Thailand is a popular destination for young and older Indians alike who enjoy the hot weather and diverse cultural experience just across the Indian Ocean. With the advent of a cheap flight ticket from Kolkata to Bangkok, it’s of interest to many Indians what steps they have to go through to secure a visas to enter Thailand and stay for a reasonable period of time.

Most people flying in from India prefer to stay longer than other tourists. The effort to take time off from work and the cost of the flight and other expenses mean longer visits of at least several weeks duration is preferable to a 3-4-day short trip.

Let’s explore a little about what the visa options are for Indian men and women who wish to spend time in Thailand this year.

Visa on Arrival by Air

There is a visa on arrival system in Thailand that is available for a shortlist of countries that have a special agreement for it.

Flying into the country is considered totally different when it comes to visas on arrival than when coming into the country through a designated land border. The reason for this is because too many people were repeatedly visiting Thailand without a prior visa and endlessly re-visiting over land the same day they had left, effectively recycling the visa on arrival. As a result, land border crossings are treated completely differently to flying in through an approved airport.

International airports like Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Don Muang Airport (Bangkok), Phuket International Airport, Chiang Mai International Airport and several others are on the approved list.

Visa on Arrival by Land

Land arrivals from Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos or Cambodia without a visa only offer a 15-day duration of stay. In most cases, only two land border crossings are permitted in a given year before a visa is required to re-enter the Kingdom.

Requirement for Visa on Arrival

Indians are required to have an airline boarding pass (for flights), a valid passport with at least 6 months to run on it and two blank pages for stamps. There’s a visa application to complete and submitted at the airport or land border, along with a recent headshot photo measuring 4x6cms.

A ticket for a flight out of the country is needed to be granted a visa on arrival. There’s a card to complete with more information which is used for arrivals and departures that’s clipped inside your passport. Proof of spending monies of 10,000 Baht for one person and 20,000 Baht for a family together is required. The Visa on Arrival costs 1,000 Baht paid in local currency at the time of issuance.

Tourist Visa Applications

For people who would like to stay longer than 15 or 30 days in Thailand, a tourist visa application is needed and must be issued before you travel.

The items required to apply for a tourist visa include a valid passport with more than 6 months remaining and two clear pages, three passport photos, a covering letter confirming the reason for the visa, the completed visa application form, three months of stamped original bank statements confirming at least 40,000 Indian Rupiah balance, and relevant airline tickets and hotel bookings too. Be sure to double-check if any of the requirements have been recently changed before applying. Please find a suitable application here.

Traveling to Thailand is pretty easy, it just needs a little bit of advance preparation to ensure you sail smoothly through the airport or land border upon first arrival. Just make sure you have enough spending money because there’s plenty to enjoy while in the capital, at the beaches, or up north in Chiang Mai.