Type Of Visa

[murni]

My husband & I (both English) are on a retirement visa but we are getting rather old & I wonder if it is legal to just keep getting a 30 day visa? We are thinking of moving from CM to CR which of course is close to Mai Sai.

Thanks in advance

[geoffphuket]

My husband & I (both English) are on a retirement visa but we are getting rather old & I wonder if it is legal to just keep getting a 30 day visa? We are thinking of moving from CM to CR which of course is close to Mai Sai.

Thanks in advance

I can't comment on the boarder crossing at Mai Sai, but the immigration office in Ranong sometimes gets orders from Bangkok to clamp down on 30 day back to back visa runners; afterall the 30 day visa is for tourist use only, despite many living here for years with them, but surely you're better off staying here on you're retirement visas, than taking chances?

[geoffphuket]

Just an additional thought. Have you considered other implications? Driving licence, Bank account, housing etc could be a problem with 30 day visas

[soap]

My husband & I (both English) are on a retirement visa but we are getting rather old & I wonder if it is legal to just keep getting a 30 day visa? We are thinking of moving from CM to CR which of course is close to Mai Sai.

Thanks in advance

hello murni

i think i read in another post that you must have the sum of 800,000 baht each in your account is this what you are worried about.

i would think on the lines of having two seperate bank accounts, say your wife applies for her retirement visa in january,once she has her visa transfer the money into your account and you apply for yours say six months later.

i cant see any reason you cant do it this way, you will each have had 800,000baht in your accounts for 5or 6 months prior to applying,

if any thing is said and they stop you,just go for the 30 day extention or better still let your wife get the retirement visa and you being the gentleman that no doubt you are,you go for the 30 day extention,

worth thinking about

ps

im sure you will enjoy chaingrai (if it stops raining)

[my friend I]

It seems Mae Sai has doubled the entry fee to 500 Baht.

[mumbojumbo]

It seems Mae Sai has doubled the entry fee to 500 Baht.

Are you saying the entrance to Myanmar has doubled. Thailand does not have an entry fee. If this is the case, just consider it has been $5 US or 250 bt for 15 years. Everything has to go up sometime.

[Limbo]

My husband & I (both English) are on a retirement visa but we are getting rather old & I wonder if it is legal to just keep getting a 30 day visa? We are thinking of moving from CM to CR which of course is close to Mai Sai.

Thanks in advance

Dear Murni,

It is possible to change from a real (not the 30 day you get at the border) tourist visa to a non-immigrant-o (at least if it is still 21 days valid) with the purpose of using this to get a retirement visa.

Your question however is the other way around.

The officers of the Immigration Office in Mae Sai (just left after the second fly-over when you enter Mae Sai) are very kind and helpful.

The best thing to do is to present your situation to them.

Thaivisa has a special forum 'Thai visas, residency and work permits' with a specialized moderator who knows most about visa: Lopburi3.

Maybe there is an alternative for the monthly visarun to Mae Sai.

If you repeat your question in that forum, maybe with a little bit more details about your specific situation, the chance that somebody has the right information is bigger than at this forum.

Just click:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...er=all&st=0

Good luck!

Limbo

[my friend I]

It seems Mae Sai has doubled the entry fee to 500 Baht.

Are you saying the entrance to Myanmar has doubled. Thailand does not have an entry fee. If this is the case, just consider it has been $5 US or 250 bt for 15 years. Everything has to go up sometime.

Yes the entry into Tachileik is 500BT. Makes it the same as other crossings Thai/ Burma.

[tayto]

It seems Mae Sai has doubled the entry fee to 500 Baht.

Are you saying the entrance to Myanmar has doubled. Thailand does not have an entry fee. If this is the case, just consider it has been $5 US or 250 bt for 15 years. Everything has to go up sometime.

Are you sure about this? because it was still only 250 baht last Thursday.

[lopburi3]

You don't say why you wish to change to 30 day entry, and as this will require monthly trips and be subject to limitation at any time (it is not uncommon for people to be told not to come back again after the third such visit) believe you are better served with the retirement type if you can manage it. The post about using a joint account will not normally work - if a joint account they may require 1,600,000 in the account to issue a retirement visa (someone has had that problem before). But you should only need one retirement visa and the second person obtains a non immigrant O visa as dependent. So that would only require the one 800k account. If you believe immigration rules have changed be sure to ask them directly - there are often many variations and misunderstandings when we rely on a second party for information as often they have special considerations that they do not feel relevant but that may indeed have been relevant to Immigration decisions.

If that is a problem you could probably obtain a non immigrant O multi entry visa from Penang by showing a bank account of several hundred thousand baht each. With that you would only have to exit every 3 months.

[goski]

Yes, they changed it 1/8 and now you hav to fill in an application on the Burmese side and also get your picture taken. Nothing serious but it takes a while so if you have to swing across the border every month, go early in the morning. Last Tuesday it took me 4 hours totally since I had about 30 people in front of me. And yep, it costs 500 baht now.

But I think that they will reevaluate the whole thing since noone actually crosses over anymore because they have to wait too long.