You are the Guru of all things Thai Visa related. Your knowledge have been invaluable to me and so many I know.

Yes, you can be a little bit 'direct' at times but get your message and instructions across well and leave people in no doubt. You always offer further clarification if needed.

I, as several of my friends who live in Thailand have had so much help and guidance from you over the years. The fact that you give so much your time daily for free, is amazing. This fact makes you a very good human.

You and Ellie in particular, are awesome. 👊🏼

Did you have to buy a Laos visa or did you just pay a fee to u-turn and return back to Thailand?

@John *******

Odd you say that as I asked this question at Chiang Mai TM30 office ~ 10 days ago. I asked 'if I go to another province for a few days or weeks, stay in a hotel and then return to my normal residence where this renewed TM30 is for, do I have to report my return to Chiang Mai and do another TM30?' . The answer was a firm 'No, only if you leave Thailand and re-enter you need to report your return to this address or a new address.

I'm from the UK and I've been in and out many times and I've never been asked. I presume you will have somewhere booked or planned for when you arrive. Just show either a hotel booking for one or two nights or get a friend in Thailand to sign a letter to say that you will be staying with them.

If worse comes to the worst, book somewhere at the Thailand airport on the spot.

Hi Iain. As you are in Chiang Mai, I have always found the staff at the TM30 office accommodating when filing the TM30 on behalf of my landlord. Been doing it for the past 4 years for 3 different apartments I've stayed at.

Take your passport and a copy of your rental agreement to the TM30 office at the Immigration office near to the Airport. The TM30 office is at the rear of the main building next door to the photo/copy shop, ahead of the 90 day reporting drive through window.

Take a numbered card next to the door and wait for you number to be called. The may be a TM30 form to fill in while you wait but they have usually done it for me.

You will get a slip stapled in your passport to show you've registered. If you stay overnight in a hotel elsewhere its wise to return to the TM30 office with 24 hrs so that they can update their records and the slip of your return to your home address. Some people will say you don't need to re register if you don' t leave Thailand but I hear of conflicting reports. I just do it.

I'm typically in and out of the TM30 office within 15 mins max.

Hopefully you and your landlord won't get penalised for submitting the TM30 late. It should be done within 24 hours of arriving during office hrs.

Good luck.

Great informative post. Thanks Tod. 👍🏼

@Tod ********

So just because a METV applicant has a booked ticket in, a ticket out and a ticket back in again about 2 months after the booked date of first arrival this is 'a tried and tested accepted reason' for an embassy who operates the eVisa system to grant a METV?

Aren't they interested in a specific reason why you want to return a second time, rather than the applicant just showing 'I have a ticket back in Thailand, that's my reason?'.

It hardly seems like a reason to the question you highlighted from the eVisa website as 'a genuine reason why you want to visit Thailand on a regular basis.'

It would suck to buy a ticket in, a ticket out and another ticket in, only to be declined a METV.

Common sense/non Thai logic tells me they want to know the actual reason why you want to come in and out multiple times and' because I have tickets' ain't gonna cut the mustard.

@Ellie ******

I made a post a few weeks back about the steps I went through to get an eVisa in the UK. It was approved by a mod but was almost immediately closed for comments. The reason given was that is was too UK specific. This resulted in one or two angry faces posted and 3 different members reaching out to me via PM to ask more questions which I then had to answer individually.

I understand the reasons for closed comments if clear and complete answers have been given or if people get off topic in the comments. My post was quite comprehensive in detail. However, I think in this instance it would have been useful to allow the opportunity for further questions/input before closing. People don't want the hassle of going through mods to request a re open of a closed post and often pm's can be missed. Not criticism in any way Ellie 🙂, just something that could be considered, especially in this instance as there are tons of Brits who visit Thailand on TR visas. 5/

@Harry ********

you said above that you just received you tourist visa. So that's the second one this year which is fine.

I see you are a Brit. Your visa will be for 60 days and you can extend it once in country for a further 30 days. Both are certainties.

@Tod ********

You're quite good at explaining this. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