What interval between visits on tourist visa?

[cven]

Hope somebody can be of help. I stayed in Thailand from mid April to mid October this year on five extensions of stay following an initial visa exempt 30 days.

I'm planning to return to Thailand in mid April next year to study Thai, almost six months will have transpired by then.

Would I be able to return under the tourist visa exemption, I could acquire an ED visa afterwards, would the interval be sufficient, if not I would need to apply for the non-immigrant B ED visa before I leave?

I still haven't decided on a school yet so if I have to go the latter route I would need to make a decision pretty soon.

[ubonjoe]

There no set amount of time you need to be out of the country. There is also not set limit on the number of visa exempt entries you can do or the amount of time spent in the country on them.

You should not have a problem doing another visa exempt entry.

I suggest you get a single entry tourist visa before before starting your trip. It would allow a 60 day entry that can be extended for 30 days at immigration. 

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

There no set amount of time you need to be out of the country. There is also not set limit on the number of visa exempt entries you can do or the amount of time spent in the country on them.

You should not have a problem doing another visa exempt entry.

I suggest you get a single entry tourist visa before before starting your trip. It would allow a 60 day entry that can be extended for 30 days at immigration. 

 

In general, your time-out-of-country should make your first entry less of a problem.  But I echo UJ's advice to get at least a Tourist Visa before coming.  It avoids any hassle with the airline boarding your flight (without a flight-out within 30-days to show), likely avoids any questioning when entering, and reduces the odds of denied-entry to near-zero.  

 

But, if they do ask you any questions upon entry using Exempt or a Tourist Visa - do NOT tell them you plan to get an ED visa to stay long-term - others have been denied Visa Exempt entry just for saying this - even if they had the required cash, had been out of the country for months prior, etc.  The IOs have evidently been trained to consider this as highly-probable intent to work illegally. 

 

You could also get the ED visa in advance and arrive with that - perhaps a 1-year Multi-ED (if you can get it at your home-consulate - it is not available in the region), to avoid dealing with immigration for the 90-day extensions of-stay based on ED during your stay here.  The amount of trouble and/or 'extra fees' to the school avoid the trouble depends on the office and school. 

 

Be sure to use known friendly border-checkpoints for any subsequent exit/entries (with your Multi-Ed or with a re-entry permit on extensions) - i.e. not airports, Poipet/Aranyaprathet, or Ranong - as any sort of "ED Visa" raises red-flags. 

 

Also, whatever visa you use to enter, look as wealthy as possible, and have lots of cash in your wallet - at least 20K Baht with a Tourist or ED Visa.

[cven]

Thanks for the information guys, I didn't know about the single entry visa permitting a 60 day stay. Neither did I know about the danger of mentioning the ED visa though it makes sense that they might have such suspicions and be disposed to deny entry. The two exits I made were through Nong Khai/Vientiane, I didn't know about airports being problematic either so that's good to know.

I will definitely have either the Tourist or ED visa before travelling and will try to look as well off as I can. The Multi ED would be great if it made the 90 day extensions less uncertain, need to make a decision pretty soon. Thanks again.