gave him a bad time, so he wants to spread the misery around. Then again maybe he had a win at the lottery and really doesn't want to mess with a lot of paperwork that day. It seems to be down to the luck of the draw. All I can say is good luck.

[sometimewoodworker]

Easy easy way. Play be the rules ok then your life will be easy easy.

To answer your question one entry one strike through in your passport. For single entry visa is now dead. For double entry your visa has one more life. Two entries and you need a new tourist visa.

Try this way... is if it is easy then get a double entry visa in ny. When you arrive Do Not enter your visa number on your embarcation card and try to explain if asked by immagration that you are only staying for 2 weeks and plan to use your visa on arrival back from burma.

If you win the conversation then you will have the entilement to stay for longer than you proberly want too. I.e. 2 x 60 days with a depairture mid point.

If you dont win then no loss you have one strike for 60days then when you return you can stay for another 60 days with the chance of extending for an extra 30.

There are many other ways to di this involving getting visas in other countries employing "local services" etc...

The answer is they all may work or not work but general rule of thumb is syay within the law and you will be fine and if you have the opertunity to apply at home then do so

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yes. It doesn't hurt to ask. But don't count on it. I tried it and was told not possible. Only one person I have ever heard of where this was allowed, and he has posted above. Although he does not specify what kind of visa he is on. One incident is as good as none IMO, as peoples knowledge of what is going on with their visa's is not reliable. Even sometimewoodworker's account is sketch, and almost caused him more problems later with another officer:

I did manage to get the officer not to use one of my visa entry's at Suwanaphum this year (I was flying out the next day to Singapore for a week before a 5 week stay here) in Feb. this year but it wasn't easy and the officer on exit almost canceled an entry as he said the first officer had made a mistake in not using the visa.

I had a 2 entry tourist visa. The officer on the first exit took about 5 times longer to process my passport which at that time had 1 visa exempt stamp from the day before and an unused double entry tourist visa. I was able to talk him out of cancelling one of my tourist visa entry's, possibly because the queue was long and he was not unwilling to listen. I'm not sure now if we went to the supervising officer's desk or not.

The long and short is you may be able to do it and you may be able to exit on the visa exempt entry. But do not expect that it will work. I was lucky once, I would not expect to get lucky again.

Plan with the rules, no problems, plan to be lucky, not so easy.

YMMV. TIT.