Re-Entry Permit: How to Leave Thailand Without Losing Your Visa
A re-entry permit is permission to come back in. Without one, a student, retirement, marriage or work visa is cancelled the minute you pass passport control on the way out. The single permit costs 1,000 baht in government fees, the multiple one 3,800 baht. It is the most expensive mistake made by people who arranged their visa themselves. Our students do not make it: we prepare the re-entry before every trip and remind you in advance.
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Who needs a re-entry permit
Anyone on a single-entry visa or an extension of stay:
- an ED student visa;
- a retirement or marriage Non-O after the one-year extension;
- a Non-B work visa after an extension;
- any single-entry visa, if you want to come back before the end of the term.
Holders of multiple-entry visas - O-A, METV, Thailand Privilege, LTR, DTV - do not need one, and neither do people staying on the visa exemption.
What happens without one
The officer stamps you out, and your permission to stay closes. Everything goes: a student visa with extensions already paid for, a one-year extension of a retirement visa with the money seasoned in the bank.
When you come back, you enter on a 30-day visa exemption and have to arrange the visa again from scratch.
Single or multiple
| Type | Government fee | All-in with us | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 1,000 ฿ | 2,000 ฿ | One trip before the visa ends |
| Multiple | 3,800 ฿ | 5,000 ฿ | Two trips or more |
A re-entry permit is valid until the end of your current permission to stay. When you come back, you are stamped to the same date you had before you left.
How to get one
At Phuket Immigration. Phuket Town, 482 Phuket Road, weekdays from 8:30 to 16:30. You need your passport, form TM.8, a 4x6 photo, copies of your photo page, visa and last stamp, and the fee in cash. The permit is issued the same day. How the office works is in Phuket Immigration office.
At the airport. The big international airports have re-entry desks, but they are not staffed on every shift. If the desk is closed on the day you fly, you are choosing between your flight and your visa.
Through us. We prepare the documents and the form; you walk into immigration with a complete file and walk out with the permit the same day.
Mistakes that cost people their visa
- Leaving it to the day of the flight. Arrange the re-entry several days before the trip.
- Buying a single permit and flying twice. The second trip cancels the visa.
- Forgetting TM.30. When you come back, your landlord or hotel registers your address again. We file it for 800 ฿ if they will not.
- Mixing it up with the 90-day report. They are different procedures. After you return, the 90-day count starts over.
Summary
A re-entry permit is needed by everyone living in Thailand on a single-entry visa or a one-year extension who is going to leave the country, even for a day. Without one, the visa is cancelled on the way out. The single permit costs 1,000 baht and the multiple one 3,800 baht in government fees, and it is issued at Phuket Immigration in a single visit.
Send us your travel dates on WhatsApp: within 5 minutes we will tell you which re-entry you need and prepare the documents. The prices of every service are in how much a student visa costs and under prices, and our student visa in Phuket includes the extensions that the permit protects.
