Dear all,

 

I have been in Thailand under the METV since June and got the 30 day extension until end of December. I would like to stay in Thailand for a few more months (going in and out until end of February, in a perfect world), what would be the best options?

I am French so I consider to get out sometimes in December and re-enter under the 30 days stamp, but am concerned that this might not be allowed after an METV, do any of you have experience/advice with this?

Another option would be to get a 2 months tourist visa from a nearby country, but same question: can this be refused after a METV?

Thank you for your help!

 

You can get another 60 day entry from your visa if you do an entry on or before the enter before date on your visa that you could extend for 30 days. That would get you to the end of February dependent upon what your enter before date is.

If needed it would not be a problem to get a visa exempt entry.

Thank you for your reply.

I already did the re-entry + 30 days extension (bad timing, i couldnt push it as much as I wanted to because i had to leave the country and re-enter just one day after the "enter before date" of my visa which was end of october), so now, 30th december is my last day possible under the METV. I read somewhere that some immigration officers might not want to allow a visa exempt stamp after an METV (which would make sense since I have been a tourist in the country for a long time now), hence my concerns. You are positive that this should not be a problem to get the stamp?

I would stay in the country for only a few weeks and plan on leaving for Australia mid january, so I guess if I end up with a strict immigration officer and I have my plane tickets ready to leave again, this should be a good point to get in... 

And then, I would stay a month in Australia and would want to re-enter for a last time, leaving for good end of february/beginning of March. Could I get a second 30 days stamp or would this be pushing my luck way too much?

Thank you again for taking the time to answer!

 

I assumed you had gotten the shortly before you entered the country in June. It seems your visa was issued long before you entered the country.

I don't where you saw that false info. Only previous visa exempt entries count against being able to get another one. Unless you have done several of them before you will not have a problem entering the country visa exempt.

Yes, I got the visa in France and traveled around before entering Thailand in June, which explains the dates.

Until now, I only: got the METV, then the 30 days extension, then a re-entry permit to get out of the country before end of december, and did quite a bit of in and out travels between june and now, so it makes a lot of stamps in my passeport, which I feared could raise questions to get in again under the 30 days visa exemption stamp. So for I never got an exemption stamp, so I should be fine.

Thank you so much!

And so do you think I could get a second stamp in February  if i leave the country for 3 weeks to a month? Or is it too much to ask for and I should try to get the 2 months tourist visa while im in Australia?!

(I promise its my last question, 555)

Thanks again!

 

No problem to get another one when you return from Australia.

Wow, well, thank you a lot for the quick answers, and the good news!

Merci!

I would suggest you NOT use the Aranyaprathet-Poipet crossing for your attempt for a Visa-Exempt.  I was expressly told, upon existing Thailand at that location, that I would be denied re-entry there with a Visa-Exempt OR Tourist-Visa, due solely to "recent time in country" - this to spite having no Visa-Exempts in years, and only 3 lifetime.  This is known as a "problem border point." 

 

After obtaining a Tourist-Visa in Phnom Penh, as planned, I re-entered with a Tourist-Visa at the Koh-Kong crossing without incident.