Help! Freaking Out!

[baretraveler]

I am an American leaving for Bangkok in one week. I am planning on traveling throughout Southeast Asia for two months. I will fly in and out of Bangkok Airport. But I am only planning on staying in Thailand for a month, before I go on to other countries in the region.

Do I need a 60 day tourist visa if I do a visa run or travel to another country within the 30 day limit? I am very worried because I had thought earlier that I would not need a 60 day tourist visa if I was able to show proof of onward journey to another country within the 30 days. But now I am worried that I didn't do enough homework on this issue. I am thinking that maybe I misread the information that I read online.

Please help. I'm leaving in a week and I think they might deny me entrance to Thailand if I don't do something fast.

[Sunbelt Asia]

Do I need a 60 day tourist visa if I do a visa run or travel to another country within the 30 day limit?

Not in your case with the facts you have stated.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

[roietjimmy]

As an American, you can enter Thailand and stay 30 days without a tourist visa. Be sure you leave Thailand on or before the date on your entry stamp or you will be fined for an overstay.

[lopburi3]

As long as you have proof of onward transportation to someplace you have paperwork to enter (visa or access without visa by your passport) within the 30 days of your permitted to stay you should be fine. It may be checked by both airline and Immigration. In most cases even without the ticket airline would give you an opportunity to buy one.

[baretraveler]

So I should be fine even though my itenerary shows me coming to Bangkok next week and leaving two months later out of Bangkok(it's a roundtrip ticket)? And I won't be refused boarding on the plane to Bangkok?

I am just paranoid about being denied entrance on the planeflight or to Thailand. But I don't know if I have the time to get a 60 day tourist visa. I was hoping that a trip out of the country in the middle of my journey would be enough to satisfy the immigration people.

Do I need to show them an e-ticket itenerary of the mid-trip flight?

[lopburi3]

No you may not be fine. The rule is outbound ticket within the 30 days allowed by your visa exempt entry (as you said in your first post). You could be stopped by both airline and immigration without this.

Your original post indicated you were aware of the rule to have onward travel within 30 days

I would not need a 60 day tourist visa if I was able to show proof of onward journey to another country within the 30 days

To now saying you do not have proof of onward journey to another country within the 30 days but a return ticket in 60 days later.

[britmaveric]

Buy a ticket on AirAsia leaving Thailand prior to 30days and problem solved.

[baretraveler]

No you may not be fine. The rule is outbound ticket within the 30 days allowed by your visa exempt entry (as you said in your first post). You could be stopped by both airline and immigration without this.

Your original post indicated you were aware of the rule to have onward travel within 30 days

I would not need a 60 day tourist visa if I was able to show proof of onward journey to another country within the 30 days

To now saying you do not have proof of onward journey to another country within the 30 days but a return ticket in 60 days later.

So do you think it is wise idea to go ahead and get a 60 day tourist visa? If so, can I get it in time?

[britmaveric]

See my last post, no need for visa if you buy a cheapie airline ticket leaving thailand prior to 30days.

If don't do this or obtain a visa - the airline might not let you board.

[baretraveler]

See my last post, no need for visa if you buy a cheapie airline ticket leaving thailand prior to 30days.

If don't do this or obtain a visa - the airline might not let you board.

I am doing just that. I am flying to Bangkok on a roundtrip ticket. I will then take a rountrip ticket to Cambodia four weeks into my trip and head back to Bangkok and out of the country at then end of my 8 week trip.

It only makes sense that if I am heading out of the country before my 30 days is up, then I should have no need for a 60 day tourist visa. Even if my roundtrip flight to and from Bangkok from the US is beyond the 30 days.

Edited August 16, 2007 by baretraveler

[giruz]

Some airlines might ask you a return ticket, a visa or a proof of outward travel when you check-in.

So far I've been asked only once and I had my good flight-out booked with Airasia

(if it helps, I entered Thailand from Macau, Singapore, Phom Phen, Sydney, London, Milan, Hong Kong and I've been only asked a proof of outward travel in Singapore (Airasia)).

So, do your homework...book a ticket with airasia, tiger, nokair or 12go (or whatever airlines you like) so you will not have problems.

g.

[Maestro]

When will they crawl out of their self-styled little holes, (get beyond their self-inflicted fear of foreigners) and see the big world out there?

I sounds like you are talking about the EU here. Not only Thais, but nationals of most non-EU countries need a visa to travel to the EU and this visa is not easy to get, whereas nationals of over forty countries can enter Thailand without a visa.

It’s just not fair, is it?

--

Maestro

[tropo]

I am doing just that. I am flying to Bangkok on a roundtrip ticket. I will then take a rountrip ticket to Cambodia four weeks into my trip and head back to Bangkok and out of the country at then end of my 8 week trip.

It only makes sense that if I am heading out of the country before my 30 days is up, then I should have no need for a 60 day tourist visa. Even if my roundtrip flight to and from Bangkok from the US is beyond the 30 days.

If you plan is to go to Cambodia 4 weeks into your trip, then problem solved. Get onto the AirAsia website and purchase your roundtip ticket to Phnom Penh now before you travel.

[brahmburgers]

When will they crawl out of their self-styled little holes, (get beyond their self-inflicted fear of foreigners) and see the big world out there?

I sounds like you are talking about the EU here. Not only Thais, but nationals of most non-EU countries need a visa to travel to the EU and this visa is not easy to get, whereas nationals of over forty countries can enter Thailand without a visa.

It’s just not fair, is it?

--

Maestro

it's interesting that you quote a part of my post, although the post itself was not posted. Was it too real for TV?

Once in any EU country, it's relatively easy to travel from one country to another and enjoy one's adventures without having to worry about each border crossing, date restrictions, policy dictates & fluctuations from one place to another.

