Every tourist stay in Thailand comes with one built-in extension: thirty more days, granted at any immigration office in the country for a ฿1,900 fee, a form called the TM.7, one photo and a morning of your life. It is the most routine piece of paperwork in Thai immigration — thousands are stamped every day — and yet it generates more anxious forum threads than anything except the visa exemption itself, because the rules are simple but the experience depends enormously on which office you walk into, what you bring, and whether you believed the agent who told you that you didn’t need to be there. Here’s the whole thing as it actually works in 2026: who can extend, where to go, exactly what to bring, the step-by-step at the big offices, what it costs beyond the fee, and what happens if you leave it too late.
The short version: a visa-exempt entry or a single-entry tourist visa can be extended once, by 30 days, for ฿1,900 cash, in person, at the immigration office nearest where you’re staying. Bring your passport, copies of the photo page and your entry stamp, a completed TM.7, a 4×6 cm photo and proof of where you’re sleeping. Go in the last week or ten days of your stay, early in the morning, and you’ll usually leave the same day with the new stamp. It cannot be done online and you cannot send someone in your place. Everything about the stay you’re extending — who gets 30 days, who gets 15, and how the 15 September 2026 rule change shook out — is in our visa exemption guide and the visa tool.
What an extension is, and who can get one
Thai immigration doesn’t extend visas; it extends your permission to stay — the “admitted until” date stamped in your passport on arrival. For tourists that means: a visa-exempt entry (30 days for most Western and Gulf passports from 15 September 2026 — entries before that date received 60; the cut was gazetted on 31 August) can be extended once by 30 days, so 60 becomes 90; a single-entry tourist visa (TR) issued by an embassy gives 60 days and can likewise be extended once by 30, to 90; a visa on arrival (the 15-day one for nationalities not on the exemption list) generally cannot be extended beyond short humanitarian cases. Holders of the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) play a different game — each 180-day entry can be extended once by a further 180 days for ฿10,000 — and the non-immigrant categories (retirement, work, education) have their own rules and paperwork. This guide is the tourist one.
Two things people get wrong. The extension runs from your current expiry date, not from the day you apply — so applying ten days early costs you nothing and spares you the last-day panic. And a second 30-day extension is not a thing: after the first, most offices will grant at most a single seven-day extension “to depart the kingdom” (another ฿1,900), and only if you ask with a flight booked. If you want longer than 90 days, the honest routes are a proper visa or leaving and coming back — more on both below.
Where to go
Any immigration office can do it, and the rule of thumb is the one for the province you’re actually staying in — they’ll ask where you’re sleeping and may want to see it on paper. Provincial offices (Krabi, Hua Hin, Chiang Rai, Udon Thani and the rest) are the quiet ones: often in and out in an hour. The big four are a different day.
Bangkok — Chaeng Watthana. Immigration Division 1 sits in Building B of the Government Complex on Chaeng Watthana Road in the north of the city; the MRT Pink Line monorail (Government Complex station) now drops you at the gate, which beats the old hour-long taxi. Open Monday to Friday, roughly 08:30–16:30 with a lunch break, closed on public holidays. Bangkok runs an online queue booking through bangkok.immigration.go.th — book a slot as far ahead as the system allows; walk-ins work but mean the whole morning. Photo booths and copy shops are on the ground floor if you arrive unprepared (you will be charged for it in time as well as baht). Chiang Mai — the tourist-extension section is inside the Promenada mall on the canal road east of town; queue tickets go early, so 7.30am is the local advice. Phuket — the main office in Phuket Town, with a Patong branch for some services; busy in high season. Pattaya — Jomtien, Soi 5. Koh Samui — Maenam, Soi 1, with photo and copy services on site. Offices move and hours change; check the office’s own page or ask your hotel the day before rather than trusting a three-year-old blog post.
What to bring: the full list
- Your passport, valid for at least six months, plus photocopies of the photo page, the page with your current entry stamp or visa, and — since the paper TM6 card was replaced — a printout or screenshot of your TDAC digital arrival card confirmation if asked. Sign each copy.
- Form TM.7, “Application for Extension of Temporary Stay in the Kingdom” — download it from immigration.go.th and fill it in at home in block capitals, or collect one at the office. The reason box for a tourist is simply “tourism”.
- One photo, 4 × 6 cm, recent, plain background, no sunglasses or hat. The booths at the offices charge ฿100–150 for a set if you forget.
- ฿1,900 in cash. Cards are not taken. Exact money is appreciated.
- Proof of where you’re staying: your hotel’s booking confirmation or receipt, or the TM30 notification your hotel, landlord or host is required to file when you check in. This is the paper that catches people in Airbnbs and friends’ flats — if nobody filed a TM30 for you, sort it before you go.
- A pen, patience, and the address of your accommodation written down in English and, ideally, Thai.
