Canadian -- get Visa within Thailand

[Alexander Joo]

I'm a Canadian passport holder and currently in Thailand on ED Visa.

My Visa expires January 31. I'm currently replacing a lost passport that will be ready January 28th. This leaves 3 days in between.

I'm confused as to the options I have for a tourist visa (ED visa is a pain in the ass, so I'm switching to Tourist for now). I know if I'm in Canada -- or courier my passport there -- I can get a 90-day visa, but unfortunately I don't have the time to do that before my visa expires.

As a Canadian already in Thailand, is my option only a 30-day Tourist visa? I'm willing to fly to Laos/Penang/SG/etc. if there's a way I can get a 60- or 90-day visa.

[ubonjoe]

You can go to Laos and get a 2 entry tourist visa that would give you almost 6 months of stay by getting a 30 day extension of each 60 day entry it allows.

You could go to Penang and get a single entry tourist visa.

As soon as you get your new passport you should go to an immigration office to have your current permit to stay reinstated in your new passport. You will need a copy of the police report for your lost passport.

[Alexander Joo]

You can go to Laos and get a 2 entry tourist visa that would give you almost 6 months of stay by getting a 30 day extension of each 60 day entry it allows.

You could go to Penang and get a single entry tourist visa.

As soon as you get your new passport you should go to an immigration office to have your current permit to stay reinstated in your new passport. You will need a copy of the police report for your lost passport.

A question about single/multi entries: If I had a 30-day single entry visa, I could get a re-entry stamp at the airport in order to leave and re-enter Thailand as much as possible within that month, right?

I don't really know the point of single/multi since that re-entry stamp exists, so I'm thinking I may be confused as to what a single/multi-entry is.

[ubonjoe]

There is no 30 day tourist visa. You can get 30 day visa exempt entries when you arrive in the country.

A tourist visa gives a 60 day entry.

Tourist visas are not issued as multiple entries they are issued for the number of entries they allow. It can be 1, 2 or 3 entries.

You enter the country using the first entry and then can extend that entry for 30 days at an immigration office. Then you have to leave and re-enter the country to use the 2nd entry. You have to use the last entry before the enter before date on the visa.

If you wanted to travel during the 60 day entry you could get a re-entry permit that would keep the remainder of the 60 day permit to stay valid when you return.

[Suradit69]

"A question about single/multi entries: If I had a 30-day single entry visa, I could get a re-entry stamp at the airport in order to leave and re-enter Thailand as much as possible within that month, right?"

If you have an actual tourist visa and you are given 60 day permission to stay at the airport/border or the 30 day extension of stay toward the end of the 60 days, you can get a single or multi-entry RE-ENTRY PERMIT at the airport or at an immigrations office so that you can preserve your permission to stay in the country even though you are travelling in and out.

If you go out of the country during your 60 day stay without a re-entry permit your permission to stay will be cancelled even if you had only been in-country a few days.

​If you enter on a 30 day visa exempt entry and want to go in and out (like any tourist might legitimately do) a couple of times, they would just give you a fresh 30 day visa exempt entry on arrival since you are from a G7 country.

If you use visa exempt entries to the maximum 30 + 30 day stay and repeatedly go out and immediately return for a new visa exempt entry, immigrations would view you with suspicion.