Thai visa waiver of 30 days

 

By Peter Roche

Without either confirmation or a change of mind, the 6 month tourist promotion, extending the tourist visa waiver from 30 to 45 days, and the visa-on-arrival from 15 to 30 days, has finished.

 

The 45 day visa waiver applied to citizens from 64 countries since October 1 last year and finished yesterday, March 31. Now it’s back to 30 days but can still be extended another 30 days (with a visit to an immigration office in the days before your arrival status runs out, along with a passport photo and 1,900 baht).

 

The extension, from 30 days to 45 days, last October, was considered likely to be extended until the end of 2023. Both the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Sports and Tourism Minister had publicly proposed to extend  the 45 day visa waiver until the end of this year but any follow up evaporated from public discourse. 

 

Full story: https://phuket-go.com/phuket-news/national-news/45-day-visa-waiver-finished-back-to-30-days-on-arrival/

 

-- © Copyright Phuket GO 2023-04-01

 

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Too busy with the upcoming election to think about extending that, would be my guess.

Trying to avoid overtourism.

They are simply stupid!! Would have been no bureaucratic effort for them to extend it. Even if 30 days is still enough for most tourists, post-covid a country should do everything possible to thrive tourism.

 

Never understood why Thailand is so strict about that, while countries like Malaysia give a 90 days exemption entry.

14 minutes ago, SpanishExpat said:

They are simply stupid!! Would have been no bureaucratic effort for them to extend it. Even if 30 days is still enough for most tourists, post-covid a country should do everything possible to thrive tourism.

 

Never understood why Thailand is so strict about that, while countries like Malaysia give a 90 days exemption entry.

It's a control thing.

The only hope now is if this is just an April fools day joke????

The problem with these constant rules changes is that tourists looking for a convenient, hassle free break from their everyday lives are put off coming to Thailand because of all the research that needs doing on issues like this, only to find it all changes suddenly and without warning shortly before their departure.

 

The Thai tourist sector would certainly benefit if people could book their holidays a year in advance without any uncertainty surrounding visa duration and entry requirements.

pitty.. was useful for many

All the neighboring countries including Vietnam looking to relax and extend visa's to attract more tourism, but Thailand does the opposite.

 

I fully understand most tourists do not need more than 30 days, but having them also does not hurt considering they are bringing money and spending money

All the neighbouring countries will be getting a boom of tourist due to Visa runs. 

31 minutes ago, SpanishExpat said:

They are simply stupid!! Would have been no bureaucratic effort for them to extend it. Even if 30 days is still enough for most tourists, post-covid a country should do everything possible to thrive tourism.

 

Never understood why Thailand is so strict about that, while countries like Malaysia give a 90 days exemption entry.

Do they give a 1nyear extension for 12,000 baht and no money in bank?....otherwise 90 days is useless 

4 minutes ago, BestB said:

All the neighboring countries including Vietnam looking to relax and extend visa's to attract more tourism, but Thailand does the opposite.

 

I fully understand most tourists do not need more than 30 days, but having them also does not hurt considering they are bringing money and spending money

Well, even with the 45 entry going back to 30, Thailand still offer more than Vietnam currently do. 30+30 extension is better than 30+0. 

They should reduce it to 14 days, fresh new notes arriving every fortnight instead of every month, no tourists comes in for 30 days, they don't get 30 days holiday a year, 4 weeks Max, and why would you want to spend your entire 4 weeks every year in Thailand of all places, unless your ugly and hard up for a woman.

15 minutes ago, Davedub said:

The problem with these constant rules changes is that tourists looking for a convenient, hassle free break from their everyday lives are put off coming to Thailand because of all the research that needs doing on issues like this, only to find it all changes suddenly and without warning shortly before their departure.

 

The Thai tourist sector would certainly benefit if people could book their holidays a year in advance without any uncertainty surrounding visa duration and entry requirements.

I dont understand the point of your post. The 45 days was implemented with an end date of March 31st. It ended on March 31st, in what manner have the rules changed "suddenly". This was a planned change months in advance, tourists will have known this.

Just now, jimn said:

I dont understand the point of your post. The 45 days was implemented with an end date of March 31st. It ended on March 31st, in what manner have the rules changed "suddenly". This was a planned change months in advance, tourists will have known this.

If the 45 days was working ok then why cancel it? You cancel things that don't work not things that are working.

22 minutes ago, racket said:

The only hope now is if this is just an April fools day joke????

It most probably is. Would be too stupid it this were real. Reasons given in the posts above.

23 minutes ago, bananafish said:

Well, even with the 45 entry going back to 30, Thailand still offer more than Vietnam currently do. 30+30 extension is better than 30+0. 

Agree lm in Vietnam cost using visa run company $127 US per month admittedly unlimited border crossing HCMC to Moc Bai lm on my last 6 month Government rumours are going to 3 monthly visa in June? ! unsure what cost visas will be  , l made up my mind go back Philippines 3 years on tourist visa without leaving renew internally local immigration office = approx $30 US per Month " End of April 2023 l'm gone from Vietnam great place food infrastructure people, language is hassle etc,.. Thailand l gave up on few years back flip flops to much ? Cambodia okay & availability to access visas  however it's become more of CCP Vasil state downside lot ???????? crime watch what ya say ! up side pension $ no limits & easy obtain multiple entry 3 x 4 etc, visas ! After weighing all up decided go back Philippines won out 7000 + Islands visit  English widely spoken , rental affordable main reason visas access easy , Very little language barrier people friendly .. Back to Philippines after living all 4 these Asian countries prior over decades on/off.

