I am thoroughly enjoying my life here in Thailand and stay here on a marriage visa which is due for renewal again with effect from the middle of February. My problem is that February is the best time of the year to visit my home country - New Zealand, so I wanted to renew my visa a month or two early so that in future the renewal date would be November or December. Chiang Mai Immigration has told me this is impossible. They tell me the only way to do this is to leave Thailand without a re entry permit and to come back on a 3 month visa from NZ and then go thru the whole application process again. Has anyone any helpful suggestions or experiences with this?

The earliest some offices will allow you to apply is 45 days but you will then have the 30 day under consideration period.

You cannot get your extension as early as you want at any immigration office or change the date your extension is due.

You would have to leave without a re-entry permit and then get a single entry non-o visa to start the process all over again.

I think you have an Extension of Stay and not a Visa.

If you were to leave next week and apply for a Non Imm O Visa in Savanakhet Laos you could apply for another extension in December.

Or you could apply for a Multi Entry Non Imm O Visa and apply for the extension towards the end of any 90 day stay.

This would bring your next application date forward.

• You can apply early but the new extension always applies from the end of the current extension regardless of how early you apply.

If you want a December/January renewal date you will need to exit and re-enter with a new visa as soon as possible and start the extension process again within the last 45 days of that new 90 day entry.

Alternatively you could push your annual renewal back a couple of months if you apply for a 60 day extension (not 1 year) in January. The 60 days would apply from when your current extension finishes in mid February and would extend your stay until mid April when you could apply for a 1 year extension. This would mean your annual renewals would be mid April each year.

A 60 day extension is only possible if you haven't already had a 60 day extension during your current entry/stay.

Thanks guys. It doesn't look like there is any simple way - I'll just have to reapply.