# Do I need a tourist visa before booking a flight?



## UKman1980

I'm going Thailand in July & would like to book my flight asap - I intend to stay 60 days. Have 3 quick questions:

1) Do I need a tourist visa BEFORE booking my flight? What is the likely hood of visa refusal if I get my flight 1st? Don't want to loose £1000......

2) If I want to go laos / Burma for a few days by land - not air - do I need to apply for a tourist multiple entry visa?

3) Also now I have a truly silly questions.....sorry! I have to apply within 3 months of flying but do those 3 months include my holiday and exit too?

Many thanks guys!!


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## wazza

UKman1980 said:


> I'm going Thailand in July & would like to book my flight asap - I intend to stay 60 days. Have 3 quick questions:
> 
> 1) Do I need a tourist visa BEFORE booking my flight? What is the likely hood of visa refusal if I get my flight 1st? Don't want to loose £1000......
> 
> 2) If I want to go laos / Burma for a few days by land - not air - do I need to apply for a tourist multiple entry visa?
> 
> 3) Also now I have a truly silly questions.....sorry! I have to apply within 3 months of flying but do those 3 months include my holiday and exit too?
> 
> Many thanks guys!!


(1) You can get a tourist 60 day visa before you get there from the thai emb nearest you,and if you wish to travel outside the country you can get an exit visa at the boarder which allowes you to renter on the same visa but it dose not lengthen the existing visa, If you exit by land and renter by land without this you will only get 14 days If you renter by air you get 30 days .
(2)a lot of people do just land and get a 30 day visa on entry exit on or before the exit time renter by air and get another 30 days but don't leave yourself short for your 60day departure time or you might have to do another visa run or pay a fine on exit. 500bht per day overstay up to 20,000 bht ( best to avoid this )
(3) as for the 3month thing I have no Idea,but your 60 day visa starts from the time you enter the country,and it will have an entry before date on it .

This is to the best of my understanding of it all Travel safe.


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## TomC

OK, now I see where the 3 month question came from:

_Validity

A single entry tourist visa is valid for 3 months. Multiple entry tourist visas range in their validity. For example, a double entry tourist visa will be valid for 6 months. _

It means you have 3 months to use the visa (to enter Thailand) The 60-day begins when you enter Thailand, not when it was issued. You might want to ask the embassy if you exit the country, is the tourist visa expired? If it does and you come back in on an exempt (visa) by land, you only get 14 days. It'd be fine if your departure from Thailand is within the 14 days, but if you have another month to go, you'd be screwed. Explain to them to see if you need a multiple entry tourist visa. That maybe a safer bet.


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