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Visas for Thailand Jon writes..."‘Do I need a visa to visit Thailand?’ is one of the most commonly asked questions on the gapyear.com messageboards. And it's easy to understand why. Thailand’s visa rules can seem a little confusing, but hopefully I’ll be able to shed some light on the subject for you. There are two fundamental visa options for a visitor to Thailand from most Western countries (including the UK): 1. Arrive without a visa and get a free 30 day entry stamp on arrival, which can later be extended by up to 10 days at an immigration post in Thailand. 2. Apply to a Thai consulate for a visa before you travel. Details on types of visa and how to apply for them are given below. Important change: Visa Runs It used to be that you could arrive in Thailand with no proof of onward travel, be granted a free 30-day entry stamp, and extend your stay indefinitely by popping over the border and back every month to renew your entry stamp. This is no longer the case. You are still able to do up to two visa runs, extending your stay up to a maximum of 90 days, but the next time you leave the country you will not be permitted to return for a further 90 days. Because you now have to have proof of onward travel within 30 days to even be issued with one of these entry stamps, visa runs are also fairly pointless except to allow short-term travellers to visit neighbouring countries without too much red tape.  So, do you need a visa or not? I’ve got a flight out of Thailand booked within 30 days of arrival. You don’t need a visa. Thai immigration officials will issue you with a 30 day entry stamp on arrival in Thailand. I plan to stay for less than 40 days and I don’t have an onward flight within 30 days of arrival. It used to be that this was determined by whether your airline required that you have either an onward ticket or a visa. However, Thai immigration officials have recently tightened up their regulations, so you need to have already arranged a visa if you can't prove that you have a flight booked to leave from an airport within Thailand in 30 days or under. NB: It HAS to be a flight and it HAS to leave from Thailand. I plan to stay for more than 40 days. Please see above. You need to have arranged a visa before you get on your plane. We recommend contacting your nearest Thai consulate, rather than their main embassy as the service is generally quicker and more efficient. The only way around this is to rearrange your return flight or the next leg of your around the world trip after you have been admitted to Thailand and then do your two visa runs (if you want to stay the full 90 days, you will have to rearrange flights twice). This is a grey area, inconvenient, expensive and much more hassle than just buying a 60 day tourist visa and paying for the number of 'entries' you want. We'd recommend you just bite the bullet and shell out for your visa.  I plan to travel around South East Asia and re-enter Thailand several timesBecause of the new limits on visa runs, you need to plan your route more carefully. You may exit and re-enter Thailand twice. The next time you go, you will need to stay gone for 90 days. For those of you who are planning to purchase your tourist visa in advance, it is important that you have in mind a general route in advance, as visa costs vary depending on the number of times you need to re-enter Thailand (see below). It's possible to save money by avoiding needless border crossings. Tourist visas Tourist visas allow you to spend up to 60 days in Thailand per entry. You can apply for tourist visas allowing between one and four entries to the country: the charge is £25 per entry, payable when you buy the visa, not on entering the country. A single entry visa is valid for three months, while a multiple entry visa is valid for six months. Visas can be extended by up to a month at immigration offices in Thailand. You can download an application form for a tourist visa and get more information on applying for one from the website of the Thailand’s embassy in the UK. Click here >> to download the application form  Important warningDo not overstay your visa in Thailand, even by a few hours. If you want to stay longer, get the visa extended or do a visa run before you visa expires. Some travellers may tell you that overstaying your visa by a few days isn’t a problem and that you’ll just have to pay a fine of 500 baht a day. While it is true that you will just be fined if you turn up at the airport or border with an expired visa, if you are discovered with an out-of-date visa in any other circumstances you will be arrested and detained at the Immigration Detention Centre - an exceptionally grim place which Amnesty International has been campaigning to have closed for a long time. Your detention will continue until you are deported - a process which can take months. There is a real danger of being caught if your visa is out of date. Thai police sometimes carry out drugs raids on hostels and cheap hotels, and immigration officers also carry out random immigration checks from time to time. You would also have to produce your passport if you were involved in an accident or you reported (or were arrested for) a crime. Don’t take the risk!"  Click here >> to download an application form for a tourist visa Click here >> if you still have a question about Thai visas - post in on our Thailand messageboard! Click here >> for more Thailand information Click here >> for volunteering opportunities in Thailand |
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