Tourist Visa Replaces Voa?

[stingyboy]

hi all,

i'm american age 37. my third trip to thailand is coming up in june, and this is my first trip there after the 90 in 180 days on a Voa regulations. is it simply a matter of doing tourist visa runs now instead of the simpler Voa process? will back to back to back to (haha, you get the point) tourist visas be issued? and these days are not counted in the 90 day rule for Voa if i've digested all the info here correctly.

would a sound strategy be to simply land in thailand, get a 30 day Voa, and then travel to a neighboring country (which i planned on doing a bit of anyway) and abtain a tourist visa at that point? or would it better to get a visa in the usa before leaving? the point that i'm a bit confused about is the airline ticket out requirement...if my return flight is not within the 60 (or 90) day time frame of the tourist visa will one still be issued in the usa?

and if not, are departure airline tickets something they look for when obtaining a tourist visa from say lao or malaysia?

thanks for the advice, this forum has a wealth of information. please correct me if any of my interpretations of the new rules are just plain wrong.

best

~sting

[DrFisher]

Depending on the nature of your visit to Thailand it is quite simple to obtain a visa in the USA.

[lopburi3]

You should obtain a tourist visa prior to travel from the US or you risk not being allowed to board your aircraft. Normally Consulates are not that interested in tickets if you hold a US passport.