new TR Visa + only 3 passport pages - where to go?

[fullofmax]

Hey guys,

 

I got some questions and hope someone can help me out.

First off, I have a temporary passport (valid 1 year)which I got from the German embassy in Bangkok 3 months ago. - I didnt want to fly back to germany only because my passport was about to expire.

In my old passport there are 2x SETV from Vientianne,Laos in a row.

In my new temporary passport there is 1x visa exempt entry from the friendship bridge Thai/lao border and after that 1x SETV from Vientianne, Laos.

My current SETV is valid until  September 27 including 30 day extension.

I will fly back to Germany at December 15 so I would like to spend another 3 months in Thailand.

So question 1: Can I go for another SETV in Vientianne ?

Question 2: I got only 3 passport pages left and it appears that the officers use 4 for a normal SETV visa run in Laos. (Laos Visa, Stamps, Thai Visa)

 

I really hope someone can help me out.

Thanks alot guys

 

[Asiantravel]

you can get an e-visa online for Cambodia which saves using up a whole page for a sticker and you get a stamp upon entry and another stamp upon exit. Or you could go to Malaysia which only issue stamps.

Because you are from a G7 country you can also get a Visa exemption for Vietnam.

[ubonjoe]

Three pages should be enough for a trip to Vientiane. You only need two completely blank pages for the Lao and Thai visa stickers. You would have to try and be sure they don't use 2 of the blank pages for departure/entry stamps. I would guess you also have some pages that are only partially used.

Penang Malaysia would also be an option since there is no visa needed for entry.

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, Asiantravel said:

Because you are from a G7 country you can also get a Visa exemption for Vietnam.

Are sure about that?

[BuckBee]

Cambodia & visa agent possibly your easy best bet, do the evisa in advance online to save page space & fly through arrivals, flights very cheap too .

Should be able email some agents in advance to see your passport situation suitable & run down on any docs required .

 

[BuckBee]

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Are sure about that?

18 minutes ago, Asiantravel said:

Because you are from a G7 country you can also get a Visa exemption for Vietnam.

 

Sounds right to me, since beginning of July Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Spain can get 15days visa exempt .

[ubonjoe]

18 minutes ago, BuckBee said:

 

Sounds right to me, since beginning of July Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Spain can get 15days visa exempt .

That is only 5 of the 7. Saying G7 counties was little to inclusive.

[Cletus]

Spain isn't a G7 country.

[BuckBee]

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That is only 5 of the 7. Saying G7 counties was little to inclusive.

usa and canada are not included in visa exempt .

list below of visa exempt, changes again in 2017 as they have a planned evisa system .

Belarus (15)  Brunei (14)  Cambodia (30)  Denmark*(15)  Finland*(15)  France*(15)  Germany*(15)  Indonesia (30)  Italy*(15)  Japan*(15)  Kyrgyzstan (30)  Laos (30)

Malaysia (30)  Myanmar (14)  Norway*(15)  Philippines (21)  Russia*(15)  Singapore (30)  South Korea*(15)  Spain*(15)  Sweden*(15)  Thailand (30)  United Kingdom*(15)

[BritTim]

If you will be traveling from Bangkok, I would suggest Penang, Malaysia. You can get a combined flight and hotel deal cheaply through Expedia or Air Asia Go,, and use an agent to handle getting the visa. Vietnam is a possibility, but you may run into problems with your outbound flight ticket being over 60 days after your entry into Thailand. The Vietnamese consulates are friendly, but a stickler for their rules.

[ocddave]

This brings up a good question, how many pages are possibly needed for a 4-5 year stay on a Non-Immigrant "O" Visa (Marriage)? If I need to go back to the states say once a year, will a normal US passport book fill up too fast? What I do if it does? 

[BritTim]

6 hours ago, ocddave said:

This brings up a good question, how many pages are possibly needed for a 4-5 year stay on a Non-Immigrant "O" Visa (Marriage)? If I need to go back to the states say once a year, will a normal US passport book fill up too fast? What I do if it does? 

