Border Run Alternatives

[ubonjoe]

You will get a 30 day visa exempt entry that can be extended for 30 days at a immigration office.

The 15 day entry rule was rescinded over 2 years ago when the limit of 2 visa exempt entries at land border crossings per calendar year went into effect.

You will have no problem entering at the crossing in Nong Khai. The do not ask for financial proof or tickets out of the country.

[Cheesus]

Ohh, that's good to know. Thank you!

[elviajero]

24 minutes ago, Cheesus said:

Hi. I applied for SETV in Vientiane and today went to collect my passport but I was told they won't give me visa because of long stay in Thailand. Last time I applied for visa in Vientiane was almost 2 years ago and i thought in worst case they would give visa with the warning. Anyway now I'm wondering if it's safe to cross through Nong Khai border by land without visa for 15 day exempt. Is immigration there restrictive as in BKK airport? Do I need 20k THB or flight outside of Thailand?

You should have no problem entering at Nong Khai as long as you haven’t made two land entries since January 1st.

 

It’s only 10K that’s required if entering using Visa Exemption. It’s very unlikely they will ask to see funds, but it’s advisable, in the current climate, to have it. They are only likely to want to see cash and flight info if they are looking to deny entry. As it stands, that’s unlikely due to the two entry per year limit.

[anyone]

On 6/26/2019 at 2:41 PM, Jadam said:

Is it still possible to convert TR visa and/or visa exemption to Non-B (teaching) at Chaengwattana? 

If NOT teacher but some kind of marketing specialist? Still possible to convert without leaving Thailand?..

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, anyone said:

If NOT teacher but some kind of marketing specialist? Still possible to convert without leaving Thailand?..

That would be for working for a Thai company. See: https://www.immigration.go.th/content/service_72

[Kwasaki]

A Swedish guy hasn't got a computer so he ask me how to help him with renewal of his Thai 'O' visa for marriage because he had been going every 3 months I got info from here but can't find my post. 

He lives Maesot, he did what I told him and went to Laos got a multi-entry visa for marriage for 5000 bht and he said he will go again in 90 days !!  I said you live in Maesot go across the 90 days there no need to go all the way back to Laos for 15 months for renewal again..

I'm now wondering to myself whether that's the right info to have given him because that's how I understood the way it's done. 

Could someone confirm please thanks.

[BritTim]

3 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

A Swedish guy hasn't got a computer so he ask me how to help him with renewal of his Thai 'O' visa for marriage because he had been going every 3 months I got info from here but can't find my post. 

He lives Maesot, he did what I told him and went to Laos got a multi-entry visa for marriage for 5000 bht and he said he will go again in 90 days !!  I said you live in Maesot go across the 90 days there no need to go all the way back to Laos for 15 months for renewal again..

I'm now wondering to myself whether that's the right info to have given him because that's how I understood the way it's done. 

Could someone confirm please thanks.

I remember your original post. It was on June 7 and is here.

Have you verified that he now has a multiple Non O visa. If so, he can just cross the bridge at Maesot into Myanmar and come straight back for a new 90-day stay. If he has clean, undamaged US currency notes, this will cost him the princely sum of US$10 (about 300 baht). If he only has Thai baht, the cost is 500 baht.

[Kwasaki]

16 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I remember your original post. It was on June 7 and is here.

Have you verified that he now has a multiple Non O visa. If so, he can just cross the bridge at Maesot into Myanmar and come straight back for a new 90-day stay. If he has clean, undamaged US currency notes, this will cost him the princely sum of US$10 (about 300 baht). If he only has Thai baht, the cost is 500 baht.

Thanks again ????  that's good so I ain't set him wrong, he has the multiple Non O visa for 5000 baht and that will have 4 in & outs and on the last 90 days he goes back to Laos right ?

[transam]

3 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Thanks again ????  that's good so I ain't set him wrong, he has the multiple Non O visa for 5000 baht and that will have 4 in & outs and on the last 90 days he goes back to Laos right ?

He can get near 15 months out of an "O"...

[elviajero]

23 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Thanks again ????  that's good so I ain't set him wrong, he has the multiple Non O visa for 5000 baht and that will have 4 in & outs and on the last 90 days he goes back to Laos right ?

The last 90 day entry (or any of the others) can be extended by 60 days. So it's possible to get nearly 17 months from one visa. 

 

Yes, it's back to Laos after the 15/17 months. Although I will be amazed if the ME Non 'O' is still available without financials by then. I would recommend anyone relying on these visas should plan for a plan B.

[Kwasaki]

4 hours ago, elviajero said:

The last 90 day entry (or any of the others) can be extended by 60 days. So it's possible to get nearly 17 months from one visa. 

