What are the current rules for extending an F-Type visa stay in Thailand?

We've had multiple explanations from different people "in the know" at the embassy,

@T**

. Yours tends to be the most reliable. We'll report back when we get something concrete from Immigration.

Good Luck (y) , report back and let is know how it plays out

BUT definitely don't just take the employers word for it.

Make someone go there with you and check.

I did Kanchanaburi on my last 30 day in Jan this year. We'll probably try nad incorporate a weekend away, if we can afford it. My wife is on local salary, so cash is tight. Cheers

@T**

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@Ph**

, WOW, I have never seen that :O , usually the primary person gets a year extension and then the trailing spouse gets a matching extension.

I would say IF you both have year-long, multi-entry Non-F visas and all you can get is 90 day extensions from the immigration office at a time just forget it.

It's way better for you to hold the visa you have (which is unlimited entry/exit into the country for the validity) and just border bounce every 90 days to get another 90 day stamp until the visa runs out.

The near land borders to bangkok are Poi Pet & Ban Laem Cambodia, and Phu Nam Ron in burma out in Kanchanaburi. Or you could fly out and back in too.

So the simplest thing to do is bouncing every 90 days ? Where's the nearest border and the cheapest way to get there ? This all applies to me too as

@Sta***

is my wife and we both came back into Thailand after visiting KL for my spouse visa.

That leaves you two choices;

keep the visa you have, border-bounce every 90 days to get another 90 day entry stamp NEVER file a 90 day report and get 15 months of stay out of the visa.

OR

apply for an extension when you have 45 days or less left on any one of your 90 day entry stamps. Get the 90 day extension if that's what they said you'll get, and do that EVERY 90 days for as long as you need to.

Remember if you go the extension route you also lose the re-entry permit part of the visa too, so if you leave the country during one of the 90 day extensions you'd need a re-entry permit. AND because a re-entry permit is only good for the extension it's issued under you might need more than one re-entry permit during the time you're getting extensions.

Yeah ok. So what Chaengwatthana told her is correct. Should she wish to extend her 90 day permission of stay she can do that one month before her current permission of stay expires, and if she chose that route she would have to do a 90 day report (because she hasn't left the country for more than 90 days).

What her employer told her is also likely correct, that Immigration will only give 3 month extensions.

Tod Daniels what she is saying is that she cannot get a 12 month extension at local Immigration on her permission of stay and they are willing to give only 3 month extensions at a time.

I think you misunderstand how that visa actually works :(

A year long, multi-entry Non-Immigrant Type F visa is good for stays of 90 days at a time, then you border bounce <- go to a border, stamp out of thailand, stamp in&out of another country and stamp back into thailand to get another 90 day stamp. You do this for the validity of the visa (a year from the date it was issued). You can actually get 15 months of stay out of that visa if you time the bounces right.

The immigration office is wrong about the 90 day report part, :/ you do not have the ability to do a 90 day report because you can't be in the country longer than 90 days (that visa only stamps you in for 90 days each entry) and that means you never need to do a 90 day report.

You could get an extension of stay, when you have 30 days or less left on any of your 90 day entries BUT it would cancel that visa and you'd be stuck doing extensions instead of border-bouncing every 90 days