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?

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.

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

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

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, 201412 yr by KhunBENQ