24 hour reporting imposed

[dtaai-maai]

It was mentioned earlier that a change of address also had to be reported within 24 hours. I moved house last week, which coincided with my 90 day reporting date. When I went to the imm office, I mentioned that it was a new address as I was filling in the form. The polite and helpful lady behind the desk wasn't the least bit interested. She didn't ask when I'd moved or anything else.
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Never argue with a man carrying a water buffalo...

[Nereus]

I suppose that the following will not apply to most people, as they will be arriving directly into Bangkok, but I post this as general information.

I have a retirement visa and have just returned from a trip to Australia with a re-entry permit. The Thai flight that I used from Perth to Bangkok flies via Phuket, with a stopover of around 45 minutes. I have used this flight many times and normaly deplane into the transit lounge at Phuket.

According to a notice given to me in Perth Airport: " From 28th October 2007, the Thailand Immigration Bureau requires passengers entering Thailand to be processed through immigration at the first port of entry"

It is not really a problem as such, as there are not many passengers and they had 4 desks open. After immigration processing you then proceed to the Domestic Area of the Airport and rejoin the same aircraft to continue on to Bangkok. A problem did occur on landing in Bangkok however, as it appears nobody bothered to tell the ground handling people in Bangkok that the flight was both Domestic and International. We were given a "sticker" in Phuket which proclaimed " international baggage claim". The enthusiastic ground staff person, wielding a large size replica of our "sticker" insisted that we wait for the baggage at the belt in the domestic arrival area. After waiting about 30 minutes a Thai Airlines rep came and rounded us up, through a narrow doorway, and into the International arrival area! Total time from touchdown to exit the Airport--1.5 hours! Some of this time consumed by the typical Thai Airlines practice of parking the Aircraft away from the terminal, and using buses to convey the passengers inside, of which there were many, as the flight was now full with both domestic and international passengers.

The other point that I would like to mention is that the Immigration officer at Phuket was adamant that my next 90 day reporting date is 90 days from the day I arrived, and was stamped, into Thailand.
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May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!

[Chas]

Ok this thread has me thinking and preparing to ask what is probably a dumb question. .but does the single entry/multiple entry visa apply to holders of a retirement visa?

( I ask this as someone who once failed to get a re-entry permit because I wasn't paying attention!)

1. I have a retirement visa.
2. I do my 90 day thing.
3. I will travel to Europe in May.
4. I will get my re-entry permit (in Hua Hin) before I leave.
5. I will use it within the time allowed.
6. I will report to immigration in Hua hin within 24 hours of arriving back in Thailand.

Do I have this correct?

( The last seems like such an imposition. You cant even take a stop over of a night in Bkk to recover from a long flight???

[lomuamart]

I don't really understand what you're asking about in relation to a single/multi entry for a retirement visa. Do you have an extension of stay based on retirement? If so, you could have applied for a single or multiple re-entry permit at the time you got the extension (and can do so at any time afterwards). It would appear that you're aware of this.
Points 1-6 are correct, including, unfortunately 6, although there havn't been too many reports of people doing it or being fined for not doing it lately.
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"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.

[Chas]

When I did the retirement visa ( went from a non-imm B with work permit into retirement) nothing was mentioned or said about single or multiple entry visas. There was just so much else to be done ( including running back and forth from the college & the bank) that I just may have lost that bit of information in the shuffle.

So are you saying that with every visa type, if you want to leave and return you need first to have a multiple/single reentry "visa?" "Permit? "permission?" stamped into your passport with/as part of (???) your basic visa. . . .and then ALSO to have the "reentry permit" like they give you at the airport?

So that is essentially TWO DIFFERENT permissions to exit and return?

Knowing the way things are, this sounds about right, but I want to be sure I have this correct.

[Nereus]

[Chas]

Nereus, I am confusing things ( and confused! ) which is why I posted my original question as I did.

So to put this into my own words:

If I have a retirement visa ( which I have) THAT is my visa and I ONLY need to get the reentry permit when I travel outside and wish to return.

The multiple entry and single entry visas are some other class of visa ( 90 day, tourist, business, non-B or whatever . . .but which also need the reentry permit.

Is this right?

[Nereus]

[lomuamart]

Chas,
I'll try and explain it as best I can.
I assume you've got a one year extension of stay to your original visa (which may well have expired already. That dosn't matter as the permitted to stay date on your extension overrides the validity of the visa. Indeed, many folk continue to extend annually on the basis of marriage or retirement for years after the original visa has expired.).
I believe you could have paid a bit more when you got the extension for a multiple entry variety. If you'd done that, there's no need for a re-entry stamp as you can come and go from Thailand as many times as you wish during the year without losing the original visa and extension. As you don't have this, you need the re-entry stamp before you travel, or you've lost everything on exit and have to start all over again on your return (Non O visa and apply for the extension).
People who know they're likely to be leaving Thailand one or more times during the year generally get the multi-entry variety of extension so save the hassle and cost of getting the re-entry stamp every time.
Other categories of VISA (particularly Non O's) can be single entry or multiple entry. Single entry gives you one stay of up to 90 days and then that's it. If you nip over to Cambodia, for example, after 1.5 months in Thailand, again the visa is lost unless you get a re-entry permit first. With the multi-entry Non O, you're free to come and go as many times as you wish for a year and get another 90 day entry stamp every time you re-enter, as long as the visa is still valid. The main difference with this to a retirement EXTENSION is that you've got to leave Thailand every 90 days. You won't have to unless you want, but you need to report to local Imm in HH every 90 days.
Hope that makes sense and clarifies matters.
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"I spent a lot of my money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered". George Best.