Answered4 years ago

What are the options for extending a 6-month stay in Thailand with young children and avoiding overstays?

Thai visa rules Thailand visa exemption Overstay consequences Multi-entry visa Visa extensions Visa for families with children

Ed **********

asked Sep 26, 2022

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Hi. We're a family of 4 visiting bangkok for 6 months. We are 2 adults, and 2 two year old children.

We originally planned to get a 6 month MEV, and hire a minibus to Poi Pet for our border bounces.

However, now we are given a visa exemption of 45 days, it changes the math, so I have some questions.

1. Is there a definitive answer on exactly what 2 land entries per calendar year means? Will I get 2 before January, then 2 after?

2. Does anyone have any direct experience having children who overstay? It says that children aren't fined or punished for overstays, but it's logged in their passport (that only last 5 years anyway, and cheap to replace). Are there any other issues to consider, is it logged on a computer and could affect them later? Is there any chance they could give the fine to us? If anyone has any experience with this, I'd really appreciate it.

We can either get an MEV for us and overstay the kids, get MEV for all of us and travel together, get exemption and extensions for all of us, or exemption and extension for us and overstay the kids. I'm just trying to work out which is best, and if any risk is worth the considerable money saved.

Thanks in advance!

Answer summary

A family of four is considering different visa options for a 6-month stay in Bangkok, Thailand, including a multi-entry visa (MEV) and visa exemptions. They have questions regarding the implications of land entries, potential overstays for their young children, and strategies for border crossings. The discussion highlights that children under 15 typically cannot be fined for overstaying, though it's logged in their passport. Advice favors acquiring MEVs for peace of mind and suggests careful planning of border runs to maximize stay duration.

14 repliesnewest first

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Tod *********

and I would say at this point the O/P has about all the information they're gonna get as far as their game plan for their 6 month stay here

Good luck with it, (y) we are done 🙂

4 years ago

Ellie *******

All immigration records are in the system. even if you change the passport, new data is liked to the previous record

4 years ago

Ed **********

even an adult they only ban for 1 year for 90 days overstay, so what could it mean in practical terms?

4 years ago

Tod *********

@Ed *********

the parent of a child is not gonna get banned for a child overstaying. The rules are clear, children under 15 cannot be FINED for overstay and children under 18 cannot be banned.

4 years ago

Ellie *******

@Ed *********

, That means the immigration bureau has all records of every foreigner (and Thai), regardless of age, to enter, exit, and extend their stay. And those records are connected between old and new passports. That's all.

They have records of minors' overstay doesn't mean minors face the penalties. There is no known penalty for minors currently.

4 years ago

Ed **********

@Ellie ******

But is there any recourse from kids overstaying?

4 years ago

Tod *********

@Ed *********

one final time, there is no problem for children under 15 overstaying, I know foreign kids here who were on multi-YEAR overstays and when they exit the country there's no issue at all. AND they came back without any issues too.. ..

4 years ago

Brandon ************

With a multi-entry tourist visa, you're nearly guaranteed to have problem free re-entry and really only need to do one border run.

With visa exempt you'd have to do 2 border runs, and it might get a little dicey the 2nd time after already spending ~150 consecutive days in Thailand and then wanting to re-enter as a tourist.

Yes there are published limits for land entry but it doesn't mean you're guaranteed to be allowed in twice per year, that's just the maximum not the minimum.

You could have no problems at all with visa exempt, but if it were me, I'd take the METV for peace of mind.

If you go with the visa exempt, I'd try to time it so you leave and come back the 2 times when you have 75 days left you want to stay in Thailand.

So after about 105 days do your second border run, it'll look better re-entering after that amount of time rather than after 150 day, and you'll still get the same amount of time in Thailand.

4 years ago

Tod *********

Whether you get METV's for your selves or decide to do the 45 day visa exempt entries with 30 day extensions you definitely need to re-think bouncing out and back at the Aranyaprathet/Poipet border 😕

That is the WORST cambodian border to try it at. Pick another one like Ban Laem or Ban Pakard

The two visa exempt entries are for a calendar year (Jan 1 - Dec 31), So on Jan 1 you would get two more visa exempt entries by land for that year.

Children under 15 can't be fined for overstay, children under 18 can't be banned. There is no negative repercussions for children under those ages having overstay stamps in their passports, and no one gets fined for it, there is no risk

Only you can decide the path to take whether you two adults get METV's and you bring the kids in exempt and let them overstay or what.

4 years ago

Graham ******

@Alex ******

The advice still being given on here is that an overnight stay is still required

4 years ago

Stephen *******

@Ed *********

They deny entry at the drop of a hat.

4 years ago

Ed **********

@Tod ********

Why is it the worst border? It's the only border I've used because it's so close, and there are cheap buses that go there from Lumpini. I think they were only a couple hundred Baht.

4 years ago

Tod *********

@Ed *********

and I'm telling you that it's a bad border,

Sadly (for you) your experience pre-covid shit show, has abso-tively, posi-lutely nothing to do with what the conditions are at the various cambodian borders to bounce out and back post-covid shit show.

so you either take that the advice being offered or you go try to bounce out and back there and see how it works out for you, I'm not trying to be your friend or buddy and I don't want a chrismas card from you, I'm trying to tell you where NOT to go so you don't have a problem bouncing out and bacck

4 years ago

Graham ******

@Ed *********

You have to stay overnight is one reason

4 years ago