Thai Visa?

Hi, i%26#39;m travelling from Bangkok up to Chang Mai and over into Laos. I will be less than 30 days in Thailand and have an Irish passport so don%26#39;t think i need a visa. Just wondering what proof do I need to state I will be going to Laos..Would hotel reservation or something like that be ok?? Have a flight out of Bangkok for end of November. Will this be a problem? ?

Thai Visa?

Molly,

You are best to check with the Thai embassy in Ireland. Generally it shouldnt be a problem if you leave the country before 30 days but there have been reports of people being turned away at immigration because there is no airfare showing you leaving the country in that 30 days....

You should be right but I would check with the authorities rather than rely on the rumours on travel boards. We have decided to not chance it and get a 60 day visa even though we will only be in Thailand 3 days before overlanding into Laos before returning! Better safe than sorry!

Reet

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Thai Visa?

Thai Immigration is going through some rather confusing processes, mostly aimed at cracking down on foreigners who exploit the visa on arrival/visa free entry to essentially live fulltime in Thailand. Historically this has meant that foreigners were leaving and returning to the country - often within the same day - and getting stamped into the country for another 30 - 90 days, then repeating the process ad infinitum.

In order to tackle this problem Imigration has decreed that unless a foreigner has a long stay visa ( meaning more than a tourist or short term business visa), a foreigner can only stay 90 days - CUMULATIVE - during any 6 month period). So, you will now see the Immigration officer at the airport flipping through passport pages and actually counting up the number of days that a foreigner has been in Thailand ( they usually only bother doing this is if it is clear from the passport that there has been a lot of ';going and coming';.)

My guess would be that any recent incidences of people being refused for lack of onward tickets might have to do more with the above than anything else. I have never know anyone to have been refused entry to Thailand simply based on a lack of onward ticket, however, if there is something eles that raises a flag with the Immigration officer it can of course be used as an excuse.

By the way, you do have an onward ticket, so no problems. The date doesn;t really mater since you could always change it to an earlier ( or later) date as far as Immigration is concerned.