The day itself, step by step
1. Go early, in the last ten days of your stay, on a weekday that isn’t a Thai public holiday (our holiday calendar has them). At Chaeng Watthana, book the online slot or be there before 08:00. 2. Copies and photo first if you don’t have them — the shops are by the entrance or on the ground floor. 3. Take a queue ticket at the tourist-extension counter (at Bangkok it’s a dedicated section; elsewhere the front desk hands them out), fill in anything on the TM.7 you missed, and wait. 4. Submit passport, form, photo, copies and accommodation proof; the officer checks the dates, may ask where you’re staying and what you’re doing, stamps the form and sends you to pay the ฿1,900 at the cashier. 5. Wait for the passport to come back — anything from twenty minutes at a provincial office to two or three hours at Chaeng Watthana — then check the new “admitted until” date before you leave the building; a wrong date fixed on the spot is a minute, fixed later is another morning. That’s it. Same day, no interview, no proof of funds for a tourist extension, no onward ticket demanded in the normal run of things.
What it really costs, and the agent question
The official fee is ฿1,900, the same at every office in the country; add ฿100–200 for photos and copies and the transport. “Visa agents” in tourist towns offer to do it for ฿2,500–4,500, and there are two kinds. The legitimate kind fills in the form, queues for you and drives you there — you still appear in person, because the law requires it — and for someone who hates queues that is an honest service. The other kind offers an extension stamp without you going to immigration at all. Don’t. Those stamps are either forged or obtained through someone who will eventually be arrested, and the person who gets caught is the one holding the passport at the airport. If the agent’s pitch includes “no need to go”, walk away. Our scams guide has the rest of the list.
After the 30 days: the honest options
At 90 days the tourist track ends. Leaving and coming back — the “visa run” — still works in the sense that a new entry gets a new stamp, but it is not the loophole it was: visa-exempt entries by land border have long been capped at two per calendar year, immigration officers can and do question serial short-stay entries at the airport, and a string of exemption stamps is the most common reason people are pulled aside. If Thailand is more than a holiday, get the visa that matches: a tourist visa from an embassy for a single longer trip, or the DTV for remote workers and long-stayers, which turns the question into 180-day stays. 90-day reporting and the TM30 become your paperwork then. The visa tool will tell you which door your passport opens.
If you overstay
Overstay is a fine of ฿500 a day, capped at ฿20,000, paid at immigration on departure — and an “overstay” stamp in your passport that every future officer will see. It escalates: overstay more than 90 days and then leave voluntarily and you’re barred for a year; more than a year, three years; more than three, five; more than five, ten. Get arrested while overstaying and the bans are longer. A day or two late with a genuine reason is a fine and a stern look; anything planned is a bad idea in a country that keeps records. If you’re about to overstay because something went wrong — illness, a cancelled flight — go to immigration before the date with the evidence; the seven-day “to depart” extension exists for exactly that.
Thailand visa extension: your questions, answered
How much does a visa extension cost in Thailand?
฿1,900, in cash, at any immigration office, for the standard 30-day extension of a visa-exempt entry or a single-entry tourist visa. Photos and copies add ฿100–200. Agents charge ฿2,500–4,500 to do the form and the queue for you; you still have to appear in person.
Can I extend the visa exemption (30 or 60 days)?
Yes — once, by 30 days, for ฿1,900, giving 90 days in total. If the announced cut to a 30-day exemption takes effect, the extension stays at 30 days, making 60 in total. A second 30-day extension isn’t granted; a seven-day extension to leave the country sometimes is.
Can I extend my Thai visa online?
No. In 2026 tourist extensions are done in person at an immigration office. Bangkok’s Chaeng Watthana office lets you book a queue slot online in advance, which cuts the wait, but you still attend with your passport. Anyone offering an extension “without going” is selling a forged stamp.
What documents do I need for a Thailand visa extension?
Passport plus signed copies of the photo page and your entry stamp or visa (and your TDAC confirmation if asked), a completed TM.7 form, one 4 × 6 cm photo, ฿1,900 cash, and proof of your accommodation — a hotel booking or the TM30 notification your host filed.
What happens if I overstay my visa in Thailand?
A fine of ฿500 a day up to ฿20,000, paid when you leave, plus an overstay stamp in your passport. Overstays beyond 90 days bring entry bans of one to ten years depending on length and whether you left voluntarily or were caught. If a problem is coming, go to immigration before the date, not after.
Related guides
- Thailand Visa Exemption 2026: 30 Days From 15 September — What Tourists Must Know
- Thailand Cuts Visa-Free Stays to 30 Days: Check Your Country
- Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC): The 5-Minute Form Everyone Panics About
- Thailand 90-Day Report & TM30: The Paperwork Explained
Before you go to immigration
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Proof of address: the easiest document to hand an officer is a hotel booking in your name — a refundable Agoda booking covers the “where are you staying” question cleanly, and hotels file your TM30 automatically. If you’d rather leave than extend: the land and air routes out and back are all on 12Go — but read the visa-run section above first. The longer answer for anyone staying past 90 days is the DTV guide. Not sure where the next stretch should be? Our Where to Go in Thailand matcher scores all 77 provinces against your month and what you actually want from the trip.
