Hi,

        sorry if these questions have been asked before but I am fairly unfamiliar with Thai visa processes due to living in Laos, and previously I was visa exempt as only entering for a few days at most.

 

Just wondering about the free single entry tourist visa and have two main questions:

 

1. It takes effect from the date you enter Thailand, not the date of issue right?

2. Would there be a limit of one free visa per person before the offer expires on February 28?

 

The reason I ask is I was thinking of utilising the free visa to enter Thailand for just a few days and then returning to Laos and doing that once more before the offer of the free visa expires. (I have plenty of passport pages).

 

On another forum, one poster said the free single entry tourist visa is in fact a TRANSIT visa and could not be used to reenter Laos but to pass through Thailand. Does anyone know of the validity of this?

 

One other question, on another topic regarding effects on expatriates in Laos after the recent changes in Thailand (thread is now closed) one poster suggested that for those needing to enter Thailand on multiple occasions another option outside the multiple entry visa 5000 baht was something called  a multiple re-entry permit which costs 3800 baht and can allegedly be applied for at the bridge in Nongkhai.

 

Does anyone have any info on this??    Many thanks!

 

1. The visa valid for 3 months from the date of issue and allow one 60 day entry.

2. As far as I know there is no limit on how many free visas you can get.

It is a standard single entry tourist visa that is issue for free. It is not a transit visa which only allows a 30 day entry and is not free.

If you are a resident of Laos you could possible get a multiple entry tourist visa for a fee of 5000 baht. It allows unlimited 60 day entries for 6 months from the date of issue. Requirements are here: http://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/en/news/announce/detail.php?ID=410

A multiple re-entry permit would allow unlimited entries for the 60 days you get from a tourist visa. You would be stamped in up to the date the 60 day entry you got ends each time. You can get a bridge in Nong Khai at the re-entry permit desk there.

It is worth mentioning that, even when single entry tourist visas are not free, they only cost 1,000 baht in Vientiane. The big question is whether they will issue you an unlimited number. For those spending most of their time in Thailand, they seem to restrict you to 3 or 4 (unless you change your passport).

 

Could the re-entry permit be of value to you? Maybe, yes, but most probably not the multiple re-entry kind. If you are planning a second trip to Thailand before the end of your 60-day entry under the visa, 1,000 baht for a re-entry stamp makes sense. It takes less space than the visa, is issued quickly and automatically, and extends the time until you are likely to run into limits on tourist visas the Vientiane consulate will issue you.

I published before that i recieved a free Single Entry Tourist visa on 29 December 2016 from the Thai consulate in Hong Kong.

Applied on the 29th of December, and physically picked up visa on 30 December

I entered Thailand with it on 31 December 2016 (New years Eve) and was stamped with a "permitted to stay" stamp until 28 February 2017. Fee at consulate in Hong Kong was zero, visa free.

I intend to extend that SETV for another 30 days in Bangkok before it expires on 28 February

Hong Kong was closed for the New years holiday on 1st and 2nd of January 2017, and so they began isuing a free tourist visa from 29 December 2016 which they  will continue issuing until 28 February 2017.

Not sure exactly why but there were many Thai passports, Phillipine passports, and Hong Kong Chinese Passports there at the consulate getting a visa at the aame time as myself.

 

 

16 minutes ago, IMA_FARANG said:

Hong Kong was closed for the New years holiday on 1st and 2nd of January 2017, and so they began isuing a free tourist visa from 29 December 2016 which they  will continue issuing until 28 February 2017.

The free visas started on December 1st not January 1st.

Quote

 

1. The visa valid for 3 months from the date of issue and allow one 60 day entry.

2. As far as I know there is no limit on how many free visas you can get.

It is a standard single entry tourist visa that is issue for free. It is not a transit visa which only allows a 30 day entry and is not free.

If you are a resident of Laos you could possible get a multiple entry tourist visa for a fee of 5000 baht. It allows unlimited 60 day entries for 6 months from the date of issue.

 

Thanks Ubonjoe for the prompt and accurate reply.

 

Unfortunately I am  one of a fairly sizable number of younger working people here in Laos who will be affected by these (probably temporary) changes and not everyone has a spare 200 000 baht or almost US$6000 sitting in the bank. This makes those people ineligible for the Multiple Entry Visa.

 

There are also quite a number of young couples with children who while they may have that sum in the bank, applying for a young couple with kids suddenly costs 20,000 baht every six months just to go shopping on the weekend when the reason they sought to do that previously was for variety and to save money of course.

 

We have been caught in the dragnet of the inevitable crackdown in Thailand . Actually, the lack of such visa difficulties and laidback lifestyle is one reason many younger and mostly working people choose to stay in Laos but one definite downside is the abysmal care in the event of any kind of medical emergency and now the door to Thailand has been pretty much slammed shut as far as that is concerned.

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Regarding the TRANSIT visa question, I assume your information is accurate except that I heard personally today from one guy who took a relative to the Thai Embassy in Vientiane to apply for the Single Entry Tourist Visa, which he says was marked by the staff (maybe with pen) as TRANSIT, which means he can't re-enter Laos without first travelling onward to a third country such as Cambodia first.

 

Maybe IMA_FARANG or somebody else can comment on that. I am sure there would have been quite a few visitors from Thailand to the embassy in Vientiane even since the new rules came into force on December 31. Interested to know if that was a one-off or now commonplace as with other changes as of December 31.

 

Thanks very much for your input.

 

34 minutes ago, Endless2 said:

Regarding the TRANSIT visa question, I assume your information is accurate except that I heard personally today from one guy who took a relative to the Thai Embassy in Vientiane to apply for the Single Entry Tourist Visa, which he says was marked by the staff (maybe with pen) as TRANSIT, which means he can't re-enter Laos without first travelling onward to a third country such as Cambodia first.

 

Strange they would write transit on it. The visa sticker would say it is a tourist visa (TR).

I don't think that would prevent a person form leaving Thailand at the same border crossing they entered at.