New Regulations for Visa Extension in Thailand

The Thai Immigration has released an update to regulations regarding applications for a temporary stay in Thailand (No. 327/2557). The overview is that 48 countries with a visa exemption stamp can now get a 30 day extension for 1,900 Baht. This will, for example, allow tourists from G7 countries to stay in Thailand for 60 days without a visa. In other significant news, those on education visas will now have to leave Thailand once a year to apply for a new visa.

The following is the official English translation of the new regulations that were posted on the Immigration website. Click here for the original in Thai.

New Regulation for Thailand Visa Extension (Effective from 29th August 2014)

According to the new regulation for extension of temporary stay in the Kingdom of Thailand which will be effective from 29th August 2014, some regulations have been changed as follows:

1. The aliens granted Visa Exemptions for 30 days stay permit will get extension of stay for one time no longer than 30 days from the expired date.

2. In case that the application for extension of temporary stay is not approved due to incomplete qualifications and the alien has got only 7 days extension of stay in order to leave the Kingdom, such alien is not able to appeal for re-consideration of non-permission.

3. For the reason of study in a private educational institution particularly for a non-school system, each permission of stay shall be granted for not longer than 90 days but the total permitted period of stay for this reason consecutively shall not exceed one year from the date of entry into the Kingdom.

4. For the reason of performing duties in a public charity organization, a foundation, a non-government organization, an association, a foreign chamber of commerce, in case of no certification letter by the relevant government department, each permission of stay shall be granted for not longer than 90 days but the total permitted period of stay for this reason consecutively shall not exceed one year from the date of entry into the Kingdom.

[Source: http://www.thaitravelblogs.com/2014/08/new-regulations-for-visa-extension-in-thailand/]

Visas and Registration in Thailand

Before you come to Thailand, please make sure to contact the nearest Thai Embassy or Consulate to enquire which visa regulations apply in your case. If you are simply a private traveler, a tourist visa should suffice.

Are You Coming as a Tourist?

There are over 50 countries whose residents do not need to apply for a tourist visa. However, if you do not fall under the Visa Exemption Category, you always need to acquire a visa before coming to Thailand.

Passport holders from a further 19 countries may get a visa on arrival for short-term vacations. Everyone else just has to apply for a regular tourist visa. It usually allows you to stay in Thailand for up to 60 days.

Here’s How to Apply for Your Thai Tourist Visa

In order to obtain a tourist visa, you need the following documents:

A valid passport

A completed application form

Recent passport-sized photographs

A round-trip ticket

Proof of sufficient financial funds

In some cases, you may need to bring additional documents. Medical tourists, for instance, often have to enclose a letter from the hospital in Thailand where they are going to receive treatment.

Please do keep in mind that a tourist Thailand Visa is valid for tourism purposes only. If you go to Thailand for different reasons, the so-called non-immigrant visa will apply to you.

Non-Immigrant Visas: Which Visa Type Is Right for You?

Non-immigrant visas for Thailand cover different categories including:

F (official duties)

B (business and work)

ED (education)

EX (experts and specialists)

IB/IM (investors)

M (media, film producers, and journalists)

O (family visitors, NGO volunteers, etc.)

R (religious activities)

RS (researchers and scientists)

O-A (retirees)

You are required to provide the following documents:

a valid passport

a completed application form

two recent passport-sized photographs

a recent bank statement

Others, according to your specific category and situation (e.g. a letter of acceptance from a Thai university for a student visa).

Cutting through the Red Tape before Getting a Business Visa

Foreigners coming to Thailand on a B visa to do business with a Thai company normally need the following, though requirements may obviously vary:

A letter from your company, describing your position and stating the purpose of your trip

A document from a government agency or embassy certifying the purpose of travel

An employment contract indicating the salary and qualifications of the applicant

A letter of invitation from a Thai company or business association

Correspondence with business partners in Thailand

The corporate paperwork of said Thai company (business registration, business license, shareholder list, company profile, details of business activity, VAT registration, tax balance sheet, and location map)

…And the Same Goes for Your Thai Work Visa

A B-visa national who will be taking up gainful employment in Thailand needs a slightly different array of paperwork:

A letter of approval from the Ministry of Labor (obtained by the Thai employer from the Office of Foreign Workers Administration)

A letter of invitation from a Thai company allowed employing foreigners

Employment contract

CV, educational records, and references from previous employers

the corporate paperwork of their employer in Thailand (business registration, business license, shareholder list, company profile, details of business activity, list of foreign staff, location map, tax balance sheet, alien income tax return, and VAT registration)

Please note that there are different regulations for each visa category and that requirements can change according to your nationality, the country you are applying from, and the purpose of your stay. For further details, please always contact the Thai Embassy or Consulate.

