If with US passports you should apply for 60-day tourist visa from Thai embassy, believe it will be done online. Once in Thailand you can apply for additional 30 day extension of stay for tourism. Need more than those 90 days and you can leave and re-enter Thailand on visa exemption which will allow 30 days stay, which can be extended by additional 30 days for reason of tourism at localThai immigration for 1,900 baht. All told that's an easy 150 day stay.

@Randy *******

mai aow, krap, works wonders ;-)

@Claudia ***

Phuket immigration should approve up to 45 days early, at least they do for annual retirement extensions. You can ask by contacting the Phuket Immigration Volunteers at .

@Debbie *****

You get two land border entries in a calendar year and an unspecified number of air entries. If it appears you are using visa exempt entries to live or work in Thailand you may be questioned by immigration. Often you will be told to get a proper long-term visa, which you are already in the process of doing. Your recent Thailand history will not cause you a problem in gaining a visa-exempt entry by air, but if you are concerned you could use your 2 land border visa-exempt quota. The one-and-a-half-month gap helps your case for an entry by air, as immigration is more concerned with long stays in Thailand punctuated with short absences as would be typical for someone living or working in Thailand on short-term visa-exempt entries.

If you are able to obtain a Non-O visa in Singapore, then the only difference between obtaining it in Singapore or Thailand (from a tourist visa or entry-exempt entry) is that you can show the necessary funds outside of Thailand in the first instance but the necessary funds must be shown in a Thai bank in the second instance. Ultimately, you will have to have the required funds in a Thai bank in order to get a one-year extension in Thailand.

You are allowed two land border entries per calendar year. The number of entries by air is unspecified but if it appears you are trying to live or work in Thailand then you may be questioned.

There is no "90 days out of 180 days" rule in effect. However, when you enter visa-exempt immigration will look at your history in Thailand and if it appears you have been trying to live or work in Thailand you may be scrutinized and questioned.

The Non-O visa is typically single entry which will garner you a 90 day permission to stay. It can be extended for 1,900 baht inside Thailand for a year permission to stay if you meet the age and financial requirements. A multiple re-entry permit can be obtained for 3,800 baht that will keep that permission to stay alive when you leave and re-enter Thailand.

The Non-OA Visa is a visa meaning it has a validity period. Take a look at your Non-OA Visa. It has two important dates: Date of Issue and Enter Before Date. The example used here shows the Non-OA visa has a Date of Issue of 13 May 2012, and an Enter Before Date of 12 May 2013. This means that you have until 13 May 2012 to enter Thailand and you will receive permission to stay for one year. Let's say you entered Thailand on 25 May 2012. You would have received permission to stay until 24 May 2013.

What happens if you leave Thailand and re-enter before 12 May 2013 (your Enter Before Date)? Let's say you re-enter Thailand on 11 May 2013 (the day before your Enter Before Date). Then you will be stamped in for one-year permission to stay starting from when you entered, 11 May 2013, until one year later, 10 May 2014.

What happens if you leave Thailand and re-enter after 12 May 2013 (your Enter Before Date)? If you haven't purchased a re-entry permit that keeps alive your current permission to stay date, you will be stamped in for non-exempt entry (30-45 days), because your Non-OA Visa has expired before you tried to re-enter Thailand. If you did purchase a re-entry permit then that will allow you to re-enter Thailand using that re-entry permit until the date specified on your re-entry permit, which is equal to the permission to stay date when you purchased your re-entry permit.

So, one of the important dates on your Non-OA Visa is the "Enter Before Date." This is the date you must enter before in order to take advantage of the visa's ability to get you one-year permission to stay. Enter before this date and you will be stamped in for one year. Enter after this date and you will not be. If you purchased a re-entry permit then that allows you to re-enter Thailand even after your initial Non-OA Visa has expired (passed its Enter Before Date).

The "Enter Before Date" listed on your Non-OA Visa is the important date to determine if your visa is still valid (and thus will get you one-year permission to stay) or it's expired (in which case, barring a re-entry permit, will not get you one-year permission to stay).

When you are dealing with the boundary conditions of your Non-OA Visa, it is critically important to know exactly when your Non-OA Visa expires and that is the date specified as "Enter Before Date" on your Non-OA Visa.

@Jaymie *******

ah, sorry to hear about that. A good reason to look at other alternatives. And probably one is never asked on the spot to prove their Muay Thai prowess on a visit to immigration (I imagine). Best wishes for the future.

A lot really depends on the willingness of your immigration office to change the reason for your extension. I believe I've heard some offices say go out of Thailand and get a new visa based on the new purpose. Others like Phuket (at least in my case) are willing to allow you to change the reason without leaving Thailand.