Thailand Visa question No. 078/24: Extending the visa exemption and which visa for a long-term stay in Thailand
Questioner: Marco
I arrived via Bangkok on February 14 and spent my first 30 days in Thailand on a visa waiver. A week before the end of this exemption, I applied for a 60-day extension at the immigration authorities on Koh Samui. Unfortunately I only got 30 days. That's a problem, because I won't fly back to the Netherlands until May 14.
I was still able to get a 7-day extension until April 20, for which I had to sign a declaration that I would actually leave. So I started looking for an agency for a 'border run', which fortunately is at the immigration service. But of course they were closed during Songkran. Fortunately, they are organizing a run on April 19. I booked that, where I get a new visa exemption of 30 days. It was borderline.
Question: Is it correct that I can only apply for a 30-day extension once based on my visa exemption?
I am 65 years old and own a house on Samui. My wife (59, Dutch) and I want to stay there for longer periods and fly back to the Netherlands twice a year. To avoid such problems in the future, which visa is best to apply for?
Reaction RonnyLatYa
You can only extend a Visa exemption stay period once by 30 days. It was never written here that it could be longer, or you had to be married to a Thai (also for 60 days), but that is not the case. The 7 days that have been given are not actually an extension that you can request, but are available to everyone who is refused an extension. Because this is refused, you are still given 7 days to give you time to leave Thailand legally. That's why you had to sign that statement.
To stay in Thailand long-term, you must have Non-immigrant O status based on Retirement. You can apply for this at the Thai embassy in The Hague (online) and you must arrive in the Netherlands beforehand. So you can apply if you go to the Netherlands on May 14 for your next return:
See O2 – Retirement (pensioner aged 50 or above with state pension who wishes to stay in Thailand
for no longer than 90 days)
https://image.mfa.go.th/mfa/0/SRBviAC5gs/PPT-TypesofVisa_Hague_9.10.66-Final_3.pdf
You will then receive 90 days upon arrival. You can extend this for one year if you meet the requirements for that annual extension as a “retired”. If you are married, your wife can renew as your “dependent” and then she does not have to show any financial proof.
Then follow this way:
20. Visa extension – In the case of being a family member of an alien permitted a temporary stay in the Kingdom….
Once you have that year extension, you should not forget to request a re-entry if you want to return to the Netherlands. If you do not do this, your annual extension will expire when you leave Thailand. If you do take a re-entry, you will receive the end date of your annual extension back upon entry and you will no longer have to apply for a visa. Just make sure you are in Thailand every year to renew. But actually I expected that someone with a house on Samui knew all about the Visa exemption and Non-immigrant O Retirement.
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