A Step-by-Step Guide to Thai eVisa | eVisa for Thailand
If you are someone from a visa-eligible nation, you are required to apply and obtain a Thai visa before arriving in Thailand. The country has made the eVisa system accessible at 38 diplomatic and consular offices throughout the world as of November 1, 2022. So, if you are a member of a Thai eVisa-eligible nation, you can easily apply for it online. Further, you can check the official website to see if you are eligible for eVisa for Thailand.
Below is our step-by-step guide to applying for the Thailand eVisa.
What is eVisa for Thailand?
You can apply on the official website if you are eligible for an eVisa for Thailand. Thailand eVisa grants authorization to enter the country. On the website, we came across the notification stating since 26 September 2021, Thai eVisa applicants are not required to submit their passport and original documents in person at the Thai Embassy/Consulate.
In our case, once the application was approved, we were required to print the confirmation email for verification by the airline. While filling out the form, we received a notification that we would have to provide the Thai eVisa to immigration officials whenever we travel to Thailand.
Step-by-Step Explanation of the Thai eVisa Application Form
Before creating an account for the Thai eVisa, you must follow the instructions on the official website.
Thailand eVisa Eligibility
On the official website of Thai eVisa, we can see three sections where applicants have the option to check eligibility. It allows you to check:
- If you need the eVisa for Thailand or whether you are eligible for tourist visa exemption.
- If you are eligible to apply for the Thai eVisa, or do you need to appear in person
- You also have the option to choose the visa category and apply for the right visa type.
Thereon, anyone filling in the form can click on any of the above choices and be directed to section 3, mentioned in detail below.
Thai eVisa Application Process
To be eligible for Thai eVisa, we had to adhere to the following guidelines:
- First, we had to create an account to apply for Thai eVisa.
- We were required to complete the electronic form for the eVisa for Thailand.
- The supporting documents had to be uploaded by us.
- We had to pay the Visa fee for Thailand eVisa.
- Wait for the Thai eVisa to be processed.
- Approved eVisa for Thailand was to be sent to us by mail.
Frequently Asked Questions: What’s in the Thailand eVisa Form.
In this section, we had to fill in the answer to the questions on the online visa form for Thailand. It provided a bird eye view of what was to come up later in the form.
Part 1: Eligibility for Thailand eVisa
We had to check if we needed a tourist visa. We had to fill in the following fields:
1. Travel Document
2. Permanent Residency
3. Plan to stay in Thailand
Part 2: Eligibility to Apply Online
To check whether we were eligible to apply online for eVisa for Thailand, we had to fill in the following fields:
- Travel Document Holder
- Permanent Residency/ Current Location
We could proceed to the next section as we checked out to be eligible for Thai eVisa. If you are not, you will be directed to contact the embassy of Thailand.
Part 3: Thailand Visa Type
We also had to check the Thai visa type we were eligible for. We had to fill in the following fields:
- Passport Type
- Purpose of Visit
Part 4: Thailand Visa Categories
We had the option to choose among the following Thai visa types:
- Thai Tourist visa
- Business and Investor Visa for Thailand
- Thailand Non-Immigrant ED visa
- Non- Immigrant O visa for Thailand
- Thai Transit Visa
- Thai Long Stay Visa
- Smart Visa for Thailand
- Non-Immigrant F Visa for Thailand
- Thailand Diplomatic / Official Visa
- Long-Term Resident Visa
The above sections were just a snapshot of what would entail once you start filling out the eVisa application for Thailand.
Page 1 of the Thai eVisa form
We would like to emphasize that if you are a citizen of a visa-eligible country, you can apply for a Thai eVisa by creating an account on the official website.
1. Check the Eligibility for Thai eVisa
In this section, we had to fill in our nationality again. For instance, as Americans, we could select "United States" on the drop-down Menu on the website. Please note if you are a traveler from the United States, then you require a Thai eVisa only for stays of more than 60 days.
Americans don’t need a pre-approved visa to travel to Thailand for up to 30 days. A 1,900 Baht fee must be paid to the Thai Immigration Bureau office in order to extend this time limit for an extra 30 days. As we had planned our stay for more than 60 days in Thailand, we chose to obtain a Thai eVisa for tourism purposes.
2. Permanent Residency
The eVisa application form required us to provide our current location.
