Advice on land crossing please

[Squeegee]

Hello,

I'm between a rock and a hard place: British passport application process vs Thai immigration enforcement at borders. My question is: is it realistic for me to re-enter via a land border before August 12th?

I have a completely full passport, with many visa exempt stamps, though I am currently on a double entry Tourist visa to stay legal whilst I await a new passport. I made my application to Trendy on the 17th June and payment was taken by HMPO on the 20th of June, so I am only 5 and a bit weeks into a potential 10 week waiting period.

I am now on my 30 day extension of stay for first entry, up to 20th August (thus should leave by 19th at the latest). It's pretty clear that really I should probably attempt my re-entry before August 12th, rather than waiting another week just because of the date in my passport. Now I need to attempt to exit and re-enter on an Emergency Travel Document to activate my second 60 day period to buy me time to get the new passport from the nightmare process of UK passport services. I need to do it as cheaply as possible because I've been unable to work for a long time now.

I was thinking if I am able to do my re-entry at Aranyaprathet/Poipet, this would be my most affordable option since I am based in BKK and Poipet should be cheap to get to and from and also to stay for 2 or 3 nights (hopefully that looks better than just doing a same-day bounce).

I realise people of differing circumstances are having different experiences at the borders, and it seems in my situation I must avoid the south at all costs. I've noted that some far north borders don't seem to be looking at exempt histories just yet, but I am not au fait with Burma and the distance would cost me more in both time and money. It seems going to Vientienne might also be possible, and there's a service I could use that goes straight there from BKK pretty quickly.

Maybe there are super cheap flights (back into Thailand) that I am not aware of that would not be much more expensive than doing a land crossing (if I can't do Poipet for any reason) but with my full passport, full of exempts (from Poipet), on a Tourist visa (just this one) and using an ETD I imagine I'm going to raise eyebrows no matter where I go.

How I got into this mess is a long story, the gist of which is I took a long holiday then waited for the HMPO to get their new system going, then waited in the hope it would settle down which it never did. As long as there's a glimmer of hope I can get myself back into the good books of Thai immigration I will do my best.

This is a request for advice from ubonjoe or others who might have any thoughts on how I should proceed.

[Squeegee]

I've just seen this thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/745554-visa-renewal-services-to-cambodia-laos-with-thai-visa-service/

I wonder if this border (and visa service) would be OK for me. I'll give them a call tomorrow.

[ubonjoe]

Since you a a tourist visa entry remaining the 12th of August means nothing to you. That is the date that immigration has set to officially start enforcing the out/in visa exempt entry rules.

You should be able to use your 2nd entry by showing the visa in your passport and ETD on entry without a problem.

[billd766]

AFAIK when you apply for a new passport and they take the money your existing passport is cancelled.

Perhaps you should call the UK embassy for verification on that point. If stopped by a policeman you should be OK but if Immigration scan your current passport and it HAS been cancelled you may be in for a whole load of trouble.

[Squeegee]

ubonjoe, I hope so. Thank you for the reply, sir.

AFAIK when you apply for a new passport and they take the money your existing passport is cancelled.

Perhaps you should call the UK embassy for verification on that point. If stopped by a policeman you should be OK but if Immigration scan your current passport and it HAS been cancelled you may be in for a whole load of trouble.

As stated in the OP, I will have an ETD.

[Gallstone]

I have used this service a few times for 2000 baht.

http://quickthaivisa.webs.com/contactus.htm

They leave from ekkami near the BTS (inside the coffee shop/restaurant on the corner closest to the BTS station) at 9:30am and get back around 8:00pm (as I remember) and they use a proper bus rather than a minibus. They were driving to the Cambodian border but last time I used them they went to the Burmese border near kanchanaburi but they both took about the same time.

The thai guy that runs it is helpful and speaks pretty much fluent english.

[Squeegee]

Thanks Gallstone, but I've already made arrangements that should be OK I think.