THAI VISA iNFORMATION

Thai Visa Information

Types of Visa  30-Day Visa Exemption  New Visa Rules  Visa Extension & Visa Runs
Passport Holders Who Can Enter Thailand Without Visa  Thailand Visa News

First of all, the most basic requirement for a trip to Thailand is a passport still valid for at least six months, counting from the date of your arrival in the Kingdom. So if you plan a holiday in Thailand and the expiry date of your passport should be within the next six months, please apply for a new passport asap.
When in Thailand, please do not overstay your visa. Always check the expiry date of your current visa and your relevant entry stamp ("admitted until").
If you make it to the airport, or any other land border checkpoint (and your "overstay" is no longer than six weeks) the overstay charge is only 500 Baht per day (maximum fine 20,000 Baht).
However, if you should get arrested without a valid visa during your stay in the country, you would be considered an illegal immigrant, face deportation and harsh fines.

Types of Visa

Tourist Visa
Business - Non-Immigrant Visa "B"
Retirement - Non-Immigrant Visa "O-A" (Long Stay)
Education - Non-Immigrant Visa "ED"
Marriage - Non-Immigrant Visa "O"
Other types of Non-Immigrant visas include e.g. Investment and diplomatic visa.

30-Day Visa Exemption (New Rules!)

In general, foreigners who wish to travel to Thailand and stay for longer than 30 days are required to obtain a visa from a Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate prior to their visit.
Nationals of most European, many North and South American, as well as other Asian countries, who meet "visa exemption" requirements and wish to stay in Thailand for not exceeding 30 days for "tourism purposes" only, however, do not require a visa when entering Thailand. All they need is a passport valid for at least six months.
Passport Holders Who Can Enter Thailand Without Visa
This permission of stay has only little in common with a regular visa. In fact, it's not a visa at all. The term "visa exemption" simply means that eligible foreigners shall be granted a permission of stay without having to apply for a visa prior to their entry into the Kingdom.
Upon arrival at a Thai immigration checkpoint, you'll simply have an entry stamp (no regular visa) stamped onto a page of your passport. This little square stamp displays both the "date of arrival" and an "admitted until" field, showing the date when you're due to leave.
This visa-exempt entry stamp (sometimes wrongly referred to as "tourist visa" or "visa on arrival") is free of charge.
The permitted duration of stay is up to 30 days (for nationals of most countries).
Tourists arriving via international airports will get a 30-days entry stamp, whereas tourists arriving in the Kingdom via land border checkpoints will receive only a 15-days permission of stay.
The only official requirement is an onward travel ticket as proof of your intention to leave Thailand again. Therefore, travelling to Thailand with a one-way ticket cannot be recommended. While this regulation is occasionally being enforced (and some airlines might refuse to let you board a flight to Thailand unless you have a return ticket) adequate financial means to cover your expenses in Thailand (10,000 Baht a person or 20,000 Baht per family, as officially required) are usually taken for granted.
Employment is strictly prohibited, and work permits cannot be applied for. If you want to work in Thailand legally and/or conduct a business you'll need to obtain a non-immigrant visa "B".

Immigration Crackdown On "Border Runners": New Visa Rules!

Effective from December 2008, tourists who have not obtained a visa prior to their visit to Thailand and arrive via a land border checkpoint (Cambodia, Laos, Burma etc.), will be granted only a 15-days permission of stay. In practice, this means: No longer 30-day entry stamps when doing one-day "visa runs" to the Cambodian border!
Foreigners arriving via international airports are not affected by this regulation; they will still obtain a 30-days entry stamp.
Effective from June 1, 2009, foreigners who have entered the Kingdom four consecutive times on 15-day entry stamps (via land border checkpoints) will not be allowed to leave the country and re- enter Thailand by land. The only option is to exit Thailand and re-enter via an international airport, in which case a further 30-day extension of stay in the country will be granted.
If you wish to further extend your holidays in Thailand by traveling on 60-day tourist visas, please note that in late 2009, Thai embassies have announced a new crackdown on back-to-back tourist visa applications. Stricter requirements for applicants are also being enforced since August 2011.