Please note "Permanent Residency" stands for the individual’s resident status in a country where you have been granted a residence visa allowing you to stay for more than six months. For instance, as an American, you can again fill the field by selecting "United States."
3. Submission
As American applicants, we had the following four choices to choose from:
- Royal Thai Consulate General, Chicago
- Royal Thai Embassy, Washington DC
- Royal Thai Consulate General, Los Angeles
- Royal Thai Consulate General, New York
It simply indicates which Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate General is responsible for processing/issuing the visa based on the jurisdiction. Hence, the "Submit to "section might be a misnomer as we were initially confused about why the "submit to" field exists on the Thai eVisa form. Then we clarified this bit by writing to the embassy.
While navigating the Thai eVisa form, we came across the next section on the same page. It had another field, "Purpose of Visit." We just had to provide "Passport Type" information below it. Additionally, we had the following options to choose from:
- Ordinary Passport
- Diplomatic Passport
- Official Passport/ Service Passport
- Travel Document of Refugee or Stateless Person
- Red UNLP
- Blue UNLP
When we chose "Ordinary Passport," the field "Purpose of Visit" appeared on the same page. Please note it was not there before we filled the field "Ordinary Passport."
Thai Visa Types
In this section, we had the option to choose among the following Thai Visa Types in the drop-down section:
- Thai Tourist visa (followed by the purpose)
- Football Trial
- Medical treatment (less than 60 days)
- Recreational Learning or Training related activities, e.g., boxing training, scuba diving, culinary and massage training
- Tourism/ Leisure Activities
- Visiting or staying with family residing in Thailand (for less than sixty days)
- Tourist (MICE)
- Participants of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions) supported by TCEB (Thailand Convention Exhibition Bureau)
- Transit Visa
- Athletes participating in sports events
- Pilots, Captains steering vehicles to Thailand’s ports, stations, or crews
- Transit (stopover longer than 12 hours)
- Non-Immigrant Visa
- To attend workshop training, or seminar organized by International Organizations
- Diplomat’s Housekeeper
- Employed as an academic staff/teacher in Thailand
- Employment
- Family or Dependent of diplomatic officers/ officials based in Thailand
- Film Crew (Having the purpose of producing a film, motion picture, or advertisement)
- For Monk, Nuns, and Priest studying Dharma in Thailand
- Internship (for Curricular or Non-Curricular Internship purposes)
- Investing in a BOI-registered company/ working in a BOI-registered company
- Long-stay (10 years) for foreigners age over 50 and family (O-X)
- Long-stay (O-A)
- Media/Press based in Thailand
- Medical treatment (longer than 60 days)
- Participants in Thailand International Co-operation Agency (TICA) Programme
- Peace Corps
- Research and Science
- Retirement (pensioner aged 50 or above with a state pension who wishes to stay in Thailand for no longer than 90 days)
- Sport-related activities (Coach/ Instructor/ Trainers)
- Thai nationals who have abandoned their Thai nationality
- To be a contestant or witness in the judicial process
- To perform religious or missionary work or other religious activities with approval from the relevant Government Department (R-A)
- To work with the government, diplomatic mission, or international organization in Thailand
- To study at the basic education level (primary, elementary, and secondary)
- To study at higher education level (university and college)
- To work with the government, diplomatic mission, or an international organization in Thailand
- Traveling to Thailand for a business purpose, e.g., Meeting, Exhibition
- Visiting or staying with the applicant’s family residing in Thailand (more than 60 days)
- Voluntary work with NGO/ Charity/ Association (without salary)
- SMART
- Travelers should have a letter of qualification endorsement from the SMART Visa Unit (BOI) for the following categories:
- Executive
- Investor
- Spouses and Children
- Startup
- Talent
- Thai Courtesy Visa
- Invited by the Royal Thai Government
- Thai LTR Visa (Long-Term Resident)
- Professionals or experts in targeted industries working for business entities, higher education institutions, research centers, or specialized training in Thailand.
- Remote workers working for well-established overseas companies
- Retirees aged 50 years and older who have an annual pension or stable income
- Spouse and children under 20 years old of LTR visa holders (maximum four dependents in total per one LTR holder)
- Wealthy individuals holding at least USD 1 million in assets
Please note the Thai Visa type will change depending on the purpose of the visit. We chose the "Tourist Visa (TR)" type (for stays over 60 days) for our application.
