How to Get a Thai Tourist Visa in Manila
In this article, I tell you how I got my Thai Tourist visa in Manila, Philippines.
What you need
To get yourself a single entry Thai tourist visa in Manila, you will need the following paperwork:
- Passport
- Flight ticket to Thailand
- Flight ticket out of Thailand
- Hotel reservation
- Bank statement from your home bank showing travel funds
- Two passport photos
At the time I went to apply for my single entry Thai tourist visa in Manila (Febuary 2017), there was no fee to apply.
The normal fee is 2,900 pesos.
When I applied for my Thai tourist visa the lady at the desk asked what I was doing in Thailand for so long.
As in my passport I already had 1x triple entry tourist visa and 2 single entry tourist visas in the past.
I simply told her that I travel around Thailand and I run an online business.
I also told her that I can show proof of my online income and that I was not working in Thailand illegally (as a teacher or jobs they are actually cracking down on).
She asked me to show them and I presented her with online earnings and client contacts. She was happy with that and processed my application with no further questions.
The entire process took around 35 minutes. I got there at 10:15am and there wasn’t much of a queue. You need to apply between 9:30 and 12pm.
You collect your passport 2 days later. For example, if you apply on a Monday you go collect your passport on a Wednesday. Collection time is 12pm-5pm.
How to get there
The Royal Thai Embassy in Manila is located in Makati and is exactly where it says on the map below:
It is located in a building on the ground floor, there will be a security guard waiting outside to let you in.
It’s best just to order an Uber from your hotel or Airbnb to the embassy.
Their website can be found here.
Final thoughts
Make sure you have all the paperwork I listed in the bullet points. I saw two people before me who did not bring their bank statement or their hotel booking and were told to go back and get them.
I had all the paperwork and just happened to decide that I’ll bring my client contacts in case they asked any questions.
As all my clients are outside of Thailand, the Embassy didn’t seem to care at that I work remotely online from Thailand.
As I landed back in Bangkok, the person waiting at immigration looked at my passport and asked me why I am coming to Thailand AGAIN, since I already have a bunch of visas already.
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I simply told her the truth that I am here on holiday and run an online business from my laptop.
She asked when I was leaving, I give her a date and she had no more questions to ask. She stamped my passport and let me back into The Land of Smiles.
If you’re here as a digital nomad and have several visas already, I suggest having some form of proof that you earn money online or real contracts with clients to prove you’re not working in Thailand as a teacher, bar tender and so on.
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Why need to go to Manila, can’t you just get visa on arrival and BKK airport.
Just went for a holiday, never been and if you apply for a visa you can get a total of 90 days in Thailand. A visa waiver at the airport is only 60 days total if you extend.
Gotcha thanks
Thank You Harvie, I used your advice to get my visa in HCM. It was just a few weeks ago and everything was just liked you said.
Nice, good to know.
When you say client contracts, do you mean the Upwork certificate of earnings page?
I mean the actual contract between you and the client, but Upwork or Freelancer would be fine too.
If you are just traveling to Thailand for a long weekend or maybe a week, is it easier to just get Visa at the BKK airport?
Yes if less than 30 days there is no need to apply for a visa.
Did you just show print outs of your bank account statements or do they want “certified” bank account statements, like the ones that are signed by your bank?
Print outs are fine. As long as they show your full name and it matches your passport you’ll be fine. I’ve never been asked to certify them at any Thai consulate.
Thanks for the info, it was very helpful.
As of Feb 21st 2018, I used all of the documents mentioned above except hotel booking, as I have an apartment. I took the apartment contract with me, but they didn’t want it.
One extra document I took was a certificate of employment from my consultancy in Hong Kong, because I had a work permit last year, but it expired in February. They asked me where I will be working and I said the truth, that I’m waiting on my next project in Indonesia.
It seems they are definitely concerned about people working without WP.
Thanks for info. Living in Philippines planning a move to Hua Hin. Hopefully apply for a retirement visa during my 60/90 day initial visa. Do you see this as a problem when applying in Manila?
If you have the correct paperwork should not be a problem.
So you admitted to the embassy staff that you worked illegally in Thailand? For any kind of work you do in Thailand you need work permit. Whether you work online or not doesn’t matter.
They asked me if I was working in Thailand, I told them I have a business setup in another country. They were happy with that :).