A nice border run (1)
Last week one of my friends was forced to do a border run. Although he used to stay here on an annual extension, it was now temporarily impossible for him to meet the financial requirements as an unmarried pensioner. So, with a Non O Multiple Entries, obtained at the Thai Embassy in The Hague, every 90 days, you are required to leave the country to obtain a new 90-day residence period.
Here, in Chumphon, the nearest border post, with checkpoint, is at Ranong. This is a border crossing with Myanmar. There are two options: Victoria Point and the Andaman Club. I used to use the Andaman Club years ago, so we decided to use the Andaman Club for my boyfriend as well. To my knowledge everything here was very simple and very well organised, but as it has been several years since I was there, could this have changed?
Ranong is about 160km from Chumphon. The Andaman Club is located on the island of 'Koh Son', Thai name or 'Thahtay Kyun' the Burmese name. The island is a 10-minute boat ride from the (private) pier in Ranong. On the island itself there is a casino, a beautiful hotel with a swimming pool and, a little more inland, an 'Adventure Club', whatever this may be? Other than that there is not much to see.
At the pier itself there is a terminal where the Thai Immigration is housed. Here you get the 'Out stamp' and you can board the boat to the island about every hour and a half. The crossing takes a good 10 minutes. Everything very neatly arranged with very helpful staff.
Upon arrival on the island you pay 950 THB. Here the visa for Myanmar and the return trip by boat are included. You will be asked how long you intend to stay: several days with a stay in the hotel or the same day or with the next boat back to the mainland in Thailand. Depending on this, you leave the passport with the relevant Immigration Officer who, while you wait, places both the IN and OUT stamp in the passport. During the waiting time you can take a look in the casino or in the shop. If you want to leave with the next boat, you have some time to do so.
When you return to Andaman Pier, in Ranong, simply go back to the terminal at Thai Immigration and collect your IN stamp. It really couldn't be simpler. Of course there are no costs involved.
There is a second possibility and that is the 'Victoria Point, Kawthoung, the southernmost town of Myanmar. To get there it is a boat trip of about 20 minutes, but this is less well organized than at the Andaman Club. Here you also have to collect the UIT stamp at the Thai Immigration Office, located near the pier. To the pier and a gamele boat will take you to Victoria Point. The visa for Myanmar costs 10 USD and you should have a brand new bank note in your possession. If you don't have it, you can buy it at the Bangkok Bank, located at the pier. However, with this entry visa you are not allowed to travel around Myanmar, only in the vicinity of Kawthoung!!! Since it is slightly cheaper here than through the Andaman Club, more use is made of this option than the first described. Personally, you would not get Lung addie in the used boats in a somewhat heavy sea state .... However, the difference is not more than 200THB, but the comfort is also there. Many Farangs do their border run here from Phuket, less from the Andaman Club. From Chumphon one can use 'Fame' which visits both places almost daily (according to the demand}. It is then really a 'RUN' with little fun attached to it.
We are going to make it fun and want to see more than just the inside of a minivan. We start the outward journey early in the morning at the first light of day. The intention is to reach our goal without much delay: our friend's 90-day extension, which is our main goal after all. He goes by scooter, Lung addie accompanies him with his good old Lady Steed. We count on covering the 160 km distance in 4 hours. A pair of sanitary plugs (pisstops) included. Then we are on site around 10/11 am, which worked out quite well. The road to Ranong, from Chumphon on highway 40, is very good. Only the very last part is less good due to road works, but this is only over a relatively short distance.
Once there we follow the procedure mentioned above. Lung addie is not going to the Andaman Club on the island as he has no re-entries in his year extension. So for him it will be a while to wait for his mate to return. No problem: a coffee, something to eat, a walk around and the waiting time is over in no time. Everything runs smoothly and our friend, with a broad smile on his face, rejoins Lung addie after an hour. Mission accomplished and now on to the fun of the return journey. You will be able to read this in part 2.
You do not have to leave the country, you can also get a stamp at an immigration office
Perhaps you can or, despite all the clarifications from Ronny Latya, you still don't know the difference between a 90 day report and an extension of a 90d stay period with a Non Imm O ME visa. You can simply do the 90d report in an Immigration Office. However, for a '90d extension' you have to cross the border and that is only possible at an Immigration Office at a border, so an Immigration Office with 'Checkpoint'. If you can do it differently, please explain it well, then the other people will know it too and they will no longer do useless border runs.
You must leave the country if you want to obtain a new period of residence with a Non-immigrant O visa.
You cannot obtain a new period of residence at an immigration office in Thailand. You can only obtain this at border posts.
Immigration offices in Thailand only grant an extension of a period of residence and for a Non-immigrant O this is a year or 60 days if you are married to a Thai.
Dear Lung Addie, until about 4 years ago I drove the car from Pattaya to Phuket at least once a year. With our own car, of course, there and back, but sometimes we rented a car, the one time in Pattaya or Bangkok and then returned the car to Phuket and we returned home by plane or vice versa, first fly to Phuket and then return with the rental car . We did the car ride at ease with overnight stays in varying places. Also a few times in Ranong. Did we take a hotel with a beautiful view of Myanmar or in a hotel close to the highway (no. 4) with thermal baths, which were just bearable in terms of temperature. The drive from Chumphon to Ranong was well worth it and depending on the season there were beautiful waterfalls to see and visit. Making this trip by scooter would not be an option for me, apart from the distance (vice versa) you also drive a considerable part through hilly terrain with a chance of bad weather. But I am curious about your report of your return journey in part 2. Of course we also visited the Andaman pier in Ranong. Due to the hectic there, also because of the proximity of the busy fish auction with various fish restaurants, a must. We never went to Victoria Point and the Andaman Club, but we did take a boat trip around Ranong twice without officially leaving Thailand. What struck me was that a Thai immigration office was located in the sea 1 to 2 km from the coast, where boats from Myanmar moored. I assumed you got your entry stamp for Thailand here, but you write that your friend received that stamp in the terminal. So now I haven't been to Ranong for 4 years, so it could also be that the situation has changed. All in all, your entry gave me nostalgic thoughts again and I think back fondly on my stays and overnight stays in Chumphon and Ranong, among others.
Dear Leo,
it is true that there is a Thai checkpoint there in the sea, but that can only be used by people from Myanmar. There they receive their IN and or OUT stamp, which is usually based on a work permit. Many people from Myanmar work in Thailand. As a foreigner you cannot get an entry visa for Myanmar there, and therefore no IN and OUT stamp as it is a Thai checkpoint. Just like you cannot get an OUT or IN stamp for Thailand at the Andaman Club itself, on the island, as this is only a Myanmar Checkpoint. The border between Thailand and Myanmar lies here in the sea.
I have also made this trip to Andaman Club several times until a few years ago.
At the immigration office they refused to give me an UIT stamp unless I paid a small fee, tea money, to the immigration officer.
I firmly refused, took back my passport, drove back to Phuket and flew to Kuala Lumpur a few days later for my border run.
Since then I never went to Andaman Club again.
Despite the fact that I have been there several times in the past, I was there again and in the meantime I have spoken to several people who went there, I have never heard of this. I have always experienced and heard that everything went very well there…???