Free Tourist On Entry Visa > Dec 2020

[SEAsia Traveler]

I submitted a COE application this morning to RTE DC under the visa exempt scheme with a travel date of 02 January. They asked for "round trip ticket confirmation" (my inbound is one-way), so I provided an onward flight confirmation leaving on the 30th day. They came back and said I need to apply for a visa as per relevant rules and regulations. So I overnighted a package to them to apply for a tourist visa.

 

I entered “30 to 45 days” as my intended stay on the COE application for visa exempt, and that might have given RTE pause considering the lack of clarity. Not well thought out on my part, and I own that. As well as missing the RTE website note about those with January travel to stand by for further guidance.

 

To their credit, RTE DC attention and communication on same day of application has been excellent.

 

I believe the COE application for visa exempt scheme (on RTE DC website) was enabled too soon with this uncertainty, otherwise I would not have booked flights or ASQ, which are needed to proceed with the COE application for visa exempt entry. On the other hand the 30 days was approved (but not 45 just yet) so who knows.

Edited December 17, 2020 by SEAsia Traveler

[Danderman123]

To sum up, the 30 day Visa Exempt status seems to be back in place, based on multiple Embassy web sites.

 

45 Day Visa Exempt status is still TBD. 
 

If you believe the 45 day Visa Exempt status has been approved, please provide a link.

[Marabou]

This is just to clarify the whole "is it 45 days entry or 45 days extension" for the visa exempt option:

"As one of the Countries listed for Visa Exemption and Visa on Arrival, U.S. Passport Holders are not required to obtain a visa when entering Thailand for tourism purposes and will be permitted to stay in Thailand for a period not exceeding 30 days on each visit (In process of being extended to 45 days by the government of Thailand) or 15-day stays if arriving by land-crossing"
https://thaiembdc.org/visas/

100% clear it's 45 days entry they're looking at doing (or possibly have already done). Nothing to do with extensions.

[sudsy]

3 hours ago, Marabou said:

100% clear it's 45 days entry they're looking at doing (or possibly have already done). Nothing to do with extensions.

Yes, but can you then get a 30 day extension once there?

[daejung]

19 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

Also at the moment of application the applicant would need to show that he meets the financial requirements, so for many that would mean opening a Thai bank-account and transferring the required funds (+400K for a marriage application or +800K for a retirement application, when using the Funds-in-Bank method to meet the financial requirements).

 

For renewing Extension retirement based on Non O, I only needed to show a revenue certificate issued by my embassy (I did 2 extensions up to now) , It was very easy an simple, almost no paperwork.

 

When I first got a non o visa in France in 2018, I only needed a to prove I had more than 5 000 € at my french bank.

If I ask for a Non O visa in Thailand it would be +800 k in thai bank ? (I thought it was only for OA visa). I have a thai bank account but never made any deposit for that purpose, only for my current exepnses.

[Peter Denis]

3 hours ago, daejung said:

For renewing Extension retirement based on Non O, I only needed to show a revenue certificate issued by my embassy (I did 2 extensions up to now) , It was very easy an simple, almost no paperwork.

 

When I first got a non o visa in France in 2018, I only needed a to prove I had more than 5 000 € at my french bank.

If I ask for a Non O visa in Thailand it would be +800 k in thai bank ? (I thought it was only for OA visa). I have a thai bank account but never made any deposit for that purpose, only for my current expenses.

Yes, there are 3 (+1) methods by which you can meet the financial requirements when applying in Thailand for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa or applying for a 1-year extension of your Non Imm O or O-A Visa.

When you meet the requirements the Embassy-issued income letter method is of course the one of preference as it does not require you to park/transfer funds to a personal Thai bank-account.  Normally such Embassy issued income-letter is accepted by IO without any further questions asked.  But be aware that the Imm officer handling your application can ask you to provide evidence of the SOURCE of the funds (and some IOs only accept a pension statement).  The officer can also ask you to prove your 'living expenses' (normally some ATM-slips and transfers on your bank-book will do, but there is a case where the IO wanted the transfers for those living expenses to be from foreign origin and over 800K). 

That Embassy-issued income letter method is NOT available anymore for citizens from USA, UK or Australia, but for citizens of other countries (you are from France) it is indeed a very worthwhile choice.  The other methods are:

- Fund-in-Bank method

- Monthly Income Transfer method

- Combination method (as the name says a combination of Fund-in-Bank method with the Embassy-issued income letter method or Monthly income Transfer method, when your monthly foreign income does not meet the required 65K or 40K treshold)

>> I didn't want to go in detail on the different available methods to meet the financial requirements as that would lead to far, but anyone interested can PM me as they are described in extenso in the comprehensive Guideline document I compiled for long-stay in Thailand for +50 years old.

[Marabou]

13 hours ago, sudsy said:

Yes, but can you then get a 30 day extension once there?

 

They're allowing extensions as usual with all other visas (yes, guys, I know its "visa exempt", can we please not get into the semantics of whether it's a visa or not, so trivial), so I see no reason why extensions would be affected.

Edited December 18, 2020 by Marabou

[ChouDoufu]

18 hours ago, Marabou said:

This is just to clarify the whole "is it 45 days entry or 45 days extension" for the visa exempt option:

"As one of the Countries listed for Visa Exemption and Visa on Arrival, U.S. Passport Holders are not required to obtain a visa when entering Thailand for tourism purposes and will be permitted to stay in Thailand for a period not exceeding 30 days on each visit (In process of being extended to 45 days by the government of Thailand) or 15-day stays if arriving by land-crossing"
https://thaiembdc.org/visas/

100% clear it's 45 days entry they're looking at doing (or possibly have already done). Nothing to do with extensions.

