Trips over 30 days
 

All my trips in the past have been under 30 days. But getting ready to retire and vacations will be longer than 30 days. I know about visa runs, but what about airline tickets...anything I should know? Thanks in advance.

If there's a visa in your passport, you should have no problem.

Can you describe your exact situation? If you can provide more details, or a scenario or two, it will be easier to point you towards the optimum solution.

You have a passport which allows for a 30 day visa exemption, let's say from the U.S. or one of the 47 ~ 51 other countries?

And you want to travel to Thailand and stay for more than 30 days? How many days maximum? This is really key to getting to the best solution.

A 30 day Tourist Visa Exemption can now be extended for an additional 15 days inside Thailand, for a fee (1,900 THB?), which would allow for a max. stay of 45 days before you have to exit the country.

I always recommend getting a real Tourist Visa as these always overcome any potential IDB situations (proof of onward air travel), and can be extended inside Thailand.

http://thaiembdc.org/consular-servic...s/category-tr/

If you planning on retiring in Thailand, that will call for a different solution. (Visa, then Extension of Stay based on Retirement).

I was planning on maybe 60 days but some trips to near by countries...maybe 20 in thailand 20 out and 20 in thailand again.

But the your suggestion of the tourist visa with 2 entries would also work.

Where do you get this 15 day extension? Can you get it at the airport?

I once did the 30 day extension by going to the embassy. What a nightmare of a day. Never again. Easier to fly out and back in again.

OP - you can simply fly out and back every 30 days. Spend an overnight in Kuala Lumpur or even just fly out and in. AirAsia has very cheap flights.

I don't believe there are any issues with your plan of 20 in, 20 out, 20 in. As long as you don't exceed 30 days if your passport entitles you to the exemption. Having an outbound ticket will of course give you some proof in case anyone asks. I don't recall ever being asked about onward travel in any of my visits.

It is the airline that may flag you. They get fined if a passenger doesn't have the proper documents. So the airline will look for a visa or a ticket that meets the > 30 day requirement.

Which answers the OP's original question. Yes, the airline will likely refuse to board you if you don't have either a visa allowing you to stay longer than 30 days or a plane ticket out in less than 30 days (bus tickets or other transportation doesn't count).

If you are in Thailand on a visa exemption, my understanding is that under the latest rules if you exit and re-enter on a land border you only get another 15 days. To get 30 days you have to fly out and back in.

If you are from a visa exemption country you can still apply for a tourist visa and that gives you 60 days.

Note that my reply

A 30 day Tourist Visa Exemption can now be extended for an additional 15 days inside Thailand, for a fee (1,900 THB?), which would allow for a max. stay of 45 days before you have to exit the country.

was incorrect. It should read

A 30 day Tourist Visa Exemption can now be extended for an additional 30 days inside Thailand, for a fee (1,900 THB?), which would allow for a max. stay of 60 days before you have to exit the country.

This change was made ~ August 28, 2014.


You need to visit an Immigration office to get this extension. You cannot do this at the airport. (You can get a re-entry permit at the airport, which preserves the date on a real visa.) In Bangkok this office is at Chaeng Watthana Road up near DMK airport.

Being able to extend this exemption may not resolve IDB situations where the length of stay exceeds 30 days, but if recent experiences are any indication it seems more likely than in the past.

A friend arrived from the U.S. on a 85 day return ticket, he had no issues departing the U.S.; he just extended 30 days this week at Chaeng Watthana, no problems.

Simple solutions remain: get a real visa (the length of which is unimportant for IDB issues), purchase an onward air ticket (DMK-PNH on FD for example). You can get a 60 day double-entry visa, which with 2 extensions and a single in/out results in 180 day stay.

I am not familiar with the current issues re: land-border crossings but believe these have changed as a result of the Erawan bombers bribing their way in.

transpac, thanks for this. Can you expand on the procedure(how long does it take etc) and cost of extending for 30 days? We have this exact scenario coming up, unless we take a quick side trip to Laos.

The cost is 1,900 THB.

You'll need to go to Immigration at Chaeng Watthana.

You'll need a photo, copies of your passport, entry stamp, TM.6 (Departure Card), form TM.7.

Not sure how long it might take as a lot depends on the exact day, time. My friend went in the afternoon and it took him 30 minutes.

This assume you came in on a 30-day Tourist Visa Exemption.

Thanks. Good to know.

I don't know the law here, but train tickets have certainly sufficed in the past.


That got reversed a while ago for G20 (or whatever the number is) countries - the ones that can get the 30 day exemption also get 30 days at a land border.

I have friends in Bangkok that do the Cambodian visa run every month. Last month a friend from Vietnam was doing a run as he has done every month for the last 1-1/2 years with no issues. Was told to go back to Vietnam for 2 months then come back.

The "rules" change fairly often but I think the latest on border crossings is:

30 days for G7 passport holders
15 days for all others (45 of the 52 countries which get 30 day exemptions)

but who knows what local border officials might feel like on any day.

Recently any/all in/out border crossings were disallowed, and immigration officials might reject border runners once they reach some number of consecutive "runs".

Not sure the OP is even affected on this?


AFAIK, any potential airline IDB situation cannot be overcome by producing anything other than a issued air ticket. Maybe some foreign airline staff were able to be cajoled into accepting train tickets in the past? Some airlines are much more strict on this requirement, IMLE. I even have had a hard time with TG with a valid Visa/Extension of Stay/Re-Entry Permit.