Is it true that visa-runs, tourist and study visas have been canceled in Thailand? Thailand cancels the visa fee for guests from all over the world! - Uh-uh ... What do you mean? Visa wounds banned

THAILAND: Thinking about a holiday in Thailand? Put some extra money in your wallet if you need a visa on arrival (VOA) to visit Thailand.

The Thai Ministry of the Interior is considering the idea of ​​giving everyone foreign tourists, from any country, multiple entry visa.

The newly proposed "Multiple Entry Visa" regulation will be divided into 2 types according to the duration for which visitors can stay in Thailand; The first type of visa will cost 2,000 baht and will allow a tourist to stay in Thailand for 6 months, while paying another thousand baht will give the visitor a whole year to enjoy their stay in the land of smiles.

and Cambodia declared their readiness to introduce a single visa regime, in accordance with the agreement, which was signed back in 2007. According to the document, from November 21 tourists will be able to enter the territory of both countries on a single visa. It must be obtained from the Thai or Cambodian embassy.

All computer programs at border control points are fully ready for launch new scheme, according to Rosbalt. The simplification of the visa regime will certainly be appreciated by lovers of long trips. Not only the time costs for registration will decrease, but also financial costs. Now you don't have to pay for two visas.

There is a simplified visa regime between Russia and Russia. Russian tourists can stay in the kingdom without a visa for 30 days. For a longer visit, you need to apply for a visa in advance. But Russians receive a monthly visa to Cambodia upon arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport or at one of the border crossings.

I didn’t write this for a red word in the heading about student and tourist Thai visas. The hype around the abolition of visas in Thailand has been going on for a long time, and recently these rumors have been supplemented by "information" about the ban on all types of visas in Thailand. “And when will they start shooting foreigners?” I ask when I hear such "news". In general, I went to the offices to look for the truth ...

Let me remind you that according to the laws of the present time, everything started with information on Internet forums. Like, kaput, gentlemen farangi, a terrible thing happened: the abolition of visa-runs in Thailand. And now we have one destiny: a suitcase-station-Europe (as well as Russia, America, Australia, and Israel too). I from the very beginning: how easy it is to take and cancel visarans, because this is a violation of international agreements, which means lawlessness! Is it possible to create such obvious lawlessness at the state level?

By the way, if you want to learn more about what a visa run in Thailand is, then two of our articles are devoted to this:

Fear has big eyes. And after the stories that the visa run was canceled, the Internet began to burst with new messages: “Study visas in Thailand are no longer issued!” “Tourist visas have also been canceled!” The broadcast is littered with horror stories about how respectable Russian people flew to Thailand, and right at the airport they were stuffed into a terrible Thai prison and extorted huge bribes. At the same time, they, like ours, had it. This means that now it’s impossible to leave Thailand at all, otherwise, at best, they simply won’t let you back, and at worst ... Naturally, all this information is from reliable sources, which are acquaintances friends of the brother of the neighbor of the nameless inhabitant of the forum.

The cancellation of visas in Thailand seems to have happened, but the agencies do not remove the signs. Just in case.

To be honest, this hype about the fact that visaran has been canceled in Thailand annoys me. In general, I try to surround myself with positive information and look for less negativity around - it’s already in bulk, why even specifically look for it? But many people (if not most) are arranged differently: do not feed bread, let them sow panic. And in general, I would like certainty: if the vizaran was canceled, then it was canceled; if the visa run has not been canceled, then it has not been cancelled.

But you will not find one hundred percent truth about the abolition of visa-runs in Thailand - there are only rumors based on the fact that the new government is also “tightening the screws”. So I went to the offices that take tourists to the visa run: maybe the Thais themselves know something? And, looking ahead, I will say that in all three offices, when asked about the abolition of visa runs in Thailand, they told me different things. Therefore, I will not draw any conclusions and leave the reader room for reflection.

So, I quote verbatim my dialogues about the abolition of vizarans in Thailand with employees of specialized agencies in Pattaya.

Agency No. 1: “Visa-runs have been canceled in Thailand! Generally!"

Me: Hello! I want to go for a visa run. Is it possible and how much does it cost?

Taika: No, it's impossible! Don't you know that visa-runs have been canceled in Thailand?!

- The government has imposed a ban on visas, and no one knows what will happen next.

In fact, visarans are regularly visited not only by Russians, but also by other foreigners - Europeans, Americans, Chinese. So, many of them did not even hear that visa-runs were canceled in Thailand.

Agency #2: "Why do you need a visa-run?"

— Hello, I want to go for a visa run to Cambodia.

- Do you need it?

- Uh-uh ... What do you mean? Visa-wounds banned?

- Visa wounds in Thailand have not been canceled, but at the border they put a stamp for only 7 days.

“Then you don’t really need to. Do you know if study and student visas will be cancelled?

- I do not know.

The conversation ended there: the Thai was reluctant to talk. And if the Thai is reluctant (and he is always reluctant), then.

Agency No. 3: “Visa-runs in Thailand have not been canceled! Bye…"

- Hello! They say that visa-runs in Thailand have been canceled, but next week I need to ...

- It must be so! So, 2000 baht from you, they will pick you up at half past six in the morning ...

