11 replies to this topic

[Markdk]

I stay in Thailand on a Multiple Entry Non Immigrant B Visa and now its close to finished.
I have received this kind of visa a couple of times before. Applied from my home country by regular post in the past. Would just add a pre-paid return envelope along with my application.
Now I am in Thailand with no immediate plans to go home.

I am thinking about going to a Thai neighbour country for 1-2 weeks and apply from there.
Send my passport from the Thai neighbor country by courier to a friend in my home country along with the necessary application papers.
Based in my home country my friend will send the application as usual by regular post. When he receives my passport 2 days later (hopefully) with a new multiple entry visa he will send it by courier back to me in the Thai neighbor country.

I looked around and could not really find something in the forum directly addressing this.

I am curious if anyone have some good advice or tips on how to do this?
I never used a courier before. Can someone recommend a courier maybe?

Thanks in advance

[davejones]

You can use couriers like FedEx and DHL. They are pretty expensive though for sending documents. Can be about 3,000 baht one way.

[beano2274]

To send your passport like this is not really legal. Also what happens if the passport is lost in the post, how will you report it to the authorities?
You could be arrested in the other country for failing to produce your passport when asked to do so. If you qualify in Thailand why not get an extension here. If you have a B Visa then you must either be working or looking to start a business here, if working then get an extension.

[dddave]

I explored this option a number of years ago when i had a "B". I was told that unlike tourists visas, non-immigrant visas had to be applied for in person and could not be done by mail.
Now, this was just after the Thai Foreign Office had come down particularly hard on Consulates for lax enforcement of visa regulations so it's possible things have changed.

[visarunner]

I doubt that your local Thai Consulate will issue another Multiple Entry Visa, that have received instruction to ask for complete documents.
However it is perfectly legal to apply for a visa, as long as you are outside Thailand.
But as beano2274 mention you are at a high rushing another country.
Try to extend locally, while in Thailand

[Maestro]

Visarunner is right: the enforcement of the requirements for the non-B visa, as well as for other non-immigrant visas, is much stricter now than what it was a year ago. See this web page of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the general requirements. The Thai consulate at Hull, UK puts in a language that is easier to understand and breaks the requirements down for the separate purposes for which a non-B visa can be applied for: http://www.thaiconsu...=20120903172527 and http://www.thaiconsu...=20120904171534

[Markdk]

Hi all

Thanks for replies


I see the risk of staying in a neighbor country for a week or two without passport as barely worth mentioning.
The risk is of it getting lost is extremely small and I can always claim I lost my passport and get a new one at the embassy of my home country.


I apply for the "B" visa through my company in my home country.
I intend to do business in Thailand and have so far not needed to show invitations or letters from a Thai company.
I have no work permit and think therefore no chance to extend my visa in Thailand?

[Rama]

Most honorary consulates require you to be in the country that you are applying for the visa. For EU countries, you can be anywhere in the EU. If you FedEx or DHL to a friend and then have him forward it and they send it back to him, you should have no problem. You will only get in trouble in THailand if you send it from within THailand and have no exit visa that says you were out of the country when you applied. I see little risk.

[thaigold]

Undoable. Any immigration officer will first check your exit stamp from the country you just flew in from. You cannot enter Thailand on a visa issued by a third nation. It is visa fraud. Don't do it. If you don't believe me, just call any expat legal service here in Bangkok ... you'll be cautioned. Stay legal, or face the consequences.

[lopburi3]

Immigration does not check for stamps from other countries at airport entry points.

[Markdk]

Undoable. Any immigration officer will first check your exit stamp from the country you just flew in from. You cannot enter Thailand on a visa issued by a third nation. It is visa fraud. Don't do it. If you don't believe me, just call any expat legal service here in Bangkok ... you'll be cautioned. Stay legal, or face the consequences.

Thank you for your answer, but it makes no sense to me?

Are u saying that when I get a non immigrant visa in my home country I can only enter Thailand on that visa if I travel directly from my home country to Thailand?

Am I not allowed to travel from my home country to Thailand via a third country?

[Mario2008]

Undoable. Any immigration officer will first check your exit stamp from the country you just flew in from. You cannot enter Thailand on a visa issued by a third nation. It is visa fraud. Don't do it. If you don't believe me, just call any expat legal service here in Bangkok ... you'll be cautioned. Stay legal, or face the consequences.

Thank you for your answer, but it makes no sense to me?

Are u saying that when I get a non immigrant visa in my home country I can only enter Thailand on that visa if I travel directly from my home country to Thailand?

Am I not allowed to travel from my home country to Thailand via a third country?

You can travel visa a third country withou any problem.

You cannot apply for a visa for Thailand from abroad while being in Thailand. You can apply for a visa in country A while being in country B.