Good news for holders of UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy

[ubonjoe]

30 days for holders of passports from UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy

BANGKOK: -- Royal Thai Immigration Bureau has confirmed to Thaivisa.com that holders of passports of UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy are since November 1, 2013 given 30 days at land borders instead of previously only 15 days.

I have found no official documentation for the 30 days on entry for the G7 countries anywhere.

The information is that news article has not been confirmed nor has it gone into effect. Until it is confirmed by an official announcement from immigration it would be best to just ignore what is written there.

Thanks for that update, Joe. I wasn't aware the original OP report was illusory.

So, 14 pages into this thread, we end up with yet another mistaken/false/premature Immigration policy change announcement??? The thread headline and topic visibly survives, but the fact it's false gets lost.

Unfortunately, there have been too many of these kinds of things, especially where ThaiVisa is the original "news" source of some supposed Immigration policy changes that, in the end, turn out to be simply not true.

I referring to the post (#439) that quoted another topic just before my post not this topic. The first line of my post was in response to the line saying the info posted by Maestro was out dated.

This topic has been proven to be correct because many people have gotten 30 day entries.

[Asiantravel]

I have found no official documentation for the 30 days on entry for the G7 countries anywhere.

The information is that news article has not been confirmed nor has it gone into effect. Until it is confirmed by an official announcement from immigration it would be best to just ignore what is written there.

But Mario 2008 in post 5 in this thread on 6 November last year, said

“It is already in effect, as confirmed by several reports from members “

[ubonjoe]

I have found no official documentation for the 30 days on entry for the G7 countries anywhere.

The information is that news article has not been confirmed nor has it gone into effect. Until it is confirmed by an official announcement from immigration it would be best to just ignore what is written there.

But Mario 2008 in post 5 in this thread on 6 November last year, said

“It is already in effect, as confirmed by several reports from members “

Read my reply just before yours.

I did not say anything about this topic being wrong.

[blackion]

Reports are that immigration will fine for overstay.

Could you please provide a link to such a report?

[blackion]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Are you sure? My entry to the country and it's length is determined by the immigration officer. Can I be really charged for overstay if I haven't overstayed the period that I was granted?

(15 days and 30 days aren't laws, they are internal instructions within the Immigration Department. They are designated for the immigration officers, and I'm not required to know them, but to follow them.)

For example, if I'm a citizen of G7, and I would be granted 15 days instead of 30 days, and I wouldn't fix it and would stay for 30 days, certainly that would be an overstay.

It is a personal responsibility to ensure that what is stamped in a passport is , in fact, correct.

Immigration Officers are not automatons and do, occasionally, make errors.

I would agree with you generally. However, how far one has to investigate to find out that what is stamped in a passport is correct?

What I mean is, Ubonjoe said there are no official news that it is in effect. In reality, it is indeed in effect. But, due to lack of official news, it's not possible to be absolutely sure what countries are indeed in the list. It could be G7 plus a few other countries, Israel one of them for example.

Was there anyone with an israeli passport who came overland and received 15 days since March 13 of this year?

And, another consideration: "This will not apply to the first arrival in Thailand, whether by land or air, but will apply for subsequent arrivals by road or rail." I have come with a new, recently issued passport. Could that be the reason for 30 days?

In this case, "first arrival in Thailand" - how should it be seen? Per passport, per life or per specified period of time?

Would be glad towards your reply.

Edited March 22, 2014 by blackion

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I referring to the post (#439) that quoted another topic just before my post not this topic. The first line of my post was in response to the line saying the info posted by Maestro was out dated.

This topic has been proven to be correct because many people have gotten 30 day entries.

Joe, sorry, this has gotten to be pretty confusing with the different, non-specific references to different posts, threads, articles. So let's try to straighten it out. Is the following correct?

1. You're saying the notion of 30 visa exempt land entries for UK, US, etc passport holders as cited in the OP of this thread is correct and accurate -- even though the document Maestro posted above from MFA makes no mention of it.

2. You're saying the Phuket News report that I posted above from another thread -- which talks about land border entries being scaled back to 15 days -- has not been confirmed and no indication those changes have taken efffect as yet.

Edited March 22, 2014 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[ubonjoe]

I referring to the post (#439) that quoted another topic just before my post not this topic. The first line of my post was in response to the line saying the info posted by Maestro was out dated.

This topic has been proven to be correct because many people have gotten 30 day entries.

Joe, sorry, this has gotten to be pretty confusing with the different, non-specific references to different posts, threads, articles. So let's try to straighten it out. Is the following correct?

1. You're saying the notion of 30 visa exempt land entries for UK, US, etc passport holders as cited in the OP of this thread is correct and accurate -- even though the document Maestro posted above from MFA makes no mention of it.

