Visas and border crossings forum

Strictly speaking you are supposed to have proof of onward travel to get the 30 day visa exemption stamp in Bangkok but I have yet to hear of anyone
being asked for it or stopped from entering the country.I have read that the free visa scheme has been extended until 2011.I don't know where you are based but in the UK the Thai Embassy take 2 days but the consulates usually do it same day if you submit your docs first thing.i.e.photos(2?)passport and fee. and no, visas are not available on arrival.

hi there,
You will need a return air ticket out of a Thailand airport within 30 days or a Thai visa. Without these you probably wont get on the plane. It is not the Thai immigration who stop you, it's the airline on instructions from Thailand.

A Thai tourist visa gives you 60 days, with an option to extend at a cost. Or max 30 days with an 'out of thailand air' ticket dated within 30 days.

From the UK Thai visas are sort of free; there is a 15 pound 'adminstration' fee for a single entry tourist visa (still down from 28 pounds). The postal service is very efficient using express post.

Crossing over a land border you will get only 15 days. I think you 'may' get 30 days at a land crossing if you have an 'out of Thailand' ticket within 30 days.

It's your holiday if you want to try your luck, but you have time to do it according to the rules by getting a visa or an air ticket.
Enjoy,
Mike

Probably a bit late for you now, but we just flew into Bangkok for a 5 week stay in the region & were not at any point asked for proof of onwards travel within 30 days. (We also have planned to exit & reenter Thailand during our stay.) I also spent 7 months in SE Asia about 7 years ago - I realise things have changed a bit since then & they've tightened up on the visa extension thing, but we were never asked for proof of onwards travel then either, and I entered Thailand a total of four times I think.

Technically you can extend the 30 days by an additional 15 days (albeit at some cost) so even if they did ask, I wouldn't have thought they'd be that bothered if you could show you were leaving again within the extension period. (Or just explained about your intentions to leave via a land border & reenter.)

Mikethediver - thanks for the tip about possibly getting 30 days at a land border with proof of leaving within 30 days - I've been fretting over logistics for 2 days now as we have 24 days left of our holiday and are due to reenter via Poipet/Aran tomorrow! (Plan had been to visit LP in Laos but we've cut that out now.) Thought we'd have to detour to Laos Border and spend a night in Vientiane at some point, but will now try my luck tomorrow first.