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Is it better to get a tourist visa before visiting Thailand or to enter visa-exempt and then apply for an extension?

Thailand Visa Tourist Visa Visa Exemption Visa Extension Australian Passport Visa Rules Immigration Long-term Stay Options

Sep 15, 2025

2 days ago

John *********

ORIGINAL POSTER

Hi all

I've been coming to Thailand twice a year regularly on a visa-exempt entry as I usually stay for a few weeks or a month there.  I have an Australian passport. 

For the next visit, I would like to stay longer, for around 3 months, and think it's better to get a tourist visa offically before flying out and to extend it for 30 days when I'm there. Is this better than arriving visa-exempt again and then applying for 30 day extension?  Or is there no difference between getting a tourist visa officially or arriving without a visa to get that 30 day extension?

Cheers

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TLDR : Answer Summary

The user is considering whether to obtain a tourist visa before their upcoming trip to Thailand or to arrive visa-exempt and later apply for a 30-day extension. Comments suggest that a visa-exempt entry allows for a maximum stay of 90 days with extensions, while a Multiple Entry Tourist Visa might be better for repeated tourist visits. However, the effectiveness of visas versus visa exemptions can vary based on current immigration practices.

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Jordan *****

Right now if you are at home and want to do more tourist visits the only visa worth getting is Multiple Entry Tourist Visa.

Single entry tourist visas are useless at the moment, because of the 60 day visa exemption and a issued tourist visa is no guarantee of entry.

I was coming back from Cambodia once and there was a group doing border runs, most had no visas, some had tourist visas issued in Cambodia and while everyone else passed through immigration unmolested, the ones with tourist visas were questioned

2 days ago

Robert *****

Visa exempt is 60 days, you can easily extend that for another 30 days....90 days is the maximum stay. If you want to stay longer, fly out to Singapore in the AM, come back in the afternoon and get another 60 day, repeat, repeat, etc. If you really want to stay long term without all those trips and expenses then you'll need a different type of long term visa.

2 days ago

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Robert *****

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Can I use a tourist visa to spend 5 months in Thailand with multiple entries?

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