3 Visa exempts this year already.. 4th possible??

[tbryant15]

First post but I frequent here often.

Will try and summarize my situation. I hold a passport from the USA and arrived in Thailand April 2016 on a Non-B ME visa. I taught from May 2016 to March 2017 and contemplated heading back home but wanted to travel a bit before I went back to the States. I flew in from HCMC, in March to my first visa exempt as my non-b had finally expired. I flew in from Hong Kong on my second visa exempt in April and flew in from HCMC again in may for my third visa exempt. I then decided to stay a bit longer and eventually got a SETV from Vientiane.

1st visa exempt, I got asked questions regarding how much longer I was staying. The 2nd and third, no questions asked. Came through BKK for the first one and DMK for the 2nd and 3rd. I came through the friendship bridge in Nong Khai on my SETV with no problems. 

A few weeks ago I finally booked my flight back home for early September and if I were to not extend my SETV, it would expire mid August. Right before it expires, I plan on visiting Cambodia and Indonesia, but plan on flying back to Thailand a week before my flight home out of BKK. 

Yes I know to keep it safe, I should just extend it and get a re-entry permit when I go travel, but my question is, what if I didn't. Basically to save the hassle of going to immigration in Chaeng and the fees with it. I will have money, hotel printouts, flight printouts.. etc when flying back into Thailand from Indonesia but it would be my fourth visa exemption this year alone. Would this be too risky you think? To sum it up, in my passport I have 1 Non-B ME visa, 3 visa exempts and 1 SETV.

Sorry for the long read.. Regards

 

[tbryant15]

Am I actually able to get a re-entry permit if I extend the SETV another 30 days? I have not read anywhere of anyone extending their 60 days to an extra 30 days and applying for a re-entry. If going this route, I plan on doing both at Chaeng immigration

[lkv]

14 minutes ago, tbryant15 said:

Am I actually able to get a re-entry permit if I extend the SETV another 30 days? I have not read anywhere of anyone extending their 60 days to an extra 30 days and applying for a re-entry. If going this route, I plan on doing both at Chaeng immigration

Yes you can. One can get a reentry permit either on the original stay of 60 days, or on the extension. 

 

Also it should be noted that in BKK, they would extend an SETV 30 days before it expires, so starting half way through it.

 

Got a reentry permit on both the original permission of stay and while extended, but got them in the airport. One in Suvarnabhumi and one in DMK.

 

Im assuming you would have to queue up again at a different counter in CW, but yes it can be done.

[tbryant15]

1 hour ago, lkv said:

Yes you can. One can get a reentry permit either on the original stay of 60 days, or on the extension. 

 

Also it should be noted that in BKK, they would extend an SETV 30 days before it expires, so starting half way through it.

 

Got a reentry permit on both the original permission of stay and while extended, but got them in the airport. One in Suvarnabhumi and one in DMK.

 

Im assuming you would have to queue up again at a different counter in CW, but yes it can be done.

Thanks for the info. I will proceed with this safer route. I guess I was just hesitant because the 60 days expires at Aug 20 and I'd be out of Thailand heading back to the States by Sep 10. The fees paid for the 30 day extension were unideal since I'd be spending the majority of that in a neighbouring country. 

Has anyone ever had trouble entering Thailand with a re-entry permit attached to a tourist visa? With all this chatter about denial even with a tourist visa.. i'm still a bit worried.

[lkv]

39 minutes ago, tbryant15 said:

Has anyone ever had trouble entering Thailand with a re-entry permit attached to a tourist visa? With all this chatter about denial even with a tourist visa.. i'm still a bit worried.

No. Reentry is fine. Yes it is a more solid solution than a visa exempt, because you have effectively mantained the permission of stay that was initially granted.

 

With a visa exempt, you are asking to be granted a new permission of stay.

