Tetoro's Lair

Visa Extension in Thailand

Make a visa extension in Thailand is an intimidating and interesting experience. For the majority of the foreigners, the Thailand embassy does not give a visa for more than three continuous months, you are indeed asked to extend your visa after two months in Thailand. And if you do not wish to do a visa-run (going out of the country and reentering it), the best solution is to go to the Thai immigration in order to extend your trip.

 

But before doing anything else, you first need to gather all of the following files :
-Filled form (if possible, otherwise you will find some at the immigration bureau)
-ID photo
-Passport (hum, obviously)
-Photocopy of the visa
-Photocopy of the stamp given when you entered Thailand
-Photocopy of the arrival card
-1900 Bahts

The building where all of the administration of the visas is imposing. First of all, you are welcomed by what seems to be a military complex, and it is partly true as this “campus” possesses the space agency.
The next big thing to impress is not the height of the buildings, but their shape. They were indeed builded in a reversed prism shape, partially buried in the ground. The austerity of the building’s front, the strip of blue windows and the brown color of the wall strips give the impression to arrive in the a forbidden place, where numerous awful experimentations lie. It may not entirely be the truth, but your passport will remember the bright red stamps glowing on one of its page, allowing you to stay one more month in Thailand.
As usual in Bangkok, security is guarding the place, mostly at the entrance with a security portal, ringing as it welcomes you in the building. And like in any bureaucracy in the world, an atmosphere peculiar to administration surrounds you.
You will then go to the room where you have to complete the form for the visa extension. Do not forget to glue an ID photo and to write down your phone number. If you arrived with everything needed, already fulfilled, then go to the next control point.
There you will have to present all the necessary files :
-Filled form (if possible, otherwise you will find some at the immigration bureau)
-Passport (hum, obviously)
-Photocopy of the visa
-Photocopy of the stamp given when you entered Thailand
-Photocopy of the arrival card
The civil servant will will give you a number to join the queue ; you better sit down and watch TV : a Korean drama will surely be shown on TV, dubbed in Thai and subbed in Chinese, a good way to chill out… or get a headache.
Keep you head up as the announce for your turn will only happen two times. Once the counter is displayed, move towards another bureaucrat to check your file and to give your passport and 1900 Bahts.
Go back to your seat and wait until your number is announced at another counter. THere you will get your passport back, with a one-month visa added to your trip in Thailand.

Picture from GotBangkok.com