Can someone confirm my understanding of being out of the country with a TM-8 single re-entry permit filed: If I understand this right, if you leave and then come back within the term of the re-entry permit and your permission to stay (O-A visa) has expired while you were gone, you are given thirty days to again apply and acquire the permission to stay. Is that correct? Any details to be aware of? All help appreciated.

If your extension and re-entry permit expire while out of the country you will get a visa exempt entry. You will then need to start all over again by getting a non-o visa and then applying for a new extension of stay.

Per above, in that case it would be best to apply for a non-immirgant visa while away.

But maybe you can apply for a new extension of stay before leaving? Many immirgaiton offices now allow this 45 days before the curent extension expires.

If your extension and re-entry permit expire while out of the country you will get a visa exempt entry. You will then need to start all over again by getting a non-o visa and then applying for a new extension of stay.

Okay, so if I am understanding this right, the re-entry permit is NOT good for a year, but expires at the time the permission to stay expires? Guess the best thing to do then is to just apply while away as Mario suggest.

Yes, the re-entry eprmti expires when the permission to stay expires.

A re-entry permit is only valid to the permit to stay date it is issued for.

Getting a single entry non-o visa before entering the country would be best.

if you leave and then come back within the term of the re-entry permit and your permission to stay (O-A visa) has expired while you were gone,

If you are now in Thailand and have an unexpired O-A visa (i.e. within the first year since the visa was issued at an embassy), you could do a border crossing and return which would give you a fresh one year permission to stay that would remain valid past the expiration of the actual visa.

With this new, full year permission to stay, you could apply for a new re-entry permit that would be good for the full year of the new permission to stay (or until it's used in the case of a single re-entry permit).

The expiration of the visa and the validity of your permission to stay are separate matters. As long as you make an entry on the O-A any time before it expires, you would still get a full year permission to stay that can be preserved with a re-entry permit.

Edited May 27, 201511 yr by Suradit69

In the same situation, yesterday I have extended my permit of stay for another year 38 days before my visa expires.