I have a 12 month non imm O visa (Thai Wife) and normally spend around 3 months here at a time so am unlikely to get caught with the 90 day thing but have a couple of questions around this which I am sure someone can offer some advice. My departure/return dates are not predicatable but I normally expect to be away for around 3 months +/- and similarly here for that time.
The Questions:
If I am here for over 3 months can I do the 90 day report at the immigration office as described in many other posts?
If I am here at the expiry date of my visa can I extend here and will it continue to be multiple entry?
When you renew/extend does this require submitting your passport and for how long?
Fortunately I have two passports due to my job but I am trying to avoid having to send my 2nd one off to the UK for visas while I am away as thanks to the Australian postal system I only just got it back in time just before I returned last time.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice.
Non O Visa 3 month rotation out of Thailand
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Frank Hovis
- Legend
- Posts: 2081
- Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2010 11:47 pm
Re: Non O Visa 3 month rotation out of Thailand
Easiest thing for a non-O over 90 days is to go to Ranong, before your 90 days is up, weeks before if you want, and onto Myanmar for ten minutes.
It's an easy (after what Prachuab Khiri Khan pretend is a tarmac road anyway) four/five hour drive through quite scenic countryside; it rains a lot more than here.
You need a 10 USD bill (a crispy new flat one) to get into Myanmar. On the way back in you'll get another 90 days and that means you haven't stayed over 90 days.
I think you can extend for 15 days at immigration for somewhere in the region of 1700 baht (I'll be corrected on that).
Avoiding the boat to Myanmar, the 10 USD and the twisty last 80 km of roads you could go to Sadao in about eight/nine hours and go over to Malaysia. If your wife is going with you the shops at the Sadao border (no mans land) are much better than the 'market' in Myanmar with loads of stuff that's probably worth buying, so probably best to go to Myanmar.
Alternatively a couple of days in not quite Kuala Lumpur is only a couple of hundred dollars roundtrip from HHQ on Berjaya Air. Shame there's no way to go and back in one day.
It's an easy (after what Prachuab Khiri Khan pretend is a tarmac road anyway) four/five hour drive through quite scenic countryside; it rains a lot more than here.
You need a 10 USD bill (a crispy new flat one) to get into Myanmar. On the way back in you'll get another 90 days and that means you haven't stayed over 90 days.
I think you can extend for 15 days at immigration for somewhere in the region of 1700 baht (I'll be corrected on that).
Avoiding the boat to Myanmar, the 10 USD and the twisty last 80 km of roads you could go to Sadao in about eight/nine hours and go over to Malaysia. If your wife is going with you the shops at the Sadao border (no mans land) are much better than the 'market' in Myanmar with loads of stuff that's probably worth buying, so probably best to go to Myanmar.
Alternatively a couple of days in not quite Kuala Lumpur is only a couple of hundred dollars roundtrip from HHQ on Berjaya Air. Shame there's no way to go and back in one day.
Re: Non O Visa 3 month rotation out of Thailand
If your visa is a multi-entry Non O which is good for a year, you have to leave Thailand every 90 days and activate another 90 when you return. The necessity to do a 90 day report is never there as you'll never be here for longer then the 90 consecutive days.
If you do an annual extension, you don't have to wait for the visa to be coming up for expiry. You can apply during the last 30 days of any 90 day entry. You apply in HH if that's where you normally reside.
If you apply on the basis of retirement (over 50 with its own financial requirements) the extension will be granted or otherwise there and then. If application is on the basis of marriage to a Thai, you'll be given a 30 day "under consideration" stamp and the application will go to BKK. You return to HH Imm after the 30 days to get the decision. In neither case do you part with your passport.
I'd be careful about sending your passport off for a visa in Thailand. It's illegal and whilst you may get a visa from somewhere, you won't have any exit or entry stamp from Thailand. It'll get picked up some time and you'll be in a whole heap of trouble.
Hope that helps.
PS - extensions are one off for a year in themselves but if you're going to be traveling you just apply and get a re-entry permit - 1000 THB for single and 3,800 THB for multiple. You need them to keep the extension alive when departing Thailand. Simply apply at the same time as the extension.
If you do an annual extension, you don't have to wait for the visa to be coming up for expiry. You can apply during the last 30 days of any 90 day entry. You apply in HH if that's where you normally reside.
If you apply on the basis of retirement (over 50 with its own financial requirements) the extension will be granted or otherwise there and then. If application is on the basis of marriage to a Thai, you'll be given a 30 day "under consideration" stamp and the application will go to BKK. You return to HH Imm after the 30 days to get the decision. In neither case do you part with your passport.
I'd be careful about sending your passport off for a visa in Thailand. It's illegal and whilst you may get a visa from somewhere, you won't have any exit or entry stamp from Thailand. It'll get picked up some time and you'll be in a whole heap of trouble.
Hope that helps.
PS - extensions are one off for a year in themselves but if you're going to be traveling you just apply and get a re-entry permit - 1000 THB for single and 3,800 THB for multiple. You need them to keep the extension alive when departing Thailand. Simply apply at the same time as the extension.
Re: Non O Visa 3 month rotation out of Thailand
Thanks both to Frank and Lomuart for your responses. Frank appreciates the wife situation only too well and shopping opportunities are something to be avoided. If I send my passport off it is only after I have left Thailand and I would have it back before returning. I can get the visa easily from the UK but there can be a problem getting it back to me before I return. I think my best option will be to apply as Lomuart says for an extension and multiple re-entry permits. My only concern is that if I have to leave within the 'under consideration' period will this cause any grief with immigration? I will not need to do anything until later this year so would it be an idea to touch base with immigration now or just wait until nearer the time and hope for the best?