Integrity Legal - Law Firm in Bangkok | Bangkok Lawyer | Legal Services Thailand Back to
Integrity Legal

Legal Services & Resources 

Up to date legal information pertaining to Thai, American, & International Law.

Contact us: +66 2-266 3698

info@integrity-legal.com

ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawVisa NewsChinese and Indian Tourists Get Free Thai Visas

Chinese and Indian Tourists Get Free Thai Visas

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Chinese and Indian tourists and specifically news that has come out recently, for example there has been kind of an ongoing drama with respect to the so-called Visa waiver. 

There was discussion amongst high-ranking officials here in the Kingdom that they would go ahead and they would waive the requirement that Chinese and Indian tourists even need a visa to come to Thailand. That was thrown out, they denied that, but and let me quote directly from another article in the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com: Cabinet Blocks Visa Plan.  Quoting directly:  "The Cabinet yesterday shot down the Tourism and Sports Ministry's Visa waiver proposal for Chinese and Indian visitors but agreed to extend the waiver of visa on arrival fees for tourists from 18 countries for another 6 months; within those 18 countries is China and India. So while visas are still going to be required for Chinese and Indian tourists, the visa on arrival will come at no charge to those entering the Kingdom so long as they pass the scrutiny of the Immigration Officer that is adjudicating their visa application and ultimately admitting them into the Kingdom. 

The thing to take away from this video for those are interested, is the waiver was proposed and it was struck down ultimately on security grounds. They basically said the Immigration apparatus would not be able to deal with that level of an influx of tourists into Thailand and therefore they needed to keep the Visas but the middle ground that seems to have been agreed upon is that they would waive the fees. 

So the thing to keep in mind moving forward, this is August 2019 through, it is my understanding, through December, January and February this coming year 2020 Indian and Chinese tourists along with tourists from a host of other nations will not need to pay fees for visas on arrival when coming to the Kingdom of Thailand and entering for tourism purposes.