Will the 45 day visa waiver continue after March 31?

[snoop1130]

Arriving in Thailand 45 day visa waiver

 

Last October the Thai cabinet decided to increase the length of the visa waiver for tourists from 64 countries from 30 days. The extension was going to last until March 31, 2023. Here we are, 10 days out, and there’s been nothing, not even a whisper, of an announcement to keep the 45 day waiver continuing beyond the end of March.

 

Whilst the Tourism and Sports Minister, as well as the TAT Governor, talking up an extension of the program beyond March 31, there has been no announcements, or even discussion, in the media about the situation.

 

Here’s the 64 countries that can currently arrive in Thailand and get a 45 day visa waiver…

 

Full Story: https://phuket-go.com/phuket-news/national-news/will-the-45-day-visa-waiver-continue-after-march-31/

 

-- © Copyright Phuket GO 2023-03-20

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

The most versatile and flexible rental investment and holiday home solution in Thailand - click for more information.

[BKKTRAVELER]

Thailand is going to enter its low season soon, I don't see why not honestly. They still need a lot of tourists to recover from Covid.

 

The longer they stay, the better it is.

Edited March 20, 2023 by BKKTRAVELER

[Ralf001]

Do genuine tourists actually stay 45 days ?

[scottiejohn]

16 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

Do genuine tourists actually stay 45 days ?

Yes!

[ThailandRyan]

With the Cabinet and parliament now dissolved Thailand's caretaker government can not make any new laws that ill cost them money even if it makes them money and by returning to the 30 day exempt entry they will now make money selling those extensions instead of loosing money.....

[CanadaSam]

Yes, they will extend it.

[ThailandRyan]

5 minutes ago, CanadaSam said:

Yes, they will extend it.

How can the dissolved and caretaker government extend it when they are not allowed to pass any legislation or cause money to be spent or lost, which extending the soon to be ending 45 day exempt program will cause.  it is a money maker in the eyes of the tourism folks when the people can stay longer, but we are entering low season and the reverting back to 30 days as the law is written will create a monetary stream for the country by those getting those 1900 baht extensions.

[scottiejohn]

14 minutes ago, CanadaSam said:

Yes, they will extend it.

Who says and where is that stated?

[CanadaSam]

I was just going by past experiences with covid extensions that seemed to kick in at the very last minute.

 

The Thai way of doing things, procrastinating until the very end.

 

The 45 days is a big money maker for the entire nation, I think the ruling party would take a hit on votes if it were not extended.

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

Yes!

Surely there's 2 cohorts:

a. The folks that no other restrictions on their time and can extend with no concerns.

b. The folks who must return because of a work or family etc., commtment and they cannot extend.

 

[bmanly]

10 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Do genuine tourists actually stay 45 days ?

Yes thousands do. There are a lot of people who would much rather stay 45 days than 30 days on a visa exempt. In some cases it is a deal breaker for some people. There are heaps of retirees out there looking for a nice place to go for 6 weeks.

[oscarsmum]

15 minutes ago, bmanly said:

Yes thousands do. There are a lot of people who would much rather stay 45 days than 30 days on a visa exempt. In some cases it is a deal breaker for some people. There are heaps of retirees out there looking for a nice place to go for 6 weeks.

Absolutely! Thank you????

[hotchilli]

11 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Do genuine tourists actually stay 45 days ?

Russians will.

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Russians will.

They are coming in droves. A friend in Phukets Rawaii area says they have bought up everything around him at almost double the original selling price, opened up shops, restaurants and businesses printing up Russian language signs and menus for many Thai places. He can not believe all the young families that have moved on and are planning on staying and never going back. Another friend says his Muay Thai business is full with many wanting ED visa to study for the next year.....

[Red Phoenix]

10 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

How can the dissolved and caretaker government extend it when they are not allowed to pass any legislation or cause money to be spent or lost, which extending the soon to be ending 45 day exempt program will cause.  it is a money maker in the eyes of the tourism folks when the people can stay longer, but we are entering low season and the reverting back to 30 days as the law is written will create a monetary stream for the country by those getting those 1900 baht extensions.

Tourists are generally not aware of the 30-day extension option, and when they plan their holiday in Thailand the information they get access to only mentions 2 options: entering Visa Exempt (with a 30-day or 45-day Permit to stay provided on arrival) or applying for a 60-day Tourist Visa at the Thai Embassy/Consulate of their home-country.

So the 30-day Visa Exempt option is indeed a (small) money maker for the Thai Embassies/Consulates or the Imm Offices.  But it might make some tourists opt for a max 30 day holiday even if they had the intention to stay longer, so the Thai tourist industry would be better off when tourists did stay longer and not opt to short-cut their stay to max 30 days.

[Hakuna Matata]

13 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Do genuine tourists actually stay 45 days ?

Absolutely agree!

 

Visa waiver entry scheme should be completely abolished or made much stricter like Singapore has.

[Ralf001]

2 hours ago, bmanly said:

 There are heaps of retirees out there looking for a nice place to go for 6 weeks.

 

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

Russians will.

Ahh yes, my bad.

 

I forgot about the elderly sex pests and Russian Refugees.

[Hakuna Matata]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

They are coming in droves. A friend in Phukets Rawaii area says they have bought up everything around him at almost double the original selling price, opened up shops, restaurants and businesses printing up Russian language signs and menus for many Thai places. He can not believe all the young families that have moved on and are planning on staying and never going back. Another friend says his Muay Thai business is full with many wanting ED visa to study for the next year.....

