Sign47

Maybe someone on this forum can help me. Next Saturday I am flying LHR-BKK. I arrive on Sunday morning but will fly out late the same night to Sri Lanka (CMB). I have my flight to Colombo booked already. I have over 12 hours in Bangkok and spend much of my life in Thailand. I will be dropping some luggage in Bangkok before going back to the airport for my late night flight.

After a week or two in Sri Lanka my plan is to fly back direct CMB-BKK where I will spend the next two or three months.

As i'm currently in UK it is far easier and cheaper to get a two month tourist visa from the Thai embassy in London placed in my passport before I get to immigration at Bangkok. However, I do not want immigration to stamp my two month visa when I go into BKK for 12 hours. Should I show them a print out of my ticket to Sri Lanka for later that day so I just get the normal stamp in my passport. I really don't want the immigration official stamping my two month visa for a 12 hour visit.

In short I want to preserve my two month visa for when I fly back into Bangkok after my trip to Sri Lanka. How do I go about doing this? Please advise.

Tchiowa

You're going to get stamped if you go through Immigration. As someone who says he has spent much of his life in Thailand, I'm surprised you used the phrase "Visa On Arrival". VOA has nothing to do with your situation.

Only option I can see is for you to get the 3 month visa while you're in Sri Lanka (if they can, not sure the rules for the Thai Consulate).

Sign47

I know my passport is going to get stamped by immigration. Of course I know this.

What many visitors get upon arrival is a single stamp allowing them 30 days in Thailand without a visa.

My question is can I ask the immigration official to stamp my passport for 30 days since I am leaving later that day rather than use my two month visa? Or will the immigration official just decide to stamp my two month visa despite me only spending 12 hours in the country?

Can I just go ahead and ask the immigration official to stamp my passport rather than to stamp my two month visa?

aBroadAbroad

I believe OP is wanting to request that the immigration officer overlook the visa and instead grant an ordinary 30-day visa waiver upon the first arrival to Bangkok, with the specific goal of preserving the visa for activation upon the second arrival.

I've modified the post title to make the question clearer.

~Moderator

Sign47

Yes, thank you for correctly re-wording my question.

Does anyone know if this would be possible?

Diplomatico

There are reports that something like this is possible. See link below, post #11 where a traveler didn't want to use the second entry on his double entry tourist visa and so entered on the visa exemption:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/...-visa-can-you/

If/when you try it, do not enter the number of the visa on the arrival card and make certain that when you do enter on the visa, it's prior to the visa expiration.

(Can you not obtain a double entry tourist visa in the UK?)

However, if they do "burn" your visa during your 12 hour visit, you can re-enter on a 30 day visa exemption which can be extended by another 30 days at any immigration office for 1900 baht. See second link:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/...ion-extension/

Hope this helps.

transpac

It seems like a 60 day, double-entry visa ( 25 GBP per entry, so 50 GBP in total ) would address any potential issues?

This would give you two entries, 60 days each, and each can be extended 30 days inside the country for a total of 180 days.

So while you might use one entry on the first short stay, the second entry would be good for 60 days, and could be extended another 30 days, to cover your two-three month plans.

I assume you have a British passport?

You could forego the visa in the U.K., use a 30 exemption for your first arrival, then get a 60 day tourist visa in Sri Lanka.

http://www.thaiembassy.org/colombo/en/home

ft101

The airline might not board the OP if he try this. The 30 day potential extension may not be taken into account.

There are even stories going aroung that they won't even be granted in some offices, and they'll give you the 7 day extension only.

transpac

The airline might not board the OP if he try this.

As I understand it, the OP is traveling from the U.K. to Thailand with a British passport, and is staying for ~ 12 hours before departing. I cannot see how an IDB is even a remote possibility?

Now when the OP flies from CMB to BKK and plans to stay for 60 - 90 days, he might run into some issues assuming he does not have a real, tourist visa.

AFAIK, a 30 day visa Exemption can now be extended for another 30 days, inside the country. This used to be seven (7) days. I have not seen, nor heard of, any first-hand, verifiable reports of this new 30 day extension being an issue, save in some unusual/extenuating circumstances.

ft101

Visa used up on the flight from UK.

No visa available when flying from Sri Lanka for 2 to 3 month stay means a possibility of the airline turning him/her away.

Anecdotal evidence of 7 day extensions being given at some offices instead of 30.

DirtyDan

I would say there's two options for speaking with the BKK immigration here:

1) Be straight forward and just ask. I don't think this will work. From what I've seen of Thai culture, they are very much indoctrinated in the "follow-the-process" of how tasks must be performed.

2) Try what Diplomatico advised and not use your original visa? You could simply attempt to pass through immigration without drawing attention to your visa. Perhaps the officer misses it and stamps a regular VOA into your passport. If you get "caught" simply explain your situation and be mentally prepared to have your original visa invoked...

ExpatSomchai

Thailand is clamping down on visa runs so this may highlight the OP as someone whom would be watched although the reason may be legitimate. Many years ago I had a business trip to Indonesia planned and had applied for the visa. I then decided to go to Bali for a vacation and on reaching immigration was told that if they stamped my passport with a tourist visa then I was breaking the law having two visas running alongside each other.

transpac

I would strongly discourage either/both approaches. Might one, or both, 'work'? Possibly. But unless you speak fluent Thai, are comfortable with all the changing nuances of Thai Immigration "laws", and fluctuating "enforcement", you may create more problems than are otherwise necessary.

Note that using the term "VOA" is probably not useful in this thread as the OP is not even eligible for a Visa on Arrival, assuming they carry a British, or passport from a country which grants a 30 day Tourist Visa Exemption.

Just get a double-entry visa in the U.K., or a single-entry visa in Sri Lanka.

Note that extending a real Tourist Visa for 30 days inside Thailand (at Immigration, forms+photos+copies+1,900 THB) is absolutely acceptable, and there are no "anecdotal" accounts which indicate that this is potentially not possible. I believe ft101 is referring to an obscure, unverifiable, 3rd party account from a provincial Immigration office, and is relevant to extending a 30 day Tourist Visa Exemption, rather than a real Tourist Visa.

transpac

Apologies for the brain f*rt by forgetting another recommendation, up far too early to watch football:

The Re-Entry Permit.

This allows one to "bank" their existing visa (real) stamp. So, in theory you could utilize your one, single-entry visa arriving SBIA/BKK from the U.K., enter Thailand, then (at the airport) apply for a single re-entry permit (form TM.8+photos+copies+1,000 THB), prior to flying BKK-CMB; be sure to give yourself some extra time to accomplish this procedure, although you could do it immediately after clearing arriving Immigration.

Having the re-entry permit would relieve any issues boarding/flying CMB-BKK, and the visa could be further extended inside Thailand for another 30 days.

Although this approach may not give enough time, based on the outside limits mentioned (two weeks + 3 months).

Again, sorry for not mentioning this previously.

http://www.suvarnabhumiairport.com/e...-re-entry-visa


edited to add: While I've personally used a Re-Entry Permit to "retain" my current stamp-in date(s), I did have a Non-Imm B visa (and was preserving my 90 date stamp which extended my visa from 12 months to 15 months). So I am not sure, without conducting additional research, if this is an option for someone with a real Tourist Visa. I'll try to get some sort of idea on applicability and follow up.

follow-up: a cursory review of other forums confirms that a Re-Entry Permit would be an acceptable option for you if you have a real Tourist Visa.

Tchiowa

I just checked thaiembdc.org. Their consular site refers to a tourist visa with a maximum of 3 entries. So it appears you can still get the multi-entry tourist visa and all the problems go away.