Further notes on Visa to Thailand

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Last edited: January 21, 2018 at 04:56:20

Content:

Standard requirements of visa
Duration of visa
Enter before = enter on or before?
90-Day Reporting for Non-immigrant Visa
Re-entry Permit
Checking your visa and stamps

Standard requirements of visa

For most visa, you need to submit the same information, papers and pictures:
• visa form completely filled out;
• a passport which will still be valid for at least 6 months after the expiry of your visa, or for at least 18 months in case of a 1-year visa;
• 2 (in some cases 4) recent passport pictures sized 4 cm x 6 cm, looking straight into the camera (plain background, no hat, no glasses, eyes open; most photo shops know). Recent is officially no longer than 6 months ago (but who can tell).
• 2 photocopies of the relevant pages in your passport, being the front page with your picture and the page showing your current visa. Also, take out the white TM.6 departure card and make copies, if you're already in Thailand.
• cash a few thousand baht (prices for different visa and stamps vary often between THB 900 and 1,900 or more). Usually no credit card payment possible.
• certificate of marriage (in case of non-immigrant "O" visa)

Additional information may be asked, which is entirely arbitrary and solely up to the discretion of the officer in charge:
• proof of flights in and out of Thailand during your planned stay
• proof of adequate finance, so make some copies of your bank account(s) in your home country and/or Thailand, showing sufficient balance. As a general rule, Thai authorities work with a threshold of THB 20,000 per person per month and THB 40,000 per family per month).
• invitation letter to Thailand by a Thai resident or by a Thai business (in case of business visa)
• In theory, documents in foreign languages need to be officially translated in Thai, and if translated into English, they should be legalized by an official notary, but in practise this is hardly required.

Duration of visa

For all visa and extensions, you have to correct the official period of validity with one day less. The reason for this is, that the Thai authorities already start counting on the first day, so you always loose one day already.

For example, if you have a one entry tourist visa of 60 days, effectively it means 59 days.
A 15 day extension effectively means 14 days.

All non-immigrant visa offer 3 months for a one entry and or 1 year (with several entries possible). The one entry is again not exactly 3 months but 90 days minus 1 = 89 days.

Knowing this, you can plan your stay and trips in advance exactly until the last validity date.


Example of calculation of one entry of so-called "3 months":

from 26 Nov until 23 Feb = 89 days.


WANT TO SAVE TIME & TROUBLE EXTENDING YOUR VISA? OUTSOURCE IT!


Enter Before = enter on or before?

On every visa you get, there is the mentioning above: "ENTER BEFORE". If the date is 10 September, you might wonder if you can still enter into Thailand on Sept 10 to use this visa, or if you have to enter on Sept 9.
Some Immigration officers might interpret this as enter before, so last day to use the visa is Sept 9. But a lot of them accept if you enter on Sept 10.
If you don't want to take the risk, enter on Sept 9.

Enter before is often enter on or before

Re-entry Permit

The meaning of a re-entry permit is to preserve (the current entry of) your visa when you leave the country before your visa has expired. Normally, if you leave the country you will loose the current entry of your visa. With a re-entry permit, which is just a stamp in your passport, you can return to Thailand on the same visa entry.

It's easy to apply for a re-entry permit at the Immigration Office and normally it doesn't take as much time as other visa matters, so there may not be a need to queu up very early.

You can choose between one re-entry or multiple re-entries.

Costs:  For all non-immigrant visa, the fees for re-entry are the same.
Single re-entry THB 1,000, mulitple re-entries (during the validity period of your visa) THB 3,800.

Example: Suppose you're on a tourist visa with one entry and you have just been in Thailand for 2 weeks. It means the current entry is still valid for about another 6 weeks. You wish to make a short trip to Cambodia though. In this case, it would be a pity that you loose your current Thai visa as it can still offer you 6 weeks of stay. It will take you more effort and money to apply for a new visa in Cambodia, than to go to Chiang Mai Immigration and get the re-entry permit. Also, if you'd just return to Thailand on a visa-on-arrival, you will just get 30 days, which is less than 6 weeks.
So, depending on your travel plans, it may be better to get the re-entry stamp.


Example of re-entry permit

Download the TM. 8 form for Re-entry into the Kingdom here

Checking your visa and stamps

It's recommendable to ALWAYS check your visa or stamps after you have passed through customs on an airport or after you applied for a visa somewhere. Thai officials at the airport have to check on what papers you enter the country, and it does happen that they do not see what visa you're on. In such case, they may give you the wrong stamp, with the wrong validity dates and you'll have to spend some time and effort on correcting that at the Immigration office.
Every time you leave the country, be sure that you have an exit stamp in your passport. The next time you enter the country, the officer in charge will check for the exit stamp. Some foreigners have experienced problems because the officer in charge forgot to put an exit stamp in their passport upon leaving.


Example of exit stamp

Also, be sure to keep the white TM.6 card in your passort. Loosing it can also cause some problems. One side of it you hand to immigration as you enter the country, the other side you hand in upon leaving.

Want to stay long term in Thailand? Get a 1-year visa with ease.


DISCLAIMER: This information was compiled from several sources and best-practises. Policies, prices and procedures of the Thai authorities change continuously. CM Locator accepts no liability for incorrectness of information here. Help us keep this information as update and useful for visa applicants as possible and let us know if you find something has changed.


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What do you think about this article?

YUICHI TAKASE Posted on February 27, 2020 at 04:41:10
To person in charge,
I 'm doing long stay in Chiang Mai for eight years. I’m Japanese. I must update VISA in August of this year. So I have an inquiry. I get the pension income of about 750, 000THB for one year. Please judge my recognition that condition of VISA update as follows is correct or mistake.
[Case1] Has balances at the income bank more than 800, 000 THB from three months ago of the update.
[Case2] There is the pension of 1 years 800,000 THB or more.
[Case3] In the case of pension income less than 800,000 THB, the of can make up for the deficit by bank deposits.
Therefore, as for me, update is enabled if there are bank deposits more than 50, 000 THB.
※The bank deposits are ordinary deposits.
How about? Is my recognition correct? Please tell me a correct answer if it is a mistake.
I appreciate your kind cooperation.
Yuichi TAKASE

Taran Persaud Posted on May 09, 2018 at 05:04:06
Can I get a Re-Entry Permit at the Airport?
Thank You.