VISA CHANGES For people entering Thailand by land

Post #250
The visa being mentioned would mean no, or reduced charge, at the Consulate when you apply for a visa in the normal manner. But ideas can change greatly between announcement and approval time so what actually happens could be very different.

Yes , it seems from Thai authoritie's point of view a tourist visa has to be applied for in advance . Tend to doubt they will change that mindset .

VISA ON ARRIVAL is just for those nationalities who don't qualify for visa free 30 day stamp.

overall i think it's good news.

getting rid of the 90 days in 180 rule makes life easier even if it does mean u have to do visa runs every 2 weeks

can we get visa extensions?

or is it just 15 days.

end of.
finito.

An exemption is not a visa. If you apply in advance you receive a tourist visa which allows you to stay in Thailand for 60 days and possibly get a 30-day extension.

Arriving on an exemption (which is NOT a Visa on Arrival - it's not any kind of visa), you're allowed to stay for 30 days if coming in by air, or 15 days if coming in by land. Normally no extension possible (except for medical or emergency reasons).

Actually most immigration offices have provided a 7 day extension of stay on a 30 day visa exempt entry if you could show tickets out in that period of time.

Thats right , the visa-exemption used to be extendable for 10 days at cost of 1900 baht , last year it was reduced to 7 days . It may be a formal requirement that its conditional on ticket out , but i have never met anyone who said they were asked for ticket when they extended their visa exempt entry.

Hi,

Sorry if this is a question that has been asked before. I am a UK passport holder, currently in Laos, and was planning on entering Thailand at Pakse in about a weeks time (can't stay in Laos longer without a visa extension). I was intending on staying in Thailand for 3 weeks, then have a flight out of Bangkok heading back towards the UK :-( Call me stupid but have only just heard about this 15 day visa thing - last time I went it was 30!

Has anyone bought a 30 day visa in Laos? I gather there are consulates in Vientiane and Savannhaket, but has anyone used an agent elsewhere (e.g. Pakse) to arrange one? This was my plan, but the British foreign office website has scared me by saying these visas could be illegal...

Help!

A visa for UK passport would allow a 60 day stay - not 30. I do not believe they generally allow 3rd party application (as is normal in other parts of the world) so expect it could well be fake if you use such a service. But you only have to cross a border/return to get 2nd 15 day stay - with proof of onward flights you might even be able to obtain a 7 day extension of stay from an immigration office inside Thailand if exactly 3 weeks you need.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice, I only need 6 extra days to be exact! Have been looking at another site (www.thaivisa.com/forum) and the discussion on there seems to say that you can definitely get a 7 day visa at immigration, with proof of an onwards flight, 1900 baht & a passport photo... here's hoping! Am planning on spending most of my time scuba diving & relaxing on the islands so don't really want to have to drag myself away to do an overseas visa run! I'll post and let you know how I get on.