Passport Holders Who Can Enter Thailand Without Visa

Tourists from the countries listed below may enter Thailand without a visa ("visa exemption") for a maximum stay of 30 days usually (for tourism purposes only) or may apply for a "visa on arrival" upon arrival at a Thai border checkpoint (15 days permission of stay). Tourists who wish to stay longer than 30 days will need to apply for a tourist or other visa.

Argentina (90), Australia, Austria
Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil (90), Brunei
Cambodia, Canada, Chile (90), China, Cyprus (15), Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia (15)
Finland, France
Germany, Greece
Hong Kong SAR, Hungary
Iceland, India (15), Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy
Japan
Kazakhstan (15), Korea/ South, Kuwait
Latvia (15), Laos, Liechtenstein, Lithuania (15), Luxembourg
Macao SAR, Malaysia, Maldives (15), Mauritius (15), Mongolia, Myanmar
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway
Oman
Peru (90), Phillippines, Poland, Portugal
Quatar
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia (15), Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland
Taiwan (15), Turkey
Ukraine (15), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA
Vietnam

For updated conditions and specifications of "visa exemption", "visa on arrival" and the permitted duration of stay, please visit the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Stay In Thailand Longer Than 30 Days? Visa Extension, Visa Runs

UPDATE - Effective from December 2008, tourists who have not obtained a visa prior to their visit to Thailand and arrive via a land border checkpoint (Cambodia, Laos, Burma etc.), will be granted only a 15-days permission of stay. In practice this means: No longer 30-day entry stamps when doing one-day "visa runs" to the Cambodian border!
Foreigners arriving via international airports are not affected by this regulation; they will still obtain a 30-days entry stamp.
In addition: Effective from June 2009, foreign visitors, who have entered Thailand four consecutive times on 15-day entry stamps (via land border checkpoints) will not be allowed to leave the country and re-enter Thailand by land. The only option is to exit Thailand and re-enter via an international airport, in which case a further 30-day extension of stay in the Kingdom will be granted.
If you plan to further extend your holidays in Thailand by travelling on 60-day tourist visas, please note that in September 2009, Thai embassies and consulates have announced a new crackdown on back-to-back tourist visa applications. Tourist visa applicants will face stricter "screening measures" to make sure that they are genuine tourists and use their visas not as a way to work illegally in Thailand. Applicants with "too many" back-to-back tourist visa stamps may have a new application refused. Thailand Visa News
In August 2011, Thai embassies and consulates abroad have also been instructed to be "stricter with requirements when applicants are applying for 60-day tourist visas for Thailand."
From now on, Thai embassies will reportedly also require a "confirmed airline ticket with flight numbers and date of entry/exit," when applying for a 60-day tourist visa, "plus confirmed hotel reservations with name and dates of checking in/out." If one of the required documents is missing an explanation letter must be provided. These new official requirements are reportedly in effect immediately, i.e. since the end of August 2011. As usual, however, it remains to be seen how strictly these new rules will be enforced. ThaiVisa.com

Visa Extension

If you should decide to stay longer in Thailand than 30 days and haven't applied for a regular visa in advance, you can apply for a 7-day extension at a fee of 1,900 Baht at your local immigration office. (If you travel with a 60-day tourist visa, you may extend your stay for 30 days.)
Required documents include the fully-filled extension form (TM. 7), a copy of your passport and a passport picture (4x6cm). For updates and downloads of visa extension forms, please visit the Pattaya Immigration Bureau website.

"Visa Runs"

Another popular option is a so-called visa run - either to the nearby Cambodian border where you may get another 15-day entry stamp (new rule effective from December 2008) or a trip to one of the neighbouring countries, where you may apply for a regular tourist visa or (if you should qualify for one) a so-called Non-Immigrant visa of either type.
Otherwise, if you exit and re-enter Thailand via an international airport (without applying for a visa at a Thai embassy), you will still obtain a 30-days entry stamp upon arrival in Thailand.
Thailand Tourist Visa  Visa Run To Vientiane, Laos