Number of Entries
In the Thai eVisa form, we had to select from the following options:
- Single entry Visa
- Multiple entry Visa
Remember, if you are applying for multiple entries, you must have a genuine reason to visit Thailand. If the officer grants a single-entry Thai eVisa instead of a multiple-entry visa, the difference in fee is not refunded.
We applied for a single-entry visa for Thailand, and then we could proceed to the next section.
Page 2 of the Thai eVisa Application Form: Applicant’s Information
The second page of the Thai eVisa official portal instructed us to upload our photographs and the biodata page of the passport.
Biodata Guidelines
To upload Biodata Page, we had to follow the below-mentioned guidelines:
- Our biodata page of the travel document had to be uploaded.
- After successfully uploading the biodata page, the application automatically filled the corresponding fields with our biographic information.
- To ensure accurate results, we had to ensure the Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) was fully visible and not cut off in the uploaded photograph.
- We had to make sure that the uploaded photograph was clear and not blurry on the visa application form for Thailand.
- We had to submit a passport (travel document )valid for at least six months from the date of visa application for a single-entry visa. Please note the duration is one year in case you are applying for a multiple-entry visa.
- The file we uploaded had to be in JPG or JPEG format and did not exceed a size limit of 3 MB.
- We could drag and drop the file or browse it from our computer.
- It was important to scan and attach the file correctly to avoid the rejection of the application.
Photo Guidelines
We followed the instructions to upload a Thai eVisa photograph. They are as follows:
- We had to upload a recent photograph taken within the past six months.
- Remember, it is important to upload a suitable photograph, as failing to do so may lead to the rejection of the visa request.
- A sample photograph can be downloaded from the Thai eVisa platform for reference.
- We had the option to drag and drop the file or browse it from our computer. We chose to browse and upload the photograph.
- Please note that the accepted file formats for the photograph are JPG and JPEG.
- The size of the photograph should not exceed 3 MB.
Remember to upload documents in the required format to proceed to the next page.
Personal Information
In this section, we were required to fill in the fields marked in asterisk on the Thai visa application form. We had to fill in the following sections:
- Title (Mr., Miss, Mrs., Master, or Other)
- Gender (Male/ Female)
- First Name
- Middle Name (not a required field)
- Family Name
- Former name (not a required field)
- Full Name in Native Alphabet (not a required field)
- Contact Number
- Place of Birth
- City of Birth
- Date of Birth
- Marital Status (Single, Married, Common Law Marriage, Civil Union, Domestic Partnership, Widowed, Divorced, Separated)
We filled in the above information on the Thai eVisa form as necessary.
Travel Documents
We noticed that all the fields in this section were required fields:
- Type of Travel document (Certificate of Identity, Passport, Refugee or Stateless Person, Seaman’s Book, Travel Document)
- Travel Document number
- Place of Issue
- Date of Issue
- Date of Expiry
After filling the above fields, we could proceed to the next section.
Address
While filling out the Thai eVisa application form, we had to provide the following details:
- Home Address
- City
- Country
- Employment Detail
Please note we had to answer if our permanent address was the same as our current address in a "Yes" or "No" format. After answering it, we could navigate to another section.
In the next section, we also found that all the segments were again required fields. We had the following options:
- Occupation (Business Owner, Employee, Freelance, Government Official, Retired, Student, Unemployed)
- Company/ Institute- Name of the company
- Annual Income (Under 20000 USD, 20000-40000USD, 40001-60000USD, 60001-80000USD, 80001 and Over, No Income)
On completing Page 2 of the application form, as Thai eVisa applicants, we were directed to Page 3 of the eVisa application form.
Page 3 of the Thai eVisa Application Form: Travel Information
On-Page three, we received a notification to apply for a Thai visa for up to three months before the intended travel date.
We were required to fill in the following fields:
- Intended Date of Arrival
- Intended Date of Departure
The duration of stay was displayed only after the Thai eVisa application was filled out by us in the above section. Thereon, we had to provide the following information:
- Port of Arrival (International Airport, Seaport, Border Checkpoint) -We opted for International Airport.
- Type of Flight (Charter-Private or Schedule-Commercial)- Ours was a Commercial flight.
