Visas, Visa-Requirements,
Entry-Regulations, Extensions, Overstay, Customs regulations,
Drugs & Punishment in Thailand. www.KoChangVR.com
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Virtual Travel and Island
Guide with all Information
for Holidays & Travels to Thailand.
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Visas & Entry-Regulations,
Customs & Drugs in Thailand
- Thailand Information
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(Immigration-Office
in Laem Ngop at the mainland in front of Ko Chang in
Thailand) |
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Visa-Requirements and Entry-Regulations
- Types of Visas
Citizens from over 50 countries including England, America,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand etc. can stay in Thailand
without a visa
for a maximum of 30 days if they arrive at an airport. People who do not enter Thailand at an airport only get a maximum lenght of stay of 15 days!
Tourist visas valid for up to 60 days are issued by Thai-Embassies
abroad.
For multiple entries you can get permits for up to three entries.
These are valid altogether for 90 days and cost 10 Pounds
(US $ 15) per entry.
Non-Immigrant visas are usually only given to people on business
trips. |
Type of visa |
Length of stay |
Entries |
Validity |
Tourist |
60 days |
1 |
190 days |
Tourist |
60 days / entry |
2 |
180 days |
Tourist |
60 days / entry |
3 |
180 days |
Non-Immigrant |
90 days / entry |
1 |
190 days |
Non-Immigrant |
90 days / entry |
multiple |
365 days |
Transit |
30 days / entry |
1 |
190 days |
Transit |
30 days / entry |
2 |
180 days |
Transit |
30 days / entry |
3 |
180 days |
|
- Required Documents
(required from the German embassies)
- Original-passport valid at least 6 months when entering
Thailand.
- Child-IDs are not accepted, children require a passport
of their own or an entry in the passport of the parents.
- Fully filled in visa application personally signed by the
applicant.
- 1 passport photograph
- Proof/acknowledgement on the booked trip, e.g. copy of the invoice, copy of the ticket, travel plan
- Stamped addressed envelope with your address on it sufficiently stamped, most suitable by certified mail
- Visa fee
attached in cash
- Finances when entering
The following rules applying since 2000, are in praxis only
rarely used.
Following amount of money you have to show when if necessary
entering, whereas children under the age of 12 years are excepted
from this rule.
- Visa-on-arrival / Transit-Visa (30 days): 10.000.- Baht
per person.
- Tourist-Visa (60 days) or Non-Immigrant-Visa (90 days): 20.000.- Baht
per person.
- Visa-Extensions
The 30-days visa-free residence-permit
can only be extended in medical case for a maximum of 7-10
days.
The 60-Day-Tourist-Visa
can be extended for 30 days, afterwards another 14 and then
again a further 7 days. As these extensions are at the discretion of the responsible immigration office they might be shorter.
- Visa-Extensions in Laem
Ngop
Located on the main-street from Laem Ngop in the direction
of Trat, about 200 metres after the Post Office, also on the
left hand side. Telephone 039 / 597 261, business-hours: Mon
- Fri from 8.30 - 12.00 am and from 1.00 - 4.30 pm. (See the
map of Laem Ngop: "Mainland
around Trat".) For visa-extensions
dress properly, bring along your passport, a passport-picture
and enough money.
-
Visa-Extensions in Cambodia
With re-entry-permits
or double-entry-visas
you can leave the country to Cambodia
and return into Thailand
without a problem within 30 - 45 minutes. Also a new 30-days-residence-permit
is available this way. Since October 2006 these 30-days-residence-permits
will only be given 3 times in a row, afterwards you have to
spend at least 90 days outside the country before you will
get another Transit visa!
The border intersection is at Hat
Lek and can be reached from Trat
in approximately 1 hour by mini bus or taxi. Business hours:
7 am - 8 pm.
1200 Baht is necessary for the Cambodian
visa as well as a passport picture (or
100 Baht more without a picture). If you want ot come back
to Thailand at the same day, you have to pay another 300 Baht!
At the Cambodian site there are a lot of children who beg
for money. Also many Cambodians are there to help you with
the visa application - and please don't forget to give them
some money for their help. Cigarettes and other goods can
be bought directly at the border as well.
In case you come to Thailand late in the evening it may happen
that you neither find a taxi nor a mini bus!
The complete journey can be achieved from Ko
Chang problem-free within a day.
(More information how to get there can be found here: "Ko
Chang Info", "Arrival
& Departure to and from Ko Chang / Travel from Laem Ngop".
