Thai Immigration clamps down on border runs
It's certainly an odd time for Thai Immigration to infuriate a large number of expats living in the country. You'd think Thailand would be doing all it could to keep people here, or at least to entice tourists to visit. By the new rules, according to Thai Visa, who always get these updates before anyone else, any person entering Thailand through a land border will receive only a 15-day permit to stay.
This means that if you do a visa run over land, you can only extend your trip for 15 days. What is unclear is how, if at all, this affects the 90-out-of-180 rule. According to that regulation, visitors without alternative visas are only permitted to stay in Thailand for 90 days in a period of 180 days. If this rule isn't changing, then it just means that some people will have to do twice as many border runs as before.
Travelers arriving by plane still get 30 days on arrival.
December 6th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I guess they won't feel the importance of outside visitors until the tourists revenue drains out. Thailand should extend it's visa holders' stays.
December 6th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Erm… why should this "infuriate a large number of expats living in the country" ? If they live there legally that does not affect them the slightest.
December 7th, 2008 at 6:03 am
I got caught on this needing to get a visa extension in order to complete my work permit application. I must have been one of the first affected.
Would have been nice to have some note, mai pen rai.
December 7th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
OK Roger. It won't affect anyone. You're right.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:46 am
that sucks, I'm intending to travel overland through Asia next year, and possibly spend more than 15 days in Thailand. Does anyone know if it's quick & cheap (or even possible!) to get a 30-day Thai visa in an embassy in, say, KL?
December 8th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
You can get a 60-day Thai visa at any Thai embassy or consulate anywhere, so might even be easier for you to apply in your home country. Not sure the cost, but not expensive if I remember correctly. Can be extended for another 30 days at an immigration office in Thailand. Last time I got one was in Penang, and I think it took 24 hrs….
December 11th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Roger you're a moron forever!
December 11th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I totally agree with Roger's comment. I am sure all foreigners who like to do a visa run will manage somehow.
December 20th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
In all my years in Thailand on the American passport, never ever once had to worry about a visa on arrival–always had some sort of non immigrant visa for what I was doing. For all those complainers who say Thailand is isolating 'spending' tourists, you've failed to consider that anyone who spends any real money in Thailand usually doesn't arrive via land border, and usually already has a 'real' tourist visa if they are planning to stay long or spend real money here. A great majority of the visa hoppers which such regulations affect don't pay taxes, nor do they really contribute much to the economy anyway as far as tourism revenue. think about it…