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Update on Longer Thai Visa Exemption Stamps
Transcript of the above video:
As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Visa Exemption Stamps. For those who are unaware, a Visa exemption is exactly what it sounds like. You are exempt from a Visa notwithstanding that you have arrived in Thailand you can be stamped in presently for 30 days Visa exempt. You do not have a Visa, you just have a stamp that exempts you from a Visa for 30 days and provides lawful status here in the Kingdom. This is different from a visa-on-arrival. Certain nationalities have to come into Thailand, obtain a visa-on-arrival and then deal with things like extensions etc., from there.
The reason I made this video is because there has been a lot of talk recently about extending the amount of time a person will get on arrival in Thailand in Visa exemption status. I recently saw in the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, an article titled: Pattaya Grapevine: A forgotten Brit-Thai connection, under the category: Visa exempt. Quoting directly: "Visa exempt means that citizens of almost 60 countries (including UK, US, most of Europe, Australia, Russia and Saudi Arabia) can receive 30 days on arrival without a prior visa application. This is scheduled to be extended to 45 days from the beginning of October with a further 30 days available at Thai Immigration Offices."
So it looks like an update here. I was not aware that from October it is looking like, and I urge folks who are watching this video to go check out that article, but yeah it looks like from October we are going to be looking at, looking like 45 days. Again, one of those things where I will believe it when I see it as I have talked about a lot of different things that I thought were going to come to pass especially under the COVID era that ultimately didn't; "Travel Bubbles" come to mind but this seems like this exempt scheme seems like it is probably going to happen. For a brief time, I think it was sometime in the summer I think of, no, no, no, it was toward the end of 2021, they were briefly allowing this where if you want to come in on a visa exempt you have got 45 days instead of 30 and it was there to account for the quarantine time, the two weeks in quarantine. So there has already been a bit of for lack of a better term precedent on this within the immigration apparatus. It doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility that this would occur but we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.