Visa to Thailand for Russians: a complete guide 2024

Sample visa to Thailand

Thailand is one of the most popular countries for vacation and long-term residence. If you are planning a trip in 2024, it is important to know the current entry rules, types of visas, and ways to obtain them. In this article, you will find a detailed guide on obtaining a visa to Thailand for Russians, as well as tips for tourists and those who want to stay in the country for an extended period.

Do You Need a Visa for Traveling to Thailand?

As of today, not every tourist needs a visa to Thailand. The Kingdom has a so-called visa-free regime that allows staying in the country for some time with just a passport.

Before going to a foreign country, it is essential to determine whether you need a visa to Thailand to avoid paying unnecessarily. For this, it is crucial to consider the purpose of your visit to the Kingdom and the duration of your stay.

In addition to Russia, the visa-free regime applies to more than 50 other countries. However, Russian citizens have a significant advantage – their permitted stay in the Kingdom under these rules is longer. Moreover, while the visa-free period is occasionally revoked for some countries, this does not apply to Russia in 2024 or planned for 2025.

Therefore, if you are traveling abroad for just a few days, such as a short vacation, you won't need to worry about how to get a visa to Thailand. This significantly simplifies the situation for Russians and opens up vast opportunities for them.

Rules for Visa-Free Entry

Knowing the clear answer to whether you need a visa to Thailand brings joy to people. But in reality, there are certain restrictions that you should be aware of and remember to avoid ruining your trip.

The visa-free regime in Thailand allows you to stay in the Kingdom without a permit document for 60 days.

If desired, this period can be extended by 30 days if the following conditions are met:

Possession of a regular or online ticket home or to another country;
The validity of the passport for the next six-month period;
Proof of financial stability (i.e., the tourist must have funds to pay for accommodation, food, various services within the Kingdom);
A properly filled-out migration card.

The total stay in Thailand without a visa can be up to 90 days. Extensions are rarely denied, so travelers have a good chance of success.

How to Extend Your Stay Without a Visa?

According to the country's rules, a visa to Thailand for Russians can be extended. To do this, you need to:

Contact the Immigration Bureau of the Kingdom before the initial stay period expires. It is better to do this 40-50 days after entry.
Fill out and submit an application along with your passport and a filled-out migration card.
Pay the fee. The amount is 1900 baht.

The extension process is straightforward and accessible to any tourist. The most interesting question is how to get a visa to Thailand? We will also cover this in the article.

Types of Visas in Thailand: What to Choose?

As in any country, foreigners here are offered several options for visas to Thailand for Russians. The type of permit document depends on the purpose of visiting the Kingdom.

Travelers go to a foreign country for employment, education, or simply for rest. The length of stay is increased – many cannot fit into 90 days. And here, the answer to the question of whether you need a visa to Thailand will be positive.

In which cases is prolonged stay permissible, and what is needed to obtain permission – we will consider further.

Tourist Visa

The visa-free regime allows staying in the Kingdom during vacation. The established period is sufficient for beach relaxation, sightseeing, and other activities. But do you need a visa to Thailand for those who are willing to spend more time? The answer is definitely yes.

You can obtain the document even while staying in the Kingdom under the visa-free regime of Thailand. Thanks to it, travelers can freely move around different areas of the country and use all services. Additionally, this permit allows visiting a foreign country for short business negotiations, participation in competitions, auctions, and much more.

Talking about how to get a visa to Thailand for tourists from Russia, it is worth noting that you need to contact the Immigration Bureau or Consulate. We will discuss the procedure later, but now let's look at the main points. The validity of a tourist visa to Thailand is 60 days (with an extension of 30 days).

To obtain a tourist visa to Thailand for Russians, you will need the following documents:

Passport;
A questionnaire filled out personally by the foreigner;
A photo in the format 3.5x4.5 cm;
Documents confirming actual hotel booking;
An exit/departure ticket from Thailand;
A bank statement with information about funds in accounts.

All listed documents are provided to consulate or bureau staff in original form. After they perform the necessary actions, the documents will be returned to the owner.

