I have recently received an non-immigrant O-A long stay visa from the Thai embassy in London. The date of issue was 21 Aug 2014 and the visa states "enter before 20 Aug 2015". I am currently resident in the UK and plan within the next month or two to fly to Thailand for an extended stay of between 1 and 2 years.

I remember reading somewhere, maybe on this forum, that I need to make my first entry into Thailand on this visa within 3 months of issue date, therefore by 20th Nov 2014.

Is this the case or can I enter at anytime during the first year, ie upto 20 Aug 2015 in order to receive a year stamp?

Thank you for all useful in formation received.

You can anytime until midnight of the enter before date. Certainly you have not read differently on this forum.

it is convenient that you realize an entry as close as possible to that date to be allowed for virtually two years.

After the date, you will need a re-entry permit to travel and keep active your permission to stay.

All said, kust confirming from my own experience.

I had entered almost 5 months after date of issue for personal reasons.

So lost this time for the possible "2nd year".

The date of issue was 21 Aug 2014 and the visa states "enter before 20 Aug 2015".

You can enter Thailand (and exit & re-enter Thailand) as often as you like up to 20 August 2015. There should be an M on the visa which means you are allowed multiple-entries during the validity of the visa.

Any time & every time you enter the country before the visa "use-by" date you will get a fresh permission to stay for a year from the date you enter.

So, even if you plan to stay in Thailand with no travelling outside, you'll get one year permission to stay when you first enter. So you have two dates to keep an eye on, the visa expiry date and the permission to stay expiry date.

You can do a border crossing and return just before the visa expires 20 August 2015, so that you you will get a new one year permission to stay from your re-entry. Note that the visa will expire on 20 August 2015, but you will then have a permission to stay in Thailand that remains valid for an additional one year from you last entry.

At that point, since the visa has expired, if you want to leave and re-enter you will need a re-entry permit to keep the permission to stay alive. Easy to get a re-entry permit at an Immigrations office or even at the airport but not available at land border crossings.

You can manage to get slightly less than two years out of this and if you want to stay longer than that, you could then apply to immigrations for a further extension based on retirement without leaving the country.

Also, anytime that you are here for 90 uninterrupted days, you need to report your address to Immigrations. It's just a report to confirm you're still in country and at what address. Nothing to do with your visa or your permission to stay.

Gents, and in particular Suradit69, Thank you for the info, very useful. I am flying to Thailand in mid Nov 2014 to start my "retirement"