Malaysian Border Run - Successful - Big Yawn...

[JDGRUEN]

Yesterday, Wednesday June 25... I successfully completed a Border Run to Malaysia in the middle of the Thale Ban National Park. I rented a car and drove from Ao Nang, Krabi. It was much more expensive than the 1000 Baht Tour Van... but those crowded vans do not allow me to extend my legs which results in extreme back and knee pain and limping for days afterwards - not to mention the far too frequent stops and sketchy air con. Then there are the insane van drivers to deal with... Anyway the trip was mostly uneventful except for nearly getting killed by a giant 5 ton sand truck along some road construction and then nearly getting run off the road several times - once deliberately by a pick up truck and once by an arrogant - crazy double decker bus driver... had to stop - get almost over in the ditch.

The Thai Border Checkpoint (Wang Prachan) and the Malaysia Border Checkpoint (Wang Kelian) are but a couple hundred meters from each other. Exit and reentry was a breeze (took 15 minutes) after I located the Thai Departure Window on the back side of the long building - not the front... a little disconcerting at first. On both sides of the border the Departure (Exit) and Arrival (Entry) windows are beside each other in the respective county's building. For both countries - there is no pretense that it is anything but a 'turn around' / U-turn on both sides. It is just glance at the passport / visa / departure card... make or check an entry into a computer - stamp stamp stamp - sometimes a weak smile and it is done. Of course it was simple for me as I have a Multi Entry Non Imm 'O' so I have no info on how Tourist Visas were processed or handled.

I was not required to present documentation other than my passport with visa and departure card... nor was there any requirement for proof of anything except for the documents mentioned. No address verification required - in fact only a generalized address - resort name and city on the departure card and that was not questioned - nor was a street address required. The Malaysians did not want any passport photos - just stamped my passport - no other documents created or presented - no entry or processing fee. This was different than my experience in Nong Khai going over to Laos... photo required, big visa stamp and other stamp taking up two full pages and about 25 minutes waiting for some kind of processing - plus 1500 Baht fee.

Note: Using Google Maps (GPS service) to travel rural far south Thailand. It works just fine - I had a AIS Pocket WiFi device to support an Android Smartphone and a Samsung Tablet. Allowing the GPS to create the route was a lot of good and some bad. It seems to optimize to get shortest route. This worked for most of the way but we did get a stretch of very narrow road for about 20 kilometers - and it was pretty bad - curvy and no side clearance. On the way back I ignored that route and took a better 'L' shaped route to get better roads back to Trang, Caution - Highway 4 north and eastward of Trang on the way back to Krabi Town should be avoided. It goes far out of the way in a big loop and has to narrow to cross a railroad 3-4 times and goes through more urban area. Highway 403 down 419 - then 404 - the 416 - then 406 is the more efficient route. This route I just described goes along some pretty good road for the most part - much of it divided 4 lane...

We went through about 5 military - police check points sometimes not manned - sometimes manned by military - sometimes by police - and sometimes both. We were waved through without question every time. I rolled the windows down to clearly show who/what was inside before I stopped - (the side windows were quite heavily tinted). This I think helped get the wave through.

We choose the westernly side of far south Thailand for the Border Run as it is said to be more peaceful and it proved to be so.

The scenery in the Thale Ban National Park is stunningly beautiful - it is a real jungle out there in those huge jutting straight up mountains.

This post has been created for purposes of providing information to those TVF members who may benefit from it.

[John1012]

Why if you have a Multi Entry non "O" do you need a border run?

[Crossy]

Why if you have a Multi Entry non "O" do you need a border run?

Because you have to leave the country every 90 days with one of those.

[maswov]

Why if you have a Multi Entry non "O" do you need a border run?

Because you have to leave the country every 90 days with one of those.

Funny, most people I know just get an extension each year unless they are not aware you can get an extension.

[gchurch259]

Question for all, I have had a Retirement Visa for 8 years, with multi entry. Now I have always traveled enough that I did not stay in LOS for more than 90 days. This time I came back 27 March and at 90 days. Do I have to report to immigrantion ?

