Passport validity for entering with visa exemption

[federicoP]

My nephews will come to Thailand with Visa exemption (italian passport).
 

Do they need to have a passport validity of six months after entering (or leaving) Thailand or the six months rule is applicable only for Visa ?

 

And, to recall the requirements for visa exemption entry, they will need :

 

- flight ticket for return before 30 (or 45 from 1st October) days

- Money in cash, or a credit card is acceptable ?

- The equivalent of 20.000 baht for a family of five is correct ?

- Of course vaccination certificate or test certificate

 

Am i forgetting something?

 

Many thanks

[DrJack54]

Bumping your threads as zero relies.

There is no 6 month validity rule to enter Thailand.

However would check with airline as some have their own rules.

On that point imo folk best advised to renew pp when down to 6 months or less.

 

The onward flight (does not need to be return) may be required by airline.

Current threads covering options to cover onward flight. 

 

The required funds cannot include credit/debit cards. 

 

Vaccination certificate good idea to have print out.

Reports of not much checking on arrival in Thailand.

Airline could ask. I plan to have print out of my vaccination record for upcoming trip.

[hotandsticky]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Bumping your threads as zero relies.

There is no 6 month validity rule to enter Thailand.

However would check with airline as some have their own rules.

On that point imo folk best advised to renew pp when down to 6 months or less.

 

The onward flight (does not need to be return) may be required by airline.

Current threads covering options to cover onward flight. 

 

The required funds cannot include credit/debit cards. 

 

Vaccination certificate good idea to have print out.

Reports of not much checking on arrival in Thailand.

Airline could ask. I plan to have print out of my vaccination record for upcoming trip.

 

I believe this is incorrect. There is a 6 month validity rule - certainly for British passports, and I doubt Italian will be any different.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/thailand/entry-requirements

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

I believe this is incorrect. There is a 6 month validity rule - certainly for British passports, and I doubt Italian will be any different.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/thailand/entry-requirements

That info is not correct.

There is no 6 months rule for those from most countries. The only rule is that it must be valid for your length of stay for those from most countries.

[Lite Beer]

As Joe said. Passport must be valid for length of stay with most passports.

[UWEB]

Thai Embassies across Europe asking for a minimum of 6 month Passport validity at time of entering Thailand

[ubonjoe]

19 minutes ago, UWEB said:

Thai Embassies across Europe asking for a minimum of 6 month Passport validity at time of entering Thailand

Probably confusion with the 6 months of passport validity to apply for certain visas.

[brewsterbudgen]

2 hours ago, hotandsticky said:

 

I believe this is incorrect. There is a 6 month validity rule - certainly for British passports, and I doubt Italian will be any different.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/thailand/entry-requirements

The FCO are just being overly cautious!  I had a long, polite argument with them when my son needed to return to Thailand with only 4 months on his UK passport, even though his Extension of Stay/Re-entry Permit was due to expire before the passport expired.  They even tried to make me buy a Emergency Travel Document, as they said he would be denied entry at the border.

 

Fortunately, I took the wise advice from this Forum, and he was stamped back in without issue.

[hotandsticky]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That info is not correct.

There is no 6 months rule for those from most countries. The only rule is that it must be valid for your length of stay for those from most countries.

 

Thank you.

 

I have advised gov.uk accordingly.

[federicoP]

Many thanks for the answers.

 

Right now I found something that instills new doubts, from the Q/A section of Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs site ( https://www.mfa.go.th/en/page/questions-answers-on-thai-visa?menu=5e1ff766aff2fd002e364373 ) :

 

 

Q:    I would like to go to Thailand for vacation for 2 weeks. I hold American passport. Do I need a visa?               

 

A:    Nationals of the United States of America and 41 other countries are eligible

to travel to Thailand, for tourism purpose, with the exemption of visa and

are permitted to stay in the Kingdom for a period of not exceeding 30 days.

Therefore, you do not need a visa.

 

However, please make sure that you are in possession of a passport valid for

at least 6 months, a round-trip air ticket, and adequate finances equivalent to

at least 10,000 Baht per person or 20,000 Baht per family. Otherwise, you may be

inconvenienced upon entry into the country.

 

 

?? ????

 

[BritTim]

It is seriously inadvisable to travel on passports with less than six months validity. A lot of things can go wrong. That said, this is just a further confirmation that Thailand (unlike most other countries) only requires that you have a passport valid for the intended period of your stay in Thailand.

[Caldera]

Generally speaking, traveling with a passport that has less than 6 months left isn't a good idea, for a number of reasons:

 

Some airlines have that requirement in their T&Cs.

 

If you transit other countries or want to make a side trip to another country, their rules might require 6 months.

 

Something unexpected could happen and lead to a delay. Pandemics, volcanoes, floods, accidents and what not.

[OJAS]

5 hours ago, UWEB said:

Thai Embassies across Europe asking for a minimum of 6 month Passport validity at time of entering Thailand

Sounds to me like they are labouring under the mistaken belief that the Schengen Area entry rules (which include a minimum 6-month passport validity requirement) also apply to Thailand! Thank goodness for all of us that Thailand isn't a member of the EU, though!!????

Edited September 22, 2022 by OJAS

[OJAS]

1 hour ago, federicoP said:

Many thanks for the answers.

 

Right now I found something that instills new doubts, from the Q/A section of Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs site ( https://www.mfa.go.th/en/page/questions-answers-on-thai-visa?menu=5e1ff766aff2fd002e364373 ) :

 

 

Q:    I would like to go to Thailand for vacation for 2 weeks. I hold American passport. Do I need a visa?               

