eVOA Thailand - Thailand eVisa on Arrival Application

Details: By THAIest Team; Updated: 05 April 2025

Thailand eVisa on Arrival (eVOA) service was launched by the Immigration Bureau of Thailand in partnership with VFS Global on 14 February 2019. The system of Thailand eVisa on Arrival by VFS Global is supposed to speed up the process of Thailand Visa on Arrival application at the airport but it comes for a high price.

New Thailand eVisa on Arrival (eVOA) by VFS Global

Thailand eVisa on Arrival

New Thailand eVisa On Arrival (eVOA) service started operating since Valentine’s Day 2019. The new Thai eVisa service is offered in cooperation with VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide.

Thailand eVisa On Arrival (eVOA) service is offered to travellers from countries, eligible for obtaining Thai Visa on Arrival. It is expected that the new online visa system will cut visa on arrival processing time at the airport to as little as one minute.

Travellers from Visa on Arrival eligible countries can receive their travel authorization from the Immigration Bureau of Thailand prior to their departure. Travel authorization can be issued online within 24 to 72 hours after the submission of Thailand eVisa on Arrival application. Express eVOA can also be issued within 24 hours for a crazy high additional service fee 2,500 THB (Visa on Arrival fee is not included!).

At the time of the arrival at the airport, travellers with prior travel authorization only need to present their passports and approved eVOA code to the officials at the specific counters of Immigration passport control and Visa on Arrival will be issued in just one minute.

Website of New Thailand eVisa on Arrival

Travellers from Visa on Arrival eligible countries can use the new Thailand eVisa on Arrival (eVOA) service on the website of VFS Global here: thailandevoa.vfsevisa.com

Application for Thailand Visa on Arrival on the new eVOA system is available from 30 days to at least 24 hours before arriving in Thailand.

Thai Airways and its subsidiaries are also planning to promote the eVOA service to their passengers by providing them the link to the website of New Thailand eVisa on Arrival on their websites and smartphone applications.

Countries Eligible for Thailand eVisa on Arrival

New Thailand eVisa on Arrival online system is available to the citizens of these countries:

For the updated list of eligible countries, check Visa on Arrival.

Entry Ports of Thailand eVisa on Arrival

New Thailand eVisa on Arrival service currently is offered at the four main international airports of Thailand:

The list of the airports where Thailand eVisa on Arrival service is available should be expanded later this year.

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Thailand eVisa on Arrival Application

As the new Thailand eVisa on Arrival application system was launched already, we were one of the first to test it. To our disappointment Thailand Visa on Arrival online application process isn't as fast and easy as it could be expected after all these promises of the Immigration Bureau of Thailand and VFS Global.

Thailand eVisa on Arrival application can be obtained by following these steps:

Step 1

Visiting website thailandevoa.vfsevisa.com

You need to create an account on the website. It should be easy as only working email and password is needed for registering but it's not! Creating a suitable password can be quite a task!

For creating a password to your Thailand eVisa account you need not only to use upper case, lower case characters and numbers but special characters as well. And the special character must be from a list of 5 characters as password containing any other special character won't work. Even the extra secure password generated by most popular online password generator doesn't work because of this strange requirement. Yes, we understand the importance of strong password and data security but why only these 5 characters???

The exact requirement for your Thailand eVisa on Arrival account password sounds like that:

"Password must be minimum 8 and maximum 20 characters long. It should contain both upper case and lower case characters (a-z, A-Z). It should also contain numbers (0-9) and special characters (@,$,%,&,*)"

Step 2

Filling Thailand Visa on Arrival online application form with your personal and travel details. We expected that the required information shouldn’t be different from the usual Thailand Visa on Arrival Form but it is.

Personal information you need to provide when applying for Thailand eVisa on Arrival:

Surname
Given Name
Date Of Birth
Gender
Passport number
Place Of Issue
Passport Issue Date
Passport Expiry Date
Country of Residence
State Or City
Permanent Address
Occupation
Yearly Income - why VFS Global wants to know about your income is a mystery as normally you don't need to provide such an information on your Visa on Arrival form but would recommend to pretend being rich enough to avoid any misunderstandings

Travel information you need to provide when applying for Thailand eVisa on Arrival:

Is this your first trip to Thailand?
Type Of Flight
Arrival Airport
Arrival Date
Arrival Time
Arrival Airlines
Arrival Flight Number
Departure Date
Departure Time
Departure Airlines
Departure Flight Number
Purpose Of Visit - this is a tricky question, be sure to choose "Holiday" as any other choice will raise questions or will lead to rejection
Length Of Stay
Country Where You Boarded
Next City/Port Of Disembarkation
Is minor children travelling on the same passport

Step 3

Uploading of all the necessary documents. When applying for Thailand eVisa on Arrival you will need digital copies of these documents:

Passport Cover Page (.jpg file)
Passport Bio Page (.jpg file)
Photo (.jpg file)
Arrival Flight Ticket (.pdf file)
Departure Flight Ticket (.pdf file)
Accommodation (.pdf file)

A good thing on this system is that they present the examples of documents they are asking for. There are convenient links to examples of passport cover pages, passport bio pages and detailed requirements for photos. However, why photo requirements are in Portuguese when all the application is in English?

