Preetam Rai

[...] Thailand Visa On Arrival Form I am often in Thailand and usually end up taking the Visa on Arrival (People from China, Russia, India, Taiwan and about 16 other countries can use this facility at 12 immigration check points - see the list below). The trouble is that the Thailand Visa on Entry or Visa on Arrival form is not online … [...]

Hello Preetha

What would I fill under the reference address column as I donno anyone. I just have the hotel's addresses I will be staying.

Is it ok to fill the hotel's address ?

Thanks,
Rishi

Yes, the hotel address is fine.

Hi,

Thanks for the form. I am going to Thailand for first time. The application says I should have 10000 Thai Baht for living and 1000 for visa fees. I am carrying US $ is it fine?

Also I am going alone for a 3 days pleasure trip is it fine? What type of questions they ask at immegration?

Regards,
Prashant

Hi Prashant, The 1000 Baht Visa Fee is usually paid in Thai currency. You can change money at a money changer stall close to the visa on arrival area. There are couple of ATMs where you can use your Master/Visa/Cirrus/Plus cards to withdraw Thai currency.

You will need to show them 10,000 Baht per person (or 20,000 Baht per family) so that they know you have enough money for your living expense. This living expense can be in any major currency. I have used US dollars, Singapore Dollars, Japanese Yen and Chinese Renmenbi in the past. They will not take this money, they just want to see that you have enough cash to cover your expenses.

If you have your papers in order, they don't ask you any questions. Just be prepared to wait for a long time as the queue can get very long.

Thanks Preetam. Hope I will not endup in a long queue.

Thank you for this info, most useful

one more thing, do you know for sure that the thai immigration will accept this pfd version of the form?
I like the cartoon of the whole process, very informative

Hi Preetam,
Thanks for putting up this post. Really helps out.
Instead of 10,000 Baht Cash, can we show a credit card/recipt showing money in bank account etc..? I was not planning on carrying a lot of Cash since I have an international debit card (they give the bext exchange rates!).Any alternatives to carrying the 10K Baht cash?

rgds
Vikram

Dear Sir,
I would like to know, can I apply Visa on arrival at Chiangmai airport? If I fly with China air lines for Taipei direct to Chiangmai.

Best regards,
Tony

Hi Vikram

Thanks for dropping by my blog. The visa authorities refuse to acknowledge a credit/debit card. There are couple of ATMs near the Visa on Arrival area from where you can withdraw money. They might eventually let you in but you would have to spend a lot of time arguing with them. I would suggest carry some US$ or Euros or some other currency.

I think end up paying a transaction fee each time you use your debit card to withdraw money on a foreign network.

Hi Tony, The process is the same as the airport in Bangkok mentioned above.

Will accept travellers cheques (US dollar) for the proof of living expenses?

hi there, thanks so much for this. it's invaluable! a couple of questions please:
1) i've printed the form you'd scanned on double-sided A4 paper. would immigration accept this printed out copy?
2) i'm visa-exempted, but my domestic helper from China needs one. she doesn't speak english (much less thai), so would you know if immigration would allow me to queue with her and get the visa-on-arrival application done together with her? indonesia didn't allow that and it was a huge hassle when we were there, given the language barrier...

thanks again!!

Hi Yvonne,
If you have 2-3 days or more before your trip, I would recommend getting a Thai visa for your domestic help from the nearest Thai embassy. If you submit the passport today, they will return the passport with the visa on the next working day.
For the visa on entry,
The form has no serial number so it should be fine. The other regular visa forms of Thailand are online and they let you download, print and submit them. They just missed out putting up this particular form.
Your immigration area is different from the visa on arrival immigration area. What I would suggest is to be with your domestic help until you finish the part where they verify you have enough cash. After that, it is just queuing up and submitting the papers for the actual visa. The visa on arrival area usually has some Chinese citizen waiting too, she can always ask around if she is confused at any point.
While she is queuing up you can finish your immigration and walk right up to exit of her immigration (near the baggage belts) so that you can assist her if needed.

