Good news for holders of UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy

[Mario2008]

Q: Exactly what does one do at the Immigration Office to get the 7-day extension, and how far in advance of the expiration of the 30-day visa exempt entry can it be requested? Any Jomtien office-specific info would also be appreciated.

You can do that even on the last day. You show up during office hours with passport and 1,900 Baht. If pictures are needed (I think they are), have them taken there. You can obtain a 7 days, no-reason given extension only once. After, it's border run or overstay.

I don't want to do it on the last day. How far in ADVANCE can I do it?

it is not an extension but an administrative trick, do it 1 or 2 days in advance.

[teacherofwoe]

...Just before I left Thailand on Dec 7 I stopped in to one of the Pattaya Visa companies and she still did not know of the change from 15 to 30 days, but she made a call and then said, yes it is 30 days now for those G-7 country citizens.

I can't understand how some people think they can operate a visa run company without reading our visa forum first thing every morning.

I had my O visa extension declined yesterday at Chiang Mai Immigration. The officer told me that I could go to Mae Sai and get a 15 day entry so that I could then convert it to a non o visa in Bangkok. She is obviously unaware about the change.

[meljan45]

Good News… Maybe some day they will give 60 days… I know, wishful thinking...

. Can a uk person renew his passport in Nathon Koh Samui for 3weeks? Thankyou

"Renew his passport" - No. But am guessing that wasn't actually what you were trying to ask?

should have said can you renew a tourist visa for 3weeks at Nathon Koh Samui

[zib]

My Swedish friend just got 30 days going from Laos to Nong Khai.. And Sweden is not on that list

[Maestro]

Interesting. Let's hear from other Swedish nationals what they now get on a visa-exempt entry via land boarder.

[Maestro]

Another report about somebody, nationality not mentioned, getting 30 days on a land border is here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/692986-30-day-visa-exempt-stamp-from-land-boarder/#entry7225843

[ubonjoe]

Just an error by the immigration officer. Perhaps he picked up the wrong stamp. It happens all time.

[visarunner]

My Swedish friend just got 30 days going from Laos to Nong Khai.. And Sweden is not on that list

Assume the officer mixed up the stamp.

If possible go back and do adjustment.

If you use a wrong stamp you will pay for the incurred overstay.

[ubonjoe]

My Swedish friend just got 30 days going from Laos to Nong Khai.. And Sweden is not on that list

Assume the officer mixed up the stamp.

If possible go back and do adjustment.

If you use a wrong stamp you will pay for the incurred overstay.

They will not notice a wrong stamp on departure unless it was months wrong. A fifteen day error would not be a problem.

[paz]

They will not notice a wrong stamp on departure unless it was months wrong. A fifteen day error would not be a problem.

Hopefully, but I think it's also quite possible having to pay up to Bt 7,500 because they made a mistake but one took advange of it. It's not like they are there to let people get away with anything.

[bob4you]

Removed an off-topic post and reply to it.

i'm one of those mentioned in the topic: "Good news for holders of UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy"

and i made it clear & reported my personal experience with these "Good news". as response to a post by Somtamnication, on 01 Dec 2013 - 07:41

"Not good enough. Koreans get 90 days at land borders" and ubonjoe's reply 08:06:

"That is because of a bilateral agreement. Thais get the same when going to Korea"

the topic was neither about koreans, nor about bilateral agreements nor about what thais get in korea

it was about the land crossing of 7 nationals. if you do a visa run overland, you NEED to enter a foreign country like eg malaysia in the south

and filippinos enter thailand just like koreans do, with a bilateral agreement. comparisons should be allowed & not censored

we can expect more 'good news' for ASEAN, of which thailand is a proud member & perhaps wants to be at least as good as myanmar.

On a land border crossing any Filipinos gotten more that 15 days, if so how many. Thai's get 30 day visa on arrival in PI, but no such thing as a land crossing as PI is all islands.

[Mario2008]

For Philippinos nothing has changed.

