Fast-entry online visa system for 20 nations launched at Thai airports

[webfact]

Fast-entry online visa system for 20 nations launched at Thai airports

By The Nation

 

Picture: evisathaland.com

 

Immigration Bureau acting commissioner Pol Maj-General Surachate Hakpal on Wednesday officially launched the e-Visa on Arrival (E-VOA) system that is expected to cut visa processing time to as little as one minute.

 

Surachate presided over a ceremony to launch the new system, which has been used on trial basis at Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports since November 15.

 

The launch ceremony was held at Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

 

Surachate said the new system has been available at Phuket International Airport since Monday, will be adopted in Chiang Mai on November 26 and to Krabi soon after, he said.

 

Surachate said the new system was launched under the concept of “Fast & Convenient Entry to Thailand”.

 

He said the system is to be targeted at citizens of Taiwan and 20 countries. Passport holders from those countries can register their request for a visa on arrival in advance at www.evisathailand.com.The request can be made 30 days in advance or at least 24 hours in advance.

 

Once the tourists arrive at the airports under the E-VOA system, they can show their passports at specially marked counters to obtain a visa in just one minute, rather than a one-to-two hour wait, said Surachate.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30359015

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-21

[darksidedog]

WOW! They really must be desperate to get the Chinese back. Tourism numbers are obviously way, way worse than the lies TAT has been giving out.

[taichiplanet]

18 minutes ago, webfact said:

specially marked counters to obtain a visa in just one minute, rather than a one-to-two hour wait

so visa in one minute but still lined up at "special" counters for 2 hours.

 

Interesting list of countries it is available to, and only 16 on the website so far on the selection screen though it shows 20 when you look at the html.

 

Andorran, Bhutanese, Bulgaria, Chinese, Cyprus, Ethiopian, Fijian, Indian, Kazakh,
Latvia, Lithuania, Maldivian, Mauritian, Papua New Guinean, Romania, Sammarinese,
Saudi Arabian, Taiwanese, Ukrainian, Uzbek

 

 

Edited November 21, 2018 by taichiplanet

[scorecard]

6 minutes ago, taichiplanet said:

so visa in one minute but still lined up at "special" counters for 2 hours.

 

Interesting list of countries it is available to, and only 16 on the website so far.

 

Users submit an on-line application in advance of their arrival, then line up on arrival, if already approved all done in 1 minute, next please.

 

[taichiplanet]

3 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Users submit an on-line application in advance of their arrival, then line up on arrival, if already approved all done in 1 minute, next please.

 

i have a one year visa (in effect visa in advance), i still have to line up for up to an hour some times and unless they open up a new hall with banks of counters then it will be the same wait time as usual. If they can pull the Chinese out of my queue then it will speed up my wait time considerably.

[ubonjoe]

It is the same list of counties eligible for normal visa on arrival applications at an airport and at some border crossings.

From the announcement about free visas on arrival on immigration website.

 

[the guest]

Yeah I can see how this will really effect the tourists figures. 

 

 

Years ago I submitted a proposal to introduce a digital visa gateway for Thailand to make it easier for tourists and alike to come to Thailand. The proposal was viable and cost effective. Needless-to-say, the response I got was ZERO !

 

Says it all about the country, you try and do something constructive but it falls on deaf ears. No doubt if I was a Thai it would be a completely different matter !

[Phuketshrew]

I wonder if the Taiwanese would be keen to visit after being recognised as a 'territory' of China?

[kotsak]

47 minutes ago, the guest said:

Yeah I can see how this will really effect the tourists figures. 

 

 

Years ago I submitted a proposal to introduce a digital visa gateway for Thailand to make it easier for tourists and alike to come to Thailand. The proposal was viable and cost effective. Needless-to-say, the response I got was ZERO !

 

Says it all about the country, you try and do something constructive but it falls on deaf ears. No doubt if I was a Thai it would be a completely different matter !

If your proposal was written in English then no wonder..

 

[BritTim]

51 minutes ago, kotsak said:

1 hour ago, the guest said:

Yeah I can see how this will really effect the tourists figures. 

 

 

Years ago I submitted a proposal to introduce a digital visa gateway for Thailand to make it easier for tourists and alike to come to Thailand. The proposal was viable and cost effective. Needless-to-say, the response I got was ZERO !

 

Says it all about the country, you try and do something constructive but it falls on deaf ears. No doubt if I was a Thai it would be a completely different matter !

 If your proposal was written in English then no wonder..

I think the real problem was that it did not explain the benefits of the proposal to the senior officials who would need to push for its implementation. The incentives should preferably be in a form where, although highly lucrative, they are not easily traced in any corruption investigation by political enemies.

[Sp4wnY]

2 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

Interesting list of countries it is available to, and only 16 on the website so far on the selection screen though it shows 20 when you look at the html.

 

Best way to spike up the numbers again is to bring back any kind of "-nese" ???? 

 

Edited November 21, 2018 by Sp4wnY

[edwardandtubs]

Still no news on the tourist evisas for UK citizens (and a few other countries) that was announced a while back to be launched by the end of the year?

[the guest]

4 hours ago, kotsak said:

If your proposal was written in English then no wonder..

 

English is the main language of the world, not Thai. Besides, there are translators, which I'm sure could converse with the authorities if their language skills were not up to speed with the rest of the world.

[csmith]

Kudos to Immigration Bureau .… congrats, positive development.

[Emster23]

I have noticed a precipitous drop in Bhutanese tourists compared to previous years. Way to jump right on it and get this problem sorted!

[Lupatria]

16 hours ago, darksidedog said:

WOW! They really must be desperate to get the Chinese back. Tourism numbers are obviously way, way worse than the lies TAT has been giving out.

