BootsnAll Travel Community

As NZ passport holders our family is entitled to enter Thailand for up to 30 days - visa free. Only problem is the condition attached to that is that we must have a confirmed air ticket out of the country. BUT we are travelling overland. We have contacted the embassy (twice) explaining in detail our plans, and their only response has been to tell us to send our air tickets and they'll issue us with visas. Grrrrrr. If we had tickets we wouldn't need visas!!!!
Third email has just gone back restating our case.......
I'm starting to wonder outside the box.

There have got to be piles of you guys who have travelled by train.....what did you do? Surely we don't have to buy tickets and then not use them - that's just not an option when it's for ten of us!

i heard u can get away wit going to bangkok wit a one way ticket

and how exactly does one do that?
We'll be coming up from Malaysia by train - what happens when we get to the border and they ask to see our confirmed tickets out? We'll be heading into Laos from Chang Khong - can't exactly buy a bus ticket from New Zealand to prove we won't overstay.

Do they not check tickets?

quote:

Originally posted by Mama-to-many:
and how exactly does one do that?
We'll be coming up from Malaysia by train - what happens when we get to the border and they ask to see our confirmed tickets out? We'll be heading into Laos from Chang Khong - can't exactly buy a bus ticket from New Zealand to prove we won't overstay.

Do they not check tickets?

Apparently, the condition is only for people entering Thailand by plane. If you will be arriving in Thailand overland from Malaysia, you won't be asked for a return ticket.

I can't remember the last time I actually traveled with a paper ticket. It's been years. Does anyone even check for onward tickets anymore? Outside of repressive dictatorships, that is.

wouldn't mind having that on a little piece of embassy paper with an official seal

Well if you're brave enough, you can just make a fake Air Asia e-ticket receipt using MS Word. Just make sure it looks realistic enough. Or, you can just say you have booked a ticket online from a budget airline and you just forgot to print it.

As far as I know, the 'onward travel' condition is being waived if you travel overland. I would most certainly not worry about that. I just read about it, because we're planning to cycle from Malaysia to Thailand as well. (If you want real trouble, try Indonesia. Hehe.)
I even flew into Thailand without an onward ticket and had no trouble.

i have entered and leftthailand 4 times this year, overland into cambodia, averland to loas, averland from malaaysia twice. nobody asked for exit tickets.
i fell for this bullshit earlier thiss year when i went to the philippines, bought an exit ticket unnecessarily.

to be honest nobody has ever asked me for proof of exit travel.

enjoy thailand, they will let you in.

why would you put your whole family and the trip at risk by being in this situation...i dont get it...so many people post this same question/problem...

heres the skinny, if you dont get caught you were lucky, if you do, well then you'll be screwed and thats the bottom line....

Never been asked for an exit ticket. Some countries might ask you to prove that you have sufficient funds to purchase a exit ticket. But i've never had any problems entering countries on a oneway. You might get the random customs agent who is having a bad day, and may give you a hard time. I guess it is a risk, but a small one in my opinion.

Safe travels

quote:

Originally posted by Michael C:
I can't remember the last time I actually traveled with a paper ticket. It's been years. Does anyone even check for onward tickets anymore? Outside of repressive dictatorships, that is.

I was asked to show my return E ticket on arrival in New Zealand Sept 2006.

I had one year tix when I landed in Bkk and they didn't say anything. Also I border hopped into Burma and didn't have to show an exit tix when I came back in.

Personally I don't think it is something you have to worry about when going overland.

You may try contacting the official tourist office instead of the embassy to see if they can help you.

http://www.tourismthailand.org/

Good luck and safe travels

Thanks guys for all your reassurance. We're now confident to wing it.

We were asked in the Philippines when entering by plane.

We were asked in Jakarta, again entering by plane.

We weren't asked in Thailand, either by plane or overland.

I'm sure in Thailand you can just tell them you are leaving overland. They are used to seeing lots of travellers.

But if you are really worried, you can get some very cheap flights with Air asia, just find their cheapest place outside the country and book tickets. I'm sure you could get 10 tickets for around $200 - not that much to pay if you really need the peace of mind.

I personally would just tell them that you're leaving overland. Try that first, then if that doesn't work then go back to the nearest Malay town and sort out ongoing tickets.

Yeah, I'll echo everybody else. I'm here in Thailand right now, and I wasn't asked for a return or onward ticket upon arrival when I arrived with a one way ticket. Nor was I the last 2 times I've entered Thailand on a one way ticket over the years. I think you'll do fine, but just make sure you don't come close to overstaying in Malaysia in case you do have to backtrack for some reason.

Oh, and I had to show a PAPER COPY of my e-ticket to get INTO the airport to check in in Kolkata, India. That was the only place I've ever been that has asked to have a printout before I check in. Awful place...

Why don't you just pay for a normal tourist visa from the Thai embassy or consulate in one of the countries you are passing through, or NZ? You don't need flight tickets to get the tourist visa.

quote:

Originally posted by Bideshi:
Oh, and I had to show a PAPER COPY of my e-ticket to get INTO the airport to check in in Kolkata, India. That was the only place I've ever been that has asked to have a printout before I check in. Awful place...

Yes, we were asked to do the same thing at the Dehli airport (and we didn't have it printed out since it was never needed before but they had one of the airline people look it up and print out our boarding passes so that we could enter the airport) but this was right after the Indian government received terror threats (December 2007) so I assumed it was just a temporary measure.

Oh, and as for the Thai visa question, I've entered Thailand overland three times without being asked to show proof of onward travel.

Just passed from Malaysia to Thailand 2 days ago via minibus and had no problems. They didn't ask for any proof of onward travel. The only question was where I was staying that night.