@Peter *****

When I stayed at a hotel near Blupoint Shopping Centre Hua Hin recently and applied for my 30-day extension, my hotel provided me with a letter on their letterhead stating that I was currently residing at their hotel, the hotel receptionist said she does that many times each day. I took this letter and filled out a form at Immigration I believe was a TM30. I waited about 20 mins and was asked to come forward and have an interview with an Immigration Police Officer. I had already submitted my form, my letter from my hotel, and my passport. At the interview, the immigration policeman confirmed who I was as he photocopied my passport. The immigration policeman accepted my Bt1900 payment and gave me a receipt. I returned to my seat the same way the other 20 or so people waiting did and then a young Thai lady came out and handed me my passport with an extended visa stamp included in that passport...All done and finished she wished me well. End of story. Total time required just a few mins short of 1 hour. I did attend the Immigration office a few days before to get the full information from a young lady at the door to Immigration advising people how to go about it. I did a dry run before I submitted my visa extension application 2 days before.

@Nick ***********

All Immigration offices in Thailand have police on their staff. The manager at Hua Hin Immigration office at the time I did business some years ago was a woman. Even though I recently had my visa exemption renewed at Blupoint Shopping Centre the 1st part of the process was to be interviewed by a policeman attached to that office, like the other 20 or so people waiting to renew. In all the 12 previous tourist visa renewals I had over the years the 1st part of that process has been with a policeman ... allways.

Yes, give it a break, you clearly do not know what you are talking about.

Give it a break. This is on the Thai Embassy website today /2024...read it.

You get your 90-day tourist visa from your home country's Consul or Embassy. It is good for 60 days before you need to extend it at Thai immigration in Thailand. I've had 12 of them. That is a fact. There is or was a 6-month tourist visa as well which you have to do a border run after 2 months when you return it is stamped for another 2 months. After that further 2 months, you do a border run again and return for a further 2 months, You can do the same again making the number of times you can extend it to a 6-month tourist visa to 8 months there are financial conditions. Maybe they have cancelled that arrangement but I have not seen that so far. It was very common until they introduced the present visa exemption. I really don't care what Thailand calls it but in plain English, a visa exemption is a visa.



A 90-day Thai tourist visa allows a visitor to enter Thailand and stay for up to 90 days:

The visa is valid for 90 days from the date of issue

Visitors must enter Thailand within the 90-day period

The initial stay is 60 days

Visitors can request a 30-day extension from an immigration officer, for a total stay of up to 90 days

The extension fee is 1,900 baht

Visitors should check their passport's immigration stamps to ensure they don't overstay their visa

The penalty for overstaying is a fine of 500 baht per day and a ban on entry for at least five years

To apply for a Thai tourist visa, you can visit or contact the nearest Thai Embassy or Consulate in your country.

We seem to be discussing 2 different things and just confusing other patrons. Clearly, the older 90-day or 6 months which was good for an 8-month Tourist Visa is now not required but is still available and the visa exemption is offered to persons just arriving as I experienced granted a 60-day visa exemption. Under the Thai 90 tourist visa, you could use that to apply for a retirement visa and mostly get a Thai bank account which you had to have to get a retirement visa. They are 2 different things.

At the time when you applied and obtained a 90-day tourist visa, you could use it to apply for a retirement visa in Thailand and were able to open a Thai Bank Account. The visa exemption does not allow this.

@Nick ***********

Thank you it seems you agree with me. I've had 12 x 90-day tourist visas issued from the Thai Consul in Perth in the past and in Sydney, all done by mail from my home and paying about AUS $70. Most of them were extended in Thailand to 90 days by presenting an application form, a new passport photo not more than 6 months old, waiting many hours for a police interview and finally paying Bt1900. The first time I applied I gave the policeman Bt1900 he handed it back and said you do not live in Hua Hin province, you have to go to Petchburry province as I then lived in Cha-am. Just more palava and red tape. Only made that mistake once. It took the best part of 2 and a half days to get the extension. The visa-exempt method appears to be a better idea now.

Just about everyone gets palaver when they visit Thailand and they are constantly looking hard to include more ways to include more palaver as politicians try to put their brand on anything. Thailand revamped the word, its a bit like too much "red tape." in contracts.

@Steve ******

No it's called a 90 tourist visa which is only good for 60 days. After applying in your home country you also have 90 days to use it. That has nothing to do with the mechanics of that visa when you enter Thailand at your convenience during those 90 days. it is called a 90 day tourist visa because you can enter fo 60 days and pay Bt1900 to extend till 90 days. A real dodgee way of doing business.