 

If you are using extensions of stay, and only make one trip out of Thailand a year, I do not think you will fill a regular passport in 5 years. You are looking at an extension stamp, a re-entry permit, and a handful of entry/exit stamps per year (no more than 2 pages per year). However, if you use multiple entry Non O visas, and use border hops every 90 days, you may well use 8 pages a year or so.

[jacksam]

Being German you can fly Vietnam and obtain 15 day visa exempt stamp. Saigon good option. AA approx 2500baht return. Can obtain setv at Thai consulate or depending how many visa exempt into Thailand you have you could just return to los and obtain exempt stamp. 

Edited August 23, 2016 by jacksam
afterthought

[FforestFach]

9 hours ago, ocddave said:

This brings up a good question, how many pages are possibly needed for a 4-5 year stay on a Non-Immigrant "O" Visa (Marriage)? If I need to go back to the states say once a year, will a normal US passport book fill up too fast? What I do if it does? 

 

Happened to me, my passport filled up shortly after I received my OA Non-Imm visa; for a while I carried both old and new passports around with me as per advice from Phuket immigration office. Then after a couple of 90 day reports they asked me why I did this and hadn't had the OA visa "transferred" to the new passport. They then, on the spot, hand wrote the OA visa details in the new passport, stamped it and had the office chief sign it off. Now I submit copies of both original (and expired) visa from the old passport and the handwritten, stamped one in the new passport for reports/re-entry permits/extension of stay, etc.

 

BUT...I had a problem with a letter of invitation I issued to a Vietnam friend at the Thailand Ho Chi Minh consulate when applying for a TV; they didn't accept the hand written version, although officially stamped, nor the original visa in the old passport because that had by now expired. It took a few days delay and three or four visits to that Thai consulate before they understood and issued the TV. Crazy.

[ocddave]

I have a fairly new passport, with only my last trip to Thailand back in March, so I should be OK from what others here are telling me, though now I wish I got the passport book that has more pages in it....oh well.

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, FforestFach said:

 

Happened to me, my passport filled up shortly after I received my OA Non-Imm visa; for a while I carried both old and new passports around with me as per advice from Phuket immigration office. Then after a couple of 90 day reports they asked me why I did this and hadn't had the OA visa "transferred" to the new passport. They then, on the spot, hand wrote the OA visa details in the new passport, stamped it and had the office chief sign it off. Now I submit copies of both original (and expired) visa from the old passport and the handwritten, stamped one in the new passport for reports/re-entry permits/extension of stay, etc.

 

BUT...I had a problem with a letter of invitation I issued to a Vietnam friend at the Thailand Ho Chi Minh consulate when applying for a TV; they didn't accept the hand written version, although officially stamped, nor the original visa in the old passport because that had by now expired. It took a few days delay and three or four visits to that Thai consulate before they understood and issued the TV. Crazy.

It seems you had an extension of stay based upon retirement not a OA visa issued by an embassy or consulate.

Immigration cannot transfer a valid visa. You may of had a visa that had already expired and they did an annotation of it.

[fullofmax]

11 hours ago, BritTim said:

If you will be traveling from Bangkok, I would suggest Penang, Malaysia. You can get a combined flight and hotel deal cheaply through Expedia or Air Asia Go,, and use an agent to handle getting the visa. Vietnam is a possibility, but you may run into problems with your outbound flight ticket being over 60 days after your entry into Thailand. The Vietnamese consulates are friendly, but a stickler for their rules.

I am traveling from Hua Hin, but I will take a plane from BKK to somewhere anyways always.

But my outbound flight is in the 90 day timefrime including the 30 day extension from the immigration. Wouldnt that be okay ?

 

1 hour ago, jacksam said:

Being German you can fly Vietnam and obtain 15 day visa exempt stamp. Saigon good option. AA approx 2500baht return. Can obtain setv at Thai consulate or depending how many visa exempt into Thailand you have you could just return to los and obtain exempt stamp. 

 

That sounds nice as well.

