30 Day Stamp Entering By Land

[Guest]

The Thai Visa forum has reports of people getting a 30 day stamp when entering Thailand by land, applicable for people from USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy & Japan, effective since 1 Nov.

 

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/678982-30-day-stamp-land-crossing-in-ranong/page-2

 

This would be a big improvement.  No longer would I have to either fly back into Thailand from neighbouring countries OR wait until 14 days before the end of my holiday.  Flexibility is always welcome.

 

Does anyone have experience of this yet?

[Rogie]

No experience myself, but an observation.

 

Nothing new in what I'm about to say, it's a lack of flexibility on the part of the airlines . . . they don''t like it when you fly to Thailand for a stay exceeding 30 days, without a visa in your passport. I believe Immigration are not supposed to allow you in if the date of your return flight is more than 30 days after entering the Kingdom, but I have never been asked to show my flight reservation. So, supposing the date of your return flight back to the US, Europe or Australia was in 2 or 3 months time, it would be preferable if you could therefore arrive, get your free 30 day entry stamp, and then if you want to stay longer in Thailand, visit a neighbouring country, come back and get a new 30 day entitlement. I'm not sure if you could do that more than once, thus extending your stay in SE Asia to 3 months, but I don't see why not. 

 

Why the fuss about not getting a visa in my home country? Firstly it costs money, secondly there's the hassle of posting it to the consulate (I use the one in Hull) and the risk it might go AWOL.

[kokopelli]

Rogie; I think it would be far cheaper to get a 60 day tourist visa and then a 30 day extension rather than making visa runs every 30 days.

[Guest buckbee]

When my business visa ran out I did the usual border runs to Cambodia a few times and got 30 day extensions but also on one occasion I flew to Sri Lanka with Cathay Pacific (they have good prices on that leg) and got a 60 day tourist visa. You have to wait a day to get it. This maybe a better option for you as kokopelli suggested. Another option is Laos but I think its getting more difficult to get the 60 day tourist visa there

[pong]

no, its not-at least acc. to various people doing it there as other places-notably PnPn-are much more difficult. The new ruling IS confirmed by several posters in various general tourist fora.

The countries benefitting are  the G7-as was pointed out somewhere else. Would be nice if they could extend it to the G20.

 @Rogie: this is VERY different to airline and also to airPORT-notably OZ is always reported to very stringently insist on seeing tix out-I had no need at all boarding my BKK flite on EY 2 weeks ago from Europe. Again: general fora are, I think, ,much better informed as here for visa/enrty matters and also: ALways ask for nationality, airport and airline- it will be different all the time and do not make any presumptions untill these are cleared.

[Rogie]

Rogie; I think it would be far cheaper to get a 60 day tourist visa and then a 30 day extension rather than making visa runs every 30 days.

 

Thanks Koko, good point, but see my comment below.

 

When my business visa ran out I did the usual border runs to Cambodia a few times and got 30 day extensions but also on one occasion I flew to Sri Lanka with Cathay Pacific (they have good prices on that leg) and got a 60 day tourist visa. You have to wait a day to get it. This maybe a better option for you as kokopelli suggested. Another option is Laos but I think its getting more difficult to get the 60 day tourist visa there

 

I should have pointed out I come to Thailand as a visitor, I'm not living here. Also I like visiting other countries, so in my current situation I would never do a classic 'border run'. I'd just use Bkk as my hub and travel either overland or by air into a neighbouring country. So that's good news about the 30d stamp when you arrive back in Thailand overland. Sri Lanka is a great destination btw!

 

 

 @Rogie: . . . . ALways ask for nationality, airport and airline- it will be different all the time and do not make any presumptions untill these are cleared.

 

Good point, thank you Pong.

[Guest]

Nothing new in what I'm about to say, it's a lack of flexibility on the part of the airlines . . . they don''t like it when you fly to Thailand for a stay exceeding 30 days, without a visa in your passport. I believe Immigration are not supposed to allow you in if the date of your return flight is more than 30 days after entering the Kingdom, but I have never been asked to show my flight reservation.