As you know, SE Asia is very different in that each little country has manifold difficulties, complications, interpretations in their border red tape. It's the same type of mentality that virtually requires every shop in Thailand to have a heavy steel door which noisily rolls up and down every 24 hours, and whose culture dictates that every suburban property have barbred wire fences and/or heavy 2 meter high masonry walls surrounding it. As much as anything else, Thailand is a culture which distrusts 'others' and needs to put up walls and restrictions to maintain their 'otherness.' and to maintain authority and control over farang wherever possible.

I'd rather see inclusion and 'open arms' rather than 'exclusion' and unnecessary difficulties. Is this post going to also be banned for being too gritty for TV?

[Kaojai]

Once in any EU country, it's relatively easy to travel from one country to another and enjoy one's adventures without having to worry about each border crossing, date restrictions, policy dictates & fluctuations from one place to another.

That's been a rather recent development and only after the EU countries went through all sorts of "otherness" trauma of their own.

It's the same type of mentality that virtually requires every shop in Thailand to have a heavy steel door which noisily rolls up and down every 24 hours, and whose culture dictates that every suburban property have barbred wire fences and/or heavy 2 meter high masonry walls surrounding it. As much as anything else, Thailand is a culture which distrusts 'others' and needs to put up walls and restrictions to maintain their 'otherness.' and to maintain authority and control over farang wherever possible.

Israel is building walls along borders which exist only in their self-glorifying minds. The US is building a wall along it's border with Mexico and more & more gated communities exist to maintain a safe, guarded distance from "them."

When British passport holders of Asian origin wanted to take up residence in Britain as various former colonies transitioned to independence, they soon discovered that being British depended less on legal status and more on skin colour. Germany only recently took down a wall that divided them for decades and discovered that there were a lot of invisible walls that were more difficult to remove. Australia uses barbed wire and high walls to maintain concentration camps for people who enter their country uninvited. People get taken off airplanes in the US because they look too Muslim. In London after the bombings the police shot a South American coming out of the Underground because he had black hair and brown skin.

European skinheads or British football supporters are well noted for their open armed embrace of foreigners.

The walls and security gates are hardly designed to control farangs, although if you ever visit Pattaya and see how many farang behave, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

I'd rather see inclusion and 'open arms' rather than 'exclusion' and unnecessary difficulties.

I wonder how inclusive and open-armed your country is when Thais or other S.E. Asians want to visit or take up residence there. Are you throwing wide your arms for the North & West Africans seeking sanctuary? How about people from Turkey?

Being a farang in Thailand seems a whole lot better deal than being an Asian in farangland.

[sjaak327]

"Being a farang in Thailand seems a whole lot better deal than being an Asian in farangland."

That depends, in most Schengen countries, there are no restrictions on what occupation you wish to persue, you are perfectly able to buy land, when you are there for a certain number of years, you can participate in the democracy and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things.

Getting long term residence isn't a big deal, the only burden they have put up, is that you have to learn the languague to some degree. Once that has been accomplished it's a piece of cake to live your life in Europe.

And I can only speak for my country of residence (NL) but I'm sure an Asian will not be met with the same level of Xenophobia, as a Farang in Thailand.

[brahmburgers]

Once in any EU country, it's relatively easy to travel from one country to another and enjoy one's adventures without having to worry about each border crossing, date restrictions, policy dictates & fluctuations from one place to another.

That's been a rather recent development and only after the EU countries went through all sorts of "otherness" trauma of their own.

It's the same type of mentality that virtually requires every shop in Thailand to have a heavy steel door which noisily rolls up and down every 24 hours, and whose culture dictates that every suburban property have barbred wire fences and/or heavy 2 meter high masonry walls surrounding it. As much as anything else, Thailand is a culture which distrusts 'others' and needs to put up walls and restrictions to maintain their 'otherness.' and to maintain authority and control over farang wherever possible.

Israel is building walls along borders which exist only in their self-glorifying minds. The US is building a wall along it's border with Mexico and more & more gated communities exist to maintain a safe, guarded distance from "them."

When British passport holders of Asian origin wanted to take up residence in Britain as various former colonies transitioned to independence, they soon discovered that being British depended less on legal status and more on skin colour. Germany only recently took down a wall that divided them for decades and discovered that there were a lot of invisible walls that were more difficult to remove. Australia uses barbed wire and high walls to maintain concentration camps for people who enter their country uninvited. People get taken off airplanes in the US because they look too Muslim. In London after the bombings the police shot a South American coming out of the Underground because he had black hair and brown skin.

European skinheads or British football supporters are well noted for their open armed embrace of foreigners.

The walls and security gates are hardly designed to control farangs, although if you ever visit Pattaya and see how many farang behave, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

I'd rather see inclusion and 'open arms' rather than 'exclusion' and unnecessary difficulties.

I wonder how inclusive and open-armed your country is when Thais or other S.E. Asians want to visit or take up residence there. Are you throwing wide your arms for the North & West Africans seeking sanctuary? How about people from Turkey?

Being a farang in Thailand seems a whole lot better deal than being an Asian in farangland.

Kaojai, you make some good points, and though we're both straying off topic, I happened to lead the way with a blab about walls and fences - though you'll notice I referred it to shops and suburban residences within Thailand. You immediatly took it to a larger perspective and went on about walls between countries. I think we both largely agree that there are much too many walls between countries - and that racism raises its spiky head all too often - based on a a person's physical appearance.

But getting back to suburban customs: nearly all suburbs in America have open space between the house and the street - and very often openess between neighboring houses. In Thailand you'll never see that. It's a reflection of peoples' attitudes toward neighbors (and unknown 'other') as much as anything else, don't you think?