 

Yes, it's back to Laos after the 15/17 months. Although I will be amazed if the ME Non 'O' is still available without financials by then. I would recommend anyone relying on these visas should plan for a plan B.

Yeah ya never know how things will change.

I hope not because men who have committed themselves to marriage with a Thai wife and lets not think it ends there, the family comes into the marriage as well anyone married knows that.

They should be treated with respect by the Thai immigration which is the way I feel, my immigration with just 400,000 showing for 2 month to show it a lot of paperwork but at the end of the day is only once a year.

[Briggsy]

The last 2 pages have become a random enquiry thread completely unrelated to "border run alternatives".

[nuckyt77]

I am currently in Thailand on a 1 entry tourist Visa issued at the Thai consulate in Amsterdam. This expires on 28 July (got my 30 days extension here). Now I will fly back to Holland on the 5th of August so I need a few extra days. Can I go to Mae Sai  and do an in/out round there ?. This year I had no entries on a landborder. Last year 1 (december 18th 2018). I have my return ticket to show and have enough cash on me too. 

 

Mae Sai would be ok then ?. At the moment I am near Chiang Rai so it would be the fastest way to do it .

[Briggsy]

1 hour ago, nuckyt77 said:

I am currently in Thailand on a 1 entry tourist Visa issued at the Thai consulate in Amsterdam. This expires on 28 July (got my 30 days extension here). Now I will fly back to Holland on the 5th of August so I need a few extra days. Can I go to Mae Sai  and do an in/out round there ?. This year I had no entries on a landborder. Last year 1 (december 18th 2018). I have my return ticket to show and have enough cash on me too. 

 

Mae Sai would be ok then ?. At the moment I am near Chiang Rai so it would be the fastest way to do it .

Yes.

[nuckyt77]

Just now, Briggsy said:

Yes.

Thanks ...this is what I wanted to hear.

[HarryAbel]

Hi, I came to Thailand 9. May on a two month tourist visa. I extended this visa with one month in Bangkok (to 6 Aug).. I went on a 4 days trip to Vietnam, but did not apply for re-entry before I left, so I entered again on a one month tourist visa on arrival (valid until 6. Aug). My situation now is that I am trying to apply for an early retirement visa, but I don’t think I have enough time until Aug 6. So I am thinking of doing a border run to get another 30 days tourist visa on arrival.

 

Anyone know if I can have another 30 days visa on arrival? I will by that time have stayed in thailand three months, except for the 4 days in Vietnam.

 

Thank you.

[elviajero]

No need for a visa run. You can apply for a 30 day extension and then apply for the visa.

[jacko45k]

You can extend the 30 day entry (not a tourist visa but a Visa Exempt Entry). This can be done once. You can then apply to convert that extension to a Non-Imm-O Entry, which will give you a 3 month permission of stay and the ability to pursue a retirement extension. 

[HarryAbel]

Thanks for the replies, good info! I was granted 30 extra days (1900thb) and submitted the early retirement visa application (2000thb).

[jacko45k]

17 hours ago, HarryAbel said:

Thanks for the replies, good info! I was granted 30 extra days (1900thb) and submitted the early retirement visa application (2000thb).

I believe the 2000 baht is the cost of converting to a Non-Imm-O entry. Near the end of that permission of stay you can apply for the one year retirement extension, which is 1900 baht. 

[PiratJanne]

I entered Thailand on a 30 exemption by air from Sweden that I extended by 30 days and then made a border run to Laos and entered again by bus in Nong Khai for another 30 days that I extended by another 30 and im planning to do the same border run in Nong Khai and my question is do I have to be worried about getting denied? And can I just get stamped out at the border and go and get stamped in to Thailand again without entering Laos or should I spend a day or two in Laos before I go back into Thailand? 

[BritTim]

2 hours ago, PiratJanne said:

I entered Thailand on a 30 exemption by air from Sweden that I extended by 30 days and then made a border run to Laos and entered again by bus in Nong Khai for another 30 days that I extended by another 30 and im planning to do the same border run in Nong Khai and my question is do I have to be worried about getting denied? And can I just get stamped out at the border and go and get stamped in to Thailand again without entering Laos or should I spend a day or two in Laos before I go back into Thailand? 

You must enter Laos, paying for the visa on arrival (which is cheaper if you have US dollars). You can then immediately turn around and come back to Thailand.

Recognise that this will be your second, and last, visa exempt entry by land for 2019. If you expect to stay longer in Thailand, I really do not recommend burning your last visa exempt land entry, which should usually be retained for emergencies when spending long periods as a tourist in Thailand. Going somewhere for an actual tourist visa is preferable in the long run.

[tcallahan7]

Hi! I have a multiple entry non-B visa and need to make a border run in August. I would like to go to Chiang Mai, rent a bike, and cruise to Mae Sai. Also, an American friend who lives in Vietnam is going to join so he would be on a 30 day tourist visa. Is there anything I need to know or worry about? Thanks!

