Thailand Travel VisaThe Thailand travel visa situation seems to change a bit too often for some people's liking! So any changes and I'll keep you updated. Just to let you know, this page was last updated in August, 2010. If you're from one of these countries (the list includes America, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Italy, etc) and you're flying into Thailand, you'll automatically get 30 days travel time in Thailand. You won't need to visit a Thailand Embassy in your home country (or wherever you're flying from). There will be no charge for entering the country. All you'll need is your passport valid for at least 6 Months. Some lucky countries (Brazil, Chile, Peru, Argentina and South Korea) get 90 free days. Others get 15....lots of countries need to apply for a visa in their home country. For more information, visit www.mfa.go.th. (opens in new window) (click on 'English' to change from the Thai language).
If you're just on a 1 day to 4 week holiday, life is simple. Arrive, leave, no problem! It's worth saying this is unlikely to change in the future - this hasn't changed for many years. It's possible to stay a further 7 days. See below for more info.
Only 15 Days for Overland JourneysWhat has changed recently is if you're arriving overland from a neighboring country. For many years, you could get 30 days free travel in Thailand. Not now. Only 15 Days. For years, thousands of travelers made a monthly trip to a border crossing and came back into Thailand, usually the same day. Now, only getting 15 days, if you want to stay in the country for a long time, it makes A LOT OF SENSE to get a Thailand travel visa. Thailand Travel VisaIt might be sensible to get your Thai visa from the Thailand embassy in your home country. Just type in 'Royal Thai Embassy' and your country/city into Google and you'll quickly find the address for your country. Click here for more information on this. Many countries have more than 1 embassy/consulate (a country will often have the main embassy in the capital and then smaller consulates in other cities) making life easier...for instance, the UK has 7, including Gibraltar. Buying a Thai tourist visa will give you 60 days in the country. You'll then have until the date shown on the visa to enter. The date will be about 3 months from when you first got it. The usual cost from neighboring countries to Thailand (eg: Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia) is 1000 baht (about $US33). However, from the 25th June 2009 to March 2010, the tourist visa from any country throughout the world was FREE!!. In the middle of April, 2010, the government announced that this free visa will be extended until March 31st, 2011. In neighboring countries (eg: Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia) tourists can now get the free visa. The Thai government seems to be trying to attract tourists back to the country after visitor numbers have fallen recently. However, this doesn't seem to be the case in all embassies around the world. I contacted the Thai Embasssy in London in May, 2010 and there was a charge (about 30 English pounds - I can imagine that if the UK is charging, so will other Western countries...).
You can extend the visa another 30 days by visiting a Thai immigration office throughout the country so you shouldn't need to travel a long way from wherever you are. Most medium sized towns have an immigration office, including Nong Khai, Phuket, Koh Samui, Hat Yai and Krabi. Often the process is much quicker in the medium sized towns than it is in the cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai. For me, 2 hours in Chiang Mai compared to half an hour in Nong Khai. The address for the new immigration office in Bangkok, which opened on the 28th of September, 2009, (you can't use the old one that was on South Sathorn Road) is: Building B, Tel: +66 (0)2 141 9889 And for Chiang Mai in the north, find the office just 200 meters from the entrance to the airport (see my map of Chiang Mai). The price, in February 2009, for the 30 day extension was 1,900 Thai baht (about 55 dollars US). You can extend for another 7 days at a Thai immigration office, making your stay 97 days, but this extra week will cost you a further 1900 baht. If you're staying for just 15 or 30 days, (ie: NO TOURIST VISA) you can also extend this for 7 days by visiting one of the immigration offices, costing 1,900 baht. So if you're happy with 90/97 days in Thailand, it's best to get a visa before entering the country. If you're thinking to spend between 3 and 4 months, you could fly in, get your free 30 days, then leave to a neighboring country and get a 60 day tourist visa (should be free now until March 31st, 2011) which, as mentioned, you can extend for a further 37 days. Or you could get a double entry tourist visa.
