OA visa question

[bilbo52]

I am trying to assist a friend who has received what appears to be spurious advice from his local Immigration office in Chaiyaphum.

 

Here are the details and my questions to follow:

 

He is coming up to the end of his first year in Thailand and has a multiple entry OA visa obtained from the Thai embassy in London in Nov 2015. To clarify he is over 50 years of age.

He wishes to invoke the second year of entitlement by going out of Thailand by land crossing to Lao in the next couple of weeks.

 

I believe it is possible to invoke a second year of entitlement to stay in Thailand without showing money in a Thai bank as this is what I did last year at the end of my first year on an OA visa obtained from the Thai embassy in London. I flew to Malaysia (KL) and returned to Thailand and received the extra year.

 

So here are my questions:

 

1. Can you still invoke a second year of entitlement to stay on an OA visa by going out of Thailand? Have the rules changed or are they the same as before?

2. Can my friend go over and come back on the same day to Lao (across the friendship bridge to Vientiane) to intitiate this second year of entitlement to stay or does he need to stay over night and then come back the following day?

3. I believe that he will be stamped out of Thailand when he leaves and when he reaches the other side of the Mekong (ie Laos) he will need to purchase a Lao visa upon entry and then when he come back into Thailand he will receive one more year of entitlement to stay?

 

The spurious info he got from his local Immigration office was that he was told that he will have to go out and then when he comes back  to Thailand he will need to visit the local Immigration office and then show 800k baht in the bank. Any thoughts? Sounds wrong to me, though I am not a visa expert.

 

In anticipation many thanks.

 

[Fithman]

Providing your friends visa is valid and used on or prior to the "enter before" date he will receive a one year permission to stay.  There is no need stay in Laos or to attend immigration or demonstrate any money at immigration.

 

Toward the end of the 2nd year , if still wishing to remain in Thailand an extension of stay can be applied for which will require financial requirements to be met.

[elviajero]

1. Yes. As long as he enters on or before the 'enter before' date printed on the visa he will be given permission to stay for 1 year. No rule change.
2. He can cross the friendship bridge and having entered Laos he can immediately turn around and re-enter Thailand. No need to stay out overnight.
3. That's correct as long as he re-enters before the visa expires.

He will only need to show 800K in the bank if and when he applies for a 1 year extension of stay. He can only apply for that within the last 30/45 days of any 1 year permit to stay. For now he just needs to do a border hop to achieve another 1 year permit to stay. 

[bilbo52]

Gents,

 

Thanks very much for confirming the process. I will pass on this info to my friend who can sleep a little easier now.

 

Great work, thanks again.

[OJAS]

29 minutes ago, bilbo52 said:

Gents,

 

Thanks very much for confirming the process. I will pass on this info to my friend who can sleep a little easier now.

 

Great work, thanks again.

 

You should also point out to him that, were he minded to travel out of Thailand during the second year, he will require a re-entry permit in order to keep his revised permission to stay alive upon his return. He can obtain a single-entry permit at a cost of 1,000 THB or a multi-entry one at a cost of 3,800 THB either from his local immigration office or after check-in at BKK & DMK airports if travelling by air.