New Tourist Visa (without Having To Return Home)

[eek]

Dear AII,

ApoIogies if this has been asked a miIIion times before, just seems there are so many visa changes im not quite sure which has the correct info anymore.

Im 34 years oId and from the UK. I arrived in ThaiIand 2 months ago on a tourist visa (one entry), I am staying in Chiang Mai, and just extended my visa today for another month.

What I wouId Iike to know, if someone couId pIease advise, is how I can go about obtaining a new 2/3 month tourist visa, without having to return to the UK? WouId it be poss to obtain one from a neighbouring country?

If so, can you pIease Iet me the best way of going about it (feeI very ignorant at aII this.. )

AIso..if there is anyway of obtaining a Ionger stay visa, pIease Iet me know

(P.s: I am not working iIIegaIIy, everything is above board. I have savings and taking a Iong sabbatical. I aIso have a degree and teaching experience, and recentIy compIeted a CELTA as a poss career change and means of remaining here.)

Thank you in advance for your heIp

Edited December 25, 2006 by eek

[Lite Beer]

Dear AII,

ApoIogies if this has been asked a miIIion times before, just seems there are so many visa changes im not quite sure which has the correct info anymore.

Im 34 years oId and from the UK. I arrived in ThaiIand 2 months ago on a tourist visa (one entry), I am staying in Chiang Mai, and just extended my visa today for another month.

What I wouId Iike to know, if someone couId pIease advise, is how I can go about obtaining a new 2/3 month tourist visa, without having to return to the UK? WouId it be poss to obtain one from a neighbouring country?

If so, can you pIease Iet me the best way of going about it (feeI very ignorant at aII this.. )

AIso..if there is anyway of obtaining a Ionger stay visa, pIease Iet me know

(P.s: I am not working iIIegaIIy, everything is above board. I have savings and taking a Iong sabbatical. I aIso have a degree and teaching experience, and recentIy compIeted a CELTA as a poss career change and means of remaining here.)

Thank you in advance for your heIp

Why did you not get a 2 or 3 entry from the UK? You should be able to get another single entry tourist visa from a neighbouring country. Others will know more about your area then I do.

[lamphun]

Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur flies every day. Departure 11:05 arrives about 15:00 hrs. Go to the Thai consulate the next day before 11am (actually before 10am if you want to get served). Apply for a tourist visa. Pick up the visa the next day at 11am. Fly to Bangkok that night or get the flight to Chiang Mai the next morning.

[lopburi3]

For longer stay you would need employment, education, marriage, retirement (over age 50) or some other such reason. For those under age 50 it is not easy regardless of income.

[eek]

Thank you.

[astral]

2 flights a day to Penang.

With luck the first flight gets you in with time to get to the Consulate and make you application.

Pick up the passport and visa the next day and catch the afternoon flight back.

[loong]

If you are based in Chiang Mai, you could do 3 visa runs to Mae Sai, go over the border to Myanmar(Burma) and then back again. You will get an additional 29 days each time.

3 visa runs is the max

Visa on entry to Burma 250 Baht or 5US$

[altman]

actually the cost to enter burma/myanmar is now $10 or 1000 baht. but the new entry visa is good for 14 days. but it only allows travel through the border area.

several travel options to get there and back in the same day. ask at your gh or go to the arcade bus station.

[loong]

actually the cost to enter burma/myanmar is now $10 or 1000 baht. but the new entry visa is good for 14 days. but it only allows travel through the border area.

several travel options to get there and back in the same day. ask at your gh or go to the arcade bus station.

Sorry, I haven't been to Mae Sai for about 6 months so didn't know about the increase.

But now $10 or 1000Bt !!! That means Dollar price has doubled and Baht price quadrupled!!!

$10 = 360 Baht, so better to make sure you have dollars

[calibanjr.]

The two Malaysian trips mentioned above are pretty convenient. One alternative is NokAir to Udon, mini-bus or bus to Vientiane, usual consulate paperwork, overnight and back. Dicey to fit everything together into a single night trip, but for at least the first visit, Vientiane is quite worth a two night stay.

[rocky]

For some reason the Immigration Department has no provisions for the under 50 retiree to stay in Thailand. It is possible to get Non Immigrant O visa, but it isn’t guaranteed, so uncertainty is the word of the day.

Though if we look back, not so long ago here in Thailand, if a person was hospitalized and unable to leave the country at the end of the 30 days or unable to attend the immigration office, these people where fined for over staying their visa, Of recent the immigration department has made the provision for this situation, opening an office at many of the hospitals.

I hope that the immigration department also realizes that it has not made provisions for the under 50 and changes this current situation..

[lopburi3]

AFAIK there has always been provision for medical emergency type extensions of stay. But somebody has to take the paperwork to immigration. Recently several of the most expensive hospitals have started to provide in-hospital service at a scheduled time.

[rahyumdee]

If you are based in Chiang Mai, you could do 3 visa runs to Mae Sai, go over the border to Myanmar(Burma) and then back again. You will get an additional 29 days each time.

3 visa runs is the max...

28 or 29 days per the free visa-exempt stamp. It varies. And only three runs max? Really? Who says? If you are talking about 3 visa-exempt stamps within a 6 mos period, then yes, that appears to be the new rule. Otherwise, you can go to the Thai Consulate in Vientiane, Laos, for example, and buy a Tourist Visa for 1000 Baht good for 58 or 59 days. Whether you can buy these back-to-back now is open to question.

Visa on entry to Burma 250 Baht or 5US$

Wrong. It was changed to 500 Baht or 10 USD a few months ago for the day pass for Tachilek, just like it has been for the Mae Sot/Myawaddy border for some time now.

--------------------

Please ignore me - I have no idea what I am talking about

No kidding.......

