Thread: Quick question about 30 day visa on arrival

Originally Posted by taxexile

the e-visa site, which is down at the moment, offers a 90 day tourist visa, the 60 day visa does not seem to be available any more.

site back online now, and a 60 day tourist e visa is available.

I haven't bothered to get a type o visa or 60 days since it went online. Would be interested to know how easy the application was. If it is as straightforward as the covid pass then I'll go that way.

For the last couple of extended visas I did, I bought the tickets for a 30 day trip and then extended the return for free once I had my 90 day marriage extension.

the process is a bit frustrating.

if i remember correctly, you must use either google chrome or firefox, and loading the documents can be a bit hit and miss. only jpgs accepted.

it's certainly a lot more convenient than dealing with the embassy or one of the consulates.


this video explains the process clearly and concisely.

Originally Posted by taxexile

cyrille


that bogus "onwards ticket" thing could be very useful.

Originally Posted by cyrille

^^Wrong.

The visa exemption can be extended by a month for 1,900 baht at your local immigration.

Theoretically, when you arrive you should have a return ticket within your thirty days, though in practice this is rarely enforced for visitors from the UK.

There are quite a few sites around now to help you 'achieve this' for just a few bucks.

http://https://onwardticketvisa.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4db4lJXy_wIV_ZpmAh1PcgnyEAAYAyA AEgLh7PD_BwE

Why pay someone to essentially design/edit a pdf for you?

It’s cheap and it works.

Originally Posted by DrWilly

Why pay someone to essentially design/edit a pdf for you?

Probably the same reason as why some people use visa agents.

They don't need to do diddlysquat. Some are happy to spend their time, some prefer to spend their money.

On the point about return tickets being required for outbound travel from the UK, does anyone know what the actual rules are?

I live in Thailand on a 'retirement visa'. I'm not married and no longer working. I plan a short visit to UK later this year, at which point my Thai visa will have 6 months to run. Could I be asked to show a Thailand-UK ticket when boarding in London?

I have been asked before and just brushed it off. Who writes the rules, where are they?

You will have a re-entry permit, and time left on your extension. No worries.

Originally Posted by aging one

You will have a re-entry permit, and time left on your extension. No worries.

Thanks. That is the way I see it. It just nags at me that there is no clarity. If you need a 'return' ticket to the UK within your Thailand visa period when leaving, even though you have no plan ever to return, it seems that it oughtn't make a difference whether your visa period is 60 days or 180 days. I don't know anyone who has ever been refused boarding but I have been asked and I'd be interested to know what rules apply.

It's the airline's problem, and it seems much more likely to be a problem when flying from the US.

As ao confirmed, you will have a re-entry permit, so no problem.

Originally Posted by cyrille

As ao confirmed, you will have a re-entry permit, so no problem.

Originally Posted by aging one

You will have a re-entry permit, and time left on your extension. No worries.

Thanks gents.

Originally Posted by cyrille

As ao confirmed, you will have a re-entry permit, so no problem.

He will not have that without applying for one at an immigration office, single re-entry permit is 1000baht and multiple is 3800baht.
Leaving Thailand without a re-entry permit voids his remaining 6 month of permit to stay.

Originally Posted by Molle

Leaving Thailand without a re-entry permit voids his remaining 6 month of permit to stay.

And in such a case has to start the whole Non-Imm visa process from scratch.

Originally Posted by Molle

He will not have that without applying for one at an immigration office, single re-entry permit is 1000baht and multiple is 3800baht.
Leaving Thailand without a re-entry permit voids his remaining 6 month of permit to stay.

Yeah, few people here need such obvious things pointing out, and shutree isn’t one of them.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Yeah, few people here need such obvious things pointing out, and shutree isn’t one of them.

Especially since he went to Taiwan in April during the hot spell. Did a nice thread as well. But noobies you know...

Originally Posted by cyrille

Yeah, few people here need such obvious things pointing out, and shutree isn’t one of them.

I am encouraged by your confidence. In fact, when I had my first NonImm some years back I rocked up at the airport having never heard of a re-entry permit. Fortunately the Immigration people were very helpful, explained the issue then took me to the naughty boys' room with all the overstayers and sorted out the re-entry permit at the standard fee, with plenty of time to catch my flight. Lesson learned. These days I get one at the same desk where I renew my annual visa, then I don't have to think about it. One never knows when one might have to leave at short notice.

thai immigration can be pedantic jobsworths.

some friends who had spent 3 months in the country as tourists were fined for overstay at the airport as they departed

their crime? their flight was scheduled to leave at 00.05am, 5 minutes after their visas expired.

Originally Posted by Shutree

Thanks. That is the way I see it. It just nags at me that there is no clarity. If you need a 'return' ticket to the UK within your Thailand visa period when leaving, even though you have no plan ever to return, it seems that it oughtn't make a difference whether your visa period is 60 days or 180 days. I don't know anyone who has ever been refused boarding but I have been asked and I'd be interested to know what rules apply.