[hawker9000]

Removed an off-topic post and reply to it.

i'm one of those mentioned in the topic: "Good news for holders of UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy"

and i made it clear & reported my personal experience with these "Good news". as response to a post by Somtamnication, on 01 Dec 2013 - 07:41

"Not good enough. Koreans get 90 days at land borders" and ubonjoe's reply 08:06:

"That is because of a bilateral agreement. Thais get the same when going to Korea"

the topic was neither about koreans, nor about bilateral agreements nor about what thais get in korea

it was about the land crossing of 7 nationals. if you do a visa run overland, you NEED to enter a foreign country like eg malaysia in the south

and filippinos enter thailand just like koreans do, with a bilateral agreement. comparisons should be allowed & not censored

we can expect more 'good news' for ASEAN, of which thailand is a proud member & perhaps wants to be at least as good as myanmar.

On a land border crossing any Filipinos gotten more that 15 days, if so how many. Thai's get 30 day visa on arrival in PI, but no such thing as a land crossing as PI is all islands.

No "land crossings" per se, but there is a ferry service between one of the southern islands and Borneo or somewhere...

[hathairat2711]

I'm enquiring on behalf of a friend who intends to stay long term in Thailand.

If indeed 30 day non-exempt entries are unlimited, what is the cheapest way in which to action these monthly runs?

I myself, am currently on an ED visa from a non-immigrant O multiple visa and from my experience over the years I have stayed in Thailand, I have suggested to him that the cheapest way is to bus travel from Mo-Chit or get the bus from Future Park, Rangsit and travel to aranyapretate which can be done in a day.

Cost of this trip very approximate:

Say round bus trip to Aran 360

Tuk tuk to border 100

Cambodian visa 1,000

Total 1,460 So let's say 1,500 to 2,000 baht monthly.

If this is the cheapest way, it would mean after 12 months stay in Thailand he would have 12 Cambodian visas using 12 pages of his passport. I would have thought that immigration would be concerned at the number of Cambodian visas in his passport.

I understand that he can go by way of the double entry tourist visa route but I am only talking about the 30 day NE visa entries.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Edited January 19, 2014 by hathairat2711

[steve187]

Cambodian e-visa would save pages in passport

[hathairat2711]

Thanks Steve.

[hathairat2711]

Thanks Steve.

Oops. Do you have the correct link?

[ubonjoe]

I can't recommend doing continuous border runs. It makes no sense to me because of the time and money wasted. One trip to Vientiane for a 2 entry visa gives almost 6 months with one border run and 2 trips to immigration for a 30 day extension.

The e-visa for Cambodia is a good option but you have to be sure and use the official website. http://evisa.mfaic.gov.kh/

[hathairat2711]

I can't recommend doing continuous border runs. It makes no sense to me because of the time and money wasted. One trip to Vientiane for a 2 entry visa gives almost 6 months with one border run and 2 trips to immigration for a 30 day extension.

The e-visa for Cambodia is a good option but you have to be sure and use the official website. http://evisa.mfaic.gov.kh/

I was waiting for someone to mention Vientiane and the 6 months stay.

If I myself was considering the options, I would obviously go for the double entry tourist visa......as you say, it makes sense.

[jotojotopo]

Hi all.

New user here getting ready to depart for my first visit to Thailand.

I was pleased to learn of the 30-day visa exemption for UK (and others) passport holders when arriving by land border. However, it's still listed as 15 days on the UK Thai Embassy website, and a member of staff there told me today it was still 15 days.

What gives? I could understand that people don't update their websites, but what's with the member of staff telling me it was still 15 days? Has the 30-day thing been revoked or does the Thai Embassy in London need to...update their information?

Thanks...

[ukrules]

Hi all.

New user here getting ready to depart for my first visit to Thailand.

I was pleased to learn of the 30-day visa exemption for UK (and others) passport holders when arriving by land border. However, it's still listed as 15 days on the UK Thai Embassy website, and a member of staff there told me today it was still 15 days.

What gives? I could understand that people don't update their websites, but what's with the member of staff telling me it was still 15 days? Has the 30-day thing been revoked or does the Thai Embassy in London need to...update their information?

Thanks...

It's simple, they're uninformed idiots.

[jotojotopo]

Hi all.

New user here getting ready to depart for my first visit to Thailand.

