Thailand to fully open e-visa service in 2018: official

Source: Xinhua  

 

 

BANGKOK, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Thailand will launch the first phase of e-visa service later this year and will open its e-visa service fully in 2018, said the kingdom's Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul on Tuesday in a press conference.

 

The minister said the process of opening e-visa service takes time as it involved different ministries.

 

E-visa service is expected to facilitate international travelers' entry to the country, which welcomed some 32.59 million foreign tourists in 2016.

 

Chinese are the biggest visitors to Thailand, accounting for about 30 percent of all foreign tourists, but Chinese tourists still need paper visa and wait in long queues in customs to entry the country.

 

E-visa will be a major topic during World Travel & Tourism Global Summit 2017 which is going be held in Thailand's capital Bangkok, said David Scowsill, President and CEO of World Travel & Tourism Council, during the press conference about the event.

 

Full story: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-01/25/c_136011389.htm

 

-- XINHUA 2017-01-26

Thailand begins e-Visa migration

 

BANGKOK, 26 January 2017: Thailand is exploring the world of e-Visas with the introduction phase scheduled to take place by the end of this year.

 

Minster of Tourism and Sports, Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, confirmed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently evaluating the project.

 

She was commenting on ways to ease visa formalities and make travel to Thailand more convenient during a press conference, Tuesday, convened to announce the hosting of the World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit, 26 to 27 April, in the Thai capital.

 

“We are working on the introduction of an e-Visa… the first phase should be completed by end of this year… and the full phase will be completed in 2018.”

 

She said the project was with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although ultimately visas are in the domain of the Immigration Bureau.

 

Full story: http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2017/01/thailand-begins-e-visa-migration/comment-page-1/

 

-- TR weekly 2017-01-26

Interesting but certainly lacking on any detail.

Probably for 15 or 30 day visas on arrival. I would be willing to bet that it will not be for 60 day tourist visas.

Yes i can see it not having 60 day tourists, an option for 30days & 7days for weekend border hoppers could be good for those entitled to visa exempt but use more than 2 and have hassle at airports and no pre travel consulate/embassy options. Could be a good thing if implemented well but doubt will be overly useful as will be too limited and slow in developing ... Chinese likely have easier time from it but doubt westerners will ...

Edited January 26, 20179 yr by BuckBee

Other countries have e-visa since more then 10 years, for ex. Vietnam. Even India has it.

Maybe it is going to be something like Canada's eTA for countries that require a tourist visa to visit.   You pay a fee and fill in your details, and then you are either approved or rejected authorization to visit Thailand and that is for the duration of the passport (or a set period of time).  From that point on it would be like visa waiver system where on arrival you are allowed to stay "visa-free" for a set period.

Sure they will.

When Pigs fly and speak Greek.

 

They still haven't been able to get their 90 day computer log-in service working well yet have they.

And they started that two years ago.

 

 

Edited January 26, 20179 yr by IMA_FARANG
Added a coment

Would think there will be a fair bit of work to be done on the reliability, browser compatibility and clarity of language for Immigration-related web sites before this becomes feasible.

Edited January 26, 20179 yr by mngmn

Well this is a little unbelievable, as Immigration at present is unable to even do 90day reporting online

 

Will this be on the existing system which appears already overloaded

 

Any bets being placed

2 hours ago, webfact said:

and wait in long queues in customs to entry the country.

 

I would think this has more to do with immigrations than customs.

I have removed some off topic posts meant to derail the topic. No further notice will be given when posts are removed.

41 minutes ago, IMA_FARANG said:

Sure they will.

When Pigs fly and speak Greek.

 

They still haven't been able to get their 90 day computer log-in service working well yet have they.

And they started that two years ago.

 

 

 

You beat me to it, I was about to say exactly the same.....

And the system will be working by 2818, after Somchai the Supercoder has weeded out all the bugs.

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Interesting but certainly lacking on any detail.

Probably for 15 or 30 day visas on arrival. I would be willing to bet that it will not be for 60 day tourist visas.

