Visa on arrival - opportunity to hit ATM for local currency before paying fee?
Aug 1, 2014, 10:49 am
#1
Original Poster
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Visa on arrival - opportunity to hit ATM for local currency before paying fee?
Is there an opportunity to hit the ATM prior to having to pay the Visa on Arrival fee? (Now 1000THB) ...or will they take USD cash? exact change?
My wife will need it as a Chinese citizen. If there isn't an opportunity, where best to get THBs in the US (we are transiting Taipei)?
My wife will need it as a Chinese citizen. If there isn't an opportunity, where best to get THBs in the US (we are transiting Taipei)?
Aug 1, 2014, 6:22 pm
#3
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Aug 3, 2014, 2:11 am
#5
Join Date: Aug 2007
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When are you going? Your wife may not require that visa....
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/...nese-tourists/
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/...nese-tourists/
Aug 3, 2014, 12:57 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kirkland, WA
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Flying inbound to BKK from TPE.
Nice to hear about the waiver of fee but we are going in mid-December. Sounds like a little too late. Why only 3 months? Hopefully they extend. I will have to stay close to this as I need to know whether I need cash or not before we wait in line. I guess I can get my 1000 Baht at the currency exchange and pay a ridiculous rate and spend it later if I don't need it.
We are also going to Malaysia (after Singapore) and I did happen to discover that Chinese can use VOA there for 2014 only (also to promote tourism) if coming in from Thailand or Singapore by air AND with $1000 cash in pocket, $100 of which to hand over to them... sheesh.
I think it would be a lot easier if these countries allowed a Chinese national in with a US Green Card. If the US vetted them (and it took us over a year to get through that process!), proved they can afford to live in the US, then shouldn't they be pretty well good to go?
Turns out our biggest problem was with Taiwan. She would need a mainland Chinese permit with an interview and one month processing to approve. Given her former membership in the Communist Party it might take a while...
As such we abandoned our stay in Taipei and will skip it. More tourism $ gone.
Yeah we will be working on the US citizenship to eliminate these problems in our future travel.
Nice to hear about the waiver of fee but we are going in mid-December. Sounds like a little too late. Why only 3 months? Hopefully they extend. I will have to stay close to this as I need to know whether I need cash or not before we wait in line. I guess I can get my 1000 Baht at the currency exchange and pay a ridiculous rate and spend it later if I don't need it.
We are also going to Malaysia (after Singapore) and I did happen to discover that Chinese can use VOA there for 2014 only (also to promote tourism) if coming in from Thailand or Singapore by air AND with $1000 cash in pocket, $100 of which to hand over to them... sheesh.
I think it would be a lot easier if these countries allowed a Chinese national in with a US Green Card. If the US vetted them (and it took us over a year to get through that process!), proved they can afford to live in the US, then shouldn't they be pretty well good to go?
Turns out our biggest problem was with Taiwan. She would need a mainland Chinese permit with an interview and one month processing to approve. Given her former membership in the Communist Party it might take a while...
As such we abandoned our stay in Taipei and will skip it. More tourism $ gone.Yeah we will be working on the US citizenship to eliminate these problems in our future travel.
Aug 3, 2014, 2:49 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2002
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I think it would be a lot easier if these countries allowed a Chinese national in with a US Green Card. If the US vetted them (and it took us over a year to get through that process!), proved they can afford to live in the US, then shouldn't they be pretty well good to go?