Work Visa

A common type of visa to Thailand for Russians allows earning an official income in this country. Obtaining it requires knowledge of many bureaucratic procedures, but it often proves beneficial for foreigners.

Those interested in whether a visa to Thailand is required for employment in the entertainment, medical, and other sectors should know that when signing a contract with a foreign employer, such a permit is mandatory. This document is not tied to a specific type of activity – hiring and performing labor duties are carried out according to local laws.

The validity of a work visa in Thailand is up to 1 year.

To obtain a work visa, you need a package of documents:

Passport;
A questionnaire filled out personally by the foreigner;
Employment contract with the employer;
A photo in the format 4x6 cm;
A medical certificate confirming no health restrictions for working in the Kingdom.

A visa for receiving an official salary is issued only to foreigners who are already employed. If someone plans to find a source of income, they will need one of the other types of permits.

Educational Visa

In the case of studying, a visa to Thailand for Russians is also required. This is a separate type of document allowing education in a foreign educational institution. Typically, students come to the Kingdom for exchange programs or young people seeking to broaden their horizons.

Some travelers mistakenly believe that such a document is issued automatically, so they do not pay attention to whether a visa to Thailand is needed for their tasks. In reality, hoping to receive permission this way is not advisable. An educational visa is granted only upon submission of an application with accompanying documents.

The procedure for obtaining a visa to Thailand for study does not differ from the usual one. To get it, you also need to contact relevant government agencies and undergo the mandatory process, which we will discuss below.

The validity of an educational visa in Thailand is 3, 6, or 12 months (depending on the study program).

To obtain an educational visa in Thailand, you need to submit the following documents:

Passport;
A questionnaire or application;
A letter of admission to a university or other educational institution;
A photo in the format 3.5x4.5 cm;
Proof of tuition payment.

As with a work visa, an educational visa is issued only after the student is admitted to the program. Supporting documents are provided by the institution itself and need to be submitted additionally for obtaining permission.

Family Visa

A separate type of visa to Thailand for Russians does not imply entering the Kingdom with the entire family. This document is not an immigration one. It merely signifies that relatives of a Russian citizen permanently reside in Thailand and have invited him/her as a guest.

Thus, even if a foreigner visits close relatives in another country, they still need a visa to Thailand. When obtaining it, it is also necessary to consider the validity period and peculiarities of the procedure, although there are no significant differences in the process.

The validity of a family visa in Thailand is up to 1 year.

An application for a visa must be submitted along with a package of documents:

Passport;
An application;
A marriage/birth certificate (another document proving kinship);
A bank statement.

The visa-free regime for foreign relatives of Thai citizens applies generally – up to 90 days. In other cases, you need to obtain a permit by submitting the above documents to the relevant authorities.

How to Obtain a Visa to Thailand: Step-by-Step Guide

Any visa to Thailand for Russians is processed in a strictly defined order. At this stage, it is important to know that the permit can be electronic or paper-based.

The procedure for obtaining a visa should begin immediately after a foreigner determines that they need a visa to Thailand and gathers the necessary documents. Only with all confirmations and other papers will the application be considered by authorized bodies.

Thanks to the visa-free regime in Thailand, foreigners can legally stay there almost three months. During this time, many manage to change their life plans – finding employment or enrolling in studies in the Kingdom. Therefore, it is widely practiced that the application for a permit is submitted by Russians during their stay in the beloved country. How to get a visa to Thailand – we explain further.

Obtaining Through the Consulate or Agency

This service is available through various bodies. It could be the Embassy of the Kingdom (located in Moscow), the Consulate (in St. Petersburg), or an agency (located directly in a foreign country). The procedure for obtaining a visa to Thailand for Russians does not change depending on the chosen option. In both cases, the traveler must submit the same documents, pay a fixed fee, and wait for the result for several days.

The steps to obtain a permit if the visa-free regime of Thailand is not suitable or its term has expired:

Gather the entire document package.
Contact the nearest authority, provide the required documents and personal data.
Pay the consular fee – from 40 dollars.
Wait for the visa preparation and receive it personally from the same authority.

At first glance, the procedure seems not very complicated. However, always consider additional costs of money and time.

