The end of student visas in Phuket

[NamKangMan]

NKM

Yes. I think that you are right. Probably cheaper especially if you snag some promo air fares with Air Asia. And of course, you don't have to worry about 90 day reporting.

Can you please tell me what countries/embassies issue the 60 day tourist visa and how much is the fee. Where have you been to get them in the past?

I always get the promo or "on sale" airfares when AirAsia advertise them, because you know, to the day, when you have to leave. If there is a festival, or a friend's birthday etc - I may leave a week or two before my visa expires.

All Thai Embassies, all around the world, issue the 60 day visas to Thailand.

Obviously, you want a Thai Embassy that is nearby and easy to get to. In the past, they may have been not so easy to get to, but I have gone anyway, just to have a look around and do the tourist things in that particular city.

What I do is no secret. There are many other foreigners doing this. Sometimes there are long ques.

That's why I say "visa runs" are a big industry. They generate employment and turn over billions of baht. There are many people living here on tourist visas.

The "system" keeps no one out, but just takes their money, regularly. I think that's all it's designed to do. Even the Central Goverment get my 700 baht airport exit tax.

Anyway, Penang - Malaysia is the easiest visa run, but also Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam (but you have to organise a Vietnam visa for this) there is Vientiane - Laos (I found this Thai Embassy to be the worse for ques, probably because of many foreigners living in issan use this Embassy) there is Singapore (probably the most expensive, but a First World nation)

These are the main places you should look at for visa runs. The popular ones are where you don't pay for a visa on arrival and where you only get an entry stamp, not a visa taking up a whole page in your passport. For this reason, Malaysia is popular.

I have been to Myanmar (Burma) but not for a visa run, purely as a tourist, but maybe Myanmar will be easier to get to in the future, so will be open for visa runs.

As for not worrying about 90 day reporting, in a way, you have to "report" just before the 60 days to pay your 1900 baht for your 30 day extension. Well, you don't have to, you can leave on day 60, but that's more "runs" in the year.

The visa cist is around $40US. Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam run the dual currency system. That is, their local currency and also US Dollars, but the Thai Embassy prefers US Dollars as they do not want to lose on any exchange rate of the local, volitile currency.

Hope this helps. Ask around, you will meet many others guys doing this type of visa run because there is either what I am doing, or what you are doing. These are the only options if you are under 50 years of age, and, in my opinion, as mentioned, the Thai's know it, and have used it to create a money making industry.

Just out of interest, how many tourist visas can you have in your passport before it looks suspicious?

Who knows?

This issue was raised in many threads on the visa forum, when the latest visa crackdown started.

Some were saying you can have as many 60 day Tourist Visas as you want, and others were saying they were being turned away at the boarder, which makes you wonder why the Thai Embassy issed the tourist visa to the individual in the first place.

The crackdown seemed to be targeting those "living" in Thailand on 30 day tourist visa exemption stamps, but my view was it would stand to reason the focus would then shift to those "living" here on 60 day tourist visas, otherwise, the crackdown acheives nothing, other than raising some revenue, which it would not surprise me if that was what the crackdown was designed to do, and to also sell some Thai Elite Cards.

That said, one should never use the word "reason" and "Thailand" in the same sentence.

To date, I haven't been rejected or red stamped, but before I do a visa run, I have now set things in place to deal with being rejected.

This leads to a question no one could really answer, with certainty, and from memory, no Thai officials would release a statement of clarification, and that question was, if rejected, how long must you remain outside of Thailand, before being allowed back into the country?

It seems it's up to the individual Thai Immigration Officers to either accept, or reject someone.