One-day "visa runs" to the Cambodian border (usually to Aranyaprathet or Chantaburi) have been popular with foreign residents of Pattaya for many years.
Border runs can be booked at dozens of tour agencies all over Pattaya at rates between roughly 1,700 and 2,500 Baht.
These prices include visa fees for Cambodia, visa assistance at the border, and transportation by minibus from Pattaya or Jomtien to the Cambodian border and back. (Depending on the package you choose, breakfast and/or lunch may be included, too.)
The total duration of such organized "visa runs" to the border is roughly between 8 and 10 hours, depending on traffic, weather and how busy it is at the border.
Most tour operators leave from Pattaya at around 6.00 or 7.00h and will be back in Pattaya early in the afternoon. Some may pick you up at your hotel or condominium, while others have central meeting points from where they depart.
However, the enforcement of the new 15-days rule (when arriving via land border checkpoints) and the restriction to a maximum of four consecutive border runs since 2009, make these formerly popular "border runs" little less than an inefficient drudgery.
If you travel with a multiple-entry tourist or Non-Immigrant visa, these new regulations won't affect you, of course, and you will be granted an extra 60-days respectively 90-days permission of stay at the border, provided your visa is still valid and has not been fully used.

To sum it up, you could travel (fly) to Thailand without a visa and stay for initially 30 days. After that you can either:
- get a seven-day visa extension at your local immigration office (fee 1,900 Baht),
- make a maximum of four consecutive visa runs to the Cambodian or any other land border, and stay in Thailand for an additional 15 days each time,
- exit and re-enter Thailand via an international airport (30-days permission of stay), or
- visit a nearby neighbouring country and apply for a Tourist/Non-Immigrant visa at a Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate.

So, what's the best, most convenient and inexpensive solution??
If you wish to stay in Pattaya or elsewhere in Thailand for an "extended" period of time, and want to avoid half a dozen or so visa runs every 15 or 30 days, you'll need to obtain an appropriate visa issued at a Thai embassy preferably in your home country - where double, triple or multiple-entry visas can be obtained most easily - or in a neighbouring Southeast Asian country like Cambodia, Laos or Malaysia.
If you choose to visit a nearby Southeast Asian country, please note that the embassy in Phnom Phen (Cambodia) has a rather bad reputation (at least for tourist visas) and the consulate on the Malaysian island of Penang only issues single-entry Tourist visas (restricted to three consecutive applications. If the consulate decides to restrict your visits, they'll place a red stamp on your last visa stating that future applications will get refused.)
While the Thai embassies in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have a rather good reputation, the one in Manila (Philippines) should be totally avoided.
At the moment, the least problems with obtaining (consecutive) tourist visas have been reported at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane. Double-entry tourist visas are also available on request.
However, since the crackdown on back-to-back tourist visa applications is also being enforced in Laos, applicants with "too many" consecutive tourist visa stickers in their passport may have red warning stamps put on their visas, indicating that future applications "may not be accepted," or simply have their visa application rejected. Foreigners have been advised to apply for Non- Immigrant visas instead.
Thailand Visa News: Crackdown On Back-To-Back Tourist Visa Applications
In August 2011, Thai embassies and consulates abroad have also been instructed to be "stricter with requirements when applicants are applying for 60-day tourist visas for Thailand."
From now on, Thai embassies will also require a "confirmed airline ticket with flight numbers and date of entry/exit," when applying for 60-day tourist visas, "plus confirmed hotel reservations with name and dates of checking in/out." If one of the required documents is missing, an explanation letter must be provided. The new requirements are reportedly in effect immediately, i.e. since the end of August 2011. (Source: ThaiVisa.com) It remains to be seen how these new requirements will affect tourist visa applicants, not only in Vientiane, in the future.
Visa Run to Vientiane, Laos
Another option is the so-called ED visa (education visa) which is granted to foreign students who enroll, for example, in a Thai language course at a local language school certified by the Ministry of Education.
To read more on different visa categories available for Thailand and find out which type suits you best, please check the links below.

Tourist Visa
Business - Non-Immigrant Visa "B"
Retirement - Non-Immigrant Visa "O-A"
Education - Non-Immigrant Visa "ED"
Marriage - Non-Immigrant Visa "O"