Free Six-Month Tourist Visas Available Again April 1, for Now Pay 1,000 Baht

The Thailand Government has announced the tourism stimulus package will continue for another year beginning next quarter.

The extension of the tourism industry stimulus package was approved by the Thai cabinet  on March 2, just two days before the free tourist visa program expired.

The new extension offering free double entry tourist visas will be effective from April 1through to March 31, 2011. Now until April 1 tourist visas for Thailand will be still be available for 1,900 baht.

The tourism industry stimulus package includes: free-of-charge riot protection insurance worth US$10,000 for each foreign tourist; reduced aircraft landing and parking fees; help for state agencies to hold seminars and feld trips in the country to boost domestic spending; and allows business operators who organise domestic seminars, training courses and tourist destination trips for employees to deduct the cost for tax purposes.

The US$10,000 free riot insurance coverage was introduced last year and initiated by the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) in response to international insurance frms’ refusal to sell insurance coverage to visitors to Thailand following the 2008 closure of Thailand airports by yellow-shirted members of the Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

How to Apply for a Thailand
Tourist Visa for Up to a Six Month Stay with a Double Entry

If you are already in Thailand and want  a tourist visa then go by air  or bus to a country bordering Thailand to a Thai Consulate in a major city like Vientiane Laos, Penang or Kuala Lampur Malaysia or Phnom Penn Cambodia. In the morning Monday through Friday   go to the Thai Consulate and apply for a three month Tourist Visa. Ordinarily it costs 1,000 baht.

Submit a simple application they will give you. Apply for a three-month visa, or if you plan to stay in Thailand longer you can request a double entry visa. Leave the completed form and your passport with the Thai Consulate offce. The next day return to the Thai Consulate after 1pm to pick up your passport and visa. Check to make sure you got the length of time for which you applied.

The Thai Consulate will give you a 60-day entry and then you go to any immigration offce in Thailand for a 30 day extension just before the 60 days is up and pay 1,900 baht giving you up to 90 days stay. You get the extension while you wait most of the time.

When the 30 days is about to expire and if you applied for the double-entry tourist visa in the beginning, then all you have to do is a ‘border run.’

Go out of Thailand to get your passport stamped at any border country by entering the other country and coming back into Thailand and get an additional 60 day stamp. 

When that two months is about to expire go again to any Immigration Bureau in Thailand and get an extension for  30 days more for an additional 1,900 baht.