Map: "Ko
Kood Special", "The
exact location in the Gulf
of Thailand".)
- Overstay in Thailand
Exceeding the stay of your residence
permit or visa
by a few days will result in you paying a fine of 500 Baht
for every day. If this is the case you should therefore arrive
for departure some time before takeoff at the immigration-office
at the airport as filling out the appropriate forms takes
some time!
Longer overstay
will end at court
and if the fine
cannot be paid you are inevitably sent to prison!
- Losing the passport
For safety reasons you should have a copy of your passport and keep it at a safe place. At the embassy you can apply for a new document what can be very time consuming. Some embassies ask for a notice of loss from the police. Generally applies: Never hand out your passport to strangers. Often the document is asked for when renting a moped, here either leave a copy or look for another rental.
Customs-Regulations in Thailand
- Import to Thailand
200 Duty-free-cigarettes or 250 grams of tobacco, 1 litre
of wine or spirits, a camera, a personal stereo, one film-
or video-camera plus 5 films are allowed to be imported as
well as your usual daily utensils.
Foreign currencies may be imported up to any amount. Anything
else must be declared on entry.
The import of drugs, weapons and pornographic literature is
prohibited.
- Export from Thailand
Neither antiques nor Buddha-figurines may be exported. The
export of foreign currencies is permitted up to any amount.
Thai cash may be exported up to a maximum amount of 500,000
Baht into neighbouring countries and 50,000 Baht elsewhere.
Tax can be claimed back on products purchased at the airports
in Bangkok, Hat Yai, Phuket or Chiang Mai up to the value
of 5,000 Baht, in order to claim, receipts need to be shown.
- Departure from
Thailand
If you overstay your visa, there
is a penalty of 500 Baht per day. If you leave Thailand by airplane don't forget
the reconfirmation of your flight at least 72 hours prior
to takeoff!
Drugs, Fines and Punishment
in Thailand
Drugs
are generally forbidden in Thailand!
In Thailand
considerably higher penalties
for drug possession
and drug smuggling
are imposed than in western countries. In specially serious
cases death penalty
can be imposed but as against in Malaysia
are not executed. Not rarely foreigners are sentenced
for life in prison
which can eventually be reduced to 30 or 40 years –
what in a Thai prison
can mean the same as a slow death
penalty. It should thus also be done
without "light” drugs
such as Marihuana
(Ganja).
For some years controls in the tourist areas for back-pack
travellers become more and more common
where also urine is examined for cannabis
residues. Also every now and then luggage checks at coach
stations are made, mainly in Bangkok
where the coaches from the South, the North and the East arrive.
Foreigners by all means are examined with a fine-tooth comb
and it is not unusual that Thai
customs officers or even the American
DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) take hold right before departure.
Round about 60% of all Germans doing their time in Thai prisons
because of drug offences. The duration of the pre-trail confinement
depends on several facts (accusation, solid evidence, witnesses,
activity of the Thai lawyer) and can take owing to circumstances
several years. Hence
it is a basic principle in Thailand: Keep your hands off all
illegal drugs!
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Further offences that can lead to an imprisonment
The remaining 40% of Germans doing their time in Thai prisons
among others because of sexual abuse of underage persons,
rape, murder, theft, import/spreading of bad money and bank-card
cheating.
- Worth knowing
Also in Thailand
article 36 of the Vienna
consular rights convention applies. This
means that local authorities are legally obligated to inform
the next embassy/consulate
and they have to inform you about this right.
Since 1997 there is the possibility that sentenced Germans
serve a part of their sentence in a German prison. But it
is left to the Thai authorities who is allowed to leave or
not. It happens quite often that suitable pleas are rejected
as the degree of penalty appears undervalued to the Thai authorities.
After eight years in prison in Thailand, Germans facing a
life sentence can file this petition.
Was a prison sentence between 12 and more years imposed the
petition can be filed after four years.
At prison sentences
between 1 and 12 years at least one third of the penalty must
be served.
Fines,
overstay-charges,
bail money and lawyer charges must of course be paid out of
someone’s own pocket.
Acts of grace
are in fact regularly ruled by the King
by decree, but people detained because of drug
offences are excluded from it.
(Specifications: 2006) |
Sources: Thail Consulates Stuttgart and
Karlsruhe (www.thaikonsulat.de),
www.Pattaya.de. |
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