Colleague was told he has to enter first day VISA is valid.

[Dellie]

So as the title says. A colleague of mine just got a new non immigrant B visa from an embassy in his home country and was told upon picking up his passport that he must arrive in Thailand the first day the visa is valid. After a long discussion they still insisted that because of new rules this was the case. I have not heard of any such "new rules" and frankly it sounds ludicrous. There can be any number of reasons a person would miss this day to enter the Kingdom (fligh delay comes to mind). Does anyone know anything about this?

[Maestro]

There is no such rule. I suspect that your colleague misunderstood what he was told. The visa is valid for travel to Thailand until the "enter before" date shown on the visa.

[moe666]

Many of these Embassy staff know nothing and always remember Embassy and Immigration are different

[larsjohnsson]

It would be impossible to arrive in Thailand the same day my visa is issued in Europe.

[KhunBENQ]

Nonsense or misunderstanding.

As @larsjohnsson mentioned it is impossible to follow this "rule".

When you pick up the visa the "DATE OF ISSUE" is already passed.

True: the latest date to enter Thailand is the "ENTER BEFORE" date.

Edited May 31, 2014 by KhunBENQ