I have had only one visa exempt entry in my whole life so that wouldnt be a problem. Could I just go and fly back at the same day ?

 

[BuckBee]

You won't do your 3 months as easily if do a visa exempt as will need do another border run to reach dec 15 date .

phnom penh or penang . phnom penh would be my choice as plenty visa agents so can always find 1 that can sort your particular scenario . pnom phen agents don't all require flight ticket but easy supply suitable dated flight pdf printed doc if needed .

[BritTim]

2 hours ago, fullofmax said:

I am traveling from Hua Hin, but I will take a plane from BKK to somewhere anyways always.

But my outbound flight is in the 90 day timefrime including the 30 day extension from the immigration. Wouldnt that be okay ?

 

As I stated before, the Vietnamese consulates are friendly, but not flexible about their rules. If you decide to try, include a letter stating your plans, and also have bank statements. There would still be no guarantees.

 

2 hours ago, fullofmax said:

That sounds nice as well.

I have had only one visa exempt entry in my whole life so that wouldnt be a problem. Could I just go and fly back at the same day ?

 

Thai immigration would allow that. However, you might have a problem with the airline check-in if lacking both a visa and outbound flight within 30 days.

[fullofmax]

Hmm that sounds like alot if and whens...

Getting a visa exempt first for 1 month + 1 month extension and then another visa exempt entry at another border should be okay right ?

 

My plan would be to fly to vietnam or malaysia the first time and do it the second time by land in Nong Kai at the Thai/Lao border.

Would you guys think about that ?

[BuckBee]

I would fly phnom penh or penang and get 60 day tourist then get extension on it. You more likely get hassle using visa exempt entries & will need onward flight printouts for flight boarding as have no visa, flights/customs quite stringent on that currently . You could even take bus to savanakhet laos & keep stamps to other pages (hopefully have half a page free somewhere) as they issue quite easily & border a pleasant one, whole trip pleasant by bus as time transitions (based from bkk) work perfect .

[fullofmax]

okay thanks.
So it looks like that im going either to Penang, Malaysia or Phnom Phen.

Someone knows how long it takes there until they issue the SETV ?
In Vientianne it always only took only 24 hours which was very nice since you can do the whole run in 2 days and 2 nights.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

21 minutes ago, fullofmax said:

okay thanks.
So it looks like that im going either to Penang, Malaysia or Phnom Phen.

Someone knows how long it takes there until they issue the SETV ?
In Vientianne it always only took only 24 hours which was very nice since you can do the whole run in 2 days and 2 nights.

 

 

Penang is the same as for Vientiane. Apply the morning of one day and pickup the next afternoon.

Phnom Phen can take up to 3 days or more to get your visa unless you use an agent. Next day service is possible but apparently only a few agents can arrange it.

[Michael8511]

On August 22, 2016 at 1:54 PM, ocddave said:

This brings up a good question, how many pages are possibly needed for a 4-5 year stay on a Non-Immigrant "O" Visa (Marriage)? If I need to go back to the states say once a year, will a normal US passport book fill up too fast? What I do if it does? 

Next time you get a new US passport get extra pages inserted, it save you some headache.

[ubonjoe]

49 minutes ago, Michael8511 said:

Next time you get a new US passport get extra pages inserted, it save you some headache.

They stopped adding pages to US passports on January 1 of this year.

Best to ask for  52 page passport rather than the small one.

[ocddave]

2 hours ago, Michael8511 said:

Next time you get a new US passport get extra pages inserted, it save you some headache.

 

I screwed up, I should have got the bigger passport book which has double the pages, but oh well.

[Michael8511]

On August 24, 2016 at 7:52 AM, ubonjoe said:

They stopped adding pages to US passports on January 1 of this year.

Best to ask for  52 page passport rather than the small one.

 

On August 24, 2016 at 7:52 AM, ubonjoe said:

They stopped adding pages to US passports on January 1 of this year.

Best to ask for  52 page passport rather than the small one.

Sorry for my miss writing, I meant the 52 page passport.