hi all,

i am in thailand on an ED visa, and fly home for a 12 day visit on Feb 15. my current visa 90 day extension expires March 13, 12 days after i get back. i applied for a new aussie passport today as the current one wont have 6 months validity on it when i come back on march 1.

my question is, can i continue to show the valid visa and extension, albeit in a cancelled passport, or do i have to get my ED visa/extension, swapped over to the new passport before i leave on Feb 15? i am ok with the idea of coming back in with the new passport and getting a 30 day tourist stamp and doing a visa run with my new paperwork for a second ED visa, giving up a 3 month extension if it means i would otherwise have to pay the full fee of the visa to swap it over, to only get 3 months value out of it. hope this makes some sort of sense.

i remember in the old days when we needed visas for the US, i had two passports and showed the valid visa to the americans from an expired passport and it was no problem. just wondering what the Thai attitude is in this respect.

cheers and thanks in advance.

You have an extension of stay you obtained from immigration not a visa. In order to leave and return you need a re-entry permit to keep your extension valid.

As soon as you get your get your new passport you need to make a trip to immigration and have your extension stamp transferred and an annotation of your visa entry done in your new passport. You could then apply for a single re-entry permit (1000 baht).

You should be sure your school has the paperwork ready for your new extension so that you can get it done shortly after you return.

Honestly I'm not being pedantic but to make it clear to the people who can answer.

Do you do 90 day border runs ? Means multi entry visa

or

Do you report to an Immigration office every 90 days ? extension of stay, not visa.

Really, I'm trying to help with your question.

Ubon beat me to it

Hi,

thanks for the replies. for the record an ED visa cant be multi entry. i report to immigration every 90 days.

"my question is, can i continue to show the valid visa and extension, albeit in a cancelled passport, or do i have to get my ED visa/extension, swapped over to the new passport before i leave on Feb 15?"

sorry not sure how else i should have put it?

You do not have a valid visa I am sure it expired long ago.

You have an extension of stay and you must have the stamps for it transferred before you leave.

If you have a valid re-entry permit they would transfer it also. If not you will need to get one before your leave or you will only get a 30 day visa exempt entry when you return.

Hi,

thanks for the replies. for the record an ED visa cant be multi entry. i report to immigration every 90 days.

"my question is, can i continue to show the valid visa and extension, albeit in a cancelled passport, or do i have to get my ED visa/extension, swapped over to the new passport before i leave on Feb 15?"

sorry not sure how else i should have put it?

You got a visa to enter Thailand and then you (apparently) got an extension of stay from Immigrations in order to stay in Thailand. Visas are not extended or renewed. They die and cannot be resuscitated. If you wanted a NEW visa you'd have to get it from a consulate or embassy outside of Thailand.

If you have a valid extension of stay, you'll need a re-entry permit in order to leave and return to Thailand. Without one, your extension of stay will die and when you return by air you'll either need a NEW visa from an embassy or consulate or you'll just be given a 30 day visa exempt entry.

Assuming you don't manage to kill the extension or re-entry permit, when you have a new passport you go to Immigrations and they will transfer your extension of stay. They will also include the needful regarding your entry stamp. The visa will not be transferred nor would there be any reason to since your stay in Thailand is determined by the extension of stay OR a NEW visa OR a visa exempt entry.