What should I know about re-entering Thailand from Laos on a visa-exempt entry after cancelling my ED visa?

Question

Looking for some advice or anyone with a similar experience.

I am holding a Singapore passport and have been in Thailand on an ED-Visa for the past year. As it will expire by this weekend, I have already cancelled it and left for Laos via land (chiang khong) today. My plan is to stay for 3 days and return to Thailand by land on Sunday.

Btw, I will be starting my thai language studies at chula in Jan 2025. Would this info be useful for the immigration to allow my re-entry? Chula has asked me to email them a copy of my entry stamp and they will prepare the paperwork for me to take to the immigration office to change my visa-exempt stamp to an ED-Visa stamp.

Will I face any issues when I pass through the Thai immigration? Will they have any extra requirements for me before I can re-enter? Eg. Cash, flight tickets...

Thanks!

Ask Thailand · Answer

A Singapore passport holder who previously held an ED-Visa shares their experience of exiting Thailand for Laos and re-entering to switch back to an ED-Visa for language studies. They express concerns about possible immigration issues upon re-entering Thailand and inquire about necessary preparations like cash or flight tickets. A comment reassures them about the immigration process due to their compliant exit and suggests having proof of their new enrollment at Chulalongkorn University ready to present. They report a positive experience upon re-entry, confirming there were no issues, and credit the advice received from the community.

Darren **** · Answer

Update: The gentleman at Immigration today was cheery. I greeted him good morning and he returned my greetings. It's a first time for me and it's a positive start.

He took a bit of time to browse the history in my passport. And he asked how long I will be staying. So I told him I'll be going to study thai at chula.

While he was still going through my passport, I offered to show him the email from chula which I kept on my phone. I think as he was reading it, it might kind of lend some credibility to support my case.

A while later, I heard him conversing with a colleague vaguely, probably about what visa he should give me. But I am not exactly sure what was said. In the end, he passed me my passport with a smile. I thanked him and am now back in Thailand.

Total time at Immigration counter was less than 10 minutes.

Thanks again to [mention redacted] for the assurance. 🙂🙏

Tod ********* · Answer

IF you get questioned by the officer at passport control (which you shouldn't seeing as you correctly cancelled the previous ED extension before you left) you can just say you are switching schools and will be enrolling in Chula once you get back.

As you have no history of abusing the free entry stamp (visa exempt) program I don't think they'll say anything to you when you stamp in and you'll get a 60 day visa exempt entry without any issue at all..

Sadly anyone relating their experience in border crossing is hardly going to be relevant unless they exited on a cancelled ED visa, are from singapore, and are coming back in to switch to a new ED visa at a university <- that is a pretty restrictive set of parameters  😛

What should I know about re-entering Thailand from Laos on a visa-exempt entry after cancelling my ED visa?

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