 

My forthcoming SE Asia trip is slightly over 30 days, covering more than one country.  So the choices are.... multiple entry visa or I need evidence of an onward flight within 30 days.   The onward flight within SE Asia is about the same price as the visa, however I can book the flight from my armchair, whereas the visa requires 2 trips to the Thai embassy.

[kokopelli]

z909;  couldn't you just mail your passport and application to the Thai Embassy in your home country.  I do this for all my 60 visas with no problem. Takes about 2 weeks.

[Rogie]

My forthcoming SE Asia trip is slightly over 30 days, covering more than one country. So the choices are.... multiple entry visa or I need evidence of an onward flight within 30 days. The onward flight within SE Asia is about the same price as the visa, however I can book the flight from my armchair, whereas the visa requires 2 trips to the Thai embassy.

Good point re the booking of flights from your armchair. That's a good way to do it provided you are certain of the dates you've decided to leave Thailand and come back. Unless you have a flexible return ticket that allows date changes, if you decide once in Thailand to alter your dates that'll add to your cost. On the other hand many airlines seem to be 'low-cost' for flights within SE Asia so unlikely to break the bank should you need to re-book.

 

I'm not absolutely clear what advantage a multiple-entry visa will have over a simple 60d one, although if the date of your return flight back to the UK was nearer 60d than just over 30d, you'd have a problem if you visited a neighbouring country say after 15d in Thailand, got a new 30d entry stamp coming back that'd allow you to stay a total of 45d, so short of the 60d you needed. I assume that problem wouldn't arise with a multiple entry visa and you'd be allowed back into Thailand to continue for the full 60d irrespective of the dates you left and came back. Please correct me if I have this wrong!

z909; couldn't you just mail your passport and application to the Thai Embassy in your home country. I do this for all my 60 visas with no problem. Takes about 2 weeks.

Perhaps Z lives within easy travelling distance to the Embassy, thus avoiding the awful possibility of his documents going AWOL.

[kokopelli]

Perhaps Z lives within easy travelling distance to the Embassy, thus avoiding the awful possibility of his documents going AWOL.

 Is there any such thing as an easy drive to a Thai Embassy or Consulate since they are usually located in a major city unless one lives within the city.  For me a 2+ hour (one way) drive/commute to NYC would be an expensive nightmare; much easier and cheaper to send via express/overnight mail about $40 USD in total. 

[Guest]

I'm not keep on trusting the postal service with my passport, especially now it's only a few weeks from the trip. 

 

I can get to London in about 1 hour, with a 15 minute drive and a 35 minute train journey. 

Doing it once is pleasant, but having to go back the following day just gets inconvenient. .

 

As for the type of visa, well a single entry visa gets me into the Thailand, so that would be the bare minimum to get over the 30 day problem, considering I'm not staying in Thailand for the whole trip anyway. 

Now if re entering Thailand by land really qualifies me for a 30 day stamp, well the multiple entry visa would offer no advantages at all for my trip.  

[ChristianPFC]

I applaud this change and will make use of it next year. This change puts neighboring countries back on my list of places to go for a visa run (I mean entry to Thailand under visa exemption).

[Moses]

There is no change for me, since we have 30 days already, from Jan 1 2004.

[mahjongguy]

"...we have 30 days already, from Jan 1 2004."

 

Meaning you are Malaysian?

[kokopelli]

mahjonguy; methinks that Moses resides in a much colder climate than Malayasia.

[mahjongguy]

I was just going by the list on the MFA website. The only country I could see with 30-day border entry since 2004 (without interruption) was Malaysia.

[Moses]

"...we have 30 days already, from Jan 1 2004."

 

Meaning you are Malaysian?

 

Ah. Sorry, it is mistyping. Right year is 2005.