1 Year Non Immigrant "o" Visa

[brizzle]

I shall be using Thailand as a base for 1 year to explore S.E Asia in general from December and have been looking at the various Visa types. I was under the impression(from friends) that the best visa for my purposes would be the 1 year non immigrant multiple entry but I am not sure if the new rules have made this harder to obtain.

I have a friend who is married to a Thai national and runs a business on Samui. Under the catagory "O" visa(visiting friends,family) ,if i gave their name and address would this make me eligible?

I will be visiting the Thai consulate in Cardiff tomorrow morning and will be armed to the teeth with numerous tickets showing flights out of Thailand etc so hopefully this will help. If it is not possible to obtain the N I Visa then am I correct in assuming that a 3/4 entry 6 month tourist visa is the best I can expect.

Many thanks to anyone that can help with this.

[lopburi3]

"friends" has been removed from the MFA website as a reason to issue a non immigrant O visa so it will be up to the Consulate.

Do not believe that is any chance of tourist visas of more than two entry anymore; but again that will be up to the Consulate.

[Remo]

I will be visiting the Thai consulate in Cardiff tomorrow morning

The friendliest consulate in the UK is the one based in Hull, they even do Visas by post. If you dont get the response you are looking for from Cardiff speak/travel to Hull to see what they say so you know all your options

[womble]

A friend of mine was just given a non o visa for the exact reasons you stated. He recieved the visa about 10 days ago by post.

[macb]

You should not have any problem getting a non immigrant 'O' visa, these have nothing to do with Tourist Visa: Yes Hull is very good.

Tourists were abusing the 30 day Visa and living here on it or hiding here that is why the rules were changed. Do things properly and dont abuse another countries rules and everything is fine.

[brizzle]

Thanks to everyone for your input.

For info purposes I went to Cardiff yesterday and they are at present refusing to issue 1 year Non immigrant O visa's for the purpose of visiting friends. In the words of the Welsh lady that served me "We know that Birmingham and Hull are issuing the 1 year N I visa's but we have not personally been given the authority or directions regarding this my our superiors at the Cardiff Royal Thai Consulate so tough luck"...well she didn't use the words "tough luck" but that was basically what she was saying.

In the end I opted for the only viable alternative ..the 6 month 3 entry tourist visa. I figured that in my case this will suffice anyway as at the end of the 6 months I can spend some more time around S E Asia or maybe even Oz and NZ and return a total of 3 times in following 6 months under the 30 day visa on arrival rule. (one month in Thailand and one month away sort of thing).

[Lite Beer]

Thanks to everyone for your input.

For info purposes I went to Cardiff yesterday and they are at present refusing to issue 1 year Non immigrant O visa's for the purpose of visiting friends. In the words of the Welsh lady that served me "We know that Birmingham and Hull are issuing the 1 year N I visa's but we have not personally been given the authority or directions regarding this my our superiors at the Cardiff Royal Thai Consulate so tough luck"...well she didn't use the words "tough luck" but that was basically what she was saying.

In the end I opted for the only viable alternative ..the 6 month 3 entry tourist visa. I figured that in my case this will suffice anyway as at the end of the 6 months I can spend some more time around S E Asia or maybe even Oz and NZ and return a total of 3 times in following 6 months under the 30 day visa on arrival rule. (one month in Thailand and one month away sort of thing).

You should have dealt with Hull as advised.

Your 3 entry tourist visa can be used for 9 months with 30 days extensions for each entry.

[lopburi3]

A three entry tourist visa requires all entries to be made within six months of issue.

[Lite Beer]

A three entry tourist visa requires all entries to be made within six months of issue.

Not doubting you, but is this new?

[lopburi3]

No. A two/three/four entry tourist visa always (except when mistakes are made) has a validity of six months from issue date. But if you arrive just before the expiration date you can still stay the normal 60+30 days on that stay also.

[brizzle]

No. A two/three/four entry tourist visa always (except when mistakes are made) has a validity of six months from issue date. But if you arrive just before the expiration date you can still stay the normal 60+30 days on that stay also.

Many thanks for that info- it could prove very useful.

In my case my visa expires in early May so from my understanding of the above I could arrive a day before the expiry on my 3rd entry and stay up to 90 days(with extension) beyond this point even though the visa rules say that the visa must be utilised by the May expiry date? Anotherwords utilising a visa means arriving in Thailand for your final stay before the expiry date on your visa has past?

Just one more question if I may. Do i have to use the visa on my first visit to Thailand later this year which will be for just 2 weeks? Could I for example just try and get a visa on arrival for this visit thereby keeping all my 3 entries in tact. My guess is that any Visa that has been issued has to be used on ones next visit but there seem to be a few "grey" areas in regard to Thailand visa's so I thought I would ask anyway!

Thank you once again.

[lopburi3]

Correct it is an enter by date on visa.

You can just not put visa information on arrival card and ask immigration officer to just stamp you for 30 days. They may well do this.