The Annual Extension to Stay & Date-Related Questions

[tomdfc]

Background - wife and I (both Brits, 59 & 61 respectively) trying to recover our visa / residency status in LOS after 7 year's of hassle-free, annually-recurring multiple-entry non-Imm O visa's issued by Hull, until last November - when we were then incorrectly downgraded to Triple 60 day Tourist visas due to bureaucratic blockers. From which time, with the help of this forum, have got ourselves a plan (financial prerequisites ok) that we thought would work for us ......

Current Situation - a two-step strategy with us pointed at Vientiane in a couple of weeks with the intention of applying for single-entry 90 day non-Imm O visas, followed by an application at Chiang Mai Immigration for an annual extension to stay based on retirement by myself, followed by same by the other half as my "dependent". Bingo. We're on the annual cycle for ever. Based on our current understanding of flights, timelines and cut-off dates, our non-Imm O's would start on 6th May and expire on 5th August. We (think we) understand the application window to apply for the annual extensions (being between 30 and 15 days before visa expiry) and this would suggest applying from about 7th July and no later than 21st July. We also understand that there is a period when the application would be "under consideration" - though we don't know if this is significant for the start date of the annual extension to stay.

The Problem - like many others no doubt, we still have family and other ties back home, in the UK. To some extent. our trips back can be managed and ideally planned to fall over the UK summer months (for good reason). It seems however that the way our visa and extension dates are working, as mentioned above, might conflict with this sort of planning and might even cause us to come unstuck from the Thai visa system depending on the answers to the following ...

The Questions -

• is the start date of the annual extension to stay based on retirement the same annual date as the expiry date of the non-Imm O visa?
• what is the annual re-application lead-time in respect of the extension to stay - in other words, could the application be advanced in a future year by, say, some months?
• presumably, you have to be in Thailand in person to re-apply for an annual extension to stay?

And if the answers to these first questions mean that we would be stuck with an annually-recurring date slap bang in the middle of the "summer" period, and as a possible alternative strategy -

• would appplying for a Vientiane multiple-entry non-Imm O visa offer flexibility or would we be faced with the same restrictions one year down the road?

Happy Songkran & many thanks in advance.

[Mario2008]

1. when you center Thailand you get a permission to stay till date X. When you apply for a 1 year extension, the extension starts on day X and ends 1 year later.

2. You can extend every year again, this can be done 30 days early and in some places 45 days early.

3. extension must be applied for in person. Although there are some agencies that do it for you, you cannot apply for an extension while you are out of the country.

[Mario2008]

Missed the question about a multiple non-O visa.

You will not get a multiple non-O visa based on retirement.

[tomdfc]

Thanks Mario. One last thought. Is there another way to "move" the annual extension date backwards by a few months? For example, could we apply for a second consecutive non-Imm O?

[ubonjoe]

You could apply for anther non-o visa without a problem and then do your extension.