My retirement visa extension experience

[Guest kjun12]

I was in need of an extension for my first year visa. After sitting at the Suan Plu Immigration office for about three hours, my number was called. The agent spoke no English and I speak no Thai. She immediately referred me to another agent. She took my passport and all of the copies I had made, looked at my passport, consulted with another agent and told me that I did not need an extension. I tried my best to assure her that I did but she showed me a stamp in my passport which was placed there when I returned from my June visit to Cambodia. Sure enough that stamp showed that the visa was valid from 16 Jun 2009 through 15 Jun 2010. What happened here I do not know but I was happy. My original visa was multiple entry and this one does not appear to say that. Was this just luck?

[mahjongguy]

No offense, but it's what most would call "dumb luck".

 

I'm guessing that you obtained an O-A visa from your home country. Happily, it was a multiple-entry version with a 1-year window for entries. Many embassies/consulates (e.g. those in the U.S.) only issue single-entry O-A visas, with a 90-day window for entry.

 

So, you were allowed a second entry valid for a year's stay. It's no big deal except that you got 10 extra months (though you might have paid more up front).

 

Here's the important part: your original visa has reached the end of its one-year Enter-By validity. You can stay until next June but you can no longer come and go on that visa. You must not depart Thailand again until you have gone back to Immigration and purchased a single or multiple Re-Entry Permit. Do it in advance of any travel because they do not sell them at the airport nor at border crossings. If you fail to get one, when you return to Thailand you will be admitted for 14 or 30 days only; your current one year permission to stay will have been voided.

 

And don't forget to do your regular 90-day check-ins.

 

It pays to understand the difference between a visa and Permission To Stay, and to keep up with the changes in the fine print. The best source for that is the ThaiVisa website.

[Guest jtrack33]

I had the same experience a few years back. I easily obtained an O-A visa in Manila that was multi entry and the retirement year already pre-applied for at Manila and sent to Suan Phlu by the embassy for sanctioning...it took a month or two to be approved/issued(I was in no hurry as I also had a "retirement" visa in The Philippines). Anyway the O-A seemed to be for a year and the retirement for a year also as every time I entered Thailand, I was given a 1 year visa at the airport every time I entered for the next 12 months. Just before the expiry I re-entered and effectively got 2 years just from one simple application at the rarely-used and un-crowded Thai Embassy in Manila.