BANGKOK SERIES #1-STEP WISE APPROACH TO THE THAILAND VISA ON ARRIVAL ONLINE APPLICATION PROCESS

I was all set and ready to hit the city of Angels- Bangkok for my first solo holiday. 

However, I heard several not-so-great experiences about the delay faced at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport for the visa on arrival process from family and friends. Nevertheless was completely prepared to wait a good 2-3 hours in the immigration queue.

But that’s when during my research, that I read about the recently launched process for the Online Application for Visa on Arrival through the official Thai government website. Read about other blogger experiences, and guess what it worked ! I would have hardly spend 30 minutes end to end to get my visa stamped and out of passport control.

I thought my penning down my experience could benefit other fellow travellers and couldn't recommend the online procedure enough considering you only need to spend less than 10 minutes in advance and you end up saving a good 1-2 hours of waiting time at the minimum.

However, I would like to clarify that this is not an actual pre-approved visa being issued online rather just a system to enter your personal details directly into the Thai immigration system thereby saving time at their end and hence giving you a skip-the-line option at the airport.

I have enlisted my experiences step wise below:

1.   Visit Thai immigration website - https://extranet.immigration.go.th/voaonline/voaonline/VoaonlineAction.do

2.   Click on Tourist -->Apply For Visa on Arrival

3.   You get 30 minutes to fill up the online application with your passport/flight/hotel   

      booking details.

4.   Once done, you are taken to review page before proceeding to accept.

5.   Once accepted, you get a bar code and a reference number with an option to Print 

      VOA Application form.

6.   You would receive a PDF of the form which you can save/print. Ensure to sign off 

      the physical form.

7.   Additionally ensure you carry:

• Passport (Belonging to the list of eligible countries for Visa on Arrival) with a                validity of more than a month and with atleast 1 complete blank page.
• 1 passport size photo
• Return Ticket within 15 days
• Hotel reservation copy
• Filled up Arrival/Departure card (I got this from the flight) and Boarding Pass
• Requirement also indicates for proof of living as 10,000 Baht/person or 20,000 Baht/family. (I was not asked for anything regarding this. If I was, planned to show my debit/credit cards.
• Visa fee of 1000 Thai Baht in local currency as cash 

8.   Head to the Visa on Arrival counter outside the hall to get a preliminary check of  

      your documents by an airport staff.

9.   Next you would enter the actual hall with a (most likely) long queue of passengers, 

      do not stand in this queue.

10. Check with any officer or head straight to the Visa on Arrival Online Counter, 

      provide documents and the visa fee and collect your token.

12. Proceed to “Collect Your Passport” and wait for the officer to call out your token 

      number to collect your passport with the visa stamped for 15 days.

13. Head to Passport control for the stamping of your entry.

14. You are done ! And can now head for collection of your baggage.

Other Tips and Resources:

• You can notice several ATMs of the local banks, I went to KasikornThai and withdrew cash using my debit card. Only ensure to inform your bank about your intended use before leaving your home country. 
• I got an extremely good exchange rate through the ATM than through my local foreign exchange company and also noticed that across Bangkok, ATMs charged a 200 Baht fee per transaction.
• Having said that, highly recommend that to save time and hassle, you have the visa fees of 1000 bahts available before leaving home.
• Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBzJr3sLZRA
• Another Blog that I found useful is: http://traveltalesfromindia.in/2015/10/visa-on-arrival-online-application-for-thailand/

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