“Alright, alright, I’ll be back next week!” And what, visa-wounds really have not been canceled? They say they will be banned from August 12 ...

- Now everyone goes for a visa run, as before, and they put a stamp on the border for 30 days. What will happen in August, I do not know. And nobody knows. By the way, what country are you from?

- From Russia.

- Oh, oh, that's bad.

- Why is this?! For Russians in Thailand, visa-runs were canceled, but not for others?

- I don’t know anything ... We’ll see in August.

- Well, why is it bad?

- I know nothing…

So we talked: three agencies, three opinions. Everyone agrees on one thing: it seems that visarans in Thailand have really been canceled since August. And what's next, no one knows.

And now I want to summarize. Based on this quiz and the information that I read on the Internet, I will try to answer the three main questions about the abolition of visa runs and the situation with visas in Thailand.

1) Cancellation of visa-runs in Thailand - is it true?

Legally, most likely not. After all, such things are not done in unilaterally: for this you need to change mutual agreements with different countries.

In fact, most likely yes. The law is not for everyone. And it cannot be ruled out that the Thais simply agreed not to let visa holders back into the country.

2) Is it true that Thailand cancels student and tourist visas?

Student visas (at least for now) have not been canceled. We ourselves live in Thailand on a student visa. And it seems that this remains the only way to stay in the country for a long time. Why?

because the situation with tourist visas is rather strange. A tourist visa to Thailand is given for 90 days, after which you need to go to the border and extend it for another 90 days. But recently, another Thai official said that "90 days is enough to go around Thailand" and extend tourist visa not everyone will be at the border.

Tourists seem to be (there is no getting away from this “seemingly”) nothing threatens. They will still be given 30-day stamps at the border. In general, now in Thailand there is a “low season”, there are few vacationers (although). The main flow of tourists will rush in the autumn. And there, you see, a new government will be appointed - civil, not military. Which will think not only about everyone marching in formation, but will look at the revenue side of the budget and be horrified. It was then that they would cancel not only, but also the regime of uncertainty about the future, in which many foreigners in Thailand have been living for several months.

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Updated: 05.12.2016

Today it became known that the Thai government has decided to abolition of visa fees for tourists from 19 countries peace. All of them will be able to get absolutely free visas at the diplomatic missions of the Kingdom of Thailand during the entire "high season" in Thailand, which is officially announced from December 1, 2016 to February 28, 2017. The list of “lucky ones” includes citizens of European countries, countries of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and some island states. A detailed list is in the full news.

So, you can cross out this expense item for holidays in Thailand if you are going to visit the Kingdom during the specified time period, and you are a citizen of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Uzbekistan, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Andorra, Romania, San Marino, Malta, Bhutan , India, Maldives, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Saudi Arabia, China and Taiwan. Naturally, many Western European countries were not included in the list, for whose citizens Thailand has visa-free regime visits.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that the abolition of the visa fee will affect only citizens of these countries who apply for it in one of the consular offices of Thailand. If you have found your country in the list above, but are going to use the visa on arrival (for example, you have Ukrainian citizenship), then in this case you cannot count on a free visa. But there is good news for this category of travelers: the cost of visas upon arrival at the specified time will also be preferential and will amount to 1000THB, i.e. exactly half of the standard price or the same as it was before the last rise in price.

Cabinet of Ministers explains decision the desire to increase the attractiveness of the country for tourism, in order to stimulate employment and increase the income of the entire tourism industry of the country and related industries. According to preliminary forecasts, the abolition of the visa fee will contribute to an increase in tourists by about 350,000 people during this period. In turn, this should bring an additional tax revenue of 1,200 thousand THB to the country and create more than 60 thousand jobs. The calculations are based on previous experience when Thailand also waived the visa fee to encourage inbound tourism to the country.

Updated: A few days after the publication of the news about the abolition of the visa fee for certain countries, the Thai government decided to extend the preferential regime for obtaining visas for all countries of the world . Thus, free visas to the Kingdom of Thailand can be obtained by contacting any Consulate of the country with 01-12-2016 on 28-02-2017 of the year. During the same period, the cost of visas on arrival will also be reduced for all foreigners and will amount to 1000 THB instead of the standard cost (2000 THB). Have a nice holiday!

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The Thai government announced the abolition of visa fees for citizens of 19 countries during the high tourist season

Countries including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, as well as Latvia, Lithuania, Andora, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, India, Maldives, Mauritius, Malta, Romania, San Mario, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan are included in the list countries whose citizens will be waived the visa fee when applying for a visa at a Thai embassy or consular office. Now tourists from these countries will be able to get a visa before traveling to the Kingdom of Thailand for free.

And the visa fee upon arrival in Thailand for citizens of the above countries will be halved. Thus, tourists arriving from these countries will pay only one thousand baht, instead of the two thousand they paid before.

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The new rules will come into force on December 1, 2016 and will last until February 28, 2017. This decision was taken by the Thai Cabinet of Ministers as part of the development of tourism in the midst of the "high" season. The innovations are expected to increase the number of tourist arrivals by more than 357,000 people during the three months of the "high" season and help Thailand's tourism sector earn about 293 million baht.

In addition, due to temporary changes, the country will create 62,000 jobs and increase tax revenues to the state treasury.