[eek]

ok..

this is great guys..just to cIarify...

So, best bet for a tourist visa is Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur or Penang) or Laos

(Vientiane)?

Laos most prob cheaper and easier, being cIoser, but isnt Burma closer? (im prob wrong..my geography sucks), can I get myself a tourist visa from there?

I dont wish to come in on a 30 day stamped entry as I hope to stay here longer term, so def wish to get myseIf a tourist visa.

I guess i can onIy get hoId of a singIe entry tourist visa from outside my home country..right?

Tnx again for your heIp in this.

[rahyumdee]

...Laos most prob cheaper and easier, being cIoser, but isnt Burma closer? ...

From Chiang Mai, a bus to the Laos border and on to Vientiane is cheaper than flying to Rangoon, Myanmar, for simply obtaining another tourist visa.

Again, that is if they will continue to issue back-to-back ones...

[lopburi3]

The best place to get any type of visa is your home country. You might even be able to obtain a 2 or 3 entry tourist visa there.

Burma involves air travel and the Consulate is not regarded as overly friendly to visa applicants from most reports - although if you are there anyhow it would probably be an option.

[loong]

actually the cost to enter burma/myanmar is now $10 or 1000 baht. but the new entry visa is good for 14 days. but it only allows travel through the border area.

several travel options to get there and back in the same day. ask at your gh or go to the arcade bus station.

Sorry, I haven't been to Mae Sai for about 6 months so didn't know about the increase.

But now $10 or 1000Bt !!! That means Dollar price has doubled and Baht price quadrupled!!!

$10 = 360 Baht, so better to make sure you have dollars

If you are based in Chiang Mai, you could do 3 visa runs to Mae Sai, go over the border to Myanmar(Burma) and then back again. You will get an additional 29 days each time.

3 visa runs is the max...

28 or 29 days per the free visa-exempt stamp. It varies. And only three runs max? Really? Who says? If you are talking about 3 visa-exempt stamps within a 6 mos period, then yes, that appears to be the new rule. Otherwise, you can go to the Thai Consulate in Vientiane, Laos, for example, and buy a Tourist Visa for 1000 Baht good for 58 or 59 days. Whether you can buy these back-to-back now is open to question.

Visa on entry to Burma 250 Baht or 5US$

Wrong. It was changed to 500 Baht or 10 USD a few months ago for the day pass for Tachilek, just like it has been for the Mae Sot/Myawaddy border for some time now.

--------------------

Please ignore me - I have no idea what I am talking about

No kidding.......

Did you bother reading all the posts? I had already apologised for not being aware of the increase in a following post. So now I understand that the cost is 500 Baht or $10 US. Altman had already posted re the increase, but it appears that he was wrong as well

28 or 29 days per the free visa-exempt stamp

You get 29 additional days, not 28 if you exit/enter in the same day. You are given 30 days, but because it includes the last day from your previous stamp it only actually gives you 29. If you only receive 28, I imagine that the official forgot to change the date stamp from the day before!

And only three runs max? Really? Who says?

Thai immigration says!!

[

i]Please ignore me - I have no idea what I am talking about[/i]

No kidding.......

What is your problem?

[rahyumdee]

I'm glad you found my info about Mae Sai/Tachilek visa runs useful.

I would now like to speculate on an observation I made at Tachilek's border immigration office recently.

It's seems to me that the entire crew has been changed. The three hombres that now run that office do not wear the standard pea-green fatigues of the former "civilian" crew but wear a kind of "grey/black security forces" type of garb. They also seemed to speak better English and seemed more aggressive and "on-the-ball" about things. They're also bigger dudes.

So, I am going to speculate that these guys are probably actual military-level security forces that have been assigned to takeover that office and oversee the tabulation of their new database-gathering activities on all tourists.

Is this anything to worry about personally when you go there now? Probably not.

But what it does signal to me is that Myanmar security is probably becoming heightened and tightened, what with the the U.S.'s push to force a regime change there. It is the reason they moved their capital (and key infrastructure, if you can call it that) last year north to Pyinmana, 600km (373 miles) north of Rangoon, so that it is more "defensible". Here are the key articles that described last year's event:

Burma Confirms Capital to Move

Burma's Confusing Capital Move

Prediction: some kind of military assault by a U.S.-led 'coalition' within the next two years.

Will it be to "free" political prisoners? Of course not. The corrupt Illuminati banksters -- who control the CIA and U.S. Military -- are using that as a cover. What they're really after is control of the lucrative opium-growing regions in Shan state, the areas that remain strictly off-limits to all visitors for just that same reason. It'll be a repeat of what has already happened in Afghanistan.

You watch...

(Note: No, I am not paranoid. Just a cautious observer with some military experience, myself...)

[tijnebijn]

if I were you I would go to penang or KL.You don't have to apply for a visa to go in there,for Laos you do.Plus malaysia is much more interesting then Laos,so ######ing boring and surprisingly expensive as well.I also stay in Chiangmai province for years,and find it very convenient to have the airasia flight.

As i went there ,I would stay in china town,about 100 ringgit a night with free breakfast,near the underground(explore the day before where to stop near the Emb) ,from there it is just a small distance walk to the embassy,(if you go to KL),the proceedings are mentioned earlier.

If they do difficult,what will surprise me,you always can go to singapore after,if you go to another country like laos,you will find it harsh....

So goodluck

[razino]

Visa on entry to Burma 250 Baht or 5US$

Wrong. It was changed to 500 Baht or 10 USD a few months ago for the day pass for Tachilek, just like it has been for the Mae Sot/Myawaddy border for some time now.

Confirm 500 baht at Mae Sot to enter Myawadi. I was there 2 weeks ago...