2. You're saying the Phuket News report that I posted above from another thread -- which talks about land border entries being scaled back to 15 days -- has not been confirmed and no indication those changes have taken efffect as yet.

Correct.

If and when they do reduce some entries to 15 days it will be not for all people. There are bilateral agreements with many countries for visa exempt entries that will not be changed to 15 days.

[paz]

I have found no official documentation for the 30 days on entry for the G7 countries anywhere.

The information is that news article has not been confirmed nor has it gone into effect. Until it is confirmed by an official announcement from immigration it would be best to just ignore what is written there.

What are you on ?

Plenty of people has confirmed in first person, in my case it was on march 6 that I've got 30 days at a land crossing.

Edited March 22, 2014 by paz

[ubonjoe]

I have found no official documentation for the 30 days on entry for the G7 countries anywhere.

The information is that news article has not been confirmed nor has it gone into effect. Until it is confirmed by an official announcement from immigration it would be best to just ignore what is written there.

What are you on ?

Plenty of people has confirmed in first person, in my case it was on march 6 that I've got 30 days at a land crossing.

You misread my post. Go back read the ones I have made since.to clarify it.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Correct.

If and when they do reduce some entries to 15 days it will be not for all people. There are bilateral agreements with many countries for visa exempt entries that will not be changed to 15 days.

Thanks Joe... Although, what we're mostly talking about here in this thread is land border crossings/entries.

And Thai Immigration, over a period of time, has gone from 30 day visa exempt land entries for most people to a blanket 15 days visa exempt land entry for most people, and now recently back to 30 day visa exempt land entries for some nationalities.

At least as regards to land entries from neighboring countries, Immigration seems to be able to change the times alloted pretty much at will. There was a long period before lately when most everyone was getting 15 day visa exempt land entries, if I'm not mistaken. And bilateral agreements didn't seem to stop that.

[ubonjoe]

Correct.

If and when they do reduce some entries to 15 days it will be not for all people. There are bilateral agreements with many countries for visa exempt entries that will not be changed to 15 days.

Thanks Joe... Although, what we're mostly talking about here in this thread is land border crossings/entries.

And Thai Immigration, over a period of time, has gone from 30 day visa exempt land entries for most people to a blanket 15 days visa exempt land entry for most people, and now recently back to 30 day visa exempt land entries for some nationalities.

At least as regards to land entries from neighboring countries, Immigration seems to be able to change the times alloted pretty much at will. There was a long period before lately when most everyone was getting 15 day visa exempt land entries, if I'm not mistaken. And bilateral agreements didn't seem to stop that.

Those that get entries from a bilateral agreement have been getting the amount allowed. Russians and Laotians for example still get a 30 day entry at the border.

What they need to do is make it a uniform policy for all border crossings that limits the number of consecutive border crossings.. Some have no limit and others vary from 3 to 4 or even 5 from reports I have seen,

[paz]

I have found no official documentation for the 30 days on entry for the G7 countries anywhere.

The information is that news article has not been confirmed nor has it gone into effect. Until it is confirmed by an official announcement from immigration it would be best to just ignore what is written there.

What are you on ?

Plenty of people has confirmed in first person, in my case it was on march 6 that I've got 30 days at a land crossing.

You misread my post. Go back read the ones I have made since.to clarify it.

Well, your posting was written in such a way that I'm not the only mislead one.

Anyway, regarding the recent piece of "negative news", so far the leaks from immigration, like individual minimum funds for a couple on retirement, and the crackdown on ED visa abuse, turned out to be true after all, so I'm afraid this one can be as well.

Furthermore I don't know how you can read that the intention is to retain the recently extended privilege of 30 days for G7 citizens. It could be that there has been a change at the very top of the relevant department, and they will have have no problem in cancelling or amending it in a way that actually makes it useless, read "first entry only".

[Maestro]

Let's review the timeline of this.

• For many years, probably decades, the MFA website has had a list of countries whose nationals are allowed visa-exempt entry but the list was usually not updated promptly when there were changes. Currently, there appear to be three lists of countries, which for the convenience of discussion in this post I am giving the letters A through C:
  
  List A, countries without bilateral agreements: http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15396-Tourist-Visa-Exemption.html (rarely up-to-date)
  
  List B, countries with which Thailand has concluded agreements: http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15383-List-of-countries-which-have-concluded-Agreements.html (not sure if up-to-date)
  
  List C, more countries with which Thailand has concluded agreements: http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15382-List-of-countries-which-have-concluded-bilateral-a.html (not sure if up-to-date)
  
• On 8 September B.E. 2549 (2006) the Commissioner General of the Royal Thai Police signed National Police Order 608/2549, which left the 30 days per visa-exempt entry for the countries on List A unchanged but introduced a limit of 90 days of visa-exempt stay within a period of six months.
  
