E-visa on arrival E-VOA

In November 2018 in Thailand the service for obtaining an electronic visa on arrival E-VOA has finally been launched. Currently (December 2018), a visa is available for citizens of not all countries, but only Andorra, Bhutan, China, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Mauritania, Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The Russian Federation is not on this list, since Russian citizens do not need a visa for 30 days of stay. So far, the list does not include all countries whose citizens are eligible for a visa to Thailand upon arrival, but it will expand.

This is a very convenient service that allows you to significantly reduce the time at the airport for filling out documents, checking them by immigration officers and actually waiting for a visa to be made. Now everything can be done on the website, in the same place to pay a visa fee of 2000 baht, and get a preliminary permit for a visa. You do not need to visit any institutions in your country, and you will receive the visa itself at the airport upon arrival. For this purpose, special racks for E-VOA are installed at international airports.

On this account, the immigration service of Thailand even released a promo video:

So, how to apply for an electronic visa to Thailand

Visa processing (or, more precisely, obtaining a preliminary permit for a visa on arrival) takes place on the website https://www.evisathailand.com/. The interface is in English, but everything is very clear. The site has a section with graphical help, where everything is told about the process of obtaining - https://www.evisathailand.com/en/apply-online.php.

In short, on the website you fill out a questionnaire and upload scans or originals of all the necessary documents for verification (passport, air ticket, hotel reservation), and pay 2000 baht online with a plastic card (this is approximately 60.01 US$., see the currency of Thailand and its exchange rate). Within 24-72 hours, an approval will be sent to your email, which you need to print or download to your smartphone. Upon arrival at the airport, you immediately follow through the E-VOA dedicated lane counter, where you need to present your passport and approval on paper or smartphone. The whole thing will take a couple of minutes, and after that you can immediately follow the passport control.

Important data:

• Visa on arrival is issued for15 days;
• The passport must be valid for 30 days, and there must be one full blank page for the visa to be pasted;
• You must have return tickets or a ticket to another country;
• You must have a hotel or accommodation reservation;
• You must have finances for the period of stay at the rate of at least 10,000 baht per person (approximately $300 USD), or 20,000 baht per family (approximately $600 USD).