Jumping countries to extend Thailand Trip .

[sulu]

On 29/10/2023 at 16:24, Franko2018 said:

You can get an onwards disposable or fake ticket.  

Once in Thailand you can extend your stay by 30 days. So you would not need to leave unless you really wanted to. 

 

Couple of questions.

Assuming I was so inclined, where would I get a "fake ticket" ?

Or, where might I find a "no fee" refundable ticket, so if I bought a ticket out of LOS before my visa expires and had same to show to anybody, I could get a refund of said ticket once I get TO Thailand.

Anybody ?

Not sure why I'm sweating this, but I've made 4 previous trips of over 60 days and haven't been asked yet by anybody to see a ticket out of Thailand by the end of my visa.

Then again, TiT and things sure can change,,,,,,,,,,,

 

 

[momo5]

2 hours ago, sulu said:

Couple of questions.

Assuming I was so inclined, where would I get a "fake ticket" ?

Or, where might I find a "no fee" refundable ticket, so if I bought a ticket out of LOS before my visa expires and had same to show to anybody, I could get a refund of said ticket once I get TO Thailand.

Anybody ?

Not sure why I'm sweating this, but I've made 4 previous trips of over 60 days and haven't been asked yet by anybody to see a ticket out of Thailand by the end of my visa.

Then again, TiT and things sure can change,,,,,,,,,,,

 

 

Are you entering Thailand on a visa or under the visa exemption?
 

Were you visiting with round-trip tickets?  If so, immigration already knows your itinerary from the flight manifest of the arriving plane.
 

Anyway, I’ve never been asked entering Thailand, but that doesn’t negate the clear requirement.  I have been asked when leaving Thailand on a one-way ticket to another destination, most recently Indonesia and Manila, when checking in for the flight, Garuda and Cebu Pacific, respectively.  I’ve also been asked when checking in for a one-way flight from another destination into Thailand, but have yet to asked upon arrival to Thailand.   It doesn’t always happen, but enough that I’m prepared when I check in for my flights. 
 

My business travel, mostly on Delta and other Skyteam members, is booked on fully refundable tickets   I’ve heard that some of the local Thai airlines also sell refundable tickets but with a small processing fee involved, which may make the ‘onward ticket’ options more palatable.  Also, fully refundable airfare tends to be the higher fares, so you’d have funds tied up a bit while processing.  
 

Also, the requirement for proof of onward travel within allotted time does not need to be airfare; a bus or train ticket for scheduled service would suffice.   

 

[Franko2018]

7 hours ago, sulu said:

Or, where might I find a "no fee" refundable ticket, so if I bought a ticket out of LOS before my visa expires and had same to show to anybody, I could get a refund of said ticket once I get TO Thailand.

Anybody ?

I have been to Thailand many times on visa exemption on a one way trip with an onward ticket. Always got asked by the airline check in to see the onward ticket. Always got asked by immigration how long I am staying in Thailand. When having a return ticket with the same airline they don't ask but immigration will ask how long you stay in Thailand. 

I have never bought a fake ticket but it's an option. I don't like the safety aspect of giving my credit card information to people faking tickets. Discussed in other threads. Cost is $10 to $20

https://bookonwardticket.com/

Again I am not recomending it just providing information. 

A disposable ticket is a cheap ticket that you never use. 

A refundable ticket you can check before purchase on expidia for details. 

The refundable tickets are 24 hours refundable from Expedia. It's very easy to do 1st they have to qualify for refund then you buy before check in and refund after clearing customs. I did that it was around $120 and cost me no money but took months for the refund. 

Finaly the adjustable ticket, one time change so book return within 30 days and change it to 60 after arrival. A risk that ticket prices might jump up so might get asked to pay the higher price if you change dates. 

On all counts don't stress it. Just know the options. 

Getting a multiple entry visa might be easier. 

 

Edited January 9 by Franko2018
Spelling

[Thomaz73]

50 minutes ago, Franko2018 said:

never bought a fake ticket but it's an option. I don't like the safety aspect of giving my credit card information to people faking tickets. Discussed in other threads. Cost is $10 to $20

https://bookonwardticket.com/

Again I am not recomending it just providing information. 

A disposable ticket is a cheap ticket that you never use. 

Couldn't agree more. The entire premise of the business is to circumvent things. It was always proper burner tickets for me. 

[sulu]

10 hours ago, momo5 said:

Are you entering Thailand on a visa or under the visa exemption?
 

Were you visiting with round-trip tickets?  If so, immigration already knows your itinerary from the flight manifest of the arriving plane.
 

Anyway, I’ve never been asked entering Thailand, but that doesn’t negate the clear requirement.  I have been asked when leaving Thailand on a one-way ticket to another destination, most recently Indonesia and Manila, when checking in for the flight, Garuda and Cebu Pacific, respectively.  I’ve also been asked when checking in for a one-way flight from another destination into Thailand, but have yet to asked upon arrival to Thailand.   It doesn’t always happen, but enough that I’m prepared when I check in for my flights. 
 

