Confused With The Whole Visa Thing

[thebestman36]

I had researched this a few months ago and thought that I knew what I was doing. Now after reading some recent posts, I'm confused again.

We are traveling from USA to Thailand arriving Jan 9 2008 and departing Thailand on March 26 2008. I wasnt planning on purchasing a visa since we are only staying in Thailand for 28 days before moving on to Cambodia and Vietnam. I plan on getting our visas for those countries after we arrive to Thailand. We end our trip back in Thailand for a week before flying back home from Thailand. Return tickets are booked.

So will there be a problem with this scenario, because of the fact that we have no proof that we are traveling onto other countries during our long stay? We will be traveling to cam and viet by bus.

Are we fine with this plan, or am I missing something? Any help appreciated!

[Crossy]

The requirement for a 30 day visa exemption entry is onward air travel within 30 days. This is not a new rule, it's just being enforced more rigorously now.

Without a visa or onward air travel within 30 days you are highly unlikely to get on the flight from your start point to Thailand. If you DO get let on you then have to run the gauntlet of Thai immigration at the airport, they don't always ask for the onward ticket but they do sometimes.

The best solutions are either get a single entry tourist visa or a cheap onward flight (possibly to Cambodia since you're planning on going there anyway). BTW you can now get your Cambodia visas online saving the hassle at the border

EDIT Of course if you have readily changeable tickets you could book your outward flight to be within 30 days and then change it to the real date once you've arrived

Edited September 30, 2007 by Crossy

[thebestman36]

The requirement for a 30 day visa exemption entry is onward air travel within 30 days. This is not a new rule, it's just being enforced more rigorously now.

Without a visa or onward air travel within 30 days you are highly unlikely to get on the flight from your start point to Thailand. If you DO get let on you then have to run the gauntlet of Thai immigration at the airport, they don't always ask for the onward ticket but they do sometimes.

The best solutions are either get a single entry tourist visa or a cheap onward flight (possibly to Cambodia since you're planning on going there anyway). BTW you can now get your Cambodia visas online saving the hassle at the border

EDIT Of course if you have readily changeable tickets you could book your outward flight to be within 30 days and then change it to the real date once you've arrived

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

I guess we are going to have to book an onward flight, because we dont have the time to send in our passports to obtain Thailand visa. We are headed to Mexico next month, and will need our passports with us for that trip.

So all we need is a copy of our onward flight from thailand to cambodia. Looks like we will have to change up our itinerary some now. I guess it could be worse.

Thanks for the heads up.

[beechguy]

I don't know where you're located in the U.S. but you may still be able to get a tourist visa if you decide to go that route. There are many honorary consulates around, and it doesn't take very long.

[thebestman36]

I don't know where you're located in the U.S. but you may still be able to get a tourist visa if you decide to go that route. There are many honorary consulates around, and it doesn't take very long.

I think I am going to try the booking an onward flight thing. If I'm going to have to spend the money, I might as well spend it on a useful flight, as opposed to a tourist visa.

So I am 100% safe with just a copy of an online purchased onward flight from Thailand within 30 days of arrival? I can still wait til I get to Thailand to purchase our cambo passports? Anyone have a guess on flight prices, if it would be alot cheaper to fly to cambo from bangkok instead of from chiang mai? We were hoping to go first to chiang mai before heading to cambo. Would be alot easier to then fly directly from chiang mai, that is if the flights arent much more expensive.

Looks like I have tons more of planning to do now.