Tourist 60 day after expired Visa B

[Pcall]

Hi I have a UK passport which expires in November 2015. I am currently living in Thailand.

A few points of worry:

My passport has only one empty page left, and my visa b expires on 12 January 2015

After 3 months on my one and only visa b I have decided not to proceed with my plans to start a business in Thailand after all. Now is not the right time for me.

Instead, I have decided to fly to Bali in January, for a short break and then to return to Thailand as a tourist for a further 3 months.

I believe I can return on a 60 day single entry tourist visa, which I can buy at the the Thai Embassy in Bali. I would then extend it for a further 30 days, to make a total of 90 days.

Any advice, or potential problems that you can see, would be most appreciated

[ubonjoe]

You can get a tourist visa without a problem after having a non-b visa.

There is no Thai embassy in Bali. It is a honorary Thai consulate.

You could get a up to a 3 entry tourist visa there if you wanted to.

[Pcall]

Thank you ubonjoe for your reply. Much appreciated.

One further problem has just occurred to me.

As I said in my OP, my current Visa B expires in January. I then plan to fly to Bali and buy a single entry visa from the Thai Consulate there. I have just remembered though that the last time I went to Bali, which was in 2007, I got charged 20 dollars for their Visa on Arrival, which was valid for 30 days. That stamp took up one whole page of my passport. So far as I am aware, you cannot ask for a visa exempt stamp instead.

I do not know if the rules have changed since 2007. If they have not, then I have a major problem as I will need two full pages: one for the Bali Visa on Arrival, and one for the tourist visa from the Thai Consulate.

Is there anything you can say to reassure me please?

Once again, thanks for your help.

[ubonjoe]

I did a little research and found that the visa on arrival now costs $35 and it appears that it is still a full page sticker.

Other than Malaysia all the neighboring countries require a full page visa for entry. Cambodia has the e-visa option that does not use a full page.

You could go to Bali and then get a visa exempt entry on return and extend it for 30 days at immigration. But those all require stamps. Do have room for them?

[Pcall]

Thank you ubonjoe for your efforts and research on my behalf. Once again, much appreciated.

Yes, there is room on the used pages for the smaller stamps.

In the light of your two very helpful replies above, this is Plan B:

I shall fly to Bali on January 12th - my one remaining full page will be used up by their Visa on Arrival.

I shall fly back to Thailand on January 17th to receive a visa exempt stamp at Bangkok Airport. This will give me 30 days (January 17th - 15th February).

Before 15th February, I shall go to my local immigration office and to apply for a 30 day extension. Their date stamp will run from 16th February - 17th March.

Before the end of those 60 days, can I return to my local immigration office and apply for a second extension, which they would then refuse, but would instead give me 7 days to leave the Kingdom?

If that is not possible, then on 17th March, I would fly to Borneo instead. As you know, Borneo is owned by Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. If I go to the part owned by Malaysia, will the visa for entry stamp be small? Presumably, if I go to the part owned by Indonesia, another full page, which by then I won't have, will be required.

I would then like to fly back to Thailand on March 25th, as I would like to enjoy Songkran, which will run from 13th April to 15th April. I would therefore need another 30 day visa exempt stamp on arrival at Bangkok Airport.

As an aside, my return ticket from Thailand to the UK is dated 2nd April 2015, so I propose to change that date to 20th April.

Having just had a 30 day visa exempt stamp, with a 30 day extension, do you think that Immigration at Bangkok Airport will grant me another 30 day visa exempt entry so soon?

I would add that since 2007 I have had 12 visa exempt stamps upon arrival at Bangkok Airport. Four of those were issued in 2014; the most recent was last September. This means that the visa exempt stamp that I hope to get on 17th January 2015 will be number 13. Will the extension of 30 days, effective from February 16th 2015, count as number 14, or will it still be considered as part of number 13?

Once again thank you for your help and advice in this matter.

[Pcall]

Happy New Year.

You kindly helped me to see that Plan A would not work. In my last post, I outlined Plan B, with additional information about my 12 previous visa exempt stamps from Bangkok Airport.

Is Plan B likely to work please, or do I need a Plan C?

One again, I would appreciate your help and advice.

[ubonjoe]

The best plan would be to get a new passport while you are here during the 60 days you will be here after getting a visa exempt entry and an extension. After applying for the new passport you would still have your old one and can apply for the 30 day extension with it.

Got through the steps here to get info: https://www.gov.uk/overseas-passports

I suggest you send an email to VFS now requesting an appointment.

[realthaideal]

As this is a similar topic, I want to piggyback my own situation onto this thread. I also plan to drop down from a Non-Imm B visa.

I have a Multiple B that expires end of Jan (this month) that I've ridden out the full 15 mo's (with last day of validity re-entry and 90 day stamp). I've had several of these over the last 10 yrs, all obtained while in the US. Right now I'd rather stay in Thailand, save money, and visit the US in Aug for the B Visa again, so am planning to go to Vientianne for a Double Entry Tourist Visa. The last time I did this was in 2011.

Has anyone heard about the atmosphere or ease of obtaining a tourist visa after having been a Non-Imm B holder the majority of the time? This in light of the recent gov't policies and confusion a few mo's back. I believe things are more or less cool right now, but would like any feedback from anyone else who's done this recently.

Thanks in advance.

[paz]

Has anyone heard about the atmosphere or ease of obtaining a tourist visa after having been a Non-Imm B holder the majority of the time? This in light of the recent gov't policies and confusion a few mo's back. I believe things are more or less cool right now, but would like any feedback from anyone else who's done this recently.

There is no "atmosphere". Tourist visa in Laos is issued to anyone except individuals that the same consulate has marked previously as exclusion. Even for them, normally a new passport is enough as a work-around.

There has never been any change or confusion about that in the last few years.

[JB300]

I did a little research and found that the visa on arrival now costs $35 and it appears that it is still a full page sticker.

Other than Malaysia all the neighboring countries require a full page visa for entry. Cambodia has the e-visa option that does not use a full page.

You could go to Bali and then get a visa exempt entry on return and extend it for 30 days at immigration. But those all require stamps. Do have room for them?

Indonesia visa is now 1/2 page (attached a photo of mine from November) but I don't know if they'll insist on putting it onto a blank page (Philippine stamps on the photo were from a trip after Bali).

I did hear that in preparation for closer ties across ASEAN, Indonesia were planning to do away with the VOA and move to Visa Exempt like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore but I don't know how true this is or when it would happen.

Update:Seems the proposed scraping of the us35$ fee is to increase tourism from Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, nothing to do with closer ASEAN ties... http://www.smh.com.au/world/indonesia-proposes-scrapping-visa-fee-for-tourists-20141105-11hj0y.html

Edited January 5, 2015 by JB300