 

A:    Nationals of the United States of America and 41 other countries are eligible

to travel to Thailand, for tourism purpose, with the exemption of visa and

are permitted to stay in the Kingdom for a period of not exceeding 30 days.

Therefore, you do not need a visa.

 

However, please make sure that you are in possession of a passport valid for

at least 6 months, a round-trip air ticket, and adequate finances equivalent to

at least 10,000 Baht per person or 20,000 Baht per family. Otherwise, you may be

inconvenienced upon entry into the country.

 

 

?? ????

 

"a round-trip air ticket, and adequate finances equivalent to at least 10,000 Baht per person or 20,000 Baht per family"

 

These are the areas where entry inconveniences are most likely to arise in practice, I think.

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by OJAS

[SmokeandIce]

7 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That info is not correct.

There is no 6 months rule for those from most countries. The only rule is that it must be valid for your length of stay for those from most countries.

 

[Gerard052]

5 hours ago, SmokeandIce said:

 

This is correct.  I was turned away at the airport because I did not have 6 months left in my passport.  My passport expired on the 4 December and I was leaving Thailand on the 15 September.  It was a very expensive learning experience, trust me.

[OJAS]

6 hours ago, SmokeandIce said:

 

And of course we believe everything that Google tells us without question, don't we?

 

55 minutes ago, Gerard052 said:

This is correct.  I was turned away at the airport because I did not have 6 months left in my passport.  My passport expired on the 4 December and I was leaving Thailand on the 15 September.  It was a very expensive learning experience, trust me.

Well, whoever turned you away at the airport is a clueless idiot. You should have demanded to speak to their supervisor.

 

[federicoP]

19 minutes ago, OJAS said:

Well, whoever turned you away at the airport is a clueless idiot. You should have demanded to speak to their supervisor.

 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( https://www.mfa.go.th/en/page/questions-answers-on-thai-visa?menu=5e1ff766aff2fd002e364373 ) looks more reliable than Google

[BritTim]

3 hours ago, Gerard052 said:

This is correct.  I was turned away at the airport because I did not have 6 months left in my passport.  My passport expired on the 4 December and I was leaving Thailand on the 15 September.  It was a very expensive learning experience, trust me.

Presumably, you were turned away at airport check in for your flight. Although the requirements you quoted were wrong (Thailand immigration does not enforce any supposed rule of six months remaining validity on your passport) some airlines do insist on six months validity. That is one of several reasons why travelling with a soon to expire passport is a bad idea.

[BritTim]

2 hours ago, federicoP said:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( https://www.mfa.go.th/en/page/questions-answers-on-thai-visa?menu=5e1ff766aff2fd002e364373 ) looks more reliable than Google

@ubonjoehelp!  I know that this changed for all countries eligible for visa exemption (and some others) many years ago, but cannot find links that confirm this.

 

It is frustrating that most sites that people are likely to rely on, including the MFA site, fail to have the current correct rules. The very best site to use is the IATA Travel Centre that contains the rules checked by airlines at check in. I believe this site is even comprehensive enough to identify where specific airlines apply additional rules over and above those mandated by Thai Immigration. However, few travellers are even aware of that site.

[Gerard052]

8 hours ago, OJAS said:

And of course we believe everything that Google tells us without question, don't we?

 

Well, whoever turned you away at the airport is a clueless idiot. You should have demanded to speak to their supervisor.

 

I did, when I checked in at Toronto Canada airport, the lady told me that my passport was expiring soon and I told her that I knew, but when I arrived at NY city airport, it was a different story, I was supposed to fly with Air China but at the ticket counter the lady told me that they wouldn't let me in, in Bangkok, so I talked to the supervisor and he told me the same, so $ 680.00 USD later and 1 hrs flight later, I was back in Toronto.  Needless to say, I was really ticked off. 

[brewsterbudgen]

2 hours ago, Gerard052 said:

I did, when I checked in at Toronto Canada airport, the lady told me that my passport was expiring soon and I told her that I knew, but when I arrived at NY city airport, it was a different story, I was supposed to fly with Air China but at the ticket counter the lady told me that they wouldn't let me in, in Bangkok, so I talked to the supervisor and he told me the same, so $ 680.00 USD later and 1 hrs flight later, I was back in Toronto.  Needless to say, I was really ticked off. 

I'm not too surprised that Air China didn't know the correct rules for Thailand.  

[federicoP]

3 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

I'm not too surprised that Air China didn't know the correct rules for Thailand.  

Not even the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs......  ????

[Gerard052]

8 hours ago, federicoP said:

Not even the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs......  ????

They are not open at midnight.

[BritTim]

8 hours ago, federicoP said:

Not even the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs......  ????

It is infuriating, but the MFA website has quite a number of errors, and I expect many MFA officials are quite ignorant of the rules applied at Immigration (a different branch of government).

[federicoP]

At the end of this thread I have more doubts than at the beginning.

Does anybody know an official Thai Document  (no google....)  where the correct and official rules are stated ? 

[FriendlyFarang]

12 hours ago, federicoP said:

Not even the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs......  ????

MFA and immigration are under two different ministries and they don't talk with each other.

As you can see, the MFA website says that a round trip ticket is required, but as many people here can confirm, that's wrong. So it wouldn't be surprising if the 6 months validity requirement, as well as other things on their website are also wrong.