Most non-immigrant visas are initially valid for 90 days. Then you have to apply for temporary work permit at the Department of Employment or the local Employment Office. You also need an extension of stay from the Office of Immigration Bureau or one of its local branches.

[Source: https://www.internations.org/thailand-expats/guide/moving-to-thailand-15513/visas-and-registration-in-thailand-3]

Thailand aims to hollow out foreign press with new visa restrictions

Senior Southeast Asia representative Shawn Crispin this week presented CPJ's concerns about new media visa restrictions for foreign reporters based in Thailand to a group of Bangkok-based ambassadors. The controversial measures, announced last month by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are scheduled to come into force on March 21. The text of Crispin's speech follows:

Your Excellencies,

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak before this distinguished audience. I currently serve as Southeast Asia representative to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based, non-partisan independent organization that, through monitoring, research and advocacy, promotes press freedom worldwide. I've covered press freedom developments for the entire Southeast Asia region, including Thailand, for the past decade.

CPJ has expressed consistent concerns about the steady erosion of press and Internet freedoms in Thailand since the 2014 military coup and suspension of democracy. Throughout my 17 years of journalistic experience based in Thailand, the situation for reporters, apart from when bullets are flying in the national capital during political protests, has never been more dire. Reporters operate in a climate of fear and uncertainty, never sure exactly where the line between permissible and off-limits reporting lies. Local journalists who have crossed that vague line have suffered increasingly harsh reprisals, including so-called "attitude adjustment" sessions in military custody.

Depending how that particular security-related guideline is interpreted and implemented, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will have broad new discretionary powers to deny media visas on the basis of an individual journalist's news coverage. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs originally said that the new revised criteria were drafted in response to the "changing nature of new media and to re-categorize personnel eligible to media visas", and not designed to restrict or reduce the number of foreign journalists in Thailand.

If Thailand truly wanted to get in step with the changing nature of global media, it would implement measures that aimed to promote and protect freelancers, not restrict them. Faced with broken business models and ever tightening news budgets, a growing number of the world's major news organizations rely on freelancers for their coverage of outpost countries like Thailand. The willful elimination of freelancers will effectively pull the plug on a vast amount of diverse and original reporting on Thailand Visa. That, in turn, will give the government more leverage on news organizations with established bureaus and full-time correspondents, as we've witnessed in other countries that restrict freelancers, such as China and Vietnam.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai was later more forthright about the guideline policy's true intent, which he said in press interviews would be used to curb "misleading" foreign coverage about Thailand. It seems increasingly clear that the junta has handed down to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a "quota of elimination" for foreign reporters, judging by Don's comments to local media that his ministry plans to reject some 10 percent of the 500 or so currently credentialed foreign correspondents in the country. There are indications that officials are already conducting investigations into individual reporters' backgrounds before they've applied for renewals.

If all of the five new guidelines are strictly enforced, including the requirement that journalists must work full-time for a registered news organization, the eventual number of visa denials will be much, much higher. At a time when Thailand aims to become a regional hub, the economic and logistical center of the new ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] Economic Community, it is simultaneously moving to roll back the country's long-held position as press freedom safe haven for reporters covering the wider region.

All of this groundbreaking, investigative foreign reporting is in the public interest and fair game in any democratic society where the press is allowed to serve its checking and balancing role. And it's the type of reporting, I venture, that Prayuth's junta deliberately aims to curb through these arbitrary and vague new guidelines against the foreign press. While the government insists it's working to reform and improve Thailand's democracy, uprooting a diverse and robust foreign media presence in the country is inconsistent with that supposed aim.

Allow me to take this opportunity to advocate that you, either collectively or through your individual embassies, speak publicly or lobby privately against these new guidelines against the foreign media as well as continued restrictions and pressure on the local media. Thank you for your attention.

[Source: https://cpj.org/blog/2016/03/thailand-aims-to-hollow-out-foreign-press-with-new.php]