[ubonjoe]

Question for all, I have had a Retirement Visa for 8 years, with multi entry. Now I have always traveled enough that I did not stay in LOS for more than 90 days. This time I came back 27 March and at 90 days. Do I have to report to immigrantion ?

You apparently have an extension of stay based upon retirement with a multiple re-entry permit that you obtained at immigration (it is not visa).

If you are staying 90 days or more you need to do a report at immigration.

[gchurch259]

Question for all, I have had a Retirement Visa for 8 years, with multi entry. Now I have always traveled enough that I did not stay in LOS for more than 90 days. This time I came back 27 March and at 90 days. Do I have to report to immigrantion ?

You apparently have an extension of stay based upon retirement with a multiple re-entry permit that you obtained at immigration (it is not visa).

If you are staying 90 days or more you need to do a report at immigration.

I was issued an O Non-Immigrant Visa at D.C on Apr 2005, at the end of a year I changed to Retirement and have renewed each yaer since. Does than change anything ?

[ubonjoe]

Question for all, I have had a Retirement Visa for 8 years, with multi entry. Now I have always traveled enough that I did not stay in LOS for more than 90 days. This time I came back 27 March and at 90 days. Do I have to report to immigrantion ?

You apparently have an extension of stay based upon retirement with a multiple re-entry permit that you obtained at immigration (it is not visa).

If you are staying 90 days or more you need to do a report at immigration.

I was issued an O Non-Immigrant Visa at D.C on Apr 2005, at the end of a year I changed to Retirement and have renewed each yaer since. Does than change anything ?

I you have been going to immigration every year you have an extension of stay. Look at stamp in your passport to see what it says.

You will need to do the report.

[gchurch259]

Question for all, I have had a Retirement Visa for 8 years, with multi entry. Now I have always traveled enough that I did not stay in LOS for more than 90 days. This time I came back 27 March and at 90 days. Do I have to report to immigrantion ?

You apparently have an extension of stay based upon retirement with a multiple re-entry permit that you obtained at immigration (it is not visa).

If you are staying 90 days or more you need to do a report at immigration.

I was issued an O Non-Immigrant Visa at D.C on Apr 2005, at the end of a year I changed to Retirement and have renewed each yaer since. Does than change anything ?

I you have been going to immigration every year you have an extension of stay. Look at stamp in your passport to see what it says.

You will need to do the report.

Thanks for the information !! UbonJOe are you retired military, I am retired USAF.

[bangkoklasse]

Why if you have a Multi Entry non "O" do you need a border run?

Because you have to leave the country every 90 days with one of those.

Funny, most people I know just get an extension each year unless they are not aware you can get an extension.

But they have the Extension of Stay. And not the non O visa. That's why they don't have to go out every 90 days.

The requirements are also very different for getting the Extension of stay compared to the non O visa. Not all people have 800k in the bank here or 65k income.

Edited June 27, 2014 by bangkoklasse

[schondie]

Nice post, I went there last week. It's a breeze compared to Dannok or Pedang Bezar. They're stricter at that border crossing than elsewhere, I saw a young lady on a visa run refused another stamp. I hung around to see how it played out and the head of Immigration made her cross back into Malaysia to make her way down to Penang. After reasoning that all her stuff was in Samui came the raised voice, then the shouting and lastly followed by the tears. He stuck to his guns and sent her on her way.

The duty free shop doesn't have the largest selection but they don't check your passport or bother enforcing the legal limits for goods going into Thailand.

[phuketrichard]

note; i also just crossed yesterday at Betong from Malaysia, (GF just got her 1 year non B visa)

no problems, no signs about need 20,000 baht, all smiles

The road from Yala to Betong is very beautiful

Phuket- yala is 8 hours 1 hour more to border

have used the Wang Prachan border a few times as well ( Phuket- WP is about 6 1/2 on some nice roads, by pass Trang an hat yai)

[ajarnmarc]

Great post, thanks for the info