I was pleased to learn of the 30-day visa exemption for UK (and others) passport holders when arriving by land border. However, it's still listed as 15 days on the UK Thai Embassy website, and a member of staff there told me today it was still 15 days.

What gives? I could understand that people don't update their websites, but what's with the member of staff telling me it was still 15 days? Has the 30-day thing been revoked or does the Thai Embassy in London need to...update their information?

Thanks...

It's simple, they're uninformed idiots.

Fair enough, happy days! Cheers.

[slipperylobster]

Hi all.

New user here getting ready to depart for my first visit to Thailand.

I was pleased to learn of the 30-day visa exemption for UK (and others) passport holders when arriving by land border. However, it's still listed as 15 days on the UK Thai Embassy website, and a member of staff there told me today it was still 15 days.

What gives? I could understand that people don't update their websites, but what's with the member of staff telling me it was still 15 days? Has the 30-day thing been revoked or does the Thai Embassy in London need to...update their information?

Thanks...

It's simple, they're uninformed idiots.

Fair enough, happy days! Cheers.

Go to the USA website..it is much more accurate, as is often the case, as we hire college graduates.

[KhunBENQ]

I still can not find it on the Thai Immigration nor the MFA website.

Websites in Thailand are still a joke.

Information comes through the grapevine.

The first "official" document I find is in German language from the Berlin website updated on Nov 19th 2013:

http://www.thaiembassy.de/images/Visabestimmungen_19.11.2013.pdf

It clearly list the seven countries without any air/land border distinction and clearly list the countries which are on the 15 day visa excempt rule via land/ship.

Bürger folgender Länder dürfen ohne Visum nach Thailand einreisen und

sich bis zu 30 Tage in Thailand aufhalten:

Deutschland, Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, Kanada, Großbritannien, Italien, Frankreich, Japan

Bürger folgender Länder dürfen sich bis zu 30 Tage in Thailand aufhalten, wenn die Einreise
mit dem Flugzeug erfolgt und bis zu 15 Tage, wenn die Einreise über die Ländergrenze (auch per Schiff) erfolgt

followed by a long list of countries...

Good joke on the Washington DC site.

They display date/time for Washington and Bangkok.

Following that it is Saturday morning 0:14 in Bangkok.

Oh no. what a mess!

And nothing about the change of rule.

Edited January 31, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[jotojotopo]

Thanks, KhunBENQ - seems like the Thai government haven't done a great job of getting this info out to their embassies worldwide! Hurrah for the internet.

I'm glad that you're proud of your country's post-grad employment processes, slipperylobster, but sadly the website for the Thai embassy in the USA also still lists 15 days for overland entries; presumably they screwed up big time and hired someone without a degree.

Edited January 31, 2014 by jotojotopo

[4evermaat]

I can't recommend doing continuous border runs. It makes no sense to me because of the time and money wasted. One trip to Vientiane for a 2 entry visa gives almost 6 months with one border run and 2 trips to immigration for a 30 day extension.

The e-visa for Cambodia is a good option but you have to be sure and use the official website. http://evisa.mfaic.gov.kh/

is this for air arrivals only, or can eVisa be used fr land borders? Does it include a stamp fee?

[ubonjoe]

I can't recommend doing continuous border runs. It makes no sense to me because of the time and money wasted. One trip to Vientiane for a 2 entry visa gives almost 6 months with one border run and 2 trips to immigration for a 30 day extension.

The e-visa for Cambodia is a good option but you have to be sure and use the official website. http://evisa.mfaic.gov.kh/

is this for air arrivals only, or can eVisa be used fr land borders? Does it include a stamp fee?

It can be used at Poi Pet and Hat Lek border crossings (listed on website). These are the only crossings that accept e-visas.

You pay for the visa online. I don't know of any other stamp fee at the border,

[sotsira]

Are there any members here that have been to the Ban Pakkad (Pailin) land border crossing

with a G7 country passport and obtained a 30 day stamp on re-entry to Thailand recently ?

[hawker9000]

Yeap - 10 Jan.

[ubonjoe]

All border crossings are giving 30 day entries now for those mentioned in this topic. When this was a new rule almost 4 months ago there were a few crossings that hadn't got the message yet but all have gotten it now.