Hi All -- I need some clarification on the following scenario and I am getting conflicting information from the Immigration Authorities in Chiang Mai. Basically, my wife has a Non-Immigrant ED visa (multiple entry), and my sons and I have Non-Immigrant O visas (multiple entry) based on her ED visa. We were given 90 days stay upon entry, and were planning to go up to Mae Sai and re-enter prior to the 90 day expiration, and thereby get another 90 day stay. This is what we did last year every 90 days. However, due to circumstances, my wife and sons cannot travel right now, so we extended our stay at Chiang Mai immigration, supplying all required forms and paperwork from my wife's school. We were given another 90 days based on this extension at Chiang Mai immigration. This 90 days expires in early November.

Towards the end of this current 90 day period I will have to travel out of the country for work, in late October. One immigration officer told me that now that I extended at Chiang Mai, I would have to get a re-entry permit (the passport has a stamp saying that I need to do this), to exit and come back in -- and that without it, my whole visa will be cancelled. Another immigration officer told me that the first officer is incorrect, and that I actually don't need to get an exit and reentry permit, since my Multiple Entry visa is still valid. He said that at the airport the authorities will just look at this multiple entry visa (and would ignore the re-entry requirement stamp) and give me 90 days upon entry at the airport in late October. Which is correct?

Furthermore, upon return, if I am indeed stamped in with 90 days at the airport, my 90 day timing will then be different than my wife and sons (who will extended again at Chiang Mai immigration in early November). My 90 days would expire in beginning of February, while, their 90 days will expire slightly after mine. At that point, would we be able to all extend in Chiang Mai again (prior to my 90 day expiring), or would my "case" no longer be connected to theirs since my dates would be different. And in that case, would I then have to cross a border again to get another 90 days as opposed to us all being extended in Chiang Mai?

You need a re-entry permit to keep the remainder of your 90 day extension valid when you enter the country.

If you used the visa for entry you would not be able to apply for another extension until near the end of your 90 day entry. Another problem would be that if you don't get your extension at the same time as your wife your extension will only be valid until the date her extension ends.