Visa Exempt Entries Now 30 Days At Border Crossings No More 15 Days

[ubonjoe]

Just got this news by email from  a visa run company. It went into effect today along with the only 2 per year rule.

This was handed out at the Ban Laem crossing today.

 

 

A 30 day stamp done today.

[Fatman666]

So good news, now instead 15days i will get 30 days, we are planing  go tomorrow to Angkor Wat for 4 days, will  return on 5th january, so i try it out at Poipet. 

[visarunner]

Obvious Hong Kong is a mistake, as they have Bilateral Agreement.

Means Laos, Macau, Vietnam, Mongolia have still unlimited entries for 30days.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru entries for 90days, South Korean by Air only.

 

If they try to stop Visa Run they should have included Laotian and Vietnamese as they have 500-600 runner per day, while Farang/Filipinos about 60 per day. 

 

[visarunner]

yes , you can enter TWICE in 2017 under visa exemption and you should get 30 days.

You might take this flyer with you.

 

[Freespirit]

The big question is will we be allowed to return the same day? (if so which land crossings will allow this?).

[naanaa]

11 minutes ago, visarunner said:

Obvious Hong Kong is a mistake, as they have Bilateral Agreement.

Means Laos, Macau, Vietnam, Mongolia have still unlimited entries for 30days.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru entries for 90days, South Korean by Air only.

 

If they try to stop Visa Run they should have included Laotian and Vietnamese as they have 500-600 runner per day, while Farang/Filipinos about 60 per day. 

 

I think so, coz holding hk passport using land border always got me 30 days 2 years ago.

[ubonjoe]

8 minutes ago, visarunner said:

Obvious Hong Kong is a mistake, as they have Bilateral Agreement.

Hong Kong is shown on both the visa exempt and bilateral agreement list. Vietnam also appears on both lists also.

See: http://www.consular.go.th/main/th/customize/62281-Summary-of-Countries-and-Territories-entitled-for.html

[ubonjoe]

10 minutes ago, Freespirit said:

The big question is will we be allowed to return the same day? (if so which land crossings will allow this?).

More like which one does not allow a same day turnaround. Only Sadao and occasionally Padang Besar do not allow it.

But there are 3 crossings to Myanmar that do not allow any crossings for new exempt entry. Ban Phu Nam Ron, Mae Sot and Mae Sai do not allow them.

[Clamhua]

22 minutes ago, visarunner said:

Obvious Hong Kong is a mistake, as they have Bilateral Agreement.

Means Laos, Macau, Vietnam, Mongolia have still unlimited entries for 30days.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru entries for 90days, South Korean by Air only.

 

If they try to stop Visa Run they should have included Laotian and Vietnamese as they have 500-600 runner per day, while Farang/Filipinos about 60 per day. 

 

My wife entered by land border crossing from Malaysia, got 90 days with ROK passport....are you sure only by air 90 days?

[phuketrichard]

47 minutes ago, visarunner said:

Obvious Hong Kong is a mistake, as they have Bilateral Agreement.

Means Laos, Macau, Vietnam, Mongolia have still unlimited entries for 30days.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru entries for 90days, South Korean by Air only.

 

If they try to stop Visa Run they should have included Laotian and Vietnamese as they have 500-600 runner per day, while Farang/Filipinos about 60 per day. 

 

wonder if Cambodians still get unlimited 15 days?

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

wonder if Cambodians still get unlimited 15 days?

They should since it is from a bilateral agreement.

[Andyswiss]

For me (swiss) good new.. ok only 2 entry but more then enough whit mi programs every year. .

Before Was Only 15 days FOR Me now 30..

 

[KhunBENQ]

Two off topic posts deleted.

This is an important news thread for many nationals who are not "G7" and not be cluttered with off topic of all kind.

More will result in a warning.

 

[bkkthai]

Maybe I read the message wrong.

The point in the message is the "only twice a calender year".

 

Countries that are entitled to 30 days visa exemption, can only enter Thailand twice a year at border crossings.

 

Then there is a list of the countries that are under the 30 days visa exempt scheme - to show the countries that the rules covers.

 

Where does it mention that the 15 days are changed to 30 days for border crossings?

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, bkkthai said:

Where does it mention that the 15 days are changed to 30 days for border crossings?

It seems to be a little ambiguous the way it is written but that is what is meant.

The passport page shown is a 30 day entry for a person that would of only gotten a 15 day entry before today.

[glegolo]

23 minutes ago, bkkthai said:

Maybe I read the message wrong.

The point in the message is the "only twice a calender year".

 

Countries that are entitled to 30 days visa exemption, can only enter Thailand twice a year at border crossings.

 

Then there is a list of the countries that are under the 30 days visa exempt scheme - to show the countries that the rules covers.

 

Where does it mention that the 15 days are changed to 30 days for border crossings?

 

Exactly I was just sitting and reading, and reading, and agree exactly with how you sees it in the text....

 

Glegolo

Edited December 31, 2016 by glegolo

[Andyswiss]

Before no G7 got only 15 days at border cross by land..

Now many countries are listed to get 30 days..