 

Last time i did a reentry permit in the airport, the lady told me: but it's only valid for 10 days (because that's how long my original permission of stay had remaining). I had a short business trip to SG at the time, was coming back to Thailand, then after a few days I was booked to fly back home. However, my nationality does not qualify for visa exempt so I had the choice between a VOA (1,000 baht) or reentry permit (1,000 baht). In that particular situation, a reentry permit felt safer, although VOA is a paid visa, which sort of makes it safe. Or at least it should.

 

So yeah, no problems whatsoever on reentry permit attached to TR visa.

 

However, you do qualify for visa exempt. It's sort of wasting time and money (2,900 baht).

 

This is a tough one to answer, but in your situation i would risk it on a 4th visa exempt, and carry proof you will be leaving in September, therefore it would be a short stay.

 

It should trigger an alarm at 6 visa exempts.

 

Were you asked anything else apart from how long are you staying on your first exempt?

 

Are the other visa exempts stretched to the max, are they back to back like same day out-in?

[tbryant15]

5 minutes ago, lkv said:

So yeah, no problems whatsoever on reentry permit attached to TR visa.

 

However, you do qualify for visa exempt. It's sort of wasting time and money (2,900 baht).

 

This is a tough one to answer, but i would risk it on a 4th visa exempt, and carry proof you will be leaving in September, therefore it would be a short stay.

 

Are the other visa exempts stretched to the max?

Definitely tough, because the 2,900 baht would be for about 7 days in the Kingdom, but if a re-entry lessens the chance of encountering trouble at immigration by a long measure.. I may just put up with the price. I believe the exempts are pretty much stretched to the max give or take a few days. Ideally I would love to just fly out and back in after a couple of weeks with no re-entry and no problems of course.

Once again thanks for your opinion and insight.

[lkv]

15 minutes ago, tbryant15 said:

Definitely tough, because the 2,900 baht would be for about 7 days in the Kingdom, but if a re-entry lessens the chance of encountering trouble at immigration by a long measure.. I may just put up with the price. I believe the exempts are pretty much stretched to the max give or take a few days. Ideally I would love to just fly out and back in after a couple of weeks with no re-entry and no problems of course.

Once again thanks for your opinion and insight.

Feeding money into the Immigration system always works in one's favour.

 

The whole idea of the Elite visa is: you give us money, we let you be a never ending tourist. Well, not never ending, according to how much time you have purchased :)

 

That's also why they have been trying to "educate" people to use visas instead of visa exempts. To increase revenue.

 

In Thailand, it's always been and it will always be (or at least for the forseeable future), about money.

 

Sad but true.

[BritTim]

It is difficult to be sure, but up to six visa exempt entries that are not back-to-back are not a problem per se, I believe. A visa exempt entry tends to be an issue in combination with other factors. I think the most important is the length of time you have been in Thailand on tourist entries, and whether there are indications you could be working illegally. This latter factor is very subjective, and an immigration official could make an arbitrary wrong call. I think it very unlikely that, with less than 180 days in Thailand on tourist issues, you will have a problem, but treat any such opinions as just that.

[lkv]

If he pays for a reentry permit it will virtually guarantee his entry into Thailand, no matter how many days he has spent.

 

My opinion.

[Rc2702]

Since December 2016 I have 4 60 day visas. No issues never had a question but I do tend to fly in at very unsociable hours when maybe they do not crack the whip so much.

[JackThompson]

If it were me, I'd fly in a few hours before my departing flight and be a 'transit' person.  But if that is not possible, then the re-entry is the best course to minimize any potential problems.  He should still have the 20K Baht for this.  A couple years back someone with a valid-visa and re-entry permit was denied for not having "means to support" - rare, but could happen.

[hobobo]

Where's Ubon Joe? I expected his reply to the above...

I hope you're OK Joe, maybe just taking a day off

[ubonjoe]

Since you will flying in a week before you flight out and will have a ticket to prove that I don't think you should have a problem entering on a visa exempt entry. Just have the equivalent of 20k baht to show if asked.