They quite often have the 90 day reporting off line i will not hold my breath

Im sure itll work as  well as the online 90 day reporting and other  immigration websites................useless

At last! 

Well this is a little unbelievable, as Immigration at present is unable to even do 90day reporting online

Just a wild guess: 90-day reporting is low-volume, low-priority and doesn't bring any cash per se, so no reason to throw the best Computer Science experts at this problem.

Tourist visa might be different.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

 

She said the project was with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although ultimately visas are in the domain of the Immigration Bureau.

 

 

The biggest blunder. She does not even know that MFA for visa, Immigration for admitting people into the country. 

Or they plan to change that too. Whenever I read such news I get more confused and worried.

Every bar owner will tell you that tourism is going downhill, so where are her 32Mio visitors?

7 minutes ago, SicTransit said:

 

Just a wild guess: 90-day reporting is low-volume, low-priority and doesn't bring any cash per se, so no reason to throw the best Computer Science experts at this problem.

Tourist visa might be different.

 

Yes I think monetary value is on par here, so it might be the added incentive to actually look into it - tho how sad of a state run organization to think at all about money, but TiT

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Interesting but certainly lacking on any detail.

Probably for 15 or 30 day visas on arrival. I would be willing to bet that it will not be for 60 day tourist visas.

I'll take that bet!!   why wouldn't it be for a full tourist visa?

Cambodia and even  Burma already offer E-Visas

33 minutes ago, SicTransit said:

 

Just a wild guess: 90-day reporting is low-volume, low-priority and doesn't bring any cash per se, so no reason to throw the best Computer Science experts at this problem.

Tourist visa might be different.

 

 

Having the 90-day reporting done on the internet would decrease the officers doing the 90-day reporting. So these officers could been doing other work that could have revenue. But many people can't think further or anticipate. Anticipate is a verb that is unknown in Thai language !!!

Edited January 26, 20179 yr by FredNL

6 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

I'll take that bet!!   why wouldn't it be for a full tourist visa?

Cambodia and even  Burma already offer E-Visas

I just cannot see them allowing a tourist visa to be applied for anywhere but at a embassy or consulate. I also think the e-visa will only be for those that cannot get a visa exempt entry.

Cambodia and I think Myanmar only allow a 30 day entry from a e-visa.

Hope it works better than the online 90 report. Tried it many times, successful only once. Now given up.

 

What I want to see is the total streamlining of the visa process, especially for those people that work or live here. Ideally a 5 Non Imm O & B year visa, no 90 day reporting if you haven't changed address and stop having to give the same pile of documents on each visit. Only give documents that have changed. E,g, Tax, Social etc

21 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

I just cannot see them allowing a tourist visa to be applied for anywhere but at a embassy or consulate. I also think the e-visa will only be for those that cannot get a visa exempt entry.

Cambodia and I think Myanmar only allow a 30 day entry from a e-visa.

Why not?
true but a tourist visa in Cambodia is ONLY 30 days regardless where you get it

Burma its only 28 days

Edited January 26, 20179 yr by phuketrichard

3 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

Why not?

Just my opinion based upon what I have seen come from the Thai bureaucracy at various ministries. Look at the requirements for a METV for example.

Cambodia has had that for some time , last count there was twelve scam sites also operating , so be careful.............................

Other countries have e-visa since more then 10 years, for ex. Vietnam. Even India has it.

Even Cambodia

44 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

I'll take that bet!!   why wouldn't it be for a full tourist visa?

Cambodia and even  Burma already offer E-Visas

Me too! I agree.

 

IMO SETV's will definitely be part of the e-visa service. It makes sense for the customer (easy to get) and for immigration policing (easy to monitor/limit).

They even can't get the 90 day reporting working properly....how in hell would they ever get a EVisa system working...i could envisage a traveller in another country booking his air ticket and paying for it only to find the Thai Evisa system offline for two weeks as happened recently to the 90 day shambles....and would the Thai paper Visa on arrival system still be running alongside the EVisa system...not a hope..."solly must use computer"

Cool!

Another online application for Internet Explorer!


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