Research the visa-run situation before choosing where you’ll live

People who are moving to another country that have a residence permit organized before they even leave won’t need to worry about this, but for the increasing numbers of people who want to live abroad without going through all that paperwork, the “visa run” is a very important factor for choosing a destination.

While just knowing that you can renew a Tourist Visa every 60 or 90 days is nice to learn, the specifics of exactly how you get that new visa sticker are very important. From one city to another you might find that there is a 10 or 12 hour difference in the overall process, and that can really get tiresome and annoying after the first time or two.

What is a Visa Run

Most determined expats already know this, but just to explain it for those who might not, a Visa Run is a trip across a border that allows a visitor to get a new visa and therefore another length of time they are legally allowed to stay in their newly-adopoted country. It’s common that a Visa Run is done on land, by bus or train to a frontier city in a neighboring country, but it can also be a flight into another country and then a return flight, often only a few hours later.

Not all visa-runs are the same, obviously

Before deciding on where you’ll live in a new country it’s wise to fully research the situation for getting a visa renewal. Bangkok is an extremely common home for foreigners getting consecutive Tourist Visas, and that’s partly because it’s quite an easy place for a Visa Run. Most people hop on a special (quite comfortable) Visa Run Bus that leaves Bangkok in the morning and arrives at the Cambodian border about 4 hours later. The bus is back in Bangkok before dinner, and the cost of the whole thing is only about US$30, so it’s a full day every 90 days, but at least a well organized one.

From Bangkok you can also take a flight anywhere and back, but even with the well-run Air Asia having a hub there, a round-trip flight to Phnom Penh or KL or Singapore is going to cost a lot more than US$30. And when you factor all the security lines plus the Immigration control time it’s also going to take most of a day as well.

A worse situation would be somewhere like Luang Prabang, which is a lovely city in Laos, but it takes a full day to get to the border at a minimum, and then a full day to get back. And unfortunately in Laos there is no such thing as a “cheap flight” so even a round-trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand might cost US$200 or more. Vientiane, on the other hand, is practically walking distance to the Thai border, so a visa run might only take an hour or two.

The important thing is to do a lot of research, most likely on expat forums for the specific city you are considering, to see what people are saying about the visa-run situation. It can change from one month to the next, where suddenly the closest border is no longer processing walk-ups who just entered the country, so get the most up-to-date information possible.

In the countries that allow repeat Tourist Visas to be issued there always seems to be talk of changes in policy, so you should also investigate the history and probably future of that situation. It does seem to go back and forth, rather than just in one direction or the other, so there’s usually hope. Still, it’s wise to figure out a backup plan in case the easy option suddenly closes down.

A specific case worth considering

For the past 6 months I’ve been living in the small town of Kas, Turkey, and one of its many benefits is that there is a tiny Greek Island (called Meis) just beyond the harbor here. It’s a 30-minute trip from shore to shore, but unfortunately it only goes there and back once a day. It leaves at 10am and returns by 4pm, giving you about 5 hours in the adorable Greek village to have a long lunch before descending on the Duty Free shop for your return. This is just about as good as visa runs get.

However, if I were living in Antalya, which is a 3-hour bus ride away, this island of Meis is still the closest border, so you’d have to add 6 hours on a bus to the trip every 90 days, plus the extra waiting time and hassles that come along with transferring from one mode to another. That makes for a very long day, and is a factor that may make living in Kas more desirable than other nearby cities. Something to think about.

Visa Runs won’t work in many places

Hopefully it’s obvious that not every country allows visitors to get consecutive Tourist Visas by leaving the country for a few hours. Most notably, the Schengen Zone (which is most of Western Europe) only allows a visitor to stay 90 days in any 180 day period. India has a similar scheme meant to discourage Visa Runs.

So interestingly, on my own Visa Run from Turkey to Greece, I’m totally fine doing this every 90 days (although there is talk of a change), yet someone living on the Greek Island couldn’t come to Turkey for a Visa Run unless they’d already spent 3 of the prior 6 months outside the Schengen Zone.

Overstaying Tourist Visas

Recently someone contacted me for advice about a “digital nomad” trip of their own, and it turned out they’d never heard of the Schengen Zone and the 90/180 day rule. Just like everywhere else, ignorance is no excuse when they are enforcing laws.

This fellow asked what would happen if he just ignored the rule, and it reminded me that I’ve never once heard anyone say that was a good idea. I suggested he ask on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree, and unsurprisingly he was insulted and berated by the bitter regulars there, partly because they all thought ignoring the visa rules was a terrible idea as well.

Of course, many people do ignore the visa rules, often accidentally. In some cases the people do get away with it, but more likely you’ll face a stiff fine and very possibly a ban from returning to that country for a long period, if not your entire life. Unless you are quite sure that they never check, it’s usually not worth risking it by overstaying on purpose.

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