 

ummm.....isn't this a bit out of date?  i believe land crossings are closed for foreigners now, but wasn't the permit increased to 30 days for certain nationalities including americans some years ago?

 

(not arguing the 45 days....just noting embassy websites aren't always the best source for current information.)

 

U.S. Passport Holders are not required to obtain a visa when entering Thailand for tourism purposes and will be permitted to stay in Thailand for a period not exceeding 30 days on each visit (In process of being extended to 45 days by the government of Thailand) or 15-day stays if arriving by land-crossing"

 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by ChouDoufu

[ubonjoe]

55 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

ummm.....isn't this a bit out of date?  i believe land crossings are closed for foreigners now, but wasn't the permit increased to 30 days for certain nationalities including americans some years ago

All land border are closed. Many embassies and consulates still show the long rescinded 15 day entry rule. It was rescinded when the limit of 2 entries per calendar year rule went into effect. 

Some also still show the long rescinded (2008) 90 days in 6 months rule.

[khunjeff]

4 hours ago, ChouDoufu said:

ummm.....isn't this a bit out of date?  i believe land crossings are closed for foreigners now, but wasn't the permit increased to 30 days for certain nationalities including americans some years ago?

 

(not arguing the 45 days....just noting embassy websites aren't always the best source for current information.)

 

U.S. Passport Holders are not required to obtain a visa when entering Thailand for tourism purposes and will be permitted to stay in Thailand for a period not exceeding 30 days on each visit (In process of being extended to 45 days by the government of Thailand) or 15-day stays if arriving by land-crossing"

 

Up until a few days ago, that website was also incorrectly stating that stays from visa-exempt entries could not be extended, but someone must have pointed out that that wasn't true.

[sawademe]

Patiently waiting for the STV option to be finalized on the thai embassy dc website ????

[Peter Denis]

6 hours ago, sawademe said:

Patiently waiting for the STV option to be finalized on the thai embassy dc website ????

I presume that you are under 50 years of age and not married to a Thai national or with Thai dependent children.

In that case the 90-day STV is a worthwhile option, as it can be extended twice with 90 days, thus allowing a stay of max 270 days in Thailand after which you have the leave the country.

But if you are over 50 years of age or married to a Thai national /Thai dependent children, there are Visa options that do not require you to leave after those 9 months.

[ubonjoe]

7 hours ago, sawademe said:

Patiently waiting for the STV option to be finalized on the thai embassy dc website ????

It is there now. https://thaiembdc.org/2020/12/10/stv/

[edgarfriendly]

On 12/19/2020 at 7:08 AM, Peter Denis said:

I presume that you are under 50 years of age and not married to a Thai national or with Thai dependent children.

In that case the 90-day STV is a worthwhile option, as it can be extended twice with 90 days, thus allowing a stay of max 270 days in Thailand after which you have the leave the country.

But if you are over 50 years of age or married to a Thai national /Thai dependent children, there are Visa options that do not require you to leave after those 9 months.

could you elaborate on the options that do not require you to leave after those 9 months

 

TIA!

[jacko45k]

6 hours ago, edgarfriendly said:

could you elaborate on the options that do not require you to leave after those 9 months

Presumably a different Visa than the STV, although one would not get the same 9 months. Perhaps an O-A Visa or SETV or even a Non-Imm-O. 

[edgarfriendly]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Presumably a different Visa than the STV, although one would not get the same 9 months. Perhaps an O-A Visa or SETV or even a Non-Imm-O. 

sorry, yea i was referring to the non o options

[Peter Denis]

9 hours ago, edgarfriendly said:

could you elaborate on the options that do not require you to leave after those 9 months.

The STV which allows a stay of max 9 months is a worthwhile option when NOT married to a Thai national or with Thai dependent children OR when NOT over 50 years of age.

But when you meet the married or retirement (+50 years of age) requirements you have many more options.

A quick overview without going into the details:

1 - Entering Thailand Visa Exempt or on a 60-day Tourist Visa, and then applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa and subsequent 1-year extension of stay

2 - Applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa at the Thai Embassy in your home-country, and  subsequently when in Thailand applying for a 1-year extension of stay

3 - Applying for the 1-year Non Imm O-A Visa at the Thai Embassy in your home-country, and that Visa can provide you - when timed right - with almost 2 years of IO hassle-free stay in Thailand.  At the end of the 2nd year you could then apply for a 1-year extension of stay.

 

[Orient Express]

So the proposed 45-day visa-exempt entry still has not been approved by the government - is that correct?

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, Orient Express said:

So the proposed 45-day visa-exempt entry still has not been approved by the government - is that correct?

It was approved by the cabinet but apparently it has not been finalized or gone into effect.

[SEAsia Traveler]

Any reports of people getting stamped in for 45 days under visa exempt? Language from DC website now indicates as much.

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by SEAsia Traveler

[anubis752]

If you enter via a visa waiver, can you get the covid extension at immigration if it's extended after January 29th?

[ubonjoe]

On 1/5/2021 at 8:37 PM, SEAsia Traveler said:

Any reports of people getting stamped in for 45 days under visa exempt? Language from DC website now indicates as much.

I don't recall any specific report about but 45 days are being given on entry to the country visa exempt.

 

49 minutes ago, anubis752 said:

If you enter via a visa waiver, can you get the covid extension at immigration if it's extended after January 29th?

I don't know what the rules will be or even if a person who has entered the country since the rule went into effect has gotten one.

[Salerno]

On 1/6/2021 at 12:37 AM, SEAsia Traveler said:

Any reports of people getting stamped in for 45 days under visa exempt?

 

Yes, from the FB ASQ group: