Mae Sai border run

[mozambiq]

Hi I need some advice,  arrived BKK on a 30 day exempt visa on a Australian passport and will be applying for a 30 day extension here in Chiang Mai to bring my visa to the 27th June, I will be flying out of Thailand mid September 2017. From the expiry (27th June) is it possible do a border run to Mae Sai get 30 days apply for 30 day extension when due in Chiang Mai, repeat the whole process again to bring to mid September to fly out? Has anyone done a back to back border run recently with a extension, are two border runs allowed till August 2017? I am a bit cautious in doing this as it may depend on the IO on the day or has the government changed the rules and regulations again. I can do the visa run to Vientiane for SETV which I have done in the pass. Thanks.

[ubonjoe]

You could do two border crossings for a visa exempt entry but those are only ones you could do for the rest of the year. Since January 1st only 2 are allowed per calendar years at land border crossings. That is why Mae Sai started allowing them again.

I assume the ones you mentioned will be the only ones you have done this year.

There will be no more changes to the rules this year.

[mozambiq]

Thanks have not done any border runs this year so you think with doing extensions as well on these runs should not be a problem? This year to date have only had one SETV visa, and 30 day exemption.

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, mozambiq said:

Thanks have not done any border runs this year so you think with doing extensions as well on these runs should not be a problem? This year to date have only had one SETV visa, and 30 day exemption.

You should not have a problem. Since the 2 entry rule started it is easier to do border hops for a visa exempt entry than before.

[YetAnother]

i have experience with that Imm office and they are the best ones i have ever dealt with or seen

[Chiang Mai Bill]

I'm not sure.

 

In January this year (2017) I was in Chiang Mai on a 30-day on-entry visa and wanted to get an extension at Mae Sai and none of the 'visa-run' companies would take me telling me I wouldn't be allowed back in to Thailand! In fact many had signs telling 30-day visa people not to use their trips.

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, Chiang Mai Bill said:

I'm not sure.

 

In January this year (2017) I was in Chiang Mai on a 30-day on-entry visa and wanted to get an extension at Mae Sai and none of the 'visa-run' companies would take me telling me I wouldn't be allowed back in to Thailand! In fact many had signs telling 30-day visa people not to use their trips.

They are allowing them now.

They started allowing them again after the 2 visa exempt entry per calendar year rule at land border crossings went into effect on January 1st.

[chickenrunCM]

we have been there in October 2016 and the IMO said clear, if you have already a 30 day extension from the Imigration then you are not allowed to do a border run. My friend who was with me, could leave because he already was 30 +30 days in the country

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, chickenrunCM said:

we have been there in October 2016 and the IMO said clear, if you have already a 30 day extension from the Imigration then you are not allowed to do a border run. My friend who was with me, could leave because he already was 30 +30 days in the country

A I wrote before things have changed since then. Since entries at border crossings are limited to 2 per calendar year they have loosened up on doing them until you get to 2.

[YetAnother]

mozambiq: the immig office in mai sai is NOT near the border bridge; same road but about a km / km1.5 or so 'inland';

left hand side as you are going toward the bridge;t

not very far after the main traffic light at the edge of the city;they take an hour off for lunch and make YOU go outside to a vendor onsite to get extra photos and all the copies they desire;

if you get unlucky, you might get behind a tour group, shepherded by a tour guide; the tour guide might have 20 people to process so you just sit and watch; those tour guides get preference over you, fair or not

[ubonjoe]

16 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

mozambiq: the immig office in mai sai is NOT near the border bridge; same road but about a km / km1.5 or so 'inland';

left hand side as you are going toward the bridge;t

not very far after the main traffic light at the edge of the city;they take an hour off for lunch and make YOU go outside to a vendor onsite to get extra photos and all the copies they desire;

if you get unlucky, you might get behind a tour group, shepherded by a tour guide; the tour guide might have 20 people to process so you just sit and watch; those tour guides get preference over you, fair or not

He is going to the border crossing in Mae Sai not the immigration office.

He is getting his extension at the Chiang Mai immigration office.

[Hardie]

A friend of mine was just there last week, and said there were signs posted something to the effect of "No visa runs", i.e. no visa-exempt entries. As he was there only to stamp in and out on a non-O, he made no further inquiry, BUT...

 

If I were in CM and wanted a visa-exempt entry, I think I'd go to Mae Sot or somewhere else instead, just to be sure...

[mozambiq]

Have got my 30 day extension now on my 30 day exempt so fingers crossed that when I got to the border in a month's time they will let me do it. Thanks for the feed back peeps.

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, Hardie said:

A friend of mine was just there last week, and said there were signs posted something to the effect of "No visa runs", i.e. no visa-exempt entries. As he was there only to stamp in and out on a non-O, he made no further inquiry, BUT...

That sign has been up for ages.

There have been many reports that they are allowing crossing for a visa exempt entry now.

A far as I know Mae Sot still does not allow them.

[sanemax]

Just to add , I recently went to Maesai to get my second VES from there , my second one this year , not any problems , no ticket out or need to show any cash .

   

[Mark123456]

They most definitely are allowing visa exempt entries at Mae Sai as I did one in February. Please don't listen to people who are saying it can't be done because they do not know what they are talking about.

[chickenrunCM]

12 hours ago, Mark123456 said:

They most definitely are allowing visa exempt entries at Mae Sai as I did one in February. Please don't listen to people who are saying it can't be done because they do not know what they are talking about.

did you been before in thailand already 30 + 30 days already?

[Mark123456]

10 hours ago, chickenrunCM said:

did you been before in thailand already 30 + 30 days already?

I didn't have a recent visa exempt entry in my passport but I had 2 or 3 back-to-back tourist entry visas, all of which I extended for 30 days then 60 days (After the 30 day extension you can apply for a further 60 days for the purposes of visiting Thai family if you have a wife or child here). In total, I had over 40 pages of entry and exit stamps in and out of Thailand in my passport when I made the border run, going back over the last 13-14 years. I even had an Education visa in the mix, which some claim is a red flag to immigration officials (never caused me any problems).

 

So, to summarise: When I went to the Mae Sai border, I was on a 60-day extension of stay that followed a 30-day extension of stay, of a 60-day permission to stay stamp given to me when I entered with a tourist visa that I obtained in Vientiane (hopefully I haven't made any mistakes with naming conventions and can avoid the ire of the forum visa terminology pedants).