Answered3 years ago

What should expats do if they receive their Thai visa after entering the country on a visa exempt entry?

Visa Activation Visa Exempt Entry Thailand Immigration E-Visa Visa Extension Visa Rules

Stuart *********

asked Jan 27, 2024

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We see a number of posts from people that have applied for a visa from an embassy in their home country but have not received it by the time their flight is booked for. (France and Germany are you listening?). Because they come from a country that allows a visa exempt entry they wing their way to Thailand and then get a free 30 day visa exempt entry stamp.

A few days later the visa they applied for appears in their email. Now they have a valid visa for X number of days and want to know what to do to get the X number of days they’ve been granted. They’re already in Thailand. So they head to an immigration office and say they want their visa activated to give them their X number of days.  

It doesn’t work that way. The visa they have gives them the right to stay in Thailand for X number of days from entry. They have to leave Thailand and re-enter to activate the visa. 

Depending on the visa they have and the number of days they are looking to stay in Thailand for it may be beneficial to extend the 30 days they got on entry at an immigration office and then leave and re-enter to activate the issued visa, or just leave within the 30 days and re-enter to activate it. There is nothing they can do within Thailand to “switch over” to that visa. They need to leave and then come back. 

If you are issued an evisa from an eligible country print it out and hand it to the immigration officer when you enter Thailand. Although the fact that you have an evisa is visible to the officer on their immigration system they may miss that and not realise you have one and stamp you in visa exempt regardless that you have a valid visa. 

And ALWAYS check the stamp the officer has given you at the entry desk. Humans make mistakes. I see numerous cases where people have come to immigration and said that they were stamped incorrectly on entry and are now on overstay. The onus is on you to check.

Answer summary

Many expats face the situation where they arrive in Thailand on a visa exempt entry, only to receive their visa via email shortly after. This post explains that once in Thailand, the visa cannot be activated without leaving and re-entering the country. It highlights options for extending the initial 30-day entry stamp and emphasizes the importance of verifying entry stamps to avoid issues of overstaying.

6 repliesnewest first

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Jonathan **************************

Seems like the new E-Visa system was not even close to being ready for rollout. Seems to take a very long time compared to other countries, given all these cases of people applying way in advance of their flight, only for it to not be ready weeks and weeks later when it's time for their flights.

Back in 2018, I visited Burma and even their visa system was orders of magnitude faster; had mine within a few days.

3 years ago

Will *******

I applied for the e-visa from Albania on Feb/8. On Feb/12 they requested additional information. I supplied that info and the Visa was approved Feb /14.

The validity of the 60 day visa (it can be extended 30 days) begins on my date of arrival in BKK. The visa must be used prior to May 14/...= 90 days from date of issue.

My online application was directed to the Thai embassy in Rome. Paid 35 Euro and thought the process went very smoothly.

3 years ago

Stuart *********

@Jonathan *************************

the evisa routes the application to the specific embassy or consulate. It’s their procedures that determines turn around time. London is typically 3 days or so. LA around 2-3 weeks. France and Germany seem agonisingly slow. Nothing to do with the evisa system, just the procedures at the respective embassies.

3 years ago

Galen *******

@Stuart ********

And the problem is that the visa is valid from the day it is issued and not from the day of entry. The applicant therefore does not want to lose too many days in the home country and submit the application as close to the flight as possible. To do this, everyone needs secure scheduling, which can only be obtained from the experience of each country. It would therefore make sense to create a list for each country or consulate where everyone enters the number of days from the application to the visa issuance.

3 years ago

Stuart *********

@Galen ******

This is rarely relevant for single entry type visas - of which the vast majority are. They’re valid for 90 days from issue. Most people don’t apply 3 months prior to travel.

Where it does have an effect is a multiple entry visa where it’s valid from issue date and the clock starts ticking from that moment. You want to leave those to the last minute to get most value from the visa. It’s a coin toss in many cases.

3 years ago