30 Day Entry Stamp With No Onward Ticket

[stateofmind]

What I don't understand about this discussion is that people are talking about a requirement of having EITHER an onward ticket OR a Visa?

Isn't the law clear about you should have an onward ticket to leave the country before or on the last date of your Visa's validity? Or in the case of no Visa within 30 days?

I recently came back to Bangkok from Hong Kong with the Emirates. I have a Non-B Visa for Thailand, but they still asked me for an onward ticket at the air port in Hong Kong before returning to Bangkok.

I really fail to see the logic of not requiring an onward ticket if you have a visa.

[lopburi3]

The logic is that with a non immigrant visa you can live in Thailand; so why would you have to have a ticket out? In actual practice an onward ticket is not asked for if you have a tourist visa for entry (although it may be required to obtain the visa). So the talk becomes either have a visa for entry or an onward ticket if you intend to make use of the 30 day visa exempt entry - as they are the most likely to be checked.

[bombdefuzer]

Hi,

I have a friend arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport with no visa and no onward ticket. Can he get a 30 day entry stamp in this situation, or are they strictly enforcing the rule which prevents that?

Any advice or first-hand experience would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

I have arrived at Suvarnabhumi 4 times within the past 15 months and got a 30 day VOA without having a return ticket in hand.

[neion2000]

I've been to Thailand numerous times with and without a VISA, I've never been asked to provided proof of confirmation of a return flight.. Now, there are signs posted that you can clearly see while standing in the immigrations line that states you need to show proof of return flight. Although I've always had a return flight confirmed and always purchase an e-ticket, there were times I did not have the documentation to provide the immigrations officer, nor asked for it. In fact my last trip to Thailand (Aug 07), I actually handed a copy of my online email return flight confirmation receipt to the immigrations officer, she did not even bother to look at it.. she just wanted my passport.. Since I've always had a round trip ticket, I don't know about the problem with checking in at your originating destination.. I guess I'd call the airline prior to departing and see if they'll let your friend board without a purchased return ticket...

[Miksu]

I have never been asked to produce an onward ticket at BKK airport in all my time of arriving. But I would guess they don't ask British subjects routine. I expect if I was arriving from Burkino Faso they might well ask.......

Same here. They've never ever wanted to see my return ticket or the boarding pass of the arrival flight (which in principle should be shown too). I guess they have less strict standards for people coming from EU (or US) than for others (for example last time - when the new regulations were already enforced - they wanted to see all the possible documents of an indian guy in front of me but no other documents except the passport from me).

Edited December 23, 2007 by Miksu

[DirkGently]

HMMMM! Let me take a look at my e-ticket! I wonder!

[Ozziepaul]

Kinda timely that I should stumble across this post.

My original work permit is due to be cancelled when ever the clerical staff get around to doing it.

Then I've been told, I will have 7 days to leg it out of the country and come back in on a Tourist Visa.

My wife is here waiting for the approval of her Visa to Australia and I am here waiting for her and doing some consultancy work. Cash in hand.

This poses the obvious question for me, since I have been here on a Non B, which will be cancelled along with my work permit.

When I go out and come back in, should I have a pre-booked flight out within the 30 day period?

I DO have a jing flight out, but it's scheduled for the 28th of Feb, which would obviously be outside the 30 day period.

Don't particularly want to get stuck at the border or have to pay multiple fees to reschedule my flight.

Any ideas???

Cheers and Merry Christmas to all.

Big Paulee.

[lopburi3]

1. Believe the 7 days starts at end of employment although not normally made an issue if time is reasonable.

2. Currently Cambodia land crossing are almost all checked so a ticket or alternative (some accept a bus ticket) should be available.

3. Another option would be to proceed to obtain a tourist visa and then your ticket would be fine and you would not need to make another border crossing. Vientiane and KL probably the best places currently.

[marc288888]

my freind came from auz about 2 months ago they turned him away at auz coz he had no onward ticket so he had to pay for return .i would get a 6 month tourist visa before leaving your home country then u dont need a return flight.

[jstumbo]

I entered the Kindom on a 30 day with no "out ticket" several times this year.

I once was asked for the ticket when I flew to Thailand, and I said I would buy one there.

Each time I entered I got more and more nervous that I would be stopped.

I now have a properly visa.

This brings me to a question nobody has managed to answer me yet.

What if they stop you when you come with a one way ticket, and hoping for a 30 day entry?

If they refuse to stamp you in, then what?

I have never seen any ticket offices on that side of the Immigration. If they are there, I never noticed them.