Be patient and wait for tomorrow's TAT press release stating tourist arrivals doubled over night and a NIDA poll says 90 % of the Chinese plan to visit Thailand within the next two month.

[Knocker33]

When I arrived back last week it was fast track anyway. The airport was dead, through immigration in record time of 5 mins. About 4 people queuing in every booth and not a Chinese in sight.

[1337markus]

13 hours ago, Sp4wnY said:

 

Best way to spike up the numbers again is to bring back any kind of "-nese" ???? 

 

Papua New Guinease? Imagine thousands of PNG islanders invading Swampy. Most have about $1 a day to survive on.

[JeffreyO]

What a strange list of nations they've selected...

[DPKANKAN]

16 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

so visa in one minute but still lined up at "special" counters for 2 hours.

 

Interesting list of countries it is available to, and only 16 on the website so far on the selection screen though it shows 20 when you look at the html.

 

Andorran, Bhutanese, Bulgaria, Chinese, Cyprus, Ethiopian, Fijian, Indian, Kazakh,
Latvia, Lithuania, Maldivian, Mauritian, Papua New Guinean, Romania, Sammarinese,
Saudi Arabian, Taiwanese, Ukrainian, Uzbek

 

 

Yes its another nothing annoucement. I bet half of the expats here have never heard of a lot of those major countries!! ????????????????????????

[Mainhattencitizen]

16 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

so visa in one minute but still lined up at "special" counters for 2 hours.

 

Interesting list of countries it is available to, and only 16 on the website so far on the selection screen though it shows 20 when you look at the html.

 

Andorran, Bhutanese, Bulgaria, Chinese, Cyprus, Ethiopian, Fijian, Indian, Kazakh,
Latvia, Lithuania, Maldivian, Mauritian, Papua New Guinean, Romania, Sammarinese,
Saudi Arabian, Taiwanese, Ukrainian, Uzbek

 

 

The list is all the countries that will spend loads of money in Thailand. Whoever came up with this must be a genius.

 

[kannot]

1 hour ago, Lupatria said:

Be patient and wait for tomorrow's TAT press release stating tourist arrivals doubled over night and a NIDA poll says 90 % of the Chinese plan to visit Thailand within the next two month.

and spend 1000000 baht each, daily

[Easy Come Easy Go]

1 hour ago, csmith said:

Kudos to Immigration Bureau .… congrats, positive development.

As soon as, or IF the tourist numbers increase again, this kind of special treatment will be revoked 

[Moti24]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

Once the tourists arrive at the airports under the E-VOA system, they can show their passports at specially marked counters to obtain a visa in just one minute, rather than a one-to-two hour wait, said Surachate.

Meanwhile, expats with a "paid for re-entry visa" will wait longer because IOs will be transferred to the "specially marked counters" to take care of the freeloaders.

 

Although, if the Chinese are back in their droves, I'm not sure I'll bother with a re-entry visa.

[watcharacters]

2 minutes ago, Moti24 said:

Meanwhile, expats with a "paid for re-entry visa" will wait longer because IOs will be transferred to the "specially marked counters" to take care of the freeloaders.

 

Although, if the Chinese are back in their droves, I'm not sure I'll bother with a re-entry visa.

 

I hate to think a few extra minutes at the airport upsets you so much.

 

Oh wait, it's the Chinese thing isn't it?

 

 

[Harry2]

San Marino will go a long way to replacing the Chinese...

[dougiemac57]

18 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

so visa in one minute but still lined up at "special" counters for 2 hours.

 

Interesting list of countries it is available to, and only 16 on the website so far on the selection screen though it shows 20 when you look at the html.

 

Andorran, Bhutanese, Bulgaria, Chinese, Cyprus, Ethiopian, Fijian, Indian, Kazakh,
Latvia, Lithuania, Maldivian, Mauritian, Papua New Guinean, Romania, Sammarinese,
Saudi Arabian, Taiwanese, Ukrainian, Uzbek

 

 

Probably the countries that least people come from to visit Thailand 

[Moti24]

21 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

 

I hate to think a few extra minutes at the airport upsets you so much.

 

Oh wait, it's the Chinese thing isn't it?

 

 

****in right it's the Chinese thing because that's who Thailand are trying to lure back!  

 

Have you ever mingled with the Chinese anywhere in Thailand, including airports?

 

Go and have a shrimp buffet with the Chinese, or any buffet, come to that.  Then, tell me you welcome them with open arms.  If you tell me that, you're either Chinese or a sad expat, oblivious to anything around you.  Apart from their eating habbits, I've seen them piss, shit and blow their noses in swimming pools, have a shit on the beach, spit everywhere, throw cigarette butts everywhere, still lit, and do anything else that most of the hygienic civilised world would never do.

 

Don't believe me?  Then, you need to get out more instead of spending all day on Thai Visa, making uneducated comments.

[poohy]

1 hour ago, Knocker33 said:

When I arrived back last week it was fast track anyway. The airport was dead, through immigration in record time of 5 mins. About 4 people queuing in every booth and not a Chinese in sight.

Wish i could have said the same for a couple of Sundays ago 4 pm arrival from Sydney 

 

Me and every other person on the planet queuing up awaiting half staffed and certainly half hearted immigration officers.

 

nearly 2 hours to get through !

[0815]

2 hours ago, Emster23 said:

I have noticed a precipitous drop in Bhutanese tourists compared to previous years. Way to jump right on it and get this problem sorted!

You are right! Did not see only one Bhutanese in Chiang Mai yesterday.
No Ethiopian or from San Marino either. Or do the last ones look like Italians ?
So I might be wrong... ????????????