Quote:
Originally Posted by DrinkingLeo
US passport / 30 day visa question. I come to thailand every 90 days or so for 21days. My employment just changed. Nov 28th is my last day on the 30 day entery stamp. I need to go back to the us to take care of some business. But was thinking of putting it off. If i take a trip out to say macau or cambodia for few days will i have an issue returning to thailand for another month? Other option i was thinkig of would be heading back to the states and getting a 2 month tourist visaat the thai consulate in chicago and coming back before christmas. Would they have issue issuing a 2 month visa after being here a month and not being gone for 30 days?
There is no rule that says you have to be out for 30 days. In fact, you could just leave and come back the same day, as long as you don't abuse it by only doing this and doing it several times in a row. As you spend time outside of Thailand a lot, you won't have any problems.
Also, the 30-day visa exempt entry you get can be extended without leaving Thailand, at a immigration office where you are. All bigger cities have one and most likely your location will have one as well. Before you could extend for only 7-days but these days you should be able to extend for another 30 days. I'm not up to date as to how things work in practise but the official fee for the extra 30 days is 1900 baht but I've read some immigration office(r)s ask for some extra.
Be prepared to show proof of flight out of Thailand within those extra 30 days on top of the standard copy of passport info page, copy of the arrival stamp, copy of departure card and passport pictures (and the 1900+xx fee).
If you have time, you can get the tourist visa in Cambodia or Hong Kong(Macau doesn't have a thai embassy or consulate afaik) as well but the waiting time differs at each location so if you are just going on a short trip, you might not have enough time to get one.