So what happens if one get stopped, and have to leave? Is this maybe the carriers responsibility?

Again, I never saw any air line offices on that side.

You could always access the internet and get an e-ticket online from airasia or thai airways. If not, it would be the responsibility of the airline you came on to transport you back to your starting point.

[Naam]

no more conventional "paper" tickets worldwide from 1. july 2008 onwards. then anybody can "issue" an e-ticket with a simple word processor and make a printout. case closed by that date.

[jstumbo]

This is the list of the countries allowed VOA: Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Czech, Estonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, India, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Maldives, Mauritius, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Slovak, Slovenia, Taiwan.

They should really remove China from the list. See my Chinese wife's troubles of coming from China to Thailand here.

[jstumbo]

Russia, China and India all on that list? Surprised to see that! So all the tourists from those countries can only stay here for 15 days?

Wife from China just got a visa at the Thai consulate in Guangzhou. When she was stamped in, she got 30 days. I think only 15 though on the visa on arrival.

[jstumbo]

Hmm, thanks Libya, but still sounds a bit dicey. This friend of mine who's coming has never been to Thailand before, wouldn't want to put him in an awkward position...

Tell him that peace of mind means holding a tourist visa. It is a lot cheaper than getting an onward airticket.

it isn't necessarily cheaper, if you compare to a one-way ticket on Dare Asia, if they have a promotion on.

Yeah, Tourist visa is 28 pounds, or nearly 2000 Baht. A one way ticket to Penang would be less than that I imagine, or even if it is slightly more, add in the cost of travel to and around London - twice because you have to go one day and go back again 2 days later to collect the visa - plus the huge extra hassle of getting to London twice, and the tourist visa ends up being 2 or maybe even 3 times the price of a cheap Air Asia ticket and a hеll of a lot more of an annoyance.

Hadn't really analysed it like that before but now that I have, I think it's got to be Air Asia ticket every time...

And for a fee of 500 baht (I think) you can change the date of your flight on Air Asia 48 hours before the flight. So you could just keep changing the date on it and keep using the same ticket.

[jstumbo]

I have never been asked to produce an onward ticket at BKK airport in all my time of arriving. But I would guess they don't ask British subjects routine. I expect if I was arriving from Burkino Faso they might well ask.......

Same here. They've never ever wanted to see my return ticket or the boarding pass of the arrival flight (which in principle should be shown too). I guess they have less strict standards for people coming from EU (or US) than for others (for example last time - when the new regulations were already enforced - they wanted to see all the possible documents of an indian guy in front of me but no other documents except the passport from me).

Sometimes they want my boarding pass, other times they do not ask for it. Kind of hit and miss. Never been asked for a return ticket at immigration, but lately I am always asked for it to board the airplane.

[dantilley]

Hmm, thanks Libya, but still sounds a bit dicey. This friend of mine who's coming has never been to Thailand before, wouldn't want to put him in an awkward position...

Tell him that peace of mind means holding a tourist visa. It is a lot cheaper than getting an onward airticket.

it isn't necessarily cheaper, if you compare to a one-way ticket on Dare Asia, if they have a promotion on.

Yeah, Tourist visa is 28 pounds, or nearly 2000 Baht. A one way ticket to Penang would be less than that I imagine, or even if it is slightly more, add in the cost of travel to and around London - twice because you have to go one day and go back again 2 days later to collect the visa - plus the huge extra hassle of getting to London twice, and the tourist visa ends up being 2 or maybe even 3 times the price of a cheap Air Asia ticket and a hеll of a lot more of an annoyance.

Hadn't really analysed it like that before but now that I have, I think it's got to be Air Asia ticket every time...

And for a fee of 500 baht (I think) you can change the date of your flight on Air Asia 48 hours before the flight. So you could just keep changing the date on it and keep using the same ticket.

Any chance of refunding an Airasia ticket these days? Probably not I imagine...

[bangkokgas]

He is not likely to be turned back at Bangkok; but it is always a possibility. The challenge for most is getting airline to carry them.

Just a point - Japanese never seem to get asked for onward tickets. They are also the only peeps to get free-entry into Laos -I'm getting a divorce!!!!

[califdann]

I have a friend arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport with no visa and no onward ticket. Can he get a 30 day entry stamp in this situation, or are they strictly enforcing the rule which prevents that?

I Flew in to Suvarnabhumi Airport in late September. Showed my passport and did not show any onward ticket. Got the 30 day pass no problem. I went to Cambodia overland, and upon returning, to Thailand, showed nothing except my passport and got a 30 day pass no problem.

Dunno about any one else's experience.

DMC