Department of Consular Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Kingdom of Thailand, recently introduced the Thai e-Visa system, aimed at facilitating foreign nationals to make online visa application, starting from completing the visa application form to submitting the required documents.  It also features e-payment service to offer greater convenience for applying Thai visa anywhere and anytime via the system that meets the required international security standards.

From the beginning of 2019, the Thai e-Visa service will be implemented in various phases. From 15 February 2019, the service will be available first in Beijing, China, and from 1 March 2019, the service will be offered in other cities in China. After that, it will be available in the UK and France from 1 April 2019. A plan has been set to expand the service to all countries having Thai Embassies and Consulates-General within three years.

Mr. Chatri Archjananun, Director-General of Department of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said last year there were more than 8 million applicants for Thai visa. Of this total, 85 percent applied for the tourist visa and Chinese travelers constituted the largest group of applicants. In order to enhance greater facilitation and rapidity of the visa processes, the Department of Consular Affairs as the responsible agency has developed a Thai e-Visa system wherein all types of visa applications can be submitted online at www.thaievisa.go.th.

This novel Thai e-Visa service has three outstanding features, including: 1) Rapidity – Applicants can go through all processes by themselves from application form filling and submission, electronic fee payment via KBank’s system, and make appointment for submitting the passport at embassies or consulates-General; 2) Anywhere-anytime service via mobile devices; and 3) maximum security ensured by world-class security technology.

Besides providing greater convenience to foreigners who want to visit Thailand, the Thai e-Visa service is designed to support consular officers’ work flow for enhanced efficiency. The Thai e-Visa service will be launched early 2019 in China where it will be available first in Beijing from 15 February 2019. Then, the service will be offered in other cities in China from 1 March 2019. After that, it will be available in the UK and France from 1 April 2019. A target has been set to expand the service to all countries having Thai Embassies and Consulates within three years.

Mr. Chatri added that the Department of Consular Affairs focuses on development of a full scale e-visa system to ensure increased service efficiency. In the future, certain types of visa may not necessarily require visa sticker to be shown on a passport. Visa application result will be emailed to applicants, while the visa approval data will be transmitted directly to the Immigration Bureau via the linked system. Biometric technology will also be used for identity authentication and verification, and robotic process automation will be applied to check applicant’s data.

Mr. Predee Daochai, KBank President, said that Thai e-Visa is on par with global service platforms based on the world-class security standard. Fee payments are supported by KBank’s electronic payment system to accommodate cross-border transactions of over 126 currencies. Payments can be made via several channels including credit card, QR code and internet banking. The payment via QR code will debut in China to execute transactions through WeChat Pay, AliPay and China Union Pay.

Most importantly, the system administration will optimize security and safety to earn confidence from visa applicants, enhancing Thailand’s positive image. Moreover, in the future, KBank will jointly support the development of Robotic Process Automation for verifying information of visa applicants at the Department of Consular Affairs.