rjh

Uh oh
From Forbes :

mcgahat

What does renewable mean? I mean, do you have to go pay a "fee" and have it renewed instead of leaving the country as a lot of people do on a monthly basis? Or does that mean your current one day exits to cambodia can only be done twice before they make you leave for 90 days? Not quite clear to me which is typical of most new Thai laws.

GUWonder

Is this a reaction to the American arrested in BKK and then sent in biz class to Colorado for something to do (or not do) with the Jon Benet Ramsey murder?

GUWonder

If you have stayed for 90 days in Thailand, you would then have to stay outside of Thailand for 90 consecutive days before re-entering.

In terms of technical structure, I'd hope for something akin to the "no more than 90 days within any 180-day period" just to keep it consistent with what is the practice within the Schengen countries in the EU. But expectations and hope are not necessarily a match made in heaven.

mcgahat

Well, I agree but the info provided in the article wasnt so clear. I would expect it would have to be something similar to what you mention to make any sense at all.

rjh

This may or may not clarify things:
"Foreign nationals from the 41 countries, including the United States, China and India, will be able to stay longer but with fewer chances of renewing the [visa on arrival] VOA.
...
In future, foreigners from those 41 countries will be able to stay in the country for 30 days from the first VOA stamp, which will be renewable twice at most, each time for a maximum of 30 days. In other words, a foreigner will be permitted to remain in Thailand for no longer than 90 days in total after three VOA stamps. ..."

A grand total of 3 hits so far in Google News for +thailand +visa. Surprising given the impact this is going to have on a lot of people, including NGO volunteers.

yosithezet

I'm not sure I understand this at all. I often transit through Thailand. In a 90 day period I may transit through Thailand 4-5 times. Each time I pass through passport control, head to the hotel, get some rest, 15-20 hours later I'm back at the airport to catch my plane. How will this affect me? I'll only be able to pass through 3 times in a 90-day period?

Edit to update: After reading the article more closely it sounds like after three times where I'd transit as per above I'd then need a full visa from the Thai embassy in my home country to be able to transit through Thailand. Is that right?

transpac

Lot's of changes in the works...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=82672

Tens if not hundreds of thousands of foreigners live in Thailand, with basically a 30-day Visa on Arrival. They make a run to a border every 30 days, walk across to Cambodia, Laos, etc. and walk back getting a new 30-day stamp. Implementation and execution of the new rules are still an open issues. The general concensus so far is that these rules would not be enforced at int'l airports but rather just at land crossings.

Evidently these changes have been in the works for a while, so not a direct result of the John Karr fiasco but that certainly could have sped things along. A week doesn't go by when some criminal from another country is caught here. I read in today's paper (The Nation) about a murder suspect being extradited to the U.K.

Also changes to the Condo Investment Visa scheme as well.

And maybe no more Non-Imm. B visas without a Work Permit.

rjh

All "enabled" by the Information Age. Very interesting the degree of additional IT automation at border points these days. Even at the Hat Lek, TH-Koh Kong, KR land border the Cambodian immigration has cameras, leading to inevitible, almost comical queuing at the immigration booth (comical if you weren't one of those huddling at the window).

I'm just waiting for additional automation to be deployed at Lao Immigration land border points. Bring a good book when that happens.

billp

One thing you should understand is this is NOT a "Visa on Arrival" or VOA. This concerns the VISA EXEMPTION available for citizens of 41 countries. Visa on Arrival specifically refers to a list of countries whose citizens are allowed to enter Thailand for 15 days only and have to pay a fee and fill out a form.

The visa exemption gives you 30 days in the Kingdom - no fee, no form. You get stamped in and out so it's easy to see how long you've been staying. What they're trying to get at is those who stay for years without any sort of visa and just step across the border and then turn around and come right back in every month, getting another free 30 days each time. Now you will only be able to do 3 of those in a row before you have to stay away for 90 days.

