What happens if I don't get a re-entry permit for my Non-OA visa when leaving Thailand?

Just look at the visa, the dates on it are there to inform you. Enter before of Valid until means from that day on the visa is invalid and nothing more than a memory in your passport. You can keep an Admitted to Stay period a live with using of a Re-Entry Permit.

@Peter ***************

good to know. Thanks

Nope. As Robert says: After one year on Imm non o-a, it's a kind of free year extension when you leave and come in again in Thailand just before first year expires. BUT, and that's a tricky one indeed, it's only single entry !!! So in that year you have to buy 1 or more re-entry permits when you want to leave the country. Really very confusing indeed.

More on my version of the O-A Non Imm Visa explanation ... It is Sold at the Thai Embassy/ Consulate in the Home Country as a One Year Visa (a one year permission to stay).

However a Second Year Permission to Stray is available after the initial one year permission to stay is finished. A two for one - The Second Year permission to stay is triggered by an Exit from and reenter to Thailand done any time before the First year Expiry. If the Exit and Reentry is done just days before First Year Expiry a nearly full extra year of a permission to stay is granted as the First Year ends (a full extra year - permission to stay - less a few days depending on timing of exit and reentry.

Now that's a lot of words but my attempt at brevity was not allowed.

Also - as it has been said several times:

First year Multi Entry

Second year Not Multi Entry (Reentry Permit Required).

Bottom line for anyone age 50 or over and can meet the financial requirements, a police cert. and medical cert. ! Imm O-A Multi Entry Visa is 'IMO' the best featured- most cost effective Long Stay Thailand Visa one can buy.

@Joe **********

Oh , that is the way it reads, trust me.

I said - the face value of the visa is one year but if used correctly is it good for two years. That is not the same as saying it is a two year visa

Not if used correctly. It is just a renewal of the same permission to stay of the first year

I never mentioned "extension", for a very good reason, it is totally inappropriate when discussing this visa. Just to clarify once and for all, the visa is valid for ONE YEAR.

Lloyd Turner - it is not confusion as the second year is not a classic "Extension of Stay" - nor any simple extension. But rather it is part and parcel of the original issued Visa obtained in a unique way different from other visas. If you call it permission to stay that would not be any different from the first year as once entered on the original visa that first year is also a permission to stay. There is no real difference from the permission to stay in either year. The OP correctly understood my answer with the words I chose to use..

@Joe **********

please do not say the VISA is good for 2 years, it is NOT. The visa has a 1 year validity from the date of issue. You confuse matters when you lump visa validity and permission to stay together.

Ton, I can explain in Dutch if that is more easy for you.

Ton Geul Take a look at the visa, the Valid Until or Enter before date should be like 2 Feb 2018. You entered on 21 Jan 2018, this is before the date on the visa so you got 1 year of stay. On 2 Feb 2018 the visa became invalid and can not be used anymore. When you dediced to go to Holland you should have bought an Re-Entry permit to keep your Admitted to Stay till 21-01-2019 alive. Without the Re-entry permit your stay ended on the day you left and you need a new Visa or use a Visa Exempt Entry to enter Thailand.

Ton - You were already into your Second Year when you left Thailand again and should have purchased a reentry permit before to preserve the time you had left

I will examine the dates you posted to get a clearer picture - then advise

. . any if on an extension of stay, don't forget to apply for a re-entry permit as otherwise it will be void if you leave the country without it.

If on a new visa O-A visa, see above and start again ;-)

@Joe **********

- Yes

. . . and before the end of year 2, you have apply for a new extension of stay or go abroad and get a new Visa.

You need to get the re-entry permit once you go beyond the "enter before" date on the visa. The visa can only be used for entry up to that point. After that you are relying on your stamp, and you need a re-entry permit to keep it alive.

Your original visa has expired February 2018. BUT you are allowed to stay until Jan 2019 given that you have obtained re-entry permit.

It's not Thai specific, it is how visas work in most places. It's not intuitively obvious, many make this mistake or similar.

@T**

it's unfortunate, it catches out a lot of people, but that's how it works. You'll know now so won't happen to you again at least.

You got a full year _stamp_. That lets you stay, but the visa itself expired, and could no longer be used for entry.

The visa and stamp are two independent things, the visa is all about your entry, while the stamp is about your remaining here.

If you have a stamp that goes beyond the expiry of a multiple entry visa, you need to get a re-entry permit to be able to come back on the same stamp.

Once the visa goes beyond the "enter before" date written on it, it is done.

It's confusing, lots of people get this confused. It's unfortunate, but you will have to get a new visa.