No more visa runs in Thailand !
in Thailand, a new regulation preventing visa runs was in preparation. It is now a reality according to the website Thai Visa. Visa runs are these quick border crossings in the same day for the only purpose of obtaining a new right to stay in Thailand.
Foreign nationals residing in Thailand will not be able to exit and then re-enter Thailand via a land border crossing to obtain a new stay permission. Holders of non-immigrant or tourist visa with remaining entries on their visa can enter still and leave Thailand as before. These new measure sare targeting foreign tourists without a visa who are regularly entering and exiting the kingdom every 15 or 30 days just extend their stay in Thailand and do not even spend a day in the neighboring country. Now they can only enter Thailand via a land border once, after entry to Thailand will be refused to them and they will be asked to take the plane and come back with a visa obtained a Royal Embassy Thailand or a consulate in a abroad.
This announcement follows reports from earlier in the week of an Immigration crackdown at the land border checkpoint in Ranong , a destination in Thailand where visa -run is a real industry. Some members of Thaivisa confirmed on the forum that these restrictions are applied at the border of Mae Sai in Chiang Rai province. They were stranded at the border unable to enter Thailand. For other borders checkpoints, we do not know yet but it should logically be the same. This rule change probably occurs in the context of the establishment of common and stricter rules to create Schengen like area with countries of ASEAN.
Many agencies and people live from the visa run business and many foreigners extend their stay in the Land of Smiles by using visa runs. If you are concerned or were thinking of including a visa run in your trip in Thailand, arrange accordingly. All information on visas for Thailand are in our “Practical Information” section.
