Extending your stay by 30 days
฿1,900, one form, one photograph and a morning at the immigration office. It is routine, it is applied for inside the country, and it is the only legal way to stay past the date on your stamp.
Who can extend, and by how much
Anyone admitted on a visa exemption or a tourist visa can extend once for 30 days. That covers the overwhelming majority of visitors: 30 days becomes 60, or a 60-day tourist visa becomes 90. The extension is granted by the Immigration Bureau, not by the border, and it is the same 30 days regardless of which of those two you arrived on.
You cannot extend twice on the same entry, you cannot extend a visa-on-arrival stamp by more than the single 30 days, and you cannot extend from outside the country. Non-immigrant visa categories have their own rules and fees, and the ฿1,900 figure does not apply to them.
When to go
In the last week of your permitted stay — not earlier. There is no benefit to going on day two, and some offices will decline an application made too far ahead. Do not leave it to the last day either: if the office is closed for a public holiday, or you are missing a document, you have created an overstay out of nothing.
Go in the morning. Immigration offices open at 08:30 and the queue builds fast; by 10:00 at Chaeng Watthana in Bangkok you can be looking at three hours. The afternoon is usually worse than the morning, not better.
What to bring
Form TM7, available at the office or downloadable from the Immigration Bureau site. A 4×6 cm photograph taken within six months. Your passport, plus photocopies of the data page, the page with your current stamp and your departure card if you still have one. The ฿1,900 fee in cash — many offices do not take cards.
Some offices also ask for proof of address, which in practice means a hotel booking or a rental agreement, and occasionally a TM30 receipt — the form your hotel files when you check in. If you are staying somewhere that does not file TM30s, such as a friend's flat, the office may ask you to file one first. It is worth asking your accommodation whether they have filed it before you go.
Where to go
The immigration office that covers the province you are staying in, not the one nearest the airport. In Bangkok that is Chaeng Watthana, a long taxi ride north of the centre — allow half a day and take the MRT to Wat Phra Sri Mahathat if you want to avoid the traffic. Phuket's office is on Phuket Road in town; Chiang Mai's is on the airport road; Samui's is in Maenam. Krabi, Pattaya and Hua Hin all have their own.
Agents will offer to do it for you for ฿500–1,500 on top of the fee. It saves a morning and is legal, but it is not necessary: the procedure is a queue, a form check and a stamp, and there is nothing an agent can do that you cannot.
What happens at the counter
You hand over the form and documents, an officer checks the passport against the system, takes the fee and stamps a new permitted-until date. In most offices you wait 20–60 minutes for the passport to come back. You leave with 30 more days and a new stamp — photograph it, because the old one is now void and the new date is the only one that matters.
Extensions, answered
How much does a Thai visa extension cost?
฿1,900 for a 30-day extension on a tourist entry or visa exemption, paid in cash at the immigration office. That is the official fee and it is the same everywhere. Agents will quote ฿2,400–3,400 to handle it for you, which is the fee plus their charge for standing in the queue — legal, occasionally worth it if you are working, and never necessary. Some offices also charge small amounts for photocopies on site. Budget ฿2,000 and expect change.
How many times can I extend?
Once per entry. If you entered on a visa exemption and extend, you get 60 days in total and that is the end of it — you must leave, and the next entry starts a new stamp. A 60-day tourist visa extended once gives 90 days. There is no legal way to chain a second extension on the same entry; people who need longer are looking at a different visa category, not a bigger fee. Attempting a second extension is usually how an overstay begins.
Do I need an agent?
No. The process is a form, a photograph, copies, cash and a queue, and there is nothing an agent can expedite that you cannot do yourself in a morning. Agents are useful in two situations: if you cannot take a morning off, or if your case has a wrinkle — a previous overstay, a missing TM30, a passport expiring soon — where experience helps. For a straightforward tourist extension, going yourself is cheaper and you learn how the office works, which is useful if you come back next year.
Can I extend at the airport or at a border?
No. Extensions are granted only at an Immigration Bureau office inside the country, and only for the province you are staying in. The airport can extend nothing; the border can issue a new entry stamp if you leave and re-enter, which is a different mechanism and, since September 2026, is limited to two visa-exempt entries per calendar year. Planning a border run to avoid the ฿1,900 fee is now a bad trade: it costs more in transport and burns one of your two entries.
What if my extension is refused?
It is uncommon for a straightforward tourist stay, but it happens — most often because of a previous overstay on record, a passport with limited validity, or documents that do not match. If you are refused you are usually given seven days to leave, which is stamped in the passport. That is not an overstay and does not trigger a ban, provided you go. Ask the officer to write the reason on the receipt, and if you think it is an error, contact your embassy before your permitted date expires rather than after.
Staying longer than planned?
We can extend a trip, move a flight or add a week — tell us what changed.
Written and checked by the Travel Thailand Tour team, Bangkok · Last updated · Prices are per person and were correct at the time of writing.