Reporter: Louis
Ref: Thailand Visa question No. 087/22: 90 days notice
I just wanted to send you a follow up. I had made the online application, but it was rejected after two days, as you predicted, without any further explanation. So I went to the immigration office at Muang Thong Thani in Bangkok with my wife today, and was out within ten minutes with a successful 90 day notification.
The lady at the desk muttered something about Roi Et Roi Et, but my wife answered her questions nicely in Thai and then the mission was successful.
I had made a copy to be sure of everything so as not to expect any surprises: copy ID page passport, visa stamp, page annual extension, etc, but all that was needed was the TM47, TM30 and of course my passport. I had copied the rest for free and was not asked about it.
In the end, this still cost me 2,5 hours travel time (by car from Sukhumvit) for a 10-minute visit, but I'm glad I don't have to travel to Roi Et with Songkran. Next time I will try again online, and hopefully it will work.
Reply RonnyLatya
It was always worth trying online anyway. You never know. What is prescribed and what is actually applied often deviates. Next time it should work normally online.
But thanks in advance. It's always nice to read how something ended. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen that often.
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90 days
In this context, I would also like to mention that if you (like me, with a Non Immigrant O visa) stay in Thailand for less than 180 days (2×90) annually and you get the extension at the local immigration office, that extension is also your first 90-day report. I therefore never have to make a separate 90-day notification, unless I stay in Thailand for more than 180 days in a row. I deduce this from the 2nd paragraph of the Notice “Alien whoever stays in the Kingdom longer than 90 days shall make notification” that I got attached to my passport at the last entry of Thai immigration. This 2nd paragraph of the Notice reads as follows:
“If an alien, having submitted an application (TM 7) for extension of temporary stay, that alien shall be allowed to use that application as a notification of residence, for the first time in the 90 days period. The alien will however be required to subsequently report every ninety days.”
Just to be on the safe side, I would appreciate it if Ronny, our expert, could share my conclusion.
Khaki
Depends which way you enter each time.
“The first application for extension of stay by the foreigner is equivalent to the notification of staying in the Kingdom over 90 days.”
https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?page_id=1666
For your FIRST annual renewal, this also counts as a 90-day notification. The next notification will be 90 days after your first annual extension. The following annual renewals no longer count first and therefore this no longer applies.
If you leave Thailand and return with a re-entry, it is 90 days after that return.
Your next annual extension will therefore not be your first and will no longer apply. Either your 90 days will continue to run or your immigration office can also decide to reset your 90 days to 0 with your new annual extension and then your next notification will be 90 days after that annual extension.
If you leave Thailand and re-enter with a NEW period of stay, ie you enter with a new or Multiple entry visa, you will also receive a new period of stay of 90 days. The first extension on this counts as the first extension and then it does apply.
And that's what it actually says in your text
“If an alien, having submitted an application (TM 7) for extension of temporary stay, that alien shall be allowed to use that application as a notification of residence, for the first time in the 90 days period. The alien will however be required to subsequently report every ninety days.”
“for the first time in the 90 days period.” do they mean when you enter with a new 90 day stay period.
You can apply the latter, but you will then either have to enter with a Multiple entry visa or apply for a new Single entry visa each time before you go to Thailand, because you must obtain a new residence period of 90 days. You can then extend those 90 days and then you should no longer have to report if you do not stay longer than 180 days.
But actually that is an expensive joke because you do save the re-entry, but you always have to buy a visa before you come to Thailand or at least a Multiple entry and you have to extend that period of stay after 90 days with a year before 1900 Baht.
Still easier than just holding that year for 1900 Baht and taking a re-entry for 1000 Baht.
And what are we actually talking about here… avoiding a free 90 day notification that you can easily create online in a minute.
It's done online faster than typing this response. 😉
You can of course also calculate with a re-entry that you enter Thailand 90 days before your annual extension and leave less than 90 days after your annual extension.
Then your annual extension coincides with your 90-day notification and you can do both together.
But that is not the same as your year extension would count as a 90-day notification as with a first year extension, it just happens to coincide and you will have to draw up a TM47, which you should not do with a first year extension.
Sorry, but then I have to point out that people do not speak of “The first application for extension of stay” but of “for the first time in the 90 days period”. And that strikes me as a significant difference. But next time I will ask if I have to go for extension again.
And it's not about whether it's free or not, but about the fact that your first “90 days report” should also be done in person. Does the first extension also count as the first 90 days notification?
It may come across as nitpicking, but it's not meant to be.
In my opinion, the text “for the first time in the 90 days period” simply refers to a first extension of a newly obtained 90 days.
Applies to someone who enters with a visa and then has obtained a new period of stay of 90 days and is going to extend it for the first time.
Does not apply to someone who enters with a re-entry. For the latter, it will depend on when he/she has to get his next annual extension. That could happen to be after 90 days, but could also be after 1 month or maybe only after 6 months.
Just like they also write on the immigration website
“The first application for extension of stay by the foreigner is equivalent to the notification of staying in the Kingdom over 90 days.”
https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?page_id=1666
And that is of course always in the first 90 days of a newly acquired 90-day residence period. This must then be extended “for the first time in the 90 days period”. This will therefore only be possible after a 60-day stay.
For example, for someone who comes in with a re-entry and has to extend after a month, for example, because his annual extension expires, it will not count as a 90-day report because it says "for the first time in the 90 days period". They are really not going to say that this is already good for a 90-day report 2 months later and then he only has to make a new report after 5 months.
At most, the 90-day count will then be set to 0 at immigration when he will apply for his extension (this happens more nowadays) and roughly 90 days later he will have to report his 90 days. Will be roughly 4 months after arrival
But it is also possible that immigration does not set the counter to 0 and then it will continue to count and will have to report 90 days after entry and not after 6 months.
The only possibilities that you should no longer have to make separate reports within that period of less than 180 days are:
– If your next annual renewal period and 90 day reporting period happen to coincide. So half way through the 180 day period. But watch out. Your extension will then follow your previous period of stay. With the 90-day notification, this does not have to be the case. This can take effect on the day of the application or the day of the notification. There could easily be a month's difference and you would still have to report it before the 180 days are up. Always check with the 90 day slip when the next one is, but if you do the math it may be quite possible.
– If you have obtained a new period of residence of 90 days upon entry by means of a visa. The first extension of those 90 days therefore counts as the first 90-day notification.
You must always apply for an annual extension in person or you must provide medical proof that you are unable to travel. Then someone can do that for you.
You are never obliged to make a 90-day notification in person. Not even your first. The first must be done in the immigration office, but someone else can also do it. The following can then possibly be done online.
1. The foreigner makes the notification in person, or
2. The foreigner authorizes another person to make the notification,
https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?page_id=1666
“The foreigner have to make the notification in person or authorizes another person to make the notification at the immigration office located in the locality in which the foreigner have taken residence. After that, the foreigner can make the next 90 days notification by online service.”
https://www.immigration.go.th/en/#serviceonline
By the way, I have never received that text you quoted on entry and that it was attached to my passport
Will be new, but of course you have not left Thailand in the last 3 years.
Always be careful with English translations... they already interpret their Thai texts in their own way and that has consequences for any English translation made.