Thai Visa Run Singapore

I thought I’d write a post on my experiences with my recent visa run to Singapore.

In order to extend my work permit, so I could legally work in Thailand, I needed to renew my Business Visa which had expired. This meant that I needed to go to a Thai Embassy or consulate in a neighboring country. Some countries are more willing than others when it comes to issuing visa’s, I don’t know why this is but I hear stories all the time where people get knocked back due to the recent crack down on the visa situation here. My accountant, along with many other expats that live here say Malaysia (Kula Lumpur and Penang) and Singapore are the most Visa friendly.

Luckily I have an accountant that takes care of the paper work for me. His fee’s are reasonable at 4,000B which includes 2 visits to the labour department, a visit to the Immigration department and he also sorts out all the paper work.

In order to cover the whole trip in the least amount of time as possible, I had to get the first flight out of Bangkok to Singapore, which was an Air Asia flight departing Bangkok at 7am. As I was going on a Monday morning and I was late booking, the ticket cost me 3,500B, if you book earlier, you can get the ticket half this price. The flight leaves at 7am, you arrive in Singapore at 10.15 local time and the Royal Thai Embassy in Singapore stops accepting visa applications at 11am. This meant that I had to be very quick getting out of the airport and into a taxi as fast as I could. I only took a small back pack so I didn’t have to wait for my luggage to come out, this saved a lot of time.

I overstayed my Visa for 4 days so I was fined 500B per day. This was an easy process, I paid the immigration lady at the airport and they gave me a receipt. I guess this happens often.

Once I arrived at the Thai Embassy, which is located on Orchard Road, opposite the Hilton Hotel, I took a visa application form and a ticket number. The Embassy stops issuing the waiting tickets at 11am, so they can finish at 12 for lunch. I filled out the form and waited around an hour. When my number was called I handed in my big pack of documents my accountant had provided me, my application form, a passport sized picture and the $85S fee. I was then handed a receipt and was told to return the following day between 2pm to 4.30pm.

I wanted to get the first flight out of Singapore after 4pm, this gave me enough time to collect my visa and make my way to the airport, which is a 25 minute taxi ride away. Jet Star Asia had a flight at 5.30pm so I booked a ticket with them.