The Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand cooperates with Kasikornbank to provide online e-Visa fee payment service

2018-12-03 18:45:47

The Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand launched the Thai e-Visa service to provide online visa application services for foreigners. Applicants can easily operate the system meeting the world-class safety standards anytime and anywhere, fill in application forms online, submit documents and pay visa fees through the electronic payment system of Kasikornbank. This service will firstly be launched in China, the UK and France in early 2019 and is planned to be promoted to other countries and regions with embassies and consulates established in Thailand within three years.

According to Chatri Arojananan (Director of the Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand), more than 8 million foreigners applied for the Thai entry visas in 2017, in which about 85% of them applied for tourist visas, and China was the country with the largest number of visa applications. In order to make visa application procedures more convenient and efficient, the Consular Division, which is responsible for issuing entry visas to foreigners, has developed the Thai e-Visa system which allows foreigners to apply for various entry visas in Thailand through www.thaievisa.go.th.

The Thai e-Visa service has the following characteristics: Firstly, it is convenient and fast. Tourists can start the online visa application processes, fill in the application form, submit documents, pay the visa fee through the e-payment system developed by Kasikornbank and make an appointment to submit their passports to the Thai Embassy or Consulate through the system. Secondly, it can be easily operated through mobile phone or computer equipment anytime and anywhere. Thirdly, visa fee can be paid safely through the payment system that adopts the world-class standard security technology.

In addition to providing convenience for foreigners who need to enter Thailand for various purposes to apply for visas, the Thai e-Visa system can also help staff improve the efficiency of visa issuance. In early 2019, The Consular Division plans to launch the Thai e-Visa service in China, where it is the primary source of inbound tourists Thailand, expand the service to the UK and France and plans to promote it to all countries and regions with embassies and consulates established in Thailand within three years.

Mr. Chatri added that the Consular Division was committed to continuously developing and perfecting the electronic visa system in order to comprehensively improve efficiency. When issuing certain types of visas in the future, there will be no need to paste visa stickers on passports, and we just need to send a visa issuance notice to applicants by e-mail and send it to the Immigration Bureau through system networking. Meanwhile, the biological recognition system will be used to verify the identities of applicants, or robot automation operation technology will be adopted to check the information of applicants.

According to President of Kasikornbank, the Thai e-Visa is an international service based on a system that meets the world-class security standards. Kasikornbank provides a supporting electronic payment system for this service, which can process cross-border transactions in 126 currencies with credit card, QR code and internet bank. In particular, QR code payment will be firstly realized in China, and payment modes such as WeChat, Alipay and UnionPay can be accepted.

President of Kasikornbank  pointed out that the most important principle of online payment of electronic visa fee was to ensure the stability of the system, provide the highest security, build up the confidence of visa applicants and strengthen the good image of Thailand. In the future, Kasikornbank will continue to participate in development projects such as supporting the Consular Division to apply robot automation operation technology to check visa applicant information.