I have been thinking about writing of Thailand visa
on arrival for Indian citizens. My first visa on arrival experience has been
with Thailand at the Suvarnbhumi International Airport in Bangkok. I am not
counting the Nepal experience in this list because if you travel by air to
Nepal you just have to show your passport and you can walk off. There is no
visa required for Indians to get into Nepal. As Bangkok was going to be my
first visa on arrival I was a bit apprehensive. I looked seriously at the list
of required documents for tourist visa on arrival. I had all the documents with
me as well.
In September, my flight was with Thai Airways. It was
a short and pleasant flight. I watched two movies (it was about 4 hour
Delhi-Bangkok flight) and the time went by quite easily. Only not sleeping at all
leaves me very tired and a bit confused on arrival.
I generally don’t get lost on airports but once I did
manage to go to the domestic departures instead of exit at Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. I made no such blunders at Bangkok though. Soon I was standing at the
visa on arrival queue at Suvarnabhumi. I filled the form, took out my picture
and was wondering what all documents they would ask for. There are two queues
for the visa, one normal and the other fast track. The normal queue costs 1000
Baht and the fast track 1200 Baht. They accept only Bahts at the visa counter
and no other currency. You can change money before joining the queue. After a
few international trips, I now prefer to carry dollar or pounds as they easily
exchange at any airport. I took the express queue.
When my turn came, they just asked for the form, the
photo and the money. Once the formalities were done, I showed the visa at the
exit counter and there I was at the luggage belt! Duringthis trip to Thailand I
exited to Cambodia. It was another visa on arrival but as I was traveling with
Tourism Authority of Thailand they took care of my Cambodian visa. When I
entered Bangkok again (as my flight to India was from Bangkok) I had to do
another visa as I had a single entry visa. The second time as well, the process
was exactly the same.
However, I am no way recommending that you don’t
carry the requisite documents. There is no way to predict who will be asked
what! I had all the relevant documents just in case they asked for it. But my
first experience (and second too) of visa on arrival at Bangkok was a breeze.
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