The Thai embassy websites all state that those seeking to enter the Kingdom under the visa exemption regime as a citizen of a qualifying country must hold a passport of at least six months duration before expiry and hold evidence of onward travel within the 30 days proposed stay ……….

There is no ambiguity. It is quite clear. This requirement only applies to those who hold no visa to enter the Kingdom.

Originally Posted by taxexile

thai immigration can be pedantic jobsworths.

some friends who had spent 3 months in the country as tourists were fined for overstay at the airport as they departed

their crime? their flight was scheduled to leave at 00.05am, 5 minutes after their visas expired.

Happened to me, back in the day. I postponed a departure and foozled my new ticketing overlooking the fact my new departure time lurched into overstay. The immigration officer was on the point of stamping me out when he stood up suddenly as if someone had shoved a finger up his arse and cried out “ overstay!” looking as if he had won the fucking lottery. I was marched out to the shift boss who somewhat sheepishly asked me for , as I recall, 100 baht. Got a receipt though and a red squiggle on my embark stamp. I suppose every satang counted for him.

Originally Posted by taxexile

thai immigration can be pedantic jobsworths.

some friends who had spent 3 months in the country as tourists were fined for overstay at the airport as they departed

their crime? their flight was scheduled to leave at 00.05am, 5 minutes after their visas expired.

How's that possible? Surely they'd be at the gate by then so would still have been in time.

dont ask me , ask immigration. thai officials are a law unto themselves.

once when extending a visa, in the bad old days of soi suan phlu, the officious gimlet eyed bint that i was dealing with noticed that the entry stamp in my passport had not been "signed" by the officer on arrival at the airport, (after stamping the passport the officer should initial the dated stamp.) and i was told my entry stamp was therefore invalid and she was adamant that in order to validate it i would need to go back to the airport find the officer and ask him to initial it. how could i find the same officer almost 2 months after i arrived i asked. she just handed me back my passport and walked off, didnt ask for money or anything.

next day i went to don meuang, which was the international airport in those days, and explained my problem to an official who arranged for me to be taken to the immigration processing centre down in the bowels of the airport where in a room piled high to the ceiling with paperwork ( this was before computers) and packed full of penpushing officers clacking away on typewriters, an immigration official grudgingly initialled my entry stamp.

so being penalised for a 5 minute overstay does not surprise me in the least.

officers of the state, every state, have power over us proles and often choose to use it.

Tax, you must have been bit of a pussy in dem days. I got the runaround up at Laksi after waiting for eight hours in the queue, it was their first year after moving from Suan Plu, and was told my application was premature by two weeks. This was bollox according to their own website and the law ( I have never suffered from premature application! ) and I demanded to speak to the “ Captain”. It was as if I had sounded the knell of doom and the crack of thunder could be heard …..” You wanna see the …….Captain?” I was eventually granted an audience whereupon I made my case to which the Captain, a very smart and well preserved woman in her early 50s, pondered heavily for what seemed an age and then agreed that I should be granted my extension. She nevertheless fixed me with a steely glare and with a flash of her talon like vermillion painted fingernails handed back my passport and warned me not to jump the gun the next year.
On the whole I found the encounter in retrospect to be somewhat arousing in that sado/masochistic sort of way. Her figure was very fine indeed and she wore that form hugging uniform skirt sporting a pair of fine legs to boot.

Originally Posted by armstrong

How's that possible? Surely they'd be at the gate by then so would still have been in time.

In those days, I remember immigration stamping entry based on departure date from initial destination and exit based on departure date and not on date of arrival/departure at immigration. I got caught out by it, being a day overdue due to this. However, they just wrote the discrepancy in my passport and I didn't have to pay a fine. I guess I was one of the lucky ones.

Anyway, my next trip is coming up and its for 30 days with departure at 0:50 so we'll see what happens.

Originally Posted by Seekingasylum

Tax, you must have been bit of a pussy in dem days. I got the runaround up at Laksi after waiting for eight hours in the queue, it was their first year after moving from Suan Plu, and was told my application was premature by two weeks. This was bollox according to their own website and the law ( I have never suffered from premature application! ) and I demanded to speak to the “ Captain”. It was as if I had sounded the knell of doom and the crack of thunder could be heard …..” You wanna see the …….Captain?” I was eventually granted an audience whereupon I made my case to which the Captain, a very smart and well preserved woman in her early 50s, pondered heavily for what seemed an age and then agreed that I should be granted my extension. She nevertheless fixed me with a steely glare and with a flash of her talon like vermillion painted fingernails handed back my passport and warned me not to jump the gun the next year.
On the whole I found the encounter in retrospect to be somewhat arousing in that sado/masochistic sort of way. Her figure was very fine indeed and she wore that form hugging uniform skirt sporting a pair of fine legs to boot.

So basically you were annoying enough that they just let your error go to get rid of you?