International visitors coming into Bangkok for the New Year long weekend should brace themselves for long waits for visas on arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Immigration officials have said those entering the country could face wait times of four hours or more as agents face throngs of visitors and have increased screening measures designed to keep undesirables out of the country, reported Bangkok Post.
Yesterday, Pol. Col. Cherngron Rimpadee, deputy immigration police spokesman, reached out to warn the public and ask for cooperation in the queues, explaining that criminals tend to take advantage of entering the country on holiday weekends by playing at being tourists, with hopes of slipping by agents too frazzled to check documents thoroughly, which is why new measures have been put into place.
The spokesman went on to say that immigration officials are considering opening more lanes to reduce the queues. That is an idea that we here at Coconuts can fully support. Especially after the debacle in February, when many people missed flights due to a possibly understaffed airport, and the viral mess at the airport in August, when 4,600 tourists descended on immigration at once.
Visas on arrival are only allowed for citizens of 21 countries. This visa allows people to stay for no more than 15 days for purposes of tourism only. Among the countries that can apply for a visa on arrival are: China, India, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia.
Popular among Indian and Chinese tourists, these visas are mainly issued at Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports. Officials issue as many as 7,000 of these visas each day.
In theory, grabbing one of these visas should take less than five minutes but that is not often the case when the airports get busy.
Suvarnabhumi, this expected wait time isn’t gonna do you any favors when polling for this survey comes around for 2018:
READ: Airport Insult: Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi lands on list of world’s worst airports
