What is the best visa for a 6-9 month stay in Thailand?

@Tore ********

Ok, add. 60+30+60+30= 6 months

+60 = 240

+30 =270 days

A multi-entry Visa is a 6 month Visa is it not? If you get back in, your Visa (not validity) will expire before 60 days. And even if they did let you in, are you really going to ask for a 30 day extension on an -expired- Visa after having been in Thailand 240 days already?

@Burnard ***********

No, again, that's not how it works 😉 As we have tried to explain.... I did this quite recently. The new "hard-line" you are on about is about abusing the visa exemption and VOA.

Getting back again immediate on another METV without significant time between however.....

Getting a METV does require more financial proof, cost more and cannot be abused back to back. So no, its not a replacement for smart visa, retirement visa etc. Its not suitable to live in Thailand.

@Burnard ***********

"Is the expiration of the Mutti-Entry Visa 6 months upon first entry or not?"

It is not! It is even explained in the screenshot you posted. See snip from one of my METV visa documents...

The 6 months period start counting from when you receive the visa approval, NOT from when you enter Thailand! The PDF you receive via E-visa system even have date in in it (6 months out from issuance) which is the last date you can enter. "Must be used by" means last day to enter and get a 60 day stamp. So at 6 months after issuance, you can get 60 + 30 days. We are literally 100s of people in this very group that have done just that. Why do you try to argue something you dont understand?

THE EXPIRATION DATE OF THE metv IS THE LAST DATE YOU CAN ENTER THAILAND. Not the amount of time you can stay. How difficult is this to comprehend?

You have unlimited ENTRIES into Thailand within 6 months of issue date, that is it. Its not very complicated. Its the passport stamp that decide when you have to leave and how long you can stay.

It amazes me that you have such difficulty reading and try argue something you clearly dont understand. I've spent 8 month in Thailand on a single METV. Many have done the same.

LOL, why do I even bother. I bet if I told you 1+1=2 you would argue that as well haha. We have actual experience, and you still try to argue it.

Even your own screenshot you posted confirms what we are trying to tell you.

* METV comes with a expiry date

* This expiry date is 180 days after VISA Issuance. When you enter Thailand does not change this date.

* You can plan your last entry on the actual expiry date to get a 60 day stamp 180 days after visa was issued. That stamp can be extended with 30 days.

So yes, again and again, if you enter close to the expiry date of the visa, you can stay in Thailand 9 months after visa was issued. So if you enter Thailand close to issuance data, you can effectively spend almost 9 months in Thailand by exiting and returning to Thailand two times. Simple as that

Ok, if people believe that, it is fine. Good luck to you.

Just explain one thing to me, if you manage to get 2 60+30, and one last 60 day entry because the last entry fell within 6 months, how do you plan to get the last 30-day extension when it falls outside the 6 months?

I am just curious.

@Tore ********

Is the expiration of the Mutti-Entry Visa 6 months upon first entry or not?

It amazes me that you are advising people they 'are entitled' get 9 months out of a 6 month Visa.

@Greg **********

No guarantee they will stamp you in beyond 6 months of stay.

If you wait 8 days to enter Thailand and that counts against your stay, why would you be stamped in again to exit beyond the visa Validity?

I was almost refused entry for being in Thailand for 191 days in a 12 month period. They marked my passport "Trying to live in Thailand."

It is discretionary to reject a person staying over 6 months in a 12 month period. The rational being that a Tourist wouldn't need to be in Thailand for 9 months.

They very possibly may conclude you have the wrong Visa.

@Burnard ***********

there is absolutely NO rule "180 days within one year". If you try consecutive tourist entries following each other, then yes, then you will come to a point when the officers starts to assume "misuse of tourist visa and visa-exempt erntries for a longstay"

@Greg **********

I have heard that a thousand times. And it was not a written rule then either but it was an internal guideline to determine if someone is a real tourist.

@Burnard ***********

a guideline is no rule and a rule is no guideline, but Immigration officers can interpret EVERY guideline and EVERY rule upon their own discretion

@Greg **********

They do it all the time. Does everyone obey stop signs in Thailand?

@Burnard ***********

btw, I am not the only one here who gives a correct advice. did you read his' posted 14 hours ago? "Mitchell Trott:

6 Month mult entry tourist visa (METV). If you do it right, you can get almost 9 months. But you have to leave the country at least twice"

@Greg **********

"You can" Yes, I am not disputing it. But ask yourself: at what point do they decide someone is not a tourist?

They have discretionary guidelines. They could decide to use those at any time.

I don't think it was fair what they did with me either and I disagree that they applied their own rules and policies correctly. I even consulted an attorney before my trip to make sure I could get back in. He said it -shouldn't- be a problem.

