Is 45 day visa exempt likely to be extended beyond 31/03?

[farangbuffalo]

As per the title. Anyone have any intel on this? 

 

I read they were considering extending it until the end of the year but not heard anything else since

[DrJack54]

There was recent report of it being considered .

Don't consider anything stated by TAT ...they are irrelevant.

 

Pointless to ask that question as currently it's unknown

[BritTim]

No one really knows, but more likely than not it will not be extended.

[wpcoe]

I'm hoping they do.  I'm arriving on 25-April for 45 days and would prefer not to have to make a side-trip out of the country (probably a day or two in Singapore.)

[chris carre]

35 minutes ago, wpcoe said:

I'm hoping they do.  I'm arriving on 25-April for 45 days and would prefer not to have to make a side-trip out of the country (probably a day or two in Singapore.)

If you are only staying in Thailand for 45 day,s there is no need to leave on a side trip.Simply apply for a standard 30 day extension to your visa exempt entry 30 +30=60day stay in the kingdom.1900 baht

[Haveasay]

As it's now low season, my suspicions are that with its success, if it was and certainly I appreciated it, using it twice, is that next high season it will happen, but as the saying goes post covid, who knows the future 

[wpcoe]

4 hours ago, chris carre said:

If you are only staying in Thailand for 45 day,s there is no need to leave on a side trip.Simply apply for a standard 30 day extension to your visa exempt entry 30 +30=60day stay in the kingdom.1900 baht

If I can get past the hurdle at the airport when the airline carrying me to Thailand insists on seeing a flight out of Thailand within 30 days, that would be fine.  I did the Singapore side-trip once before and it actually was quite pleasant, but yeah, any travel these days can be more drudgery than it should.

[Hanuman2547]

I think it would be a good idea for the Thai government to extend the 45 day visa exempt program.  It is good for tourism and brings a lot of foreign money into the country.  

[Ralf001]

3 minutes ago, Hanuman2547 said:

I think it would be a good idea for the Thai government to extend the 45 day visa exempt program.  It is good for tourism and brings a lot of foreign money into the country.  

I doubt many genuine tourists are staying for 45 days.

[CanadaSam]

Yes.

[JemJem]

I was going to start a new thread and ask this question, but I am glad I saw this thread. 

 

My guess is, and it is of course only a guess, since there are only 2 weeks left till March 31, it is not looking likely regarding the extension of it beyond March 31. But of course, you never know it here. 

 

So, assuming it doesn't happen, it would be a much better idea for some people to apply for and hopefully get a tourist visa instead of going for visa exempt. 

 

Now, regarding neighboring places, as far as I know, Penang used to be the easiest and most straightforward one for getting the tourist visa. Things may have changed by now of course. 

 

But, visa exempt plus in-country extension is still not bad. 30 days plus 30 days gives you a good length of period. 

[OJAS]

We might need to hang on until exactly 23:59:59 on 31 March before knowing for certain one way or the other! ????

[treetops]

On 3/17/2023 at 3:11 AM, wpcoe said:

If I can get past the hurdle at the airport when the airline carrying me to Thailand insists on seeing a flight out of Thailand within 30 days, that would be fine.

They've not been asking for that during the period when visa exempt entry has been increased to 45 days.  If  a checkin agent has asked then it would be soon be fixed on escalation

[Mike Teavee]

On 3/17/2023 at 10:11 AM, wpcoe said:

If I can get past the hurdle at the airport when the airline carrying me to Thailand insists on seeing a flight out of Thailand within 30 days, that would be fine.  I did the Singapore side-trip once before and it actually was quite pleasant, but yeah, any travel these days can be more drudgery than it should.

Can always buy a throw away ticket ($14 https://onwardticket.com/), a lot cheaper than a trip to SG though I can think of a lot worse places to spend a weekend ???? 

 

 

[JoseThailand]

Remember good old covid days when we guessed whether covid extensions would be continued or not...

[Mike Teavee]

7 minutes ago, treetops said:

They've not been asking for that during the period when visa exempt entry has been increased to 45 days.  If  a checkin agent has asked then it would be soon be fixed on escalation

I don't know where you fly from but every person I know flying from the UK has been asked for an onward flight ticket.

 

You are correct in that it can be fixed with an escalation to a supervisor & you signing a release form but for the sake of $14 I'd rather not have the hassle. 

 

[Mike Teavee]

Deleted... 

