2 Month Stay In Thailand...

[Shobu]

I'm arriving in Thailand this summer (from the U.S.) for a two-month stay (with a round trip ticket returning 60 days later) and I'm wondering if I'll be OK with a visa on arrival- VOA.

My logic is that because I'll be traveling by air to Vietnam for 1 week near the end of the first month, and then returning to Thailand for another 3 weeks, I'll either get an extension to my first VOA, or simply another VOA good for 30 days, right?

On the Royal Thai Embassy (Washington D.C.) website it states the following in the Tourist Visa section under the heading 'Travelers Advisory' -

2. If the duration of arrival in and departure to Thailand on your confirmed return airline tickets is more than 30 days even though you plan to stay in Thailand not more than 30 days, you need to apply for a tourist visa.

I haven't seen this statement anywhere else before, so I'm a little confused.

[moe666]

If you are leaving the country before the 1rst 30 day voa expires and you fly back in for another 30 days you should be ok. You have a flight out during the first 30 days you shouldn't have a problem with the airline.

[IMA_FARANG]

My feeling is that you need to apply for a double entry Tourist visa. Each visa is good for 60 days and can be extended in Thailand for 30 days if you wish. This visa is not free, but it isn't expensive. Also if you choose to get a 30 day extension on either of those visas, that extension also isn't free, there is a fee for the extension.

The reason I suggest a double entry Tourist visa initially is because in my experience many people come to Thailand and intend to stay "only a few weeks" and end up staying two or three months...because they like it here.

With a double entry tourist visa you can enter Thailand, stay up to 90 days (60 day visa plus 30 day extension), leave Thailand to visit another country (Vietnam in your case) and re-enter Thailand on the 2nd entry of your double entry visa. You can milk that for another 90 days (6o days plus 30 day extension again). If you want to that gives you a grand total of 180 days in country.

Another way to do it would be to simply enter Thailand on a 30 day "stamp on arrival" (i.e. without a visa..but be sure that is actually possible for you, it depends on your nationality and the Thai consulate in our home country will have a list of which countries are eligible), and then after that first 30 day entry you leave the country, get a single entry tourist visa from the Thai counsulate in the country you visit (Vietnam)and get 60 days on return with that 30 day extension also possible again. Howevr, with the 2nd choice you are limited to a 30 day intial stay...and like I said, you may want to stay longer if you like it here. I originally came to Thailand in 1977 with the intention of staying in Thailand for "two or three weeks" and then going on to the Phillipines. I haven't made that trip to Manila yet, and that was 34 years ago. You are therefore hereby suitably warned.

Either way you need to know also that going to Vietnam from Thailand will almost certainly requre a Vietnamese visa. Not a big problem, you should be able to get that here in Bangkok with no problem. Just be aware of it, and don't wait until the last minute to apply for that Vietnamese entry visa.

[mahjongguy]

1) Americans don't get a VOA. They get a Visa Exempt entry. There are important differences.

2) You will almost certainly be required to show proof of your onward flight to Viet Nam when you check in for your flight departing the States. You might be required to shown it again when you enter Thailand.

[lopburi3]

As said if you have proof of that flight out within 30 days and a visa for Vietnam you will be OK (you must prove you can enter the flight country if asked). If not (flight or visa) you should obtain a single entry tourist visa to cover your first stay in Thailand.

[Shobu]

Thanks to everybody for responding! I already have an airline ticket to Vietnam, and a visa letter for immigration in Vietnam, so considering what I've read in your responses, I think I'm OK without a tourist visa...though there's still some hesitation in my bones.

Next step- check with the airlines that I'm flying from U.S. to Thailand. It's funny though, thinking back to when I bought the ticket, I don't think they asked me about my visa status...

[lopburi3]

You don't need a visa to buy a ticket - but to get on flight you could. That is the point where the airline becomes concerned as if you are refused entry they must get you out and pay a fine. Selling you a ticket is money in there pocket as very few are refundable these days.

[Shobu]

You don't need a visa to buy a ticket - but to get on flight you could. That is the point where the airline becomes concerned as if you are refused entry they must get you out and pay a fine. Selling you a ticket is money in there pocket as very few are refundable these days.

So having my airline ticket for Vietnam (to travel out of Thailand before 30 days) and my visa letter for entry into Vietnam may not be sufficient?

[lopburi3]

The requirement is documents for entry (for an American visiting Vietnam that would be a visa). If your "letter" is actually an electronic visa or approval letter then it should be fine but your post sounded as if it was just an application type letter. If it is as below it should be accepted:

Holders of an approval letter stamped and issued by the

Vietnamese Immigration Department can obtain a single-entry

visa on arrival, provided it states that the passenger will

pick up pre-arranged visa at Noibai (HAN), Tan Son Nhat

(SGN) or Da Nang (DAD) international airports. This

single-entry visa is valid for:

- 1 month if traveling as tourist; or

- 3 months if traveling on business purposes.

The approval letter must:

- be both in Vietnamese and English, and

- contain passengers' data; and

- be arranged by either a sponsoring company or a local

travel agency.

[Shobu]

My feeling is that you need to apply for a double entry Tourist visa. Each visa is good for 60 days and can be extended in Thailand for 30 days if you wish. This visa is not free, but it isn't expensive. Also if you choose to get a 30 day extension on either of those visas, that extension also isn't free, there is a fee for the extension.

The reason I suggest a double entry Tourist visa initially is because in my experience many people come to Thailand and intend to stay "only a few weeks" and end up staying two or three months...because they like it here.

With a double entry tourist visa you can enter Thailand, stay up to 90 days (60 day visa plus 30 day extension), leave Thailand to visit another country (Vietnam in your case) and re-enter Thailand on the 2nd entry of your double entry visa. You can milk that for another 90 days (6o days plus 30 day extension again). If you want to that gives you a grand total of 180 days in country.

Another way to do it would be to simply enter Thailand on a 30 day "stamp on arrival" (i.e. without a visa..but be sure that is actually possible for you, it depends on your nationality and the Thai consulate in our home country will have a list of which countries are eligible), and then after that first 30 day entry you leave the country, get a single entry tourist visa from the Thai counsulate in the country you visit (Vietnam)and get 60 days on return with that 30 day extension also possible again. Howevr, with the 2nd choice you are limited to a 30 day intial stay...and like I said, you may want to stay longer if you like it here. I originally came to Thailand in 1977 with the intention of staying in Thailand for "two or three weeks" and then going on to the Phillipines. I haven't made that trip to Manila yet, and that was 34 years ago. You are therefore hereby suitably warned.

Either way you need to know also that going to Vietnam from Thailand will almost certainly requre a Vietnamese visa. Not a big problem, you should be able to get that here in Bangkok with no problem. Just be aware of it, and don't wait until the last minute to apply for that Vietnamese entry visa.

I really appreciate your advice and comments! The double-entry visa sounds like a really good opportunity to visit, explore, and live in Thailand without the necessity of securing a more formal visa, such as a working or education visa.

I'm amazed you've been in Thailand since '77! Wow...I'm guessing you've been witness to some extraordinary and amazing change. I lived in Thailand last year for almost 6 months as a student at Mahidol University in Bangkok. During the first month there I asked myself if I was becoming more American, or more Thai as the days passed. It's a question I've yet to really answer, and I will ponder it more as time goes on, and hopefully without as much reticence as I have now- inhibited by that strange patriotic nature of being an American.

We'll have to trade stories sometime!

:jap:

[moe666]

I find the longer I stay in Thailand the more I become.