So i read this countries in the list before get 15 days now get 30 same some years ago but only twice in a calendar year..

I'm sure next week's we will know more about

[visarunner]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

They should since it is from a bilateral agreement.

yes, but 14days only.

[visarunner]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Hong Kong is shown on both the visa exempt and bilateral agreement list. Vietnam also appears on both lists also.

See: http://www.consular.go.th/main/th/customize/62281-Summary-of-Countries-and-Territories-entitled-for.html

I just noticed that too. 

[visarunner]

1 hour ago, glegolo said:

 

Exactly I was just sitting and reading, and reading, and agree exactly with how you sees it in the text....

 

Glegolo

I was surprised too, but Immigration showed and copied the paper and said ALL THESE COUNTRY 30 days, no more 15 days.

But TWO time only in one calendar year.

[khunerik]

So it's 30 for the Scandinavian countries from tomorrow ?

[ubonjoe]

2 minutes ago, khunerik said:

So it's 30 for the Scandinavian countries from tomorrow ?

Yes and it was from today.

[quadperfect]

My girlfriend is vietnmese. Am i missing something.  This bilateral agreement. She got booted out of thailand last january because she was visa running. Back to back. 

She would go to cambodia and get stamped in but cost her a fortune every month.

So now i live here 7 months of the year. I sponsor her .

Is she allowed to do unlimited boarder runs?

[Thechook]

Back to the 30 days.

[nisakiman]

So the two visa exemption rule applies to calendar years? Does that mean that if I arrive by air in Thailand at the beginning of October, I could do a cross border run (getting another 30 day exemption on return) in November, December, January and February? Not that I have any plans to do so, but I'm just interested to know if this is the case.

 

It's actually more pertinent in the situation where someone might come for an extended holiday in January,  go for a trip to Lao a week after arriving in Thailand, spend a few days in Lao, return to BKK, and a week after that go to Cambodia for a week, returning to BKK again for a week before returning home. So in theory, leaving less than a month after arriving, but having done two side trips to Lao and Cambodia in the meantime. Our tourist then, having enjoyed his itinerary before, decides to repeat the exercise, but this time arriving in Thailand the following November, having been unable to arrange his holidays for January. But this time, the Thai authorities tell him he's not allowed to do any side trips, because he's used up his visa exempt stamps, even though the last time he didn't even exceed thirty days overall, and in fact was only in Thailand for a bit over two weeks.

 

This is not an unlikely scenario, and seems manifestly unfair on any tourist who falls into my theoretical holidaymaker's category.

 

Or have I missed something?

[JerryinTH]

13 hours ago, quadperfect said:

 

 

Is she allowed to do unlimited boarder runs?

 

Why would she. 

It's clearly stated 2 (TWO) times PER YEAR. 

[stevenl]

 
Why would she. 
It's clearly stated 2 (TWO) times PER YEAR. 

For visa exempt entries. She is on a bilateral agreement.

Sent from my ROBBY using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[JackThompson]

15 hours ago, nisakiman said:

So the two visa exemption rule applies to calendar years? Does that mean that if I arrive by air in Thailand at the beginning of October, I could do a cross border run (getting another 30 day exemption on return) in November, December, January and February? Not that I have any plans to do so, but I'm just interested to know if this is the case.

 

It's actually more pertinent in the situation where someone might come for an extended holiday in January,  go for a trip to Lao a week after arriving in Thailand, spend a few days in Lao, return to BKK, and a week after that go to Cambodia for a week, returning to BKK again for a week before returning home. So in theory, leaving less than a month after arriving, but having done two side trips to Lao and Cambodia in the meantime. Our tourist then, having enjoyed his itinerary before, decides to repeat the exercise, but this time arriving in Thailand the following November, having been unable to arrange his holidays for January. But this time, the Thai authorities tell him he's not allowed to do any side trips, because he's used up his visa exempt stamps, even though the last time he didn't even exceed thirty days overall, and in fact was only in Thailand for a bit over two weeks.

 

This is not an unlikely scenario, and seems manifestly unfair on any tourist who falls into my theoretical holidaymaker's category.

 

Or have I missed something?

 

If he uses land-borders for the crossings, yes.  He would need to change to using air-crossings OR, in your scenario, he could also get Re-Entry Permits to preserve his permission-of-stay from his entries and/or extensions of those entries. 

 

As far as I can tell, entries on a "re-entry permit" do not count against the 2-max total, as no new "visa exempt" is being issued.  I would, however, not try this at Poipet or other "troublesome" crossings (Ranong), where they are likely to try to read everything in such a way as to provide the worst outcome for the traveler.

 

So, in your scenario, the traveler would obtain a re-entry permit for his short-trips to Laos and Cambodia (at 1000 Baht each), and nether of his returns to Thailand would "count" against his 2 per-calendar-year total.

[madmitch]

This will knock a few numbers off the tourist arrival figures. 

[NoshowJones]

On 12/31/2016 at 2:24 PM, Freespirit said:

The big question is will we be allowed to return the same day? (if so which land crossings will allow this?).

That is one big thing Thailand will never change, all Immigration Offices will always make up their own rules.