My business travel, mostly on Delta and other Skyteam members, is booked on fully refundable tickets   I’ve heard that some of the local Thai airlines also sell refundable tickets but with a small processing fee involved, which may make the ‘onward ticket’ options more palatable.  Also, fully refundable airfare tends to be the higher fares, so you’d have funds tied up a bit while processing. 

 

Sorry, I know not everything in a thread can be read but I posted the Tourist Visa page earlier, so yes, a tourist visa. And yes, RT ticket (90 days) submitted to E-visa, no issue/questions, visa approved. So yes, immigration already knows my 90-day trip.

Now, as for the "clear requirement". THAT I couldn't find and, in fact, the "Tourist Visa" part of a us/Thai embassy Says "After arrival in Thailand, a tourist visa may be extended at the discretion of an immigration officer once for an additional 30 days with the total period of stay no longer than 90 days."

On the Thai Immigration site, it says "the period of stay is granted by an immigration officer upon arrival at the port of entry and in accordance with the type of visa. {snip} for a tourist visa is not exceeding 60 days {snip}  Travellers who wish to stay longer than such period may apply for extension of stay at offices of the Immigration (Bangkok or provinces).

Note, on neither site does it say anything about having/showing onward transport OUT of Thailand by the end of the visa period.

Now I don't know where it says anything about the onward ticket out, but it has been repeated many times on this forum so I assume, at least at one time, it was a requirement. Now ? I can't find it.

Perhaps in relaxing a bit to have tourism become slightly easier to have Thai tourism recover it's been deleted/ignored (even more). I mean the statistics of "extension of stay" has to show how often tourists either extend their stay or simply leave on time, no ?

[momo5]

17 minutes ago, sulu said:

Sorry, I know not everything in a thread can be read but I posted the Tourist Visa page earlier, so yes, a tourist visa. And yes, RT ticket (90 days) submitted to E-visa, no issue/questions, visa approved. So yes, immigration already knows my 90-day trip.

Now, as for the "clear requirement". THAT I couldn't find and, in fact, the "Tourist Visa" part of a us/Thai embassy Says "After arrival in Thailand, a tourist visa may be extended at the discretion of an immigration officer once for an additional 30 days with the total period of stay no longer than 90 days."

On the Thai Immigration site, it says "the period of stay is granted by an immigration officer upon arrival at the port of entry and in accordance with the type of visa. {snip} for a tourist visa is not exceeding 60 days {snip}  Travellers who wish to stay longer than such period may apply for extension of stay at offices of the Immigration (Bangkok or provinces).

Note, on neither site does it say anything about having/showing onward transport OUT of Thailand by the end of the visa period.

Now I don't know where it says anything about the onward ticket out, but it has been repeated many times on this forum so I assume, at least at one time, it was a requirement. Now ? I can't find it.

Perhaps in relaxing a bit to have tourism become slightly easier to have Thai tourism recover it's been deleted/ignored (even more). I mean the statistics of "extension of stay" has to show how often tourists either extend their stay or simply leave on time, no ?

I’m not sure where the onward travel requirement comes from for Thailand specifically and I’m not spending my time going through the numerous laws, regulations and memorandum posted at the Thai Immigration website.  The bottom line is that it’s the airline’s prerogative to let you board or not as they can be fined (substantially) for bringing someone to Thailand (or any country) who doesn’t meet the entry requirements and most airlines pull these requirements from IATAs Timatic service which seems to be the most globally up-to-date reference for entry requirements (not saying it’s perfect, but seems fairly current and that’s why most airlines subscribe to it).  One can try arguing with the airline, but missing one’s flight seems the most likely outcome.  
 

And the airlines don’t care about what extensions are allowed … for good reason … because you haven’t applied much less been approved for such an extension, so hypothetical extensions are meaningless. 
 

And, yes, Immigration Officers have wide latitude to deny entry or grant a period of stay less than allowed without needing to provide any reason; do check before leaving the booth though in case a genuine mistake was made as it’ll be like pulling hens’ teeth getting a mistake corrected later. 

[sulu]

I'm a little annoyed at E-visa anyway as they cost me $70 by having a bug in their system that miscalculated my length of stay.

I wonder if their system, being offline for a couple or 3 days around Jan 1, was due to an annual upgrade and/or fixing some bugs or requirements ?

My original itinerary was arriving Jan 19 0630, and leaving Apr 17 0230, an inclusive period of 90 days. But, their system, at some point, cal'c and "announced" that length of stay as 91 days and processed the e-visa. And issued it 3 days later.

So, even though immigration, as I am assured here on the forum, doesn't fuss much, or even charge anything for a simple 1-day overstay, not wanting to be bothered by anything, I called the airline and changed my return flight to a day earlier. Cost $70. "OK, what the heck. Just do it".