Online Visas: What You Need to Know?

Progress has moved forward, so soon, not only paper but also electronic visas to Thailand for Russians will be fully recognized. The Embassy in Moscow announced this in its statement. According to official data, e-Visa will become effective starting January 1, 2025, at 7:00 AM.

According to point 2.3 of the same announcement, applications must be submitted via a specialized online portal. Besides the application itself, Russians must attach an electronic copy of their passport and a digital photo. All documents must be translated into English and notarized.

Also, when considering how to get a visa to Thailand electronically, it is vital to focus on the payment of the service. It is made in US dollars. Moreover, in the near future, payments will be available exclusively in cash, and this procedure can only be done at the Embassy located in Moscow.

The processing time for e-Visa is 14 days. For some categories of foreigners, the period may be extended, but there is no specific information on this issue in the announcement.

Cost of Visa to Thailand and Processing Time

Equally intriguing for foreigners are the prices and processing time for the permit document. They vary depending on the visa type. Each of them is available to anyone wishing, so these specifics are established by law and authorized bodies, taking into account the interests of citizens of another country.

Type	Tourist	Work	Educational	Family
Visa Cost (in USD)	40-60	100-150	60-80	60-100
Processing Time (business days)	3-5	Up to 10	5-7	Up to 10
Extension Cost (in THB)	From 1900	From 1900	From 1900	From 1900

Requirements for the Passport for Travel to Thailand

After determining whether you need a visa to Thailand, prepare for its acquisition. For this, you need to gather a set of documents – the list of required papers is presented in the description of each type above. But one of the main points is compliance with the passport requirements of the Kingdom's legislation.

Even when using all the benefits of the visa-free regime in Thailand, upon entry, you must have a document proving identity and allowing crossing the Russian border. The Russian citizen's passport must be genuine and valid at the time of entry. Moreover, this document must have free space for visa stamps.

Along with this, pay attention to the passport’s validity period. Although Thai legislation does not clearly regulate this issue, some airlines may refuse boarding if the document expires within less than six months.

Without a properly prepared and valid passport, a visa to Thailand for Russians will not allow entry into the Kingdom. This aspect should not be overlooked as it is one of the most critical.

Tips for Travelers

This article contains all the necessary information about what a visa to Thailand for Russians is, how to obtain and extend it. Based on it, conclusions can be drawn about the frequent mistakes of foreigners who have an irresistible desire to visit the Kingdom and stay for a long time.

What Russians forget when obtaining a visa:

Check the validity of the passport;
Ensure all necessary documents are present before entering the embassy/agency;
Have funds for existence to provide a bank statement to authorized bodies;
Verify the accuracy of the data entered manually in the questionnaire;
Select the optimal time for submitting the application (travelers often do this too late).

Knowing these nuances eliminates unnecessary questions about how to get a visa to Thailand. Prepare for the trip seriously, rather than relying on luck without doing anything.

p>Additionally, we clarify which other documents may be requested at the border:

Medical insurance;
Return ticket (paper or electronic);
Hotel reservation confirmation;
Bank account statement.

All this can indeed be checked by border guards, but in practice, it happens very rarely. Therefore, it is wise to have these documents with you – providing them upon request by authorized officers will prevent unnecessary problems and suspicions.

Frequently Asked Questions About Visas to Thailand

Is a visa to Thailand required for children?

Yes, the same entry rules apply to minors as to adult foreigners.

Is it possible to obtain a visa to Thailand for Russians upon arrival?

The permit document can indeed be issued directly at the airport, but it will only be valid for 15 days. Since Thailand has a visa-free regime for Russia, such a visa makes no sense for Russian citizens.

Should you use the services of regular Russian companies to obtain a visa?

Such firms indeed operate in various regions of our country. You can turn to them for help, but keep two important points in mind: additional fees for intermediary services and the risk of fraud.

Tourists easily learn about pricing on the official websites of companies, and their reliability is confirmed by real reviews from the internet. The most popular trusted firms include: Unified Visa Center, Asia Visa Service Center, Coral Travel, Visateka.