Thailand Visa question No. 076/24: Which visa upon return?

Questioner: Joe

We bought a house in Banchang and have a visa until May 16. Before then we want to visit family in China and return 2 months later. Our visas have expired.

When we return, it is useful to (have to) apply for a 3-month visa in China or simply as a tourist for a 30-day visa and exchange it for a 24-month visa within 3 hours.

We are respectively 78 and 55 years old and both have Dutch nationality, if you could advise us.

Reaction RonnyLatYa

1. You don't say how you are currently staying in Thailand, only until when. Is this a period of residence obtained with a Non-immigrant visa, a period of residence obtained with a tourist visa, a one-year extension...

2. If you are staying here as a non-immigrant, you should consider applying for a one-year extension before you leave. All you have to do is request a re-entry. Upon return, you will receive the end date of that extension due to re-entry and then you do not have to worry about the return in terms of visa.

 Applying for a visa in China does not seem very practical to me. But maybe you don't stay far from a Thai embassy and it is possible.

You can also re-enter on Visa Exemption. This gives you 30 days, which you can possibly extend by 30 days. You can then convert this to a Non-immigrant in Thailand. This does not have to be done within 24 hours, but there must be at least 14 days left before submitting the application. That takes a while and you won't get it right away.

You can find what you need for this here:

https://bangkok.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2022C1_09.pdf

If approved, you will first receive 90 days, which you can then extend for a year. You can then repeat this annual extension annually.

Keep an eye on. Since you will be requesting the conversion in Thailand, it may well be that the “dependent” will be refused. Each of you will then have to meet the financial requirements to obtain that Non-immigrant status. It is possible that people will then accept the “dependent” for the annual extension.

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