Chennai: Thailand’s new eVisa On Arrival (eVOA) service enables a faster, more convenient arrival into Thailand for travellers from India and 20 other countries. The service made available from Feb. 14 offers a whole new experience when entering the country at the Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueng airports in Bangkok, as well as at Phuket and Chiang Mai airports.
The service is part of the Government of Thailand’s initiative to promote tourism, and has been developed by the Immigration Bureau of Royal Thai Police and VFS Global. Of the over 1.5 million Indians who visited Thailand in 2018, over 9,00,000 used the old, time consuming Visa On Arrival service at Thailand airports. The new eVOA service offers travellers the conveniences of avoiding long queues, and eliminates the need to fill up application forms on arrival and arrange for paper documentation or local currency which travellers find challenging after a long flight.
It can be obtained on email between 24 - 72 hours. In case there is an urgent visa requirement to travel to Thailand, travellers can also avail online the express eVOA service for quicker processing. By paying an additional service fee, eligible travellers can get their eVOA decision within 24 hours for any short notice travel requirements.
Commenting on the new initiative, Pol. Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, Commissioner of Immigration Bureau, said, “with the eVOA service, we are proud to offer a new age digital solution which enhance the overall experience for the modern day traveller who seeks to visit Thailand from 21 countries across the globe.We aim to effectively meet the objective of increasing tourism to the country through this solution especially taking into consideration the all-important security aspect that allows pre-check of travellers prior the arrival, as it offers time to the Immigration Bureau for effective assessment.”
Zubin Karkaria, CEO, VFS Global Group, said, “With our experience and reliability in providing seamless visa application services across the world, I am confident that the Thailand eVOA service will further enhance ease of travel to Thailand, and thereby facilitate increase in travel and tourism to the country.”
