Do children under the age of 15 need a visa to enter or leave Thailand if their parents have a valid visa?

Sep 27, 2023
a year ago
Oren ********
ORIGINAL POSTER
# Visa question regarding children under the age of 15 - for experienced users only

We are a family with 3 children under the age of 15 who are all currently on a tourist visa.

Considering getting a student/business/investor visa for parents.

Regarding the children, we were told that there is no need for a visa under the age of 15.

We have seen many opinions on the subject of the need for a valid visa for children under the age of 15. But nothing unequivocal.

Does anyone have practical experience in entering and leaving Thailand with children when the parents have a valid visa but the children under the age of 15 actually do not have a valid visa?
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TLDR : Answer Summary
The discussion centers around whether children under the age of 15 require a visa to enter or exit Thailand if their parents hold a valid visa. Some users clarify that while it's commonly believed these children don't need a visa, the actual rule is that while they can't be fined or banned for overstaying, they cannot obtain any visas while in Thailand if they have overstayed; they would need to exit and re-enter to obtain a valid visa.
Tod *********
It's a common misconception that children don't require a visa..

The RULE is actually children under the age of 15 can't be FINED for overstay and children under the age of 18 can't be BANNED for overstay.

There is no negative repercussions for the children OR the parents when children under 15 overstay. I know foreigners with children here who were on multi-YEAR overstays, who exit/re-enter the country without problem. They even attend school here on overstay..

Now with that being said what children can't do once they go on overstay is get ANY visa issued inside the country. They'd have to exit/re-enter to clear the overstay and come in on a new entry stamp to do that.

AND

Parents of foreign children here can't use children on overstay to get a "guardian visa", because to get that visa the child has to be legally enrolled in a school on an ED visa
Lloyd ********
You really should get the children the correct visas, which I would hazard a guess would be Education visas?
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