That Old Visa Run

I had to do a "visa run" to Mae Sai on the Thai-Myanmar border to extend my stay in Thailand sufficiently.

Ah!  The visa run. . .so definitive of the expat experience in Thailand.

I've had every type of "easy access" visa that Thailand offers:  the ordinary two-month tourist visa, the three-month non-immigrant visa, the six-month double entry visa, the six-month double entry with work permit visa, and the 15-day visa on arrival at Bangkok's airports.

Now the Thais give 30 days on arrival for citizens of about 25-30 countries including the U.S.

In Thailand, you need a visa to stay for longer periods of time.  And if you want to stay even longer, you have to do a visa run.

I've done every type of visa run imaginable:  I've run to Penang, Malaysia too numerous times to count; I've run to Vientiane, Laos probably at least five times; I've also entered Laos from the north, not too far from Chiangmai, and taken the slow boat down the Mekong River to the ancient Lao capital Luang Prabang; and I've even used a dodgy service that sent my passport to a northern Thai border post with Laos and arranged all the visas and stamps--in other words did all the paperwork--while my person continued to stay and work in Chiangmai.

The latter service was definitely some type of corrupt enterprise endorsed by fairly high Thai/Lao police commanders--the equivalent of regional chiefs rank.

I've extended my stays at the Chiangmai Immigration office, at the Bangkok Immigration office, and at the Mae Sai Immigration office.  These types of extensions are very limited--only 5-10 days or so--and they cost money in the range of 500 to 2000 baht.

I've also overstayed my visa, but you can never do too much of that; the fine for each day of overstay used to be 100 baht (four dollars back then, three dollars now), but now it's a steep 500 baht per day.  This is what they will charge you at the Bangkok airport whenever you finally leave the country.  And if you can't pay the fine, you will be detained and held in an immigration police lock-up--with 150-200 mostly Burmese and Cambodian illegals--until you can do so.

 I've also done the run to Mae Sai--the northern-most point in Thailand, about 1000 km north of Bangkok--probably at least half a dozen times that I can remember now.

When Burma (Myanmar) started cautiously opening up in the early 2000s, they allowed farang tourists to visit the border town Tachilek, just opposite Mae Sai, on a day pass only.  I remember the whole process being exceedingly tedious with one official checking the passport, another taking your photograph, another collecting the 500 baht fee (though they preferred to be paid in dollars), and yet another stamping the passport and handing over a receipt.

Now the Burmese have really got their act together with the streamlining:  just two officials collect the 500, stamp the passport in and out, and you can even have the option of overnighting in Tachilek.

I couldn't take advantage of this welcome hospitality because I was on a day-long mini-bus run from Chiangmai and back again the same day.  For 550 baht I booked a place on the 14-seat van with maybe half a dozen other farang from England, Holland, Australia, and the U.S.  The service picks you up at your hotel at around 7.00 a.m., departs Chiangmai at 8.00 for the four hour trip through Chiangrai to Mae Sai, and returns you to your hotel at about 5.00 p.m.

In Mae Sai we had just an hour to stamp out of Thailand, stamp into Myanmar, and stamp back into Thailand.  I expected, and received, an additional 30 days.  But there were other people on my run who received only 15 days for any number of reasons.

The word in the expat community lately is the Thais are cracking down on people who do the visa run too often.  They are tightening visa requirements for some people while trying to ensure that long-staying farang aren't doing so as a tourist--because that would be illegal.

But I hear the Thais are also tightening up on the non-immigrant type visa requirements.  More than ever, the Thai government seems to prefer farang who have bigger money--one or two million baht--to invest in a Thai business before they will approve one of the more coveted visas.

The next best option is to marry and have children with a Thai.