• On 25 November 2008 the Commissioner General of the Royal Thai Police signed Police Order 778/2551, which abolished the limitation of visa-exempt stay to 90 days within six months and introduced the limitation to 15 days per entry for the nationals of all countries on list A except Malaysia.
  
• On 6 November 2013 the root admin George started this topic with this information:
  
  

  Royal Thai Immigration Bureau has confirmed to Thaivisa.com that holders of passports of UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy are since November 1, 2013 given 30 days at land borders instead of previously only 15 days.

  
  This information was received verbally from the Immigration Bureau, because if it had been in writing George would obviously have attached a copy.
  
• This latest change in visa-exempt entry policy appears not to have been published on any government website. However, many members who are nationals of the affected countries have posted in this forum that they received the 30-day visa-exempt entry stamp at land borders and to the best of my knowledge no affected member has reported that he was denied it.
  
• At least one member reported that one land border immigration checkpoint had a notice displayed with the names of the countries whose nationals are again allowed 30 days visa-exempt entry since 1 November 2013.
  
• Also since the recent publication of a somewhat confusing article in a regional newspaper there have been no reports from affected members that they were denied the 30-day visa-exempt entry at a land border.

Therefore, as always happens when changes in immigration policies occur without official publication, also in this case we need to be guided by verbal information obtained from a high-ranking immigration officer and the experiences reported by our members.

Edited March 22, 2014 by Maestro
Corrected link for List A

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Maestro, thanks for the clear recap and history of things.... It helps straighten things out. I'd make a couple of comments.

1. it looks like your web link under your List A (labeled as countries without bilateral agreements) is pointing to the wrong webpage. It points to a page and a list of countries that have concluded bilateral visa fee exemption agreements with Thailand.

2. Even though the various lists linked above may not be up to date, it appears from those lists that the vast majority of the major expat countries (U.S., UK, Europe, etc.) would be on the no-bilateral agreements list.

So while the few large countries listed in the OP of this thread apparently are now eligible for 30-day land entries, it certainly appears that many many other countries still are on the 15-days visa-exempt entry for land border crossings.

PS - It's kind of hard to believe that Thai Immigration hasn't somewhere published/documented the latest change to 30-day visa-exempt land border entries for that small group of larger countries as listed in the OP here. But then again, I guess there are lots of things that go on in Thailand that are kind of hard to believe!

[Maestro]

...it looks like your web link under your List A (labeled as countries without bilateral agreements) is pointing to the wrong webpage. It points to a page and a list of countries that have concluded bilateral visa fee exemption agreements with Thailand...

Thank you. I have now corrected the link for List A

[KhunBENQ]

As I already wrote in post #294, there is a clear and unambiguous statement on the Berlin Embassy website.

I have just rechecked and the text has now moved from a pdf link to the website text. Sorry in German only.

http://www.thaiembassy.de/de/visa

For me that is official enough.

Länderliste und wichtige Hinweise

Bürger folgender Länder dürfen ohne Visum nach Thailand einreisen und sich bis zu 30 Tage in Thailand aufhalten:

Deutschland, Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, Kanada, Großbritannien, Italien, Frankreich, Japan

Bürger folgender Länder dürfen sich bis zu 30 Tage in Thailand aufhalten, wenn die Einreise mit dem Flugzeug erfolgt und bis zu 15 Tage, wenn die Einreise über die Ländergrenze (auch per Schiff) erfolgt:

Australien, Bahrain, Belgien, Brunei, Dänemark, Estland, Finnland, Griechenland, Hong Kong, Indonesien, Island, Irland, Israel, Katar, Kuwait, Laos, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Macao, Malaysia, Monaco, Mongolei, Niederlande, Neuseeland, Norwegen, Oman, Österreich, Philippinen, Polen, Portugal, Russland, Schweden, Schweiz, Singapur, Slowakei, Slowenien, Spanien, Südafrika, Türkei, Tschechische Republik, Ungarn, Vereinigte Arabische Emirate und Vietnam

Without visa (exempt), 30 days for the seven countries.

30 days when arriving by plane, 15 days when arriving via land or ship, followed by long list of countries.

Edited March 23, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[ubonjoe]

Google translate of the most relevant part of the above quoted text from website.

Citizens of the following countries may enter Thailand without a visa and stay for up to 30 days in Thailand:

Germany, United States of America, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Japan

The remainder is the same as shown here without the 7 countries mentioned: http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/services/123/15396-Tourist-Visa-Exemption.html

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just by comparison, the website of the Thai Embassy in the U.S. has a webpage regarding tourist visa exemptions, and even includes the long list of countries eligible for tourist visa exemptions.

