Does anyone have current information? any official understandable explanations as to what is the current policy.
Friends on the road are reporting that the policy for Tourist Visas has just been changed again.
Until about a year ago - tourist visas were 30 days - no questions or conditions just stamped in.
Now:
Something like - 30 days if flying in; 15 days if arriving from an adjacent country, no stays of more than 3 months in a 6 month period.
Seem like Thailand is trying to destroy what is left of their tourism industry after the airports ground to a halt a month ago.
Does anyone have official information? something in clear English would be a bonus 😊
Reply to this The 30 days if arriving at an airport is correct.If arriving by land;car,walking etc it is now 15 days.You can arrive from an adjacent country by air and you still get the 30 days.Not sure about the 3 months in 6 month period-someone else will probably know about this.It certainly makes it harder but the new visa laws are aimed at long term people who just do border runs to get a stamp in their passport.
Reply to this Yeah Ali, as wrote you a few days ago, it seems that entering Thailand from an adjacent country guarantees a mere 15 days visa instead of the classic 30 days. According to the piece of paper pegged to the immigration office's box on the Thai/Malaysian border this new rule (not as new, apparently it dates back to october 2008 but nobody had ever heard about) should apply to any form of transport, inlcuding flying. In reality a friend of mine flew in from Laos and got the good old 30 days thai free visa. So nothing is to be taken for granted and there are even rumours that on some less frequented border posts officiers still grant 30 days visas!
So, just... good luck
Marco
Reply to this Ali,
we were coming back to Thailand via bus and ferry and had to change our itinerary to fly in because we needed more than 15 days. That realy sucked for us, but fortunately we found out about the change two days prior to our departure from Cambodi.
I was recently talking with a local from Chaing Mai and she said the goverment was trying to disourage the number of backapkers because they felt they stayed too long and didn't spend enough money. This change re-enforces this mindset. She also said they were trying to encourage more of the upscale and business travelers who only stay a short time and spend lots of money.
We had a great discussion about how backpacker do support the local ecomony. Upscale travels stay in 5-star hotels and all of the profits go to corporate exectutive. They eat in franchised restaurants and the money goes in the pockets of wealthy owners. They shop in the mega malls and money spen goes to corporate owners. Backpackers stay in family owned guesthouses. Eat from family owned street vendors, and buy beads and trinkets from people trying to make a living. We both agreed that backpackers sutainmany families in Thiland and not corportate executives who are part of the corrupt Thai government problems.
Reply to this yep I read that Fact And I know that the Changing is From travel Policy Permission .. and U do not worry about
Reply to this I didn't see this topic until now - but contains the same information and some further reading.
The Thai authorities have been nit picking and changing this and that for around 4 years now. One always needs to double check the latest visa news before going to Thailand these days.
''Thai visa Chaos'' describes the Thai visa policies well
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