thai consulate in penang

[dnrot]

Hi, i'm a french retired who has been visiting thailand for a long time,always as a tourist,but staying rather longer terms since my retirement period

it means over the last three years,two journeys a year for a duration betweem 55 ou 65 days ,most of the time cut by visits in the neighbour countries, malaysia,cambodia, and malaysia

i've never stayed more than four months and half a year in thailand,and i've never intended applying for retirement visa because i keep on living in my country and see no point in letting myself embroiled in all the paperwork it involves...

but,these days thai immigration seems more and more suspicious if not obsessed by what they call " fake tourists", and in particular people staying longer than they deem "normal",which leads to more and more topics related to visa exemption or tourist visa,where more and more people ask more details about regulations and also relate increasing experience of hassles at different border points

all over the country; that's why this is my turn being concerned with my next trip in a few days now

during my last trip, from february to april, i used two 30 days exemption visa,with a ten days stay in penang; i intend to use a third exemption arriving in suvanaphumi,which shouldn't be a problem at first sight ( i've a bkk-penang fly ticket within the 30 days granted), and as i expect to stay 10 days or so there, it happens i do need a tourist visa on my way back to thailand, as my return in september goes beyond a new 30 days stamp ( what's more, would i be granted a fourth exemption ,bearing in mind some suggest three would be a yearly limit ? )

as far as penang consulate was concerned,it was valued as a easy going place for issuing tourist visa, and i've already used it three times , and that's the point !!

actually, more and more insistent information says this consulate would set a "3 times " limit for issuing these tourist visa.. if so, i'd be in trouble indeed...

but, at least, what i'd like to know better, is, if true, is this limit is a all time limit, or it's for one year only ?

sometimes i read a limit for " back to back " visas, does it mean "consecutive " ?

To make my quest precise my last visa in penang dates back to february 2015, and the first one in july 2013, the second in august 2014,with a visa between,in marseille, france in january 2014

So do you think i'll have a problem in penang with the consulate ? or a problem with a fourth exemption stamp?

to that respect, i've used 6 such exemptions since march 2013

thanks for any useful information regarding this issue

[elviajero]

• There is no limit on the overall number of visa exempt entries when arriving at BKK.

As long as you don't make back to back entries you should be ok, but at some point you will likely get questioned about what you do in Thailand.

'Back to Back' means exiting and immediately returning.

Getting a tourist visa would be a good idea and is easily obtained in Penang.