But the Embassy website only talks about the standard 30 day air/15 day land entries -- no mention of the longer 30-day land entry policy for the countries listed in the OP of this thread. In another section of their website dealing with visa exempt entries, they link to pages on the MFA website that are both dead links.

http://www.thaiembdc.us/dcdp/Tourist_Visa_Exempt

You might think since the recent 30-day land entry policy applies to nationals including from the U.S., that the Thai Embassy in the U.S. would have updated/corrected their info... But alas, apparently not.

[KhunBENQ]

This site is really outdated.

Not even listing Russia as a country for 30 day visa exemption.

Introduced since "long".

Some website designers really need education, Such sites should contain a "last updated".

The Berlin website shows "03. Februar 2014 " (3 February 2014) and the change was announced there as early as mid November.

I think it is all depending on the outdated information from the MFA.

Many Thai websites (specially the governmental) are so useless!

Edited March 23, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[ubonjoe]

Russians get their 30 days by air or land by way of a bilateral agreement. That is why they are not on the exempt list.

[Maestro]

Correct. Russia (Russian Federation) is on the MFA's List of countries which have concluded Agreements on the Exemption of Visa Requirements with Thailand.

[blackion]

I would like to point out, that according to: "Now, however, Immigration has announced that anyone arriving in Thailand across a land border will receive only 15 days. This will not apply to the first arrival in Thailand, whether by land or air, but will apply for subsequent arrivals by road or rail."

first time arrivals from all visa-exempt countries will receive 30 days.

It is not clear however how 'first time entry' will be perceived: per life, per passport, etc. But it's safe to assume that it will be per passport.

[thepool]

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I would like to point out, that according to: "Now, however, Immigration has announced that anyone arriving in Thailand across a land border will receive only 15 days. This will not apply to the first arrival in Thailand, whether by land or air, but will apply for subsequent arrivals by road or rail."

first time arrivals from all visa-exempt countries will receive 30 days.

It is not clear however how 'first time entry' will be perceived: per life, per passport, etc. But it's safe to assume that it will be per passport.

When and where was this "announcement" made ?

Or is this just another example of misinformation ?

[Maestro]

Or is this just another example of misinformation ?

Yes, or less than optimal journalism.

[hawker9000]

My understanding is that this latest 15-days-if-arriving-by-land, which would represent a reversion from the relatively new 30 day visa exemption for G7 passport holders (by land) that went into affect late last year (November I believe), was just a recommendation or prediction by some government official in/from Phuket. WAS there ever actually an authoritative announcement of this latest, supposed 15-day rule?

I did see what someone posted here about an immigration officer in Poipet warning a G7 passport holder of 15-days "next time". 'Gotta' admit that raises the level of concern. 'Have been watching for additional reports of that.

[Maestro]

...

I did see what someone posted here about an immigration officer in Poipet warning a G7 passport holder of 15-days "next time". 'Gotta' admit that raises the level of concern. 'Have been watching for additional reports of that.

This was probably the post you saw. Interesting.

Hello all,

Regarding the 30 day or 15 day visa at the border:

I am an American. I just did a border run to Poipet earlier this week. I came back into Thailand the same day I exited. The immigration officer did make angry faces, and gave me a lecture about the tourist visa...blah, blah, blah.

He seemed to reluctantly give me the 30 day stamp, but told me that next month they would not give me another 30 day visa. MAYBE they would give me 15 days. And last month I came in through the airport, not a border crossing. This was my first border crossing - not my 3rd or 4th consecutive border crossing.

This was just earlier this week, so even at a little border crossing like Poipet, the immigration officers seem to have been instructed to be more alert looking for people with multiple border crossings to renew their stay.

My experience occurred only a few days ago - so be aware, it may not be as easy as making a quick border run (as it was in the past) as some posters have indicated.

Good luck

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

So perhaps the plot thickens a bit.... But one report is one report.

Would be interesting to hear from other current border runners about what they're encountering now. And whether there's yet another change of policy in the making...

[KhunBENQ]

To me this report of ,e,ber Keoni is just an example, that endless border runs are not accepted.

"he made angry faces", yes he does if he sees a passport full of back to back border runs.

Yet another topic and an unresolved "mystery" to me. How many back-to-back border runs will they accept?

[ubonjoe]

Yet another topic and an unresolved "mystery" to me. How many back-to-back border runs will they accept?

At he moment if depends upon the crossing you go to. Some limit them to 4 others 3 or even 5 or no limit reported.

[inthepink]

So perhaps the plot thickens a bit.... But one report is one report.

Would be interesting to hear from other current border runners about what they're encountering now. And whether there's yet another change of policy in the making...

I crossed the border at Mae Sai on March 7th and came straight back. No angry faces, no comments of any kind and a 30-day stamp. I'll be doing it again on April 5th so can report what happens again if anybody wants to know.