Edited March 18, 2023 by Mike Teavee

[treetops]

4 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

I don't know where you fly from but every person I know flying from the UK has been asked for an onward flight ticket.

 

You are correct in that it can be fixed with an escalation to a supervisor & you signing a release form but for the sake of $14 I'd rather not have the hassle. 

 

I agree an onward flight will most likely be checked for but what I said was they've not been asking for a flight out within 30 days since the visa exemption duration was increased, as wpcoe claimed.  They've been looking for a flight out within 45 days.

[wpcoe]

On 3/16/2023 at 9:11 PM, wpcoe said:

If I can get past the hurdle at the airport when the airline carrying me to Thailand insists on seeing a flight out of Thailand within 30 days, that would be fine.  I did the Singapore side-trip once before and it actually was quite pleasant, but yeah, any travel these days can be more drudgery than it should.

 

On 3/18/2023 at 4:32 PM, treetops said:

They've not been asking for that during the period when visa exempt entry has been increased to 45 days.  If  a checkin agent has asked then it would be soon be fixed on escalation

 

On 3/18/2023 at 4:44 PM, Mike Teavee said:

I don't know where you fly from but every person I know flying from the UK has been asked for an onward flight ticket.

 

Same experience as @Mike Teavee:  Folks who have traveled from the USA recently have still been asked to produce a ticket out of Thailand by the 45th day.

 

I'm not confident that escalating to an airline supervisor would be successful.  If the airline carries you into Thailand and for some reason you're caught exceeding 45 days (or you simply get a grouchy IO at the airport?) I understood that the airline would be fined.  How would a waiver between you and the airline avoid that fine?  i.e. Why would an airline supervisor put their company at risk?

[Red Phoenix]

On 3/17/2023 at 10:11 AM, wpcoe said:

If I can get past the hurdle at the airport when the airline carrying me to Thailand insists on seeing a flight out of Thailand within 30 days, that would be fine.  I did the Singapore side-trip once before and it actually was quite pleasant, but yeah, any travel these days can be more drudgery than it should.

When you plan to stay longer in Thailand than the 45 or 30 day Permit to stay you would receive on entry, as you plan to do, be aware that at your departure airport in order to let you board the airline will want to see that you have an 'onward' flight out of the country on a date PRIOR to the Permit to stay you will receive from Thai border immigration will expire. 

So if your return flight is past the Permit to stay expiry date (like in your case), you would also need to have a 'burner' ticket from Thailand to an international destination. You can buy on-line such a fully legit flight-reservation for approx 10-15 US $.  This needs to be done on the day of your departure flight or previous day, as the companies providing that service automatically cancel your reservation 48 or 72 hours after you paid for it by credit-card.  Since you would be in Thailand already by that time, there's no problem with that and even if your Airline or Thai border immigration would check the validity of that 'onward flight' they would find it on the airline's booking system so no problem and fully legit.

Also as mentioned before by other posters, when you plan to stay longer than the 30 or 45 day Permit to stay you would receive on entry by Thai border-immigration, you can visit ANY Immigration Office to buy a 30-day extension (1.900,- THB). Immigration will most probably require that you show a TM-30 slip of the place where you are staying.  So simply ask one at the Hotel where you are staying before heading to Immigration (you don't need to do it close to Permit validity expiry, as the 30 days extension is ADDED to that expiry date).  Note that if you are staying with friends you might thus have to find a cheap Hotel that can provide you with that TM-30 slip (you don't even have to sleep there, so they might be willing to give it to you for a huge discounted room-price fee). 

[wpcoe]

11 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

When you plan to stay longer in Thailand than the 45 or 30 day Permit to stay you would receive on entry, as you plan to do, be aware that at your departure airport in order to let you board the airline will want to see that you have an 'onward' flight out of the country on a date PRIOR to the Permit to stay you will receive from Thai border immigration will expire. 

So if your return flight is past the Permit to stay expiry date (like in your case), you would also need to have a 'burner' ticket from Thailand to an international destination. You can buy on-line such a fully legit flight-reservation for approx 10-15 US $.  This needs to be done on the day of your departure flight or previous day, as the companies providing that service automatically cancel your reservation 48 or 72 hours after you paid for it by credit-card.  Since you would be in Thailand already by that time, there's no problem with that and even if your Airline or Thai border immigration would check the validity of that 'onward flight' they would find it on the airline's booking system so no problem and fully legit.

