The easiest way is to plan a short flight outside the country within the 60 days. Visit Angkor Wat, see Luang Phrabang, sample the food in Penang. And show the airline that ticket when or if they demand Proof of Onward Travel. That way you satisfy the regulation and avoid any need of contact with Thai bureaucracy. When you return, you’ll be stamped in for 60 more days. We stay for three months at a time, and this year we left on day 58 for a week in Hanoi and a tour of Halong Bay.

@Mario *********

Airlines want to see a confirmed air ticket that they can check for authenticity. Plans to take a bus trip do not count, and trains with few exceptions do not cross borders.

@Mario *********

Check into a hotel a couple days before you make your extension application and ask the hotel to give you the resulting TM30 print out.

Don’t underestimate the importance of Proof of Onward Travel. Whatever the airline call centre has told you, the check-in agent has the power to deny boarding if you fail to meet visa exemption criteria according to the IATA Timatic database. And one of the primary ones is proof of onward travel — a flight out of Thailand — within the 60-day visa exemption period. So book a flight on a low cost carrier to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat, for example.

I’m disappointed that they failed to make the tourist visa good for a 60-day stay. That would have been logical. Oh well…

@Craig *********

new measures have not been enacted yet. The Thai MFA says “the effective date of the new measures will be announced upon completion of legal procedures.” So you might still need your visa.

@James *******

thanks for that. Yes the SETV has and will work for our 3 month trips. I’m also aware of the METV. Affidavit from Canadian Embassy won’t work for us because the pension income is mixed German, Canadian and French (don’t ask). However we’ll cross that bridge when and if we come to it because as of now we have no intention of living in the LOS full time. That could change though.

@Tod ********

thanks for the extremely swift reply. OK we’ll stick with the tourist visa.

The other issue you face is Proof of Onward Travel. At check-in for your flight, if you do not have a return or onward flight within the 30 days visa exempt OR a visa, you could be denied boarding.

I would let them activate the 60-day tourist visa on first entry, then get a re-entry permit at the airport on your departure to Cambodia. That allows you to come back into Thailand on the visa, but does not extend the original departure date. To make the full two months in Thailand, you’ll then need to get a 30-day extension at an Immigration office.

If you decide in the end not to get a tourist visa, just book a flight within the 30-day period of stay to anywhere outside Thailand on one of the low-cost carriers. Could be Cambodia, Malaysia etc. And show that at check-in as Proof of Onward Travel, so you don’t get denied boarding. Thai Immigration usually won’t check. It’s a regulation enforced by airlines.