6 minutes ago, Photoguy21 said:

If the 45 days was working ok then why cancel it? You cancel things that don't work not things that are working.

Its reached its planned end point, its not been cancelled. It was intoduced to boost tourisum for a limited period, its reached its desired goal and the initiative has now ended as planned.

For me its easy, but admit having a simple brain:

Stay 30 days-use a certain amount money.

Stay 45 days-use more... :-)

 

2 minutes ago, jimn said:

Its reached its planned end point, its not been cancelled. It was intoduced to boost tourisum for a limited period, its reached its desired goal and the initiative has now ended as planned.

So why not continue it? It is not costing anything and it functioned as required.

3 minutes ago, jimn said:

Its reached its planned end point, its not been cancelled. It was intoduced to boost tourisum for a limited period, its reached its desired goal and the initiative has now ended as planned.

Completely illogical. Who would close down a business that is working well without giving anybody headaches exept counting the additional income ? I do not believe this story. April 1 for sure.

31 minutes ago, Zapitapi said:

pitty.. was useful for many

You're not wrong. I just did 175 days with the 45+30 visas/extensions. Border runs are always a ballache, but when they're 75 days apart it's not so bad.... and easier than the farcical hoops they were asking me to jump through last September for a 60 day tourist visa.

I wanted everyone to know that the 30 day extension available on visa exempt entries is still just like it was before.
 

For the 52 countries that get visa exempt entries you are allowed ONE 30 day extension per entry at the immigration office serving the area where you stay for 1900baht.

For the 6 countries (Hong Kong, Lao, Macao, Mongolia, Russia & Vietnam) that get visa waiver entries you CANNOT get a 30 day extension.

Also the limit of TWO visa exempt entries by land in a calendar year (Jan 1st - Dec 31st) is still in effect.

49 minutes ago, racket said:

The only hope now is if this is just an April fools day joke????

News flash for the thick ???? It is most definitely NOT an Aprils Fools joke. ????

That's why I waited until I had images of NEW entry stamps from the border before I posted the news 

The change to 45 days from 30 days on the visa exempt/visa waiver entries and the change to 30 days from 15 days on the visa on arrival entries was a plan to boost tourism. I believe it started Oct 1st 2022 and was set to run out (just like it did) at 11:59PM March 31st..   

 

1 hour ago, SpanishExpat said:

They are simply stupid!! Would have been no bureaucratic effort for them to extend it. Even if 30 days is still enough for most tourists, post-covid a country should do everything possible to thrive tourism.

Probably VERY bureaucratic procedure since these sort of edicts ultimately need a vote and then get published in the Royal Gazette. But as noted earlier, there were probably far more important business prior to the dissolution of parliament ahead of the elections.

 

1 hour ago, SpanishExpat said:

Never understood why Thailand is so strict about that, while countries like Malaysia give a 90 days exemption entry.

True, but it's Malaysia and I doubt anyone chills there for three whole months.

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

1 hour ago, SpanishExpat said:

They are simply stupid!! Would have been no bureaucratic effort for them to extend it. Even if 30 days is still enough for most tourists, post-covid a country should do everything possible to thrive tourism.

 

Never understood why Thailand is so strict about that, while countries like Malaysia give a 90 days exemption entry.

It's a control thing.

No, they hate all farangs.

46 minutes ago, cheapcanuck said:

All the neighbouring countries will be getting a boom of tourist due to Visa runs. 

Yeah, Laos earned a whopping 286 baht off me earlier this week!

35 minutes ago, Mad mick said:

Agree lm in Vietnam cost using visa run company $127 US per month admittedly unlimited border crossing HCMC to Moc Bai lm on my last 6 month Government rumours are going to 3 monthly visa in June? ! unsure what cost visas will be  , l made up my mind go back Philippines 3 years on tourist visa without leaving renew internally local immigration office = approx $30 US per Month " End of April 2023 l'm gone from Vietnam great place food infrastructure people, language is hassle etc,.. Thailand l gave up on few years back flip flops to much ? Cambodia okay & availability to access visas  however it's become more of CCP Vasil state downside lot ???????? crime watch what ya say ! up side pension $ no limits & easy obtain multiple entry 3 x 4 etc, visas ! After weighing all up decided go back Philippines won out 7000 + Islands visit  English widely spoken , rental affordable main reason visas access easy , Very little language barrier people friendly .. Back to Philippines after living all 4 these Asian countries prior over decades on/off.

And the food of course. Don't forget the superior Philippines cuisine.

Maybe the crime stats dropped it back to 30 days...........????

5 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Probably VERY bureaucratic procedure since these sort of edicts ultimately need a vote and then get published in the Royal Gazette. But as noted earlier, there were probably far more important business prior to the dissolution of parliament ahead of the elections.

 

True, but it's Malaysia and I doubt anyone chills there for three whole months.

Malaya is a fantastic place to chill, in fact far better than Thailand regarding food, transport, beaches, safety and a lot more...it's a tally cheaper than Thailand..except for booze and fags