Hi Sriram
I have never tried using travellers cheques. I feel it should be ok. Just in case carry couple of hundred USD to be safe. I will try to ask them the next time i am there and i will post it over here.

Hi Preetam

This info is really helpful.
I have one question and am hoping you can help.

My passport has no blank pages on the right side. Only left side pages (with some other visas on its back side.
Do you know if the visa on arrival can be stamped on a completely blank page (i.e blank on both sides) or a left side page should be fine?

Thanks
Sohil

hi sir/mam i wold like to get information to get visa on arrival on pakistan passport i wold wate to mail me ef posibal thaks /

Preetam,

Thanks a lot for the updated VOA information. I got VOA a couple of times in 2006 and it seems the procedure has changed a bit since then. Back then everything was done at one place - form submission, document verification and issue of visa. Then you had to proceed to immigration to get the entry stamp. I was also never asked to show my money and guess what! They even filled the form for me by copying info from my arrival form. I just had to sign it.

Regards,
Deb

Hi,
I'm travelling to bangkok tomorrow and plan to get the visa on arrival. Am from India. The information so har has been quite useful but now am confused as to whether I should carry enough cash to show them or not. I was planning to carry a nominal amount of cash with and for other things use my card. Kindly advise!

Rgds,
Nisha

I'm travelling to bangkok tomorrow and plan to get the visa on arrival. Am from India. The information so har has been quite useful but now am confused as to whether I should carry enough cash to show them or not. I was planning to carry a nominal amount of cash with and for other things use my card. Kindly advise!

Rgds,
Nisha

Hi Nisha, yes you need to carry 10,000Baht to show them. If you are going with your family then you need to show 20,000 Baht for the whole of your family. They do not acknowledge card and you can't pay your visa fee by card. You can however withdraw cash with your card fro the nearby ATMs.

Sohil, Visa can be stamped on any blank page.

Deb, that was the old airport at Don Muang. They changed the procedure after moving to the new airport.

Imran, they don't offer Visa on Arrival for Pakistan yet, I would recommend you get a Visa at the nearest Thai embassy in your country.

This information is the most useful I have found. I have a question similar to one above. I am a US citizen but I will be arriving from China on Thai Airways. I know that I will not need a visa upon arrival. My friend, however is coming from Hungary 1 hour after I arrive. He speaks very little English and I am afraid he will have a very hard time during this process. Do you think it is possible for me to wait for him to arrive before starting this process. I can be sure to be the last person off my flight and he should be one of the first off of his. Do you think I can stretch the hour between flights long enough to escort him through the process? Thanks for your advice.

One hour delay for the immigration should be ok but I am not sure what they will do with you bags as the baggage counter is after the immigration. In most airports they will place it by the baggage belt.
If you do decide to wait for your friend and they question you about the delay, you could tell them about helping your friend with the Visa on Arrival.

Once you have filled the forms and shown them the cash, the rest is fairly straight forward. Your friend then go and queue up for the actual fees payment and stamping of the passport. Meanwhile you can go and get your passport stamped.

If you start walking towards the baggage area, you will see the Visa on Arrival counters and the queue. You can wait there for your friend to finish his immigration and to assist if the visa officers need more info.

Hi,

I will be transferred to sydney flight in bangkok airport and i need to wait for 13 hours to board the sydney flight. so i thought of going out in bangkok using the visa on arrival facility. However, i dont have any contact person/address to fill in the visa form. So, i am not sure how to furnish the complete form to get the visa.

Thanks in advance.

-Muthusamy

Hi
Just thought I'd mention that your return ticket (ie, flight out of Thailand) needs to be (i) confirmed and (ii) within 14 days of your arrival. This means no open end tickets are accepted nor a ticket beyond 15 days of your arrival. Last time a woman ahead of me in the Q had a harrowing time because she was holding a return ticket beyond 15 days and they wouldn't accept it. Another time a guy had an open end ticket and he was refused entry too because the airline office was closed and he couldn't get them to endorse his return.