Considering visiting Thailand then consider obtaining a tourist visa for Thailand instead of risking your holiday with a visa on arrival. The visa laws have changed over the last few years as the government attempt to cut down on visa abuse where people lived in Thailand on back-to-back tourist visas. These are the basics for the tourist visa.

When you arrive over a land border in Thailand you will now only get 15 days visa waiver irrespective of the country you come from. If you arrive with a tourist visa either by land border or by airport then you will obtain 60 days when entering Thailand. Once this has been stamped and the visa used before the visa expires in 60 days time you can extend the visa at Thai immigration in Thailand . Most extensions are done at Thai immigration in Bangkok but any other immigration office can do this for you. You will now get an additional 30 days stay in Thailand for a cost of 1,900THB.

You can again extend this visa for another 7 days after this however most prefer to leave the country and return the same day on what is called a visa run. You leave Thailand visa a land border and return the same day with a 15 day visa waiver if you come from a country which normally obtain a 30 day visa on arrival. There are a number of visa agents in Thailand who offer this 'visa run' service for a cost of about 2,000THB. Ask around if you are looking at extending your visa beyond the 30 day extension.

If you are married to a Thai or have family in Thailand then you can obtain a 90 day marriage visa which is also viewed as a family visa or 'other' visa. If you have any questions about a tourist visa then speak to us online. Note that you are not allowed to work in Thailand and you need to apply for a business visa then a work permit in Thailand before you can legally work in Thailand.

One last important note about the tourist visa. Unlike the marriage visa the tourist visa cannot easily be changed in Thailand if you found work and need to apply for a work permit. The time needed to change this visa for a work permit takes on average 2 months so that would not work out well and best to leave Thailand and apply for the correct visa. If you have a marriage visa then it would work the same as a business visa with no need to make changes as you can obtain a work permit with a marriage visa.

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