What should we do if we don't receive our visas before arriving in Thailand for our sabbatical?

Question

We’re planning a one year sabbatical in Samui. Villa is rented and kids are registered in school. Flights from Canada are booked - arriving on august 17.

We only applied for our e-visas last week (ED visas for the kids, non-O accompanying for parents), as our paperwork from the Ministry of Education wasn’t completed until then.

What happens if we don’t have our visas before we arrive? Do we enter on 30 day tourist visas? Clearly we’ll have enough luggage for a longer stay, plus papers for a one year rental. Will we need onward flights?

Ask Thailand · Answer

The user is moving to Samui for a year with their family and is concerned about visa issues, specifically whether they can enter Thailand with tourist visas if their e-visas (ED for kids and Non-O for parents) are not ready by the time they arrive. Community responses suggest it's possible to enter on a tourist visa but emphasize the importance of having onward flight tickets. If the visas don't arrive in time, they may have to leave Thailand and re-enter to activate the newly approved visas.

Paul ******* · Answer

Change your flight then. You really need to have all your visas in order before you travel.

Lindsey ********** · Answer

Enter as a tourist then You can go on a border bounce once your visa comes through and re enter on the ED and Non o visas

Paula ************* · Answer

If your initial Ed Visa doesn’t arrive before you travel you have an issue. The initial 3 month Ed Visa has to be applied for outside of Thailand and is then converted to the 12 months inside. So if you get stamped in on a tourist visa you will have to leave again to apply for the initial 3 month Ed Visa from outside the country. I’m not certain about the guardian visa but certainly that is the case with the Ed… keeping everything crossed that it arrives on time- with the new e-visa option they have been pretty quick!

Todd ********* · Answer

Reach out when you get here, lots of refugee Canadians living on Samui and all over the country! Enjoy the transition!

Av ********** · Answer

For Ed visa, they told me for my son we have to go to laos and then come back in.

Randy ******** · Answer

As a fellow Canadian, who travels to Thailand frequently, I’d suggest you have the onward ticket ready when checking in. I’m assuming you’re using Air Canada and they WILL ask you about it. I’ve also had Qutar ask about it as well.

If your visas don’t arrive in time, you’ll enter on a 30 day visa exempt stamp. When you do receive your visas, you’ll have to leave the country and re-enter to activate the visas.

Brandon ************ · Answer

Immigration in Thailand very rarely asks for proof of onward travel.

You need to contact your airline as they are the ones who usually ask and will prevent you from boarding your flight unless you can show you have a flight out of Thailand within the number of days you'll be stamped in on (30 days).

If they require this, you'll need to purchase a ticket out of Thailand, or google "onward travel ticket" and choose from one of the services who will book a ticket for you and then cancel it, for about $10-$15.

What should we do if we don't receive our visas before arriving in Thailand for our sabbatical?

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