Thailand Immigration should not encourage them to stay in Thailand long time on purchased ED visas and other NON-O visas and visa extensions including Retirement (except for Marriage).

[bluejets]

13 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Do genuine tourists actually stay 45 days ?

I do.

Now all there is to fix is airlines and travel insurance to stop charging much higher fares and fees when one is away for more than 30 days.

Never noticed.....???? 

[Ralf001]

Just now, bluejets said:

I do.

Now all there is to fix is airlines and travel insurance to stop charging much higher fares and fees when one is away for more than 30 days.

Never noticed.....???? 

And you visit how many times per year ?

[ThailandRyan]

32 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Ahh yes, my bad.

 

I forgot about the elderly sex pests and Russian Refugees.

So if your elderly and stay here your a sex pest....wow, and you believe that don't you....

[Red Phoenix]

32 minutes ago, Hakuna Matata said:

Absolutely agree!

 

Visa waiver entry scheme should be completely abolished or made much stricter like Singapore has.

WHY should the Visa waiver entry scheme be abolished???

Five years ago, before I migrated to Thailand, I always did 'short-cut' my holidays to the Land of Smiles to 30 days (because as a genuine Tourist I was not aware of the extension option). 

If the 45-days Visa Exempt option would have been available, I would have used the full 35 days of my 5-weeks holidays. In Europe 5 or 6 weeks holidays are not uncommon and being able to spend the full period in Thailand without any Immigration hassle would indeed result in some tourists staying longer (which was the intent of the 45-days instead of 30-days Visa Exempt entry)

[KhaoYai]

12 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

but we are entering low season and the reverting back to 30 days as the law is written will create a monetary stream for the country by those getting those 1900 baht extensions.

I'd like to think that a tourist staying an extra 15 days will make far more for Thailand than the 1900 baht extension fee. I haven't seen any figures but I'd guess that quite a few people have stayed longer - more than would normally get an extension.

Edited March 21, 2023 by KhaoYai

[ThailandRyan]

5 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

WHY should the Visa waiver entry scheme be abolished???

Five years ago, before I migrated to Thailand, I always did 'short-cut' my holidays to the Land of Smiles to 30 days (because as a genuine Tourist I was not aware of the extension option). 

If the 45-days Visa Exempt option would have been available, I would have used the full 35 days of my 5-weeks holidays. In Europe 5 or 6 weeks holidays are not uncommon and being able to spend the full period in Thailand without any Immigration hassle would indeed result in some tourists staying longer (which was the intent of the 45-days instead of 30-days Visa Exempt entry)

The 45 day scheme was only put in place temporarily and not permanently instituted to replace the 30 day entry.  It was done in the hope more would stay longer and spend more. The only mass users so far have been the Russians from what I see. Of course it helped some stay longer, but in the end it was not made permanent. If you give 200k 45 days out instead of 30 day exempts then that's over 3 million baht they are loosing from not selling extensions.

[Ralf001]

16 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

So if your elderly and stay here your a sex pest....wow, and you believe that don't you....

Not all are sex pests............ must be thousands of elderly retired gents that come to holiday in Pattaya with their wife and children.

[ThailandRyan]

7 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

I'd like to think that a tourist staying an extra 15 days will make far more for Thailand than the 1900 baht extension fee. I haven't seen any figures but I'd guess that quite a few people have stayed longer - more than would normally get an extension.

Yet how many come for low season? Many homeowners who go back and forth to there home countries leave starting April 1st most years and return in November. Try as they may to get renters to fill the gap time, they are unsuccessful most of the time. Of course if it was Phuket they would have no issues......here in Pranburi/PakNam Pran and even in the Khao Tao Lake Area south of Hua Hin its very peacefull now, not many visitors.

[hioctane]

I just wonder why so many Asian countries are so fixated on 30 days. In the West, many countries are 90 days. If they are worried about losing money on extensions, I am fine with a 1900 baht exit fee if I stay longer than 30 days.

[Red Phoenix]

12 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

The 45 day scheme was only put in place temporarily and not permanently instituted to replace the 30 day entry.  It was done in the hope more would stay longer and spend more. The only mass users so far have been the Russians from what I see. Of course it helped some stay longer, but in the end it was not made permanent. If you give 200k 45 days out instead of 30 day exempts then that's over 3 million baht they are loosing from not selling extensions.

Those that plan to stay longer term - like the Russians you mention - will still apply for the extensions but only do it 15 days later, so Immigration is not loosing 3 million THB, they will only get it 15 days later. 

And for those that do not intend to stay longer than 30 days, it doesn't matter. 

So imo the premisse to up the 30-day to 45-days in order to entice Tourists to plan for a longer stay than 30 days in Thailand, was indeed correct.

Thai Immigration could do a database query to see how many tourists did return to their destination in the period of 30 to 45 days after their Visa Exempt entry.  The number of days from those that did stay longer than 30 days, would be a fair indicator whether the scheme was succesful. 

I know that it was a temporary measure, but they might consider prolonging it when that indicator showed a considerable number of 'extra days' spent in Thailand

[Bangkok Barry]

They'll probably make an announcement on April 3rd or thereabouts. They did something similar during the Covid extensions, announcing a few days after one expired that it would continue. That's the way Thailand works.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Ahh yes, my bad.

 

I forgot about the elderly sex pests and Russian Refugees.

Not all the sex pests are elderly...