The Thailand visa from Pakistan
Thailand
The short answer. A Pakistani passport needs a visa for Thailand. Thailand has moved its tourist visa process online, which makes the submission easier and the evidence no lighter: the financial part of a Thai file is examined more closely than most people expect for a holiday destination.
Thailand is the beach holiday this office is asked about most after Turkey, and the one where the gap between "it is an easy country to visit" and "it is an easy visa" catches people.
The money question is the real one
A Thai tourist application wants to see that you can support yourself for the length of the stay, and it wants to see it in a form that looks like an ordinary financial life rather than a staged one.
- Bank statements over several months, stamped, in your own name.
- A balance that makes sense for the trip. A ten day trip for a family of
four is not a small number, and a statement that just about covers it
invites the question of what happens if something goes wrong.
- A pattern, not a spike. Money that arrived last week is the single most
common weakness in the Thai files brought to this office. It raises the
question it was meant to answer.
Around it, the usual: passport, photographs, confirmed return flights, hotel bookings for every night, and your employment or business papers.
Two coasts, two seasons
This matters for the file as well as the holiday, because the bookings have to be real.
The Andaman side, Phuket and Krabi, is at its best roughly November to April. The Gulf side, Koh Samui, runs on a different calendar and is wettest when the Andaman is at its driest. Bangkok is hot all year and hottest in April.
A booking in Phuket in September is not a problem for the visa, but it may be a problem for the holiday, and we would rather tell you that while the dates are still moveable.
The usual trip
Bangkok and Phuket, five or six days, is the shape most families take, and it is on the tours page with its price. Bangkok for the city and the shopping, Phuket for the sea.
Halal food is widely available in Bangkok and in the tourist parts of Phuket but it is something to arrange rather than assume, particularly on the islands. We book hotels with that in mind rather than leaving it to chance.
Is Thailand visa free for Pakistanis?
No. A great deal written online says otherwise and is either about a different nationality or out of date. Do not book a flight on the basis of it.
How much money do I need to show?
There is no figure anybody can honestly quote, because it depends on the length of the stay, the size of the party and what is already paid for. What is true is that Thailand looks at this part harder than people expect from a holiday destination, and that prepaid flights and hotels help, because what is already paid for no longer has to be proven.
Can I just get a visa at the airport?
Arrangements for visas on arrival exist for some nationalities and change frequently, and a Pakistani passport should not be travelling on an assumption about them. Sort the permission out before you fly. Being turned around at Suvarnabhumi is an expensive way to find out you were wrong.
Is it suitable for a family with children?
Very. Phuket and Krabi are straightforward with children, flights are manageable, and the hotels are used to families. What needs thought is the season, because a beach holiday in the monsoon is a long way to go to sit indoors.
Can you arrange a halal-friendly itinerary?
Yes, and we do it as a matter of course rather than on request. Hotels are chosen with it in mind and restaurants are checked rather than assumed. Tell us if anybody in the party has other dietary needs and we will build around those too.
Before you pay anything
Thai entry requirements and the route an application takes have changed more than once recently. We confirm the current position before every submission rather than trusting any list, including this one.
Send us the passports, the dates and the number of travellers. We will tell you what the file needs, and be straight with you about the financial side, before you spend anything.