- Flight Number
Additional Information
Additionally, we had to answer the below-mentioned questions in "Yes" or "No" format:
- If we had ever visited Thailand
- If we had ever applied for a Thai visa
- If we were part of a tour group
After answering the above questions, we were able to navigate to the next section.
Your Place of Stay in Thailand
In this segment, we needed to provide the details concerning our accommodation type:
- Hotel
- Hostel
- Guesthouse
- Private Property (street address and city)
- Dormitory
For this section of Thai eVisa, we had to provide our accommodation and city details followed by postal code. We had to answer if we had a different place to stay ("Yes" or "No" format).In our case, the answer was "No." If your answer is "Yes," you must fill in the additional information on the eVisa form for Thailand.
Page 4 of the Thailand eVisa: Supporting Documents
On Page 4 of the Thailand eVisa application form, we had to upload the supporting documents for successful eVisa application submission.
We had to upload the following documents:
- Biodata Page of Passport or Travel Document.
- Photograph taken within the last six months.
Our advice to fellow travelers is that the photograph should match your current appearance. Otherwise, you can be refused entry within the Kingdom of Thailand.
Terms and Conditions
In this section, we had to go through the terms and conditions listed below:
- We had to acknowledge that we had read and understood the questions in the Thailand eVisa application form.
- We were required to provide true and correct answers along with supporting documents.
- We were warned that any false or misleading information provided could lead to a permanent visa refusal or denial of entry into Thailand.
- We were notified that our Thai visa application might be subject to approval. Moreover, the Embassy/Consulate could request additional interviews or documents if necessary.
- Please note that submitting a Thai visa application does not guarantee the issuance of a visa. Further, it was clear that the Thai visa processing fee is non-refundable under any circumstances.
- We had to give consent to the official website to collect, use, and disclose our personal information. It was to be used for processing our Thai visa application through the e-Visa system by the Thai authorities or authorized entities.
- However, the confidentiality of our personal information was protected. It further clarified that any use or disclosure of our information in the future will comply with relevant Thai laws and regulations.
- The responsibility for environmental matters and local culture while traveling in Thailand, adhering to relevant legislation, regulations, and compliance obligations was solely placed on us.
- Our name and signature, and confirmation date were required at the end.
Kasikorn Bank is entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to handle Thai eVisa processing. After reading the above terms and conditions, we had to write our name and date, sign the application, and upload it on the official Thai eVisa website. We could easily download the Terms and Conditions forms on Page 4 of the Thai visa application form.
Documents Required for Successful Thai eVisa Application
We also had to fill in the following sections on page 4 of the Thai eVisa application:
- Travel Booking Confirmation
- Proof of Accommodation in Thailand (invitation letters from friends and family)
- Financial evidence (bank statements, proof of earnings, sponsorship letter)
- Confirmation of the legal residence in the country from where we were applying
- We had to upload our passport page, which contained all our travel records for the past 12 months (1 year) since the last international trip.
- We had to apply for a Thai eVisa via a specific Embassy/ Consulate, confirming our consular jurisdiction and residency. Remember, you will be required to upload the document verifying your current residency.
- We also had to upload a picture holding the photo and information page of the passport.
It is best to remember that all the above fields are required fields on the Thai visa application form. We had to drag and drop files. Additionally, you can browse and upload it from your computer.
We were directed to the payment page only after uploading all the relevant documents.
Issues with the Thailand eVisa Application form
We have to admit that the Thailand visa application forms can be challenging and time-consuming. It is not easy to understand the categories of each page. Additionally, the applicant may get signed out due to a system error.
We will advise you to upload a copy of supporting documents on the computer before filling out the Thai eVisa form. Moreover, it is best to save each page of the visa application form because you will need to fill in the information again if you get logged out.
Print the Thai eVisa
After completing all the above sections, we were directed to a payment page. After paying the fees, our eVisa application was to be verified and processed.
Remember, all successful Thai eVisa applicants will receive their electronic visa via email. We advise getting copies of the eVisa form for Thailand or saving it on your mobile. You will have to show it to the Immigration authorities on arrival in Thailand.
Conclusion
The above step-by-step guide for the Thai eVisa application form will help you prepare and upload a copy of the documents required to complete the eVisa. With this Thai eVisa step-by-step guide, you can easily anticipate each step and will be able to fill in the eVisa application form for Thailand.