It won't affect those transiting the country because they can see that you only visit briefly each time. The people who live there full time and have a legitimate purpose in the Kingdom can just about all get renewable visas. The ones it will most affect are those living and working in Thailand on the sly, or living there while earning undeclared income abroad (like people who do internet programming from their homes, for example). And those notorious criminals and fugitives of course.

billp

Sorry, I got this wrong. You get 3 entry stamps good for 30 days each, basta. It seems it doesn't matter how short your stay is. If you land at BKK and drive to Cambodia the same day, it still counts as one entry stamp apparently. That's the way I now understand it, anyway.

yosithezet

Where can the list of 41 countries be found?

sfvoyage

Do these 3 visa stamps have to be back-to-back? What if I stay for 20-30 days on the first visa stamp, then leave and return after a month or so and stay for another 20-30 days on the second visa stamp, and so forth? Will the new restriction not apply to this scenario, since there is a longish absence from the country in betweeen visa stamps?

alex0683de

http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2381.php#Tourist will show you the list of countries whose citizens are stamped in without hassle.

http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2381.php#Visa gives you a list of 20 additional countries which can fill out a form and pay for a Visa on Arrival.

transpac

This is still being hashed out but it sounds like you are allowed a total of 90 days in country over a period of 180 days. BTW, this appears to be a regulation that's been on the books for some time, but is now being more stringently enforced? Under some circumstances I'd recommend you get a 2-entry 60 day tourist in the U.S.A. (or home country) to cover your stay.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=83253

Royal Thai Police
Order No. 608 / 2549
Subject: An authorization for permission to foreigners that are exempted from the Visa requirements to stay temporarily in the Kingdom of Thailand.
----------------------------------


As the Interior Ministerial Regulation has stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the Visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002) and the Ministerial Regulation (Volume 2) B.E. 2546 (2003) dated on 28th March B.E. 2546 (2003) prescribed the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the exception in the Visa requirements pursuant to the Article 12 (1) of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979).

For supporting the approval permission to the foreign nationals who are exempted from Visa requirements when entering to temporarily stay in the Kingdom of Thailand to be in order pursuant to the intention of the Thai Government, under the virtue of the Article 35 of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979) and the Article 11 (4) of Royal Thai Police Act B.E. 2547 (2004), the authorized Immigration Officer shall be lawfully appointed and authorized to permit the foreign nationals who get the exemption of Visa requirements for entering to temporarily stay in the Kingdom of Thailand in accordance with the following types of exemption:

1. Passport holder of the country that has made an agreement with the Thai government, according to the Interior Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the Visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), Article 13 (1), shall be permitted to have the right to stay in Thailand according to the period which is mutually agreed between the government of Thailand and the government of the passport holder.

2. Passport holder from the country which has no Royal Thai Embassy or the Royal Thai Consulate located in that country as the Minister of the Interior has stipulated under the consent of the Cabinet, according to the Interior Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), Article 13 (2), shall be permitted to stay in Thailand not exceeding to 30 days from the arrival date.

3. According the Article 13 (3) of the Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), within six months period, the holder of passport or substitutive documents which issued by any country that is approved by the Minister of the Interior, under the approval of the Cabinet, to enter to temporarily stay in Thailand for tourism purpose, shall be permitted to enter Thailand several times. Each permitted time shall not be exceeding 30 days period, and the total period shall not be exceeding 90 days from the first day that the passport holder arrived in Thailand.

4. According the Article 13 (4) of the Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), the holder of passport or other substitutive documents who enter to temporarily stay in the Kingdom of Thailand for the conference or the international sport contest shall be permitted to stay in the Kingdom not more than 30 days from the day arrived in the Kingdom of Thailand.

5. According the Article 13 (5) of the Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), the holder of passport or other substitutive documents of the country that is the member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and holds the APEC businessman passport who enters to temporarily stay in the Kingdom of Thailand for business purpose shall be permitted to stay in the Kingdom not more than 90 days from the day arrived in the Kingdom of Thailand.

6. This Order shall be supersede to all other rules, regulations and orders that are conflicted with this Order.


This Order shall be in full force commencing from this 1st day of October 2006

Order dated on 8th September 2006



Signed Signature

(Police General ---------)

Royal Thai Police Commandant