But guess what? It was! They have the -discretion- to draw the line at 180 days.

@Burnard ***********

“But guess what? It was! They have the -discretion- to draw the line at 180 days”

You are actually ENTITLED to the 60 days on top of 180 days, if the visa validity is not yet expired!

I strongly think something else was the reason, and definitely NOT because you planned to spend more than 180 days in Thailand

Are you sure you did not confuse the date of expiry of the visa validity with the expiry of the stay permit?

@Greg **********

No, in the 12 months previous, I also visited 11 countries. Apparently, I should have spent 11 more days in one of them.

Btw, the attorney told me the the Internal Policy was each -Calendar Year-. Not a rolling 12 month period.

But, again, you are missing the point. They can AND WILL change and enforce their own policies on a whim.

Show me ANY documentation that you are "ENTITLED" to an extra 60 days if the validity hasn't run out.

Oh, and even if the Validity hasn't run out by the time you get your 3rd 60 days. It will have definitely run out by the time you apply for your 3rd 30 day extension.

@Burnard ***********

you are the first and only person in 12 years visa advice groups to whom this happened

@Greg **********

That isn't true. I have been a member of several for years.

@Greg **********

I am a years-long member of other Thai Visa groups.

My ASEAN traveling experience goes back 6 years. I saw it get ridiculously strict for repeat tourists Pre-Covid. Then after Covid it became very lax but it has been tightening up again in the last year. Are you sure the tightening will stop at Multi-Entry Visas?

I saw a lot of YouTube Vloggers end up moving home because the Visa Rules were getting strict (Ironic because they were bringing a lot of Tourists in). They were giving Visa Advice that changed. The Tourist & Entry rules change regularly in Thailand.

Not the law but how Immigration interprets it. Thailand is not a textual law based culture.

It especially gets hard when Tourism numbers are up and the news about misbehaving tourists goes up also. And they think they have to "Crackdown" again. Are you seeing the trend?

Why should people spend thousands of dollars to buy a Special Visa or Put $26,000 in a Bank account for a Retirement Visa if they can stay 9 months a year on a Multi-Entry Visa?

Again, where do you think Immigration draws the line of what is Tourism and what is something else?

@Burnard ***********

You are the first person telling, that you were refused the 60-days admitted stay stamp, when you entered on a date before the expiration of the visa validity of a multi entry tourist visa.

Never heard of, never happened to anyone else.

I assume something else came into play. I think you already were PAST the visa validity!

Did you have previous tourist stays close to each other?

Then YES, it is upon the discretion of the officer if he lets you enter or not.

If you do the 6 months plus 60 days plus one 30 days extension within one calendar year and nothing else, I do not know ANY other person who ever was refused the last 60-days stamp.

I am regular participating in a few visa advice groups since 14 year. NEVER ever heard of. You probably were past the date of the visa validity. Som Nam Na, the Thais would say

@Greg **********

They became more lenient after Covid but I have heard they are starting to go back to the 180 day guideline. Perhaps not yet with the Multi-Entry -Tourist- Visa YET. But I am telling you that it is discretionary. Take it or leave it.

A few months ago people were saying the same sorts of things as you are now about the Visa Exempt Stamp and I said the same thing with pushback from people like you. Now I see many people having problems.

@Burnard ***********

you are right with the visa exempt. I warn people about misusing the visa-exempt entry. I KNOW. I got my own visa advice group in my mother language and people THANK me. The METV is quite another story than the visa-exempt

@Greg **********

Nobody thanked me. The same sort of problems began happening with Single Entry Visa not long ago also.

It is selective and sporadic. Just because it may work for a few people does not mean it will work for everyone.

That is why they call it Discretionary.

@Burnard ***********

"No guarantee they will stamp you in beyond 6 months of stay." . . .

which part do you not understand?

As long as the validity of the visa is still not expired, you get your GUARANTEED 60-days stay permit stamped on each entry.

Which means that if you do a border run on the last day of the visa validity, you get stamped in for 60 days for a last time. Guaranteed!

This takes you to almost 8 months!

HERE is how: 60+30 plus 60+30 (but DON'T LET THE VALIDITY EXPIRE!!) plus 60 = almost 8 months plus one 30-days touristic extension = almost 9 months.

Why I say "almost"?

Because the visa validity starts on the day the ME Tourist Visa is issued, and this won't definitely not be the same date of your departure to Thailand.

Which means you are losing the days that lie between the date of issue and the date of your flight to Thailand, and you will have to subtract them from the only theoretically possible duration of stay

@Greg **********

I say "almost" because I showed them I just got in from 2 months in Malaysia, Indonesia, & Hong Kong. So they gave me 30 days to leave but still insisted I was not a tourist.

Ok, anyone who follows your advice deserves what they get.

