Disclaimer: VISA rules change often and the current information below may not be up to date please double check yourself with the Thai embassy or consulate! Xtreme Gap Year is not responsible for obtaining your VISA so make sure you give yourself enough time.
- If you’re coming to Thailand for longer than 28 days then you will require a VISA Prearranged prior to arrival. You can do this from any Thai consulate Or embassy in the country that you are currently.
- If you apply before you leave for a 60 Day Tourist VISA then the good news is that you can get a 30 day extension to 90 days (12 weeks) in Phuket without actually doing the visa run, this can be arranged locally. If you are planning on spending up to 6 months in Thailand then you will need to arrange a double entry 60 day tourist VISA and extend this twice. Each extension costs 1900 Thai Baht.
- If you get the 28 day VISA on arrival you can only get a 15 day VISA extension by exiting and re-entering country via the nearest land border and this is called a VISA run. You can do this multiple times By doing a VISA run And there are plenty of local travel agents who offer a full VISA run service. They will take you to the border allow your passport to get stamped and take you back to where you came from usually within 12 hours.
The Thai VISA run.
Visa runs are a fact of life for long-term visitors and expats in Thailand. These are trips out of Thailand, often just across the border, which enable you to extend your multiple entry visa or acquire a new visa. The easiest visa run from Phuket is either a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, or Singapore, since there are direct flights from Phuket Airport.
In the case where one needs to acquire a new visa, they will need to stay overnight up to two nights. Ideally, one should submit the visa application at the Thai embassy or consulate first thing in the morning – either by themselves or via a reputed visa agent, of which the visa should be ready the following afternoon.
If a new visa isn’t required (i.e. multiple entry visas) popular visa runs, also called border runs, include Ranong, where you can cross the border by boat into Myanmar (Burma), Hat Yai, where you can cross over into Malaysia. Most westerners can cross into Malaysia without a visa, though for Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a visa or day pass which can be acquired on arrival.
There are plenty of companies that provide visa run services in Phuket and these can be arranged for you at your accommodation. This is usually a minibus trip to one of Thailand’s border crossings. The journey from Phuket to Ranong and back will take most of the day. This includes a short boat ride to the small Burmese town of Kawthaung (Victoria Point), where one will be prompted to pay 400 baht or 10 USD for a day pass.
If you consider these visa runs as short interesting holidays and plan them accordingly they can seem less like a chore You also get the new stamp from another country your passport as well and we think that is a little bit cool too!
You might also find the following post useful:
- Arranging your Thai Visa
- The low down on the Penang Visa Run