Then I checked my math. Again. And again. Their software miscalculated the length of stay, not me. 

[sulu]

3 minutes ago, momo5 said:

I’m not sure where the onward travel requirement comes from for Thailand specifically and I’m not spending my time going through the numerous laws, regulations and memorandum posted at the Thai Immigration website.  The bottom line is that it’s the airline’s prerogative to let you board or not as they can be fined (substantially) for bringing someone to Thailand (or any country) who doesn’t meet the entry requirements and most airlines pull these requirements from IATAs Timatic service which seems to be the most globally up-to-date reference for entry requirements (not saying it’s perfect, but seems fairly current and that’s why most airlines subscribe to it).  One can try arguing with the airline, but missing one’s flight seems the most likely outcome.  
 

And the airlines don’t care about what extensions are allowed … for good reason … because you haven’t applied much less been approved for such an extension, so hypothetical extensions are meaningless. 
 

And, yes, Immigration Officers have wide latitude to deny entry or grant a period of stay less than allowed without needing to provide any reason; do check before leaving the booth though in case a genuine mistake was made as it’ll be like pulling hens’ teeth getting a mistake corrected later. 

Well, I can't blame you for not spending much time on it. It's like TRYING to find hens teeth.

Thing is, when an entity drops a requirement there's seldom a fuss about it, the requirement just isn't there anymore. Wonder if that's the case here.

Timatic was created in the 60's - and it still looks like it although I imagine a GUI interface has been built for web viewing. But the agents' screens are STILL from the 60's. Tiny things. So to the agents, they still have to muddle through sometimes very difficult-to-read tiny print. And when they're really busy,,,,,,,,,,,,

Anyway, I've wasted enough time already trying to find all these requirements. I've printed out the pages from the U.S. embassy dedicated to Thailand and the Thai Immigration pages.

I'm just going. If Qatar tries to refuse me, I'll step aside and use my phone to book a ticket and go back to the agent. If immigration has an issue I'll deal with it there.

Thanks for the info/help. 👍

 

[bangna]

5 hours ago, sulu said:

I'm a little annoyed at E-visa anyway as they cost me $70 by having a bug in their system that miscalculated my length of stay.

I wonder if their system, being offline for a couple or 3 days around Jan 1, was due to an annual upgrade and/or fixing some bugs or requirements ?

My original itinerary was arriving Jan 19 0630, and leaving Apr 17 0230, an inclusive period of 90 days. But, their system, at some point, cal'c and "announced" that length of stay as 91 days and processed the e-visa. And issued it 3 days later.

So, even though immigration, as I am assured here on the forum, doesn't fuss much, or even charge anything for a simple 1-day overstay, not wanting to be bothered by anything, I called the airline and changed my return flight to a day earlier. Cost $70. "OK, what the heck. Just do it".

Then I checked my math. Again. And again. Their software miscalculated the length of stay, not me. 

I also calculate 90 days.  The part I don't understand is you say the embassy issued the visa but you still changed your return flight. 

I have never tried 90 day duration but I regularly spend 59 days in Thailand. I apply for e-visa and the visa is issued with 60 day duration. Upon arrival,  I show the visa and the I.O. stamps 60 days. They have 2 stamps, set at 30 or 60 days.

I guess your visa states 60 days also so I would expect a leave by 18 March stamp. Extending by 30 days I would expect 17 April.

 I have never applied for a 30 day extension but I assume the 30 days commence after the 60 days are used, I'm sure someone here can confirm or deny.

[sulu]

2 hours ago, bangna said:

I also calculate 90 days.  The part I don't understand is you say the embassy issued the visa but you still changed your return flight. 

I have never tried 90 day duration but I regularly spend 59 days in Thailand. I apply for e-visa and the visa is issued with 60 day duration. Upon arrival,  I show the visa and the I.O. stamps 60 days. They have 2 stamps, set at 30 or 60 days.

I guess your visa states 60 days also so I would expect a leave by 18 March stamp. Extending by 30 days I would expect 17 April.

 I have never applied for a 30 day extension but I assume the 30 days commence after the 60 days are used, I'm sure someone here can confirm or deny.

Honestly, I can't recall the exact sequence of events and when that message (91 days) appeared. A lot of info to provide, a lot of "next", etc.

I think, but can't be sure, that when the e-visa fully filled-in data was submitted for approval, that might've been when the message appeared.

I saw it and almost immediately called the airline to change the return flight to 1 day earlier, before re-calculating. And even though I calc'd 90 days, and was certain of it, who do I "argue" with ?

I've extended in Jomtien probably 3 or 4 times since 2012. Pretty easy, fairly routine, and usually fairly quick.

And yes, the 30-day extension definitely begins the day after the previous "permission to stay" expires - one doesn't "lose" any days.