Living in Thailand does come with rules once you have a long term visa. The normally long term visas which people do have in Thailand as expatriates are the marriage visa for those married to a Thai and also the retirement visa which has become very popular.
Once you have one of these 1 year extended visas you need to report to immigration every 3 months with an update of your address. This however has been explain elsewhere. The main issue which can be problematic is that you need to apply for a permit to leave Thailand once you have a 1 year visa. This permit is called the re-entry permit. You can apply at any immigration office in Thailand for the permit.
This permit allows you to leave Thailand and return to continue the time left on the 1 year visa. If you leave Thailand without a permit when you leave you will invalidate the 1 year visa. The entire process would need to be started again. The permit which you have to apply for at Thai immigration takes 2-3 hours to be issued and you can wait while they process your passport.
The cost of the permit is as follows:
Single Entry Permit – 1,000THB
Multiple Entry Permit – 3,800THB
Note you need to have the following documents:
– Photo
– Copy of your front page of passport, entry and exit stamps, visa & extension pages
If you have any questions about your re-entry permit speak to us online for more help. Note again that if you leave Thailand without a re-entry permit your visa will invalidated when you leave and when you do come back to Thailand you will only get 30 days stay in Thailand arriving by airplane and 15 days stay when crossing the Thai borders.
