@Eliyahu ****

If you do not have any recent extensive entry history and are effectively starting a new cycle, your overall travel plan should still fall within what is normally accepted under the visa exemption system itself. If you obtain an SETV for your September entry, that should be a safe approach. This assessment is based on feedback from other travelers in similar situations. An METV is not strictly required in your case, although it would cover the entire travel pattern under one visa, provided your final entry is made within six months of the visa being issued. So you will ultimately need to assess this yourself.

Based on your plan, you will spend roughly 150–160 days in Thailand in total during 2026. That is still generally within what is considered ordinary tourism, but it does place you toward the upper end of what is normally accepted under the Visa exemption system itself if you later attempt another entry in the same cycle. With this travel pattern, your planned entries should be fine, provided you have an onward ticket, accommodation details, and funds available if asked. Just be aware that any further entries after this may be assessed more critically, as immigration primarily looks at total time spent in Thailand rather than the number of trips. And if you want to feel more comfortable, you can apply for a tourist visa for your last entry in September, which gives you a slightly higher level of certainty when entering Thailand.

This of course assumes that you are a national of one of the 93 countries eligible for visa exemption. If you are not, you will need to apply for a tourist visa for each entry. Then you obtain a re-entry permit for your tourist visa at immigration or at the airport before traveling to the Philippines, so that you are stamped back in on the same stay upon return and can then apply for a 30 days extension.

@Henry *********

A tourist visa can always help to some extent, as it gives a slightly higher level of confidence for entry, but it does not guarantee entry. It can, however, make things smoother when you start approaching the upper end of what is normally accepted. In your case, two visa exempt stays without extension (around 119 days total) combined with a long stay outside Thailand would very likely also have allowed another visa exempt entry. Beyond that point, though, it would have become pure gambling without a visa, which is why an METV would have been the best solution from the outset, and essentially what the IO was trying to convey.

That makes sense and is fully consistent with how this is applied in practice. With a total stay of around 119 days (according to your last comment), you are still below what would normally be considered excessive use of the visa exemption system, which is why you were not questioned on re entry. The IO’s comment about a multiple entry visa is simply practical advice for the future, not an indication that you did anything wrong this time. Once you start approaching the higher end of total stay within a rolling cycle, a tourist visa or a multiple entry option just reduces friction and uncertainty at the border.

Don’t you bother reading the answers you already received some time ago in the other group. It’s simply not possible to give a more exact or precise explanation than the one you were already given back then.

Depends where you are. Some immigrations as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hua Hin allows tourist extension 45 days before your stay expires. Others as Jomtien and samui the last week. The rest is 30 days.

@Nik ***

I also replied that you are probably formally required to update your address when relocating within the same apartment complex, but that I would personally wait and do this at the next application since all the documentation is already in order and, in practice, it is usually more relevant for mail than for immigration. You’ll have to assess that yourself, but I think Nongnuch had by far the most practical approach here.😉

The standard income letter issued by the embassy normally does not need to be translated, but some immigration offices require MFA legalisation for the first extension. Some also require you to present the original documents on which the income confirmation is based.

CreativeCrocodile6413 You are required to update the TM30 when you move, and at some immigration offices also when you return to the same address after a stay abroad. Whether a TM30 must be updated when relocating within the same apartment complex is discretionary, but formally it is likely required. In this specific case, since all documentation was already in order, I would personally proceed as is and update the TM30 and submit the new lease at the next application. There is no need to make the process more complicated than necessary.