Thailand Visa for Indians: Rules, Fees and How to Apply

Thailand is the easiest big international trip an Indian passport can do right now. For most tourists there is no visa to apply for at all: you fly in, show a few documents at immigration, and get up to 60 days. But the rules have shifted twice in as many years, the paper card everyone filled on the plane is gone, and there is one free online form Indians routinely miss and pay a scam site to fill.

Thailand visa for Indians: the short answer

• Indian passport holders currently get visa free entry for tourism, up to 60 days per entry. No application, no sticker, no fee.
• This is a policy decision, not a treaty, and Thai officials have openly discussed cutting the visa free stay from 60 days back to 30. If your trip runs past a month, confirm the current limit on the Royal Thai Embassy New Delhi site before you lock in flights.
• Thailand visa on arrival still exists in the rulebook, but as an Indian you should almost certainly not use it.
• The Thailand e visa covers what the exemption does not: longer stays, multiple entries over months, study, work or business.
• Everyone flying in must submit the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card online before landing.
• Entering by land (a Malaysia or Laos crossing) caps the exemption at two entries per calendar year.

Thailand visa on arrival: the one to skip

Plenty of articles still describe Thailand visa on arrival as the standard route for Indians. That advice is out of date and it costs money. Visa on arrival gives 15 days, costs 2,000 baht (roughly Rs 5,200 approx) and puts you in a separate counter queue at Suvarnabhumi that can run past an hour on a heavy evening. The visa exemption gives you 60 days, costs nothing, and uses the normal immigration line. For an Indian tourist there is no scenario where visa on arrival wins. Skip it.

Thailand e visa: when you genuinely need one

Since Thailand moved applications online, Indians apply at the official portal thaievisa.go.th instead of dropping a physical file at a visa centre. Two options matter for tourists:

• Single entry tourist visa (TR): 60 days from entry, extendable inside Thailand. Thailand visa fee around THB 1,000 to 1,400, roughly Rs 2,600 to Rs 3,700 approx.
• Multiple entry tourist visa (METV): valid six months, 60 days per entry, around THB 5,000, roughly Rs 13,000 approx. It needs six months of bank statements as proof, so it is not a casual application.

Those figures are approximate and move with policy and the rupee, so check the live number before you pay. Budget 5 to 10 working days and apply three weeks out, more near Songkran in mid April.

Worth knowing: if you arrive visa free and then want more time, you do not need a visa at all. Thai immigration offices grant a 30 day extension of stay for 1,900 baht (about Rs 5,000 approx), which beats applying for a tourist visa from India.

The Thailand Digital Arrival Card, and the scam around it

The paper TM6 card is retired. Since May 2025 every foreign arrival files the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) online instead.

• Official site only: tdac.immigration.go.th. It is free.
• Submit within three days of arrival, not months in advance.
• Every traveller needs one, including infants. A family can be submitted together in one group entry.
• You get a QR code back. Screenshot it and keep a printout, because airport wifi at 6am is not a plan.

Search for it and you will land on lookalike sites charging Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500 to fill a free government form, some running as paid ads above the real result. Type the address by hand.

Documents and money to have ready

• Passport valid at least six months beyond your arrival date, with two blank pages.
• A confirmed onward or return ticket inside your permitted stay. Airline staff in Delhi and Mumbai check it and will refuse to board you without one.
• Hotel booking for the first nights, with the address, which the TDAC asks for.
• Proof of funds: 10,000 baht per person or 20,000 per family, roughly Rs 26,000 and Rs 52,000 approx. It is spot checked rather than universal, but carry some cash, not only cards.
• Your TDAC confirmation, plus travel insurance, which is optional but sensible given Thai private hospital bills.

Why Indians get delayed, questioned or turned back

• No return ticket. The single most common reason, and it usually bites at the Indian airport rather than in Thailand.
• Back to back visa free stays. Officers at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang read stamps. Repeated 60 day visits with short gaps looks like living or working in Thailand and earns you a secondary interview or a refusal. If you plan to shuttle, get a proper visa.
• An empty wallet at the funds check. Cards alone can go badly if you are picked.
• Mismatched TDAC details. A passport number typed wrong, or a card filed for the wrong arrival date, means sorting it out in the hall.
• Damaged or short-validity passports. Water-stained pages get refused more often than people expect.
• Overstay history. Overstaying costs 500 baht a day, capped at 20,000, and long overstays carry re-entry bans.

Know before you go

• Direct flights reach Bangkok from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Return fares often run Rs 16,000 to Rs 30,000 approx off peak and well above that over Christmas, New Year and Songkran. Phuket has a few direct flights from Delhi and Mumbai, otherwise connect via Bangkok.
• A 300 baht tourist fee has been announced and postponed several times. If it is live when you travel it will be collected with your air ticket. Never pay it to a person or a website.
• Vegetarians: look for the yellow and red jay flag, which means Buddhist vegan food. Otherwise ask for mangsawirat and add mai sai nam pla (no fish sauce) and mai sai gapi (no shrimp paste), both of which sit in curries and papaya salad by default. Phahurat in Bangkok is Little India, with Jain-friendly options; Sukhumvit Soi 11 has the reliable North Indian places.
• Draw baht from an airport ATM rather than exchanging rupees in India, where the rate is usually worse.
• Stay lengths, fees and forms change with little notice. Confirm on thaievisa.go.th, tdac.immigration.go.th and the Royal Thai Embassy site before you pay or plan around a date.

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File the arrival card the week before you fly and keep your return ticket handy at check-in. For an Indian traveller that is most of the Thailand visa question right there.