Hi Everyone. I've lived/worked in Thailand for 17 years, so would be happy to offer insights on various matters.
I've got an evisa question if anyone confidently knows the rules. I applied for an O-A evisa with multiple entry about 5 weeks ago but they continue to drag their feet on processing it. In the meantime, I have a flight booked for Thursday that would be costly to rebook. I also have some need to be in country by the weekend. I am wondering whether I should keep my flight and enter on a 30 day visa exemption and try to get the O-A visa put into my passport at Chaeng Wattana once the email with the approved evisa shows up. Any thoughts on how likely I could accomplish this? Of course the alternative would be to fly out and back in once the evisa is available, but frankly I would like to avoid that... Any thoughts?
TLDR : Answer Summary
A user, having applied for an O-A eVisa, seeks advice on whether to proceed with a booked flight and enter Thailand using a 30-day visa exemption while waiting for the eVisa approval. Community members confirm that if the eVisa isn't received by the flight date, the user can enter on a visa exemption and later must exit the country to activate the O-A visa upon its arrival. They discuss typical processing delays and the requirement to leave and re-enter Thailand to switch to the O-A visa.