The bad part here comes with the format and size of documents requested. Passport cover and bio pages and photo must be JPG and no other picture formats are accepted. The size of one file should be up to 1024 KB so in most cases you will need to reduce the photo size before uploading it. If resizing photo doesn't sound like a complicated task for you, let's go further.

Flight tickets and accommodation confirmation must be PDF and the file must be up to 1024 KB (previously was 100 KB and it made lots of troubles). If flight tickets are often compressed enough to fit this requirement, hotel booking confirmations hardly does! We've just checked our 10 last hotel booking confirmations from Booking.com and Agoda and only one of them was small enough to be uploaded!

Of course, compressing PDF is possible but is not as easy as resizing photo file and the outcome size in many cases might still be too large. Check all your files and if they don't fit these crazy requirements, don't even waste your time and skip this eVOA system.

Step 4

Providing Accommodation Details:

Accommodation - type of accommodation
Accommodation Name
City/Province
District
Sub District
Street address
Name and address of person(s) of reference in Thailand

It should be the easiest part, you will think. Good luck with breaking Thai system of districts and sub districts as both of these fields are mandatory!

Another tricky part is the name and address of person(s) of reference in Thailand. Normally they ask for these details only if you're staying at your friend/relative or have booked a local tour agency. But on this application form this field is mandatory.

Step 5

Accepting Disclaimer - read it carefully before accepting as you might be surprised once something will be going wrong as VFS Global is not responsible for anything else except of taking your money and not refunding it in any case.

Full text of disclaimer that you should read before deciding on using this service or not (most important places are underlined).

"Applicant understands that once the E-VOA results are informed, the passenger must not change the date of arrival or the arrival airport. If they do, E-VOA will be considered void and another visa must be obtained again at the visa on arrival counter.

On the day of arrival, the passenger must present the same passport as used in the E-VOA application. Otherwise, E-VOA will be considered void and another visa must be obtained again at the visa on arrival counter.

Applicant should ensure that the passport used for the E-VOA application and presented on arrival is not damaged, else applicant may be denied entry.

Applicant must note that both visa fee and service fee once paid are non-refundable irrespective of the outcome of the visa result/decision or the time taken to process the same. Neither VFS Global nor Immigration Bureau of Thailand shall be liable for any claim whatsoever including but not limited to refund of visa and service fees, in any event/s of any kind including but not limited to especially where an application is not fulfilling the eligibility criteria as prescribed by Immigration Bureau of Thailand. The applicant specifically agrees to the same.

Applicant understands that in case of E-VOA approval, a printout of the approval must be presented to the airline prior to boarding the flight and at immigrations port of entry.

Applicant has checked all local regulations (country of origin) for re-entry e.g.: local country health regulations such as having yellow fever inoculations for reentry to be permitted

Applicant has taken the necessary measures for travel medical insurance or is willing to assume full responsibility for any inconveniences whatsoever.

If the stay is longer than 15 days, passengers need to contact the Immigration Bureau of Thailand to report the extension."

Step 6

Paying the applicable Visa on Arrival fee which is normally 2000 THB and additional eVisa service fee which is 500 THB for regular service and 2500 THB for express service.

Visa on Arrival fees will have to be paid online in advance using Mastercard, Visa and Union Pay credit or debit cards, or WeChat Pay and Alipay services.

Step 7

Once the payment is completed and the application is processed (within 24 to 72 hours after the payment is completed) the pre-approved eVOA code will be sent.

eVOA authorization code should be printed out as it’s the only document that you need to bring together with your passport (physical copies of documents such as photos, hotel booking confirmations and flight tickets are not needed).

Step 8

Even if it was promised differently, travellers using the new Thailand eVisa on Arrival service will not need to go to Visa on Arrival section at the airport. There is a dedicated lane to eVisa holders where you need to queue up. Only passport and a print out of the authorization code should be presented here.

Thailand eVisa on Arrival Fee

Thailand Visa on Arrival fee is 2000 THB per person.

Thailand eVisa on Arrival service fee is 500 THB for normal service and 2500 THB for express service. The total price of Thailand eVisa on Arrival will be as high as 2500 THB for normal service and 4500 THB for express service!

New eVisa System vs. Old eVisa Systems

IMPORTANT UPDATE!

Previously there was another official website offering service for Thailand Visa on Arrival online application. However, in August 2024 the old eVisa on Arrival system (E-Visa Thailand (E-VoA)) is no longer functioning so your only choice for speeding up Thailand Visa on Arrival application process is this VFS system.

Conclusion

Should you use the new Thailand eVisa on Arrival system? In most cases - NO!

Actually Thailand Visa on Arrival online application system is at least twice as expensive as getting visa at the embassy/consulate is. If only it's possible, apply for Thai single-entry tourist visa in advance as now in many countries you can also apply for visa online and getting to the embassy is no longer needed. Not only it will be cheaper but you will have much more flexibility with your travel plans as you will be able to enter Thailand on any day within 3 months and you will be able to stay in the Kingdom for up to 2 months.

Thailand E-Visa Application

Thailand E-Visa Application service giving an opportunity to apply for other types of Thailand visa online is being expanded. E-Visa service will make application for Thailand visa at Thai embassies and consulates much easier.

Thailand E-Visa application service is currently available in a big number of countries and cities around the world.

More information about application for Thai visa online can be found here: Thailand E-Visa Application.