Your history apparently would indicate that you are not trying to live here on visa exempt entries.

[marke985]

8 hours ago, BritTim said:

It is difficult to be sure, but up to six visa exempt entries that are not back-to-back are not a problem per se, I believe. A visa exempt entry tends to be an issue in combination with other factors. I think the most important is the length of time you have been in Thailand on tourist entries, and whether there are indications you could be working illegally. This latter factor is very subjective, and an immigration official could make an arbitrary wrong call. I think it very unlikely that, with less than 180 days in Thailand on tourist issues, you will have a problem, but treat any such opinions as just that.

I believe it was my 6th exempt entry when I was pulled aside back in 2015.  I was told next time I needed a visa to enter.  After a few questions the IO stated the 180 days in a 6 month period for the computer flagging me.  Since I have been getting SETVs from various counsels.  I plan to return tomorrow via DMK without a visa due to an issue at the Manilla embassy.  Will report back on TV is any issues arise.

[tbryant15]

37 minutes ago, marke985 said:

I believe it was my 6th exempt entry when I was pulled aside back in 2015.  I was told next time I needed a visa to enter.  After a few questions the IO stated the 180 days in a 6 month period for the computer flagging me.  Since I have been getting SETVs from various counsels.  I plan to return tomorrow via DMK without a visa due to an issue at the Manilla embassy.  Will report back on TV is any issues arise.

I am just worried now because of how much more strict its gotten at immigration. With these reports of people being brought straight to detention at the airport even with funds and proof.. etc. 

Thank you all for your input. 

Can't do transit because I plan on coming back a few days before my flight with a buddy and plan on showing him around Thailand before we both head back to the States. This will actually be my last time in Thailand for a long time as I do not see myself coming back for years.

[flyingdoc]

In that case, I would have thought a Visa Exempt would be acceptable, but have proof of funds and your return ticket to the U.S handy!

[marke985]

3 hours ago, tbryant15 said:

I am just worried now because of how much more strict its gotten at immigration. With these reports of people being brought straight to detention at the airport even with funds and proof.. etc. 

Thank you all for your input. 

Can't do transit because I plan on coming back a few days before my flight with a buddy and plan on showing him around Thailand before we both head back to the States. This will actually be my last time in Thailand for a long time as I do not see myself coming back for years.
 

You and I are in the same boat on nervousness.  I've been spending more time in the Philippines meeting new expats/trying out life here just in case Thailand closes it doors to people like me.  The Elite card is an option, but would want to spend the full 5 years in Thailand before spending that kind of cash.  Planning on using it as a bridge when I'm 45 to reach 50 assuming I still have the funds to qualify for the retirement visa by then and haven't found a place I enjoy more than Issan by that time.

[tbryant15]

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Since you will flying in a week before you flight out and will have a ticket to prove that I don't think you should have a problem entering on a visa exempt entry. Just have the equivalent of 20k baht to show if asked.

Your history apparently would indicate that you are not trying to live here on visa exempt entries.

Cheers. 

Have you or anyone else seen or heard of struggle entering through Phuket international? Since I still have yet to book the flight from Indonesia and was planning on going to the islands first before BKK. Was wondering if they were more lax at that immigration than DMK and BKK?

[BritTim]

8 minutes ago, tbryant15 said:

Cheers. 

Have you or anyone else seen or heard of struggle entering through Phuket international? Since I still have yet to book the flight from Indonesia and was planning on going to the islands first before BKK. Was wondering if they were more lax at that immigration than DMK and BKK?

Based on previous reports, Phuket is worse. Avoid flying into Phuket if they can find any reason to conclude you are not a "genuine" tourist.

[tbryant15]

2 hours ago, BritTim said:

Based on previous reports, Phuket is worse. Avoid flying into Phuket if they can find any reason to conclude you are not a "genuine" tourist.

Wow, oookay will definitely avoid that. Thanks