How to stay in Thailand for more than 30 days?

Many tourists wishing to stay in Thailand longer than 30 days given on the standard tourist visa (on incoming flights) do 'visa runs' to nearby countries. You are correct that overland entries only get a two-week visa instead of a month-long visa, but sometimes you need to evaluate what works out cheaper for you.

You'll obviously be looking for the cheapest low-cost airline flights that get you out and back into Thailand. All these ones usually fly Airbus A319-A320 3-3 seating config planes that are new and quite comfortable enough. Here are your options.

• Tiger Airways to Singapore: Singapore Airlines' budget arm (you cannot use frequent flyer points earned on SIA or associated loyalty programmes, however), they usually have the cheapest flights to Singapore. They fly out of Bangkok, Krabi, Hat Yai, and Phuket - with the cheapest flights usually being out of Phuket.
• Air Asia to Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore (in order of usual flight prices): This Malaysian low-cost airline will give you by far the most number options and to top it off they service many airports in Thailand. The cheapest ones is usually the Phnom Penh - Bangkok sector. Know that this airline is very popular in the region and the cheaper tickets get sold out months in advance.
• Dragon Air to Hong Kong: This is a slightly more expensive option because of the distance flown but Hong Kong itself is an interesting place to see, and should make an interesting visa run. Watch out for promotions.
• JetStar to Singapore: Qantas' low-cost subsidiary, it's usually the most expensive out of the all the low-cost airlines - unless you are booking late/last-minute when prices on Tiger/Air Asia can often shoot high, JetStar might just have better prices then.

Usually, Tiger Airways is the best option as their prices are low. Air Asia is an alternative worth considering only on their less-used sectors where prices are lower; on popular ones like BKK-KUL or BKK-SIN it gets very expensive. Cheapest one-way flights cost $40-70 inclusive of taxes and all charges and ramp up from there on. Flights between Tue-Thu are generally cheaper as people in neighbouring countries often go on weekends for short holidays. These airlines are point-to-point carriers so you don't get discounts for booking return flights.

Depending on how early you book, you might find flights too expensive. In the interim, you may consider doing overland visa runs at times while waiting for flights to get longer 30-day ones. Where you go for one obviously depends on what checkpoint you're closest to. Popular ones for overland are visa runs are:

• Poipet / Aranyaprathet (Cambodia): If you want to spend a few days in Cambodia, Siem Reap and its Angkor Wat temples are a couple of hours drive away. Note that at this border ONLY nationalities which are not on the list of countries that need to get a visa beforehand are allowed to get a visa on arrival. Visa-on-arrival facility for those who need to get a visa for Thailand beforehand is NOT available.
• Vietiane / Udon Thani (Laos)
• Malaysia: This is a very popular option, actually. The most popular option is to take a train to Penang, but a less-used one is to take a train from Hat Yai to Kota Bharu on the eastern coast of Malaysia. (The latter is a good option in case you want to take some time off to explore the Perhentian Islands, which I recommend highly.)
• No land border with Vietnam

You may want to make rough calculations to see whether it's worth it for you to get a longer validity visa or do visa runs. Given the period you've mentioned you'll be staying for, you'll probably find the latter better - and get to check out some neighbouring countries in the process.

Singapore and Malaysia are the best choices to go because they don't charge for visas. Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia do - $20-40 depending on processing fees etc. Cambodia in particular also charges an additional $25 'departure fee' for international flights. Vietnam doesn't have visa-on-arrival per se; you need to apply online with an authorised agency in advance and specify what date you'll be flying in.

There are some travel agencies too in Thailand that claim they can get a new visa for you, probably by paying someone off at border control offices. This is not always a safe option - as the travel agents can be scammers - but I personally think as a traveller, it isn't right to promote corrupt practices in a country you visit. Again, remember this is illegal and you can be arrested and/or deported for giving your passport to a third-person for getting a visa. There are some really interesting places to visit that border Thailand, and a break may not be that bad at all.

Nearly all countries who qualify for Tourist Visa Exempt (VE) entry now get 30 days permission to stay, whether land or air arrival; land arrival for VE are limited to 2 per calendar year. If you use up both land arrivals, you either need a Single Entry/Multiple Entry (SE/ME) Visa or come in via air.

It is also possible to extend a VE entry in-country for 30 days at local immigration office for 1900 baht. I am unclear if you can do this immediately or only within the last 15 days of the initial entry.

So for the OP, as of this writing if you wanted to stay for 90 days, it would be possible:

• to enter via air/land for 30 day VE entry, then extend that entry at local immigration to add 30 days, then do a border run for 30 more days; 30 + 30 + 30. - to enter via air for **30 day VE entry, then do a** border run to add 30 days, then do another border run for 30 more days; 30 + 30 + 30.

• obtain a SETV prior to arrival at Thailand. Via air or land border, SETV gives you 60 days + ability to extend 30 days at local immigration. 60 + 30. Currently SETVs are free until August, 2017.

Sometimes it is cheaper or less hassle to do border run. Sometimes you may want to preserve your land border entries. If you intend to come frequently to Thailand, aim for METV or ME non-immigrant if you qualify....or arrive via air and mix in a tourist visa or 2.

Another trick for SE visa entry or VE entry is if you intend to leave Thailand quickly and come back before the latest permission to stay stamp expires, you can obtain a S or M re-entry permit (1000 or 3800 baht, respectively). Re-entry permit allows you to return and leave the current permission to stay intact; it does NOT add any more time. For ME visa, this technique only apply after visa expire (since you can do unlimited entries up to expiration date).

This post was originally asked in July 2011. Visa rules can change rapidly in a short amount of time, depending on the political climate at the time. When it comes to visa-related questions, it is best to use a site like ThaiVisa.com as you are getting up to date information from people on the ground and news reports. Or re-ask the question.

Side comment: So visa-related questions perhaps need the date in the title or something like 'as of July, 2011, [question....]. And mods should not penalize for re-asking for questions that answers will regularly decay over time. Or perhaps a note should be put after 1 year that "The answers here are over 6/9/12 months old and may not reflect the current visa requirements".