I am from the US and here with my family while my children study in elementary school for a year. My kids are 9 and 11 and have Ed visas with multiple entry. My partner and I have non-immigrant O visas to care for them while they are students. We arrived July 30 2013 and are staying until June 15, 2014.

My questions:

1) Am I correct that my partner and I must have a border crossing every 90 days to have the initial 90 day visas extended but that my children do not have to because they are not charged for overstays on their visa?

2) If we do our first required border run on October 23 overland to Malaysia but plan a trip to India from Dec 21-Jan 5, is it advisable to get a re-entry permit to keep the time on our visa which would then be expiring on approximately Jan 23?

3) What paperwork is required for the border crossings?

4) Can you have multiple entries and exits on a non- O multiple entry visa, or is it the case that you are only allowed 3 border crossings (ie every 90 days) until you leave?

Thanks!

Assuming you have Multiple Entry Non Immigrant Visas obatined at a Thai Consulate outside of Thailand, then the answers are as follows below:

Note that you can all exit/enter Thailand as many times as you like during the vaidity period of your visas (before Enter Before Date) and each time one of you enters Thailand you will get a 90 day Permission to Stay stamp i your passport.

1) Yes you must exit Thailand at least before 90 days after each entry, plus your children will not be charged for over stay.

2) Re-entry Permit not necessary.

3) None for the Thai side, just the passport and TM6 Departure Card. Then at the country you enter at worst a copy of your passport ID page plus entry visas, depending on where you are going.

4) Yes - see comment in para 1 above.

If your children are going to school, they can extend their stay in Thailand with paperwork from the school.

You yourself could get a 1 year extension of stay, based on the children having a 1 year extension of stay, but need to show 500,000 in the bank in Thailand.

If plan is only stay for 1 year in Thailand, doing exit and re-entry every 90 days will be fine.

Assuming you have Multiple Entry Non Immigrant Visas obatined at a Thai Consulate outside of Thailand, then the answers are as follows below:

Note that you can all exit/enter Thailand as many times as you like during the vaidity period of your visas (before Enter Before Date) and each time one of you enters Thailand you will get a 90 day Permission to Stay stamp i your passport.

1) Yes you must exit Thailand at least before 90 days after each entry, plus your children will not be charged for over stay.

2) Re-entry Permit not necessary.

3) None for the Thai side, just the passport and TM6 Departure Card. Then at the country you enter at worst a copy of your passport ID page plus entry visas, depending on where you are going.

4) Yes - see comment in para 1 above.

Thanks so much for this! Yes, we got the visa at the Thai consulate in the US. I am just confused because you seem to be saying something different than someone else I spoke to, who said the reason we should get a re entry visa for the India trip is that we can only get our visa renewed 3x during a 12 month period. But really appreciate your help.

Also, where do we get the TM6 departure card - will they give that to us before we cross the border either in a car or by plane?

Thanks!

You already have the departure card. It's the part of the arrival/departure card that's still in your passports (small white piece of paper stapled in the passports)

Probably best not to ask the person who told you you could only use the visa three times anything else about visas

You can use a multiple entry visa as many times as you want for the year it is valid.

Perhaps they were thinking about a 3 entry tourist visa. And anyway it is not renewing the visa it is getting a new 90 day entry.

Edited October 8, 201312 yr by ubonjoe