Vol. 8 No. 7 ! 16 - 31 December 2008
PATTAYA TODAY 1
Volume 8, Issue 7
16 - 31 December 2008
Border Runs Shorter
30 day visas now only 15 days
Waiting in line for a visa at a Thai border post
THAI immigration police have announced a new regulation regarding overland entry to the country via border posts at Cambodia, Laos, Mynamar and Malaysia. In the past, foreigners entering Thailand without a prior visa have been granted 30 days on arrival, but with immediate effect this has now been changed to just 15 days. Apparently, the new regulation is to limit the amount of time foreigners using "back to back" visa runs can spend in
the country. They now have to leave Thailand every fortnight instead of every month to get a new extension. "We want to encourage the notion that foreigners who wish to spend a long time in Thailand should possess a visa in advance, granted by a Thai embassy, rather than relying on consecutive border runs," a spokesman for the immigration bureau told Pattaya Today. Thus land border visitors to Thailand with valid 60 day
or 90 day visas, or longer, will continue to receive their entitlement just as before. "The changes apply only to visitors without a visa obtained beforehand." But visitors who arrive in Thailand at an airport, without a prior visa, will continue to receive 30 days on arrival as in the past. Thus airborne visitors to Thailand are unaffected by the new regulations which concern only border crossings. Extensions at Thai immigration offices for the 15 days visas on arrival at land checkpoints, or the 30 days via on arrival stamp at the airport, remain just seven days. After that, the visitor must leave the country or become a visa overstayer with fines and possible imprisonment. Observers of the visa scene say that nothing has changed for 90% of visitors to Thailand. The ones affected are those using back to back visa runs to the border to obtain a further 30 days. That has now become 15.
The only exception to the new regulations are Malaysian passport holders travelling to Thailand overland from Malaysia. They will continue to receive 30 days on arrival as before. In answer to many questions from the media, immigration command in Bangkok has clarified that there is no longer any limit on the number of times a foregner may enter Thailand with 30 days on arrival at the airport or 15 days at the border crossing. The former policy about no more than 90 days permission to stay in a six months period has been dropped. In a separate policy change, applicants at Thai immigration offices who apply for a retirement visa for the first time no longer need to keep 800,000 baht in a Thai bank for three months. The time period requirement has been reduced to two months. Applicants who choose the route of using pension income, guaranteed by their embassy, plus a smaller amount in the Thai bank are unaffected and there is no time requirement for them.
25 BAHT