@Burnard ***********

"Ok, anyone who follows your advice deserves what they get" . . .YOUR advice reeks from something that you do not tell us, that you did not understood why you were treated in such a way.. . . . . There was something else playing into your story. Look, buddy: Ask Tod Daniels, the visa guru, what he would vsay to my advice. He would be all thumbs up, there is nothing wrong in anything I said

@Brown *******

almost. She can't get 9 months from a METV. She can only get ALMOST 9 months. And after you have stayed 90 days with a single entry tourist visa plus one extension, you just can't do two border runs followed by two extensions each. This scheme doesn't work any more . . . When trying the second border run, you will most definitely get pulled aside by the officer and questioned to oyur intentions. He MIGHT allow entry but it will be accompanied by a warning to get the proper visa next time

Sharlene is a she by the way

@Greg **********

mate are you seriously debating over a petty few days short of 9 months. I think she'll understand that. You can do 2 border runs followed by extensions so what on earth are you talking about. Last year I entered on a setv, did an extension, did a Cambodian border run and then flew in from Malaysia after spending only a week there for 150 day stay and didn't get questioned at all. So what's this you just can't do 2 border runs followed by extension nonsense. He might is actually most likely will.

@Brown *******

it's all upon the discretion of the Immigration officer. If he's got a bad day, you will become his victim. You just cannot do consecutive visa-exempt entries and consecutive extensions. There will be a finishing line waitung for you at some point

Maybe if you do this over a year

@Sharlene ******

only 30. You'll only get 60 with a setv. You could get another setv in a neighbouring country but you'd have to stay obviously in that country for it to be approved

@Sharlene ******

yes Malaysia be no issue. Not sure what you'll require though to get a setv there or the time frame

@Greg **********

thanks for the info 👍

@Steve ******

"You really need to STOP posting Incorrect information" 😠😡😠😡. . . . . . I did mine, but YOU REALLY NEED TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK, Mate! DON'T insult me for nothing! My information is up-to-date

@Steve ******

Royal Thai Embassy Washington DC: no more multi entry Non-Imm-O retirement visa. ONLY 90 days single entry!

@Steve ******

and even the Non-Imm-O family visa is NOT available any more as a multi entry type. . . it's OVER since October 2023 . . .

@Steve ******

don't start the bullshit . . . . . just an example: the type Non-Imm-O retirement visa is NOT available any more (!!!!) from the Royal Thai Embassy London, U.K. And that's since October 2023. If you need a multi entry visa, you have to apply for the Non-Imm-O/A visa . . . .stick your head into the NEW regulations and wise up! . . .

@Sam *****

normally, at the airport for one day overstay, they waive the fine. Only after the second day, you will have to pay 500 THB for every day. This is the stamp: "overstay under 24 hours, fine waived" it says

Note, you do a normal tourist visa as well, but you have to re apply each time. And for METV, you usually have to show some proof of your general travel plans.

@GC ****

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@Michael *******

how many times can you apply for this? Say one is close to expired, can you apply for another six months?

@Craig ******

I doubt they’ll issue back to back METV you can get almost 9 months if you border bounce twice at the right times

@Craig ******

you can apply for a METV every other calendar year. But you cannot apply right after having finished a 6 to 9 months stay with a METV. You need to let a certain period of time pass before you can apply for the next METV. And you need to state a plausible reason, why you prefer a METV compared to a SETV. If your reason is not accepted, you will be issued a SETV instead

@Greg **********

There's no certain period of time to pass before you can apply for another METV and you CAN apply for another METV immediately after an existing one has expired.

Please stop posting Incorrect information!

@Steve ******

“Please stop posting Incorrect information”

I sincerely ask to to stop accusing me of giving out incorrect information.

I am an expert in Thai visa rules and guidelines.

My knowledge is always UP TO DATE

Your accusations have non base. You are pulling things out of your nose randomly

YOU better STOP posting and learn from the experts!

@Greg **********

You ain't no expert! Your information is Incorrect

@Steve ******

I have by now asked the admin of this group to grant you 12 weeks of holiday from the group, for spreading false info and insulting me. You deserve it!

@Steve ******

you should change your playground, stop argueing with adults ! Why don't you ask the "visa guru" of the "Thai Visa Advice" group? He will tell you the very same as I told you. You better STOP spreading plain bullshit

@Greg **********

Give it up mate, you don't really know about METV's do you?

@Steve ******

Wrong. You go try that, return from your 8-9 months stay in Thailand and apply again in the E-Visa System of your country. YOU ARE BOUND FOR A SURPRISE! No Thai embassy will issue a METV following a previous one, without at least going into a new calendar year, or having paused in between for 3-5 months

@Greg **********

interesting. Thank you!

@Craig ******

Very very doubtful