Living in Thailand: Thai Visas: The Tourist Visa

February 1 2010 Categories: Thailand Visas, Thailand Visas & Work Permit No comments yet

Introduction to the Tourist Visa

What is the Tourist Visa?

Foreign investors who wish to come into Thailand for tourism purpose may either chose to come under the regime of Visa Exemption (providing that they are national from one of the countries that benefit from this exemption) or they may also apply and obtain for a Tourist Visa with a Royal Thai Embassy.

The Tourist visa will allow you to stay in Thailand for a period of not more than 30 days at a time but can be extended (up to 60 days) but the total period of stay including the extension(s) may not exceed 90 days from the date of entry into the Kingdom.

Note: Holder(s) of Tourist Visa may not work in Thailand. If you want to work in Thailand and need to obtain a work permit you will have first to change the type of your visa.

Note: Thai embassies in neighboring countries may refuse the issuance of new tourist visas to foreign applicants who have already obtained three consecutive Tourist visas. If you are in this situation you will have to go back in your country of residence if you wish to apply for another tourist visa. We recommend you to apply for visa at the Thai Embassy/ Consulate in the country where you have your residence or from which you are a national.

Note: There are from time to time discrepancies between Thai embassies practices. Some embassies have the reputation to be more helpful than others. We cannot recommend you one embassy over another as the situation is changing constantly. Also note that Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Thai embassies may abruptly change their practices without notice. Therefore please call the Thai embassy the closest from you location before to start the formalities.

Warning: It is the officer at the border of entrance who has the ultimate responsibility to decide whether you may enter Thailand or not. Even ia person has a valid tourist visa issued by a Thai embassy the officer of the immigration may ultimately refuse to the holder entrance into Thailand. He may do so if there are reasons to believe that the foreign visa holder is abusing the visa purpose.

What are the common requirements to obtain a Tourist Visa?

Conditions and Documents Requirements

The common requirements for the obtaining of a Tourist Visa are:

- Passport or travel document with validity of not less than 6 months;

- Completed visa application form.

- Recent passport-sized photograph (4 x 6 cm) of the applicant taken within the past 6 months.

What are the conditions to obtain an extension of a Tourist Visa period ?

A foreign tourist who wants to apply for an extension of the period of stay of his/her tourist visa must fulfill the following conditions:

- He / she must have been granted a tourist visa by a Thai embassy and have entered Thailand on this visa

- He / she must not be of a nationality or type prescribed by the committee monitoring official proceedings of officers of the Immigration Bureau.

What are the documents requirement to obtain an extension of a Tourist Visa period ?

The applicant simply need to produce:

- Copy of the applicant passport

- Application Form

- Recent passport-sized photograph (4 x 6 cm) of the applicant taken within the past 6 months

Note: All foreigners who apply for Tourist Visa at the Royal Thai Embassies and the Royal Thai Consulates-General worldwide, including eligible foreigners who apply for Visa on Arrival at designated checkpoints, will be exempted from Tourist Visa fee from 25 June B.E. 2552 (2009) to 4 March B.E. 2553 (2010). Such arrangement is for Tourist Visa only.

Update: September 2009 crackdown on tourist visas application

On September 2009 Thai authorities started a crackdown on Tourist Visas application. In a nutshell it simply means that Royal Thai Embassies and Consulates will practice an increased screening of tourist visa applicants.

The motivation for the screening is according to the announcement “As there has been a number of visa applicants having entered Thailand via tourist visa and misused it to illegally seek employment during their stay and, upon its expiry, sought to re-apply their tourist visas at the Royal Thai Embassy or the Royal Thai Consulate in neighboring countries, requests for visa renewal by such applicants are subject to rejection as their applications are not based on tourism motive, but to continue their illegal employment, which is unlawful.

In other words, Thai Embassies will reject tourist visas application which they deemed abusive.

Note: This post is an excerpt of Rene Philippe Dubout next book: “How to Invest Safely Into Thailand” to be published in January 2010

About the Author:

The author Rene-Philippe DUBOUT is a lawyer since 1990 when he was admitted to Geneva bar (Switzerland). He practiced as a litigator there for 10 years until he moved to Thailand in 1999. In 2002 he founded with a group of Thai lawyers Rene Philippe & Partners Ltd a local law firm that specialized in Cross Borders Investments and Real Estate. He has been lecturing in several Thai Universities and a speaker to numerous conferences and seminars. He is the author of a must read book:”How to Purchase Real Estate Offshore Safely: The Case of Thailand”.

http//:www.renephilippe.com

Originally posted 2009-07-30 09:45:42.

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