[BritTim]

9 hours ago, tcallahan7 said:

Hi! I have a multiple entry non-B visa and need to make a border run in August. I would like to go to Chiang Mai, rent a bike, and cruise to Mae Sai. Also, an American friend who lives in Vietnam is going to join so he would be on a 30 day tourist visa. Is there anything I need to know or worry about? Thanks!

Not really. That plan should be OK. Your American friend on a visa exempt entry will get a new 30-day visa exempt entry on your return. The only possible issue is that you are only allowed two visa exempt entries by land in a single calendar year. Since your friend lives close to Thailand, he might be a frequent visitor. Just confirm that he has not entered Thailand visa exempt by land twice this year. If so, his best course of action might be to get a re-entry permit to protect his existing permission to stay.

[Scott3000]

On 7/28/2019 at 4:31 AM, tcallahan7 said:

an American friend who lives in Vietnam is going to join so he would be on a 30 day tourist visa

Your American friend will be on a 30 day visa exempt entry, not a tourist visa.

If you're just going to hop across the Myanmar border and return right back to Thailand, I strongly recommend you have your friend wait for you on the Thai side in Mae Sai, and not burn a land entry, not fill up another page of valuable passport space, not pay 500THB to Myanmar immigration officials. Plus, that's 3 additional immigration formalities that are absolutely unnecessary, unless you plan to visit Myanmar, which you have not indicated as your purpose of travel.

 

I made a similar trip with a friend visiting Thailand from Panama for 28 days -- they waited just inside the Thai side while I did my REQUIRED formalities.

[asdf88]

Will I have trouble if I fly from Thailand to Malaysia, don't go through Malaysian immigration and board a flight back to Thailand 2 hours later? I have a one year non-b visa (unlimited entries?).

[BritTim]

41 minutes ago, asdf88 said:

Will I have trouble if I fly from Thailand to Malaysia, don't go through Malaysian immigration and board a flight back to Thailand 2 hours later? I have a one year non-b visa (unlimited entries?).

People have sometimes done this in the past without problems. However, the rules say you must actually enter another country before returning to Thailand. It would be better not to court disaster and do what the regulations prescribe.

[Toosetinmyways]

On 8/1/2019 at 8:53 PM, asdf88 said:

Will I have trouble if I fly from Thailand to Malaysia, don't go through Malaysian immigration and board a flight back to Thailand 2 hours later? I have a one year non-b visa (unlimited entries?).

Depends where in Malaysia. KL and Penang it is legally impossible to get from arrivals to departures without going through immigration. In KL I tried this plan but I still had to go through immigration.

[Kyri]

 Beware South African passport holders:  Looking for some clarity.                                                                                                                                                                                                     I have a non o multiple entry marriage visa obtained in Savannakhet. After my first 90 days i got a 60 day extension to visit my wife from my local immigration office in Hua Hin without a problem. I normally used to go to Ban Phu Nam Ron border crossing  Kanchanaburi but Myanmar has stopped accepting passports from South Africa for some unknown reason .
So i had to make a different choice as far as border runs are concerned . I did my first Malaysia border run to Padang Besar which was supposed to be the better border but seems that the days of doing the 90 day out in out in is also now becoming a bit of a problem. The immigration guy told me in  quite a rude manner that i need a 20000 Baht statement from the bank or show them that the funds are available via my internet banking. After a bit of talking to the guy he demanded i phone my wife so that he could talk to her and tell her that he will let it pass this time but there won't be a next time without proof of funds .
I was under the impression that if i had this type of visa that i did not need proof of funds. The reason i chose Malaysia was that it was convenient  as i live close to Hua Hin and not only because it was the cheapest option but also not having to stay overnight in Bangkok if i had to choose Cambodia . ( Hua Hin to Malaysia and back 1800 Baht which includes  return train tickets to Hat Yai ,  scooter taxis and mini busses ) compared to 3000 Baht for a Cambodia border run excluding getting to Bangkok and back plus a overnight stay in Bangkok.  

  They have a official notice on their wall stating that Tourist and Immigrant visas ( Not stating what kind of Immigrant Visas ) need proof of 20000 Baht.                                                                                                                                                                                              Anybody have a idea if this is the case.

[BritTim]

17 hours ago, Toosetinmyways said:

Depends where in Malaysia. KL and Penang it is legally impossible to get from arrivals to departures without going through immigration. In KL I tried this plan but I still had to go through immigration.

Hmmm. Are you sure there is no longer an international-to-international transfer line in Kuala Lumpur. I know for a fact that there used to be, and I used it. I already had a boarding pass from online check in. Using it to turn around and come straight back to where you came from might be blocked when they check your boarding pass at security, I suppose.