Also as mentioned before by other posters, when you plan to stay longer than the 30 or 45 day Permit to stay you would receive on entry by Thai border-immigration, you can visit ANY Immigration Office to buy a 30-day extension (1.900,- THB). Immigration will most probably require that you show a TM-30 slip of the place where you are staying.  So simply ask one at the Hotel where you are staying before heading to Immigration (you don't need to do it close to Permit validity expiry, as the 30 days extension is ADDED to that expiry date).  Note that if you are staying with friends you might thus have to find a cheap Hotel that can provide you with that TM-30 slip (you don't even have to sleep there, so they might be willing to give it to you for a huge discounted room-price fee). 

Actually, I have an easier/cheaper way to book a "fake" trip before the 30th/45th day after entry:  I have a pile of unused mileage points with UA which have no cancellation penalty.  I'll book my SIN side-trip and once I get to Thailand if I just don't feel like taking that side trip, I will go to Immigrations for an extension of stay and then cancel the SIN flights with no penalty.  If I'm feeling game enough, I will actually do the SIN side-trip and avoid interacting with Immigrations for an extension.

[treetops]

21 hours ago, wpcoe said:

I'm not confident that escalating to an airline supervisor would be successful.  If the airline carries you into Thailand and for some reason you're caught exceeding 45 days (or you simply get a grouchy IO at the airport?) I understood that the airline would be fined.  How would a waiver between you and the airline avoid that fine?  i.e. Why would an airline supervisor put their company at risk?

I agree.  I read your previous post as indicating that they wanted a flight out within 30 days even though the Visa Waiver period had been extended to 45 days.  Escalation would have solved this if it had been the case without the need of a waiver IMO.

Edited March 20, 2023 by treetops

[Mike Teavee]

23 hours ago, Red Phoenix said:

This needs to be done on the day of your departure flight or previous day, as the companies providing that service automatically cancel your reservation 48 or 72 hours after you paid for it by credit-card.

That's not 100% correct, sites like https://onwardticket.com/ allow you to have up to 14 days validity & you can book it as far in advance as you like as they'll schedule it to be delivered to you - The one key point is that the ticket will be cancelled 48 hours before the flight is scheduled for so you don't try to check in for it. 

 

 

Up to that point, it is a perfectly valid ticket that you can use the reservation code on to select a seat add baggage etc... though you'd obviously be crazy to do so as chances are you'd have to pay money which would be forfeited when the flight was cancelled. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Mike Teavee

[Red Phoenix]

12 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

That's not 100% correct, sites like https://onwardticket.com/ allow you to have up to 14 days validity & you can book it as far in advance as you like as they'll schedule it to be delivered to you - The one key point is that the ticket will be cancelled 48 hours before the flight is scheduled for so you don't try to check in for it. 

 

 

Up to that point, it is a perfectly valid ticket that you can use the reservation code on to select a seat add baggage etc... though you'd obviously be crazy to do so as chances are you'd have to pay money which would be forfeited when the flight was cancelled. 

 

 

 

 

Hi Mike, sorry my bad. You are correct that when using https://onwardticket.com/  you can buy the onward-flight reservation booking in advance and have it scheduled to be delivered immediately or on the day of your choice. And that reservation will only be cancelled 2 or 3 days before that onward-flight 'departure' date.  

I seem to recall that there are some onward-flight service companies that cancel it automatically 2 or 3 days after they sent the reservation to you, and in that case you should of course order it close to your departure date. 

[BritTim]

On 3/20/2023 at 6:20 AM, wpcoe said:

I'm not confident that escalating to an airline supervisor would be successful.  If the airline carries you into Thailand and for some reason you're caught exceeding 45 days (or you simply get a grouchy IO at the airport?) I understood that the airline would be fined.  How would a waiver between you and the airline avoid that fine?  i.e. Why would an airline supervisor put their company at risk?

(The past may not be a reliable prediction of the future.)

 

Usually, if you are convincing in stating that you are quite sure you will not be denied entry, the airline supervisor will believe you. At worst, if you appear financially stable, I have invariably found that the airline supervisor will waive the onward flight reservation if you are willing to sign an indemnity form guaranteeing to reimburse the airline for any and all costs they might incur if you were denied entry into Thailand. The only residual risk for the airline is that you are actually a deadbeat even though you look prosperous.

 

Rely on this at your own risk.