Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Visa Runs and Border Runs. This is kind of a refresher video. I have done videos like this before, long ago, which seems like long ago; well at the same time it seems like only yesterday. It has been about two and a half years because Visa Runs and Border Runs have not been a common practice since we started dealing with the Emergency Decree back in March of 2020 because getting in and out of Thailand was in some cases almost impossible depending on the time frame you are talking about and then it got progressively easier although not without its own issues up until now where we are looking at the end of the Emergency Decree in October of 2022. Things are starting to open up quite a bit more. In fact it is starting to look like what it looked like quarter one of 2020. The reason for the video though, moving forward I suspect I will be talking about Visa Runs and Border Runs and I want folks to understand even though I have done this before, it has been years now so I thought I would make another video. I know people will say this is kind of a semantic point but it is really not.

In my mind, there is a difference between a Visa Run and a Border Run. A Border Run is literally what it sounds like. You run to the border, you cross, you are stamped out, you are stamped back in, you get another set of status, for example a 30-day stamp or maybe a 45-day stamp now that we are dealing with new Exemption Stamp guidelines but you just use the Border as the mechanism to affect that extra status. 

A Visa Run in my mind is generally getting on a plane, although you could do it by land. A lot of folks used to do it often up to Laos but basically you go across the border in order to go to an Embassy to get a proper Visa in order to come back. So that Visa may be a longer term Tourist Visa; it may be a Non-Immigrant Visa like a Thai Business Visa, Education Visa, O Marriage Visa, Retirement Visa depending on the context and then come back.

So when I start using these terms in the future and I have used them in the past, in my mind I am talking about two different things. A Visa Run is going to an Embassy or Consulate; getting an actual Visa issued and returning. A Border Run and simply hopping across the border, hopping back in and maintaining status through that mechanism. Again I know it sounds like a semantic point but what would lawyers be good for if not semantic points.