Double Entry VisaThousands of tourists stay even longer; many are expats living here. Most now will get a DOUBLE ENTRY tourist visa.It usually costs 2,000 baht and means you can leave the country and return on another two month visa. There is a strong possibility the double entry visa is FREE. Although, officially, the free visa is just for single entry, it seems many are able to get the double entry visa free too (In, Vientiane, in July, 2009, the double entry was free).. I'll keep you updated on this!. If you also get the 30 day extensions, it means you can stay for a whole 6 months and only have to leave the country one time. The time that you do leave, you can return to Thailand on the same day if you wish - you won't have to spend time visiting the Thai embassy in that country. Make sure you put X2 in big print on the top of your application form and make it clear to the immigration officer that you want 2 entries. This type of visa is not 'advertised' at the immigration office and is only available from some Thai embassies or consulates. In Vientiane, Laos, you can. You can only get it at one place in Malaysia: Kota Bharu. You cannot get it in Penang or Kuala Lumpur. In Phnom Penh, the situation seems to change but recently (March 2009) you could. I'm not sure about embassies and consulates in other countries - think about contacting the embassy....many places will, I think, issue 2 entries if you apply in person. Important to note is that you must make the 2 entries into Thailand within the date shown on the visa. (shown as 'Enter Before' on your visa stamp in your passport). What might confuse you (it confused me!) is that you might find that after extending for 30 days, you're actually allowed to stay in Thailand longer than the date shown on the visa....don't make the mistake of leaving at the last date allowed only to find that to 'claim' your second 2 month entry, you had to have returned back to Thailand a few days before! For instance, I got a 30 day extension recently on the first entry of a double entry visa which allowed me to stay in Thailand until May 17th, 2009. But the 'enter before' date on my visa was May 14th, 2009. So I had to leave early to claim my second entry - I left and came back into Thailand on May 13th, just to be safe....) Make sure you don't overstay in Thailand...you could end up in an immigration detention center temporarily if your passport happens to be checked before you reach a border or an airport. If you do overstay, every day will cost you 500 Thai baht. (they'll forgive you one day if you're flying out). I've heard if you're planning to work overseas anywhere, it doesn't look good to potential employers if you've overstayed in a country. Getting the Thai Visa from Embassies and Consulates
Click on any one of the above links to find out more. You'll need a passport valid for 6 months, 2 passport sized photos. You shouldn't now need money for the visa until March 31st, 2011 see above) (usually, it will be between $30-50 US depending on where you get it from, although it's beginning to be more normal for the visa to be free!) and if you want to be extra safe, 20,000 Thai baht (40,000 baht for families) - about $600/$1,200 US as proof of financial means ....see the 'getting the Thailand travel visa from you home country' link above for more information about this. In the Vientiane Consulate, on the application form, you're asked to provide an address for where you're staying in Thailand. I'm not sure whether you'll be asked for this in other countries but they were strict on this (a couple approached me for 'any' address at this consulate after their form was refused). So just to be safe, do a quick internet search (or look on my website!) and write down a hotel address in Thailand...you won't need to have a booking or any proof that you're staying here. (i.e: you don't need to stay at the place you might have to write on your form). See the sample form I photographed at the Vientiane Consulate below (see part 4: 'place of stay in Thailand') To see this form larger, click here. Also on this page is a similar visa form from the Thai Consulate in Saigon, (Ho Chi Minh City) Vietnam.
One popular destination to get the tourist visa from is Vientiane, the capital of Laos. (see the text link above for details about getting the visa here). For a brief guide to Vientiane, click here. To see a map of the city and details of hotels, guesthouses, temples, restaurants, the Thai Consulate location and more, click here. Other popular places include Kuala Lumpur and Penang island in Malaysia and Phnom Penh in Cambodia. In Vientiane, there's a real lack of accommodation. Noisy hotel developers do seem to be fixing this though! Many tourists struggle with their backpacks or luggage from one full guesthouse or hotel to another so I thought an accommodation guide would be helpful. Cheap (if required) and plentiful accommodation can be found in Penang and Phnom Penh. Budget accommodation is a bit higher priced in Kuala Lumpur but there shouldn't be too many full guesthouses and plenty of rooms available in hotels. Return from Thailand Travel Visa to Homepage.
|
