A Thai tourist visa, explained properly
Thailand is the most popular destination on this page's list and the one where Pakistani travellers are most often misinformed, because almost everything written about the Thai visa online is written for nationalities that do not need one.
Pakistan does need one. There is no visa on arrival and no visa exemption, and the Royal Thai Embassy in Islamabad says so in those words. What follows is written only for a Pakistani passport.
Which visa you need, and what is not available
For a holiday, a family visit or a short trip, the visa is the Tourist Visa, category TR. Two things people ask about do not exist for Pakistanis:
- No visa on arrival. Thailand's visa-on-arrival facility covers 31 nationalities and Pakistan is not one. Asked directly whether it applies, the Royal Thai Embassy in Islamabad answers: "Not Available for both Pakistan and Afghanistan Passport."
- No visa exemption. Thailand's 60-day visa-exempt entry covers 93 countries and territories. Pakistan is not among them. Pakistan does appear in one Thai MFA table — but only for diplomatic and official passports, marked as such, for 30 days.
Since 1 January 2025 the application itself is made through Thailand's e-Visa system, and paper applications at the counter were discontinued. The only official portal is thaievisa.go.th.
How it actually works from Pakistan
This is the section that does not match the general advice, and it is the single most useful thing on this page.
"Fully online" is not true from Pakistan
Thailand's announcement says the e-Visa "allows applicants to apply for Thai visas online… without visiting the Embassy in person", and for most of the world that is accurate. From Pakistan it is not, because the visa fee must be paid in cash at the embassy.
The Royal Thai Embassy in Islamabad publishes the arrangement plainly: payment is made at the Visa Gate, in cash, on presentation of the application confirmation, between 09:30–13:00 and 14:00–15:30 on working days, with shortened Ramadan hours. There is no online card payment for Islamabad, unlike many other Thai missions. Applicants in Sindh apply through the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Karachi and should confirm payment arrangements with that mission.
A practical detail the embassy publishes and no agency mentions: visitors to the consular section must take the Diplomatic Shuttle from Third Avenue near Quaid-e-Azam University Road in G-5, for which there is a PKR 2,000 charge, and no luggage or electronics are permitted on the premises. Budget the time and leave your laptop at home.
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Check the passport
At least six months' validity from your date of arrival in Thailand, and at least one blank page.
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Prove you are in Pakistan
This is the Pakistan-specific rule. Applicants must be physically present in Pakistan for the entire application process, and proof of location — a rental agreement, utility bills, Pakistani immigration stamps — must be uploaded. The embassy states that applications without valid proof will be rejected. It is not on any generic Thai checklist, and it is the quietest cause of refusal we see.
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Apply on thaievisa.go.th
One account can file for you and your family, up to ten applications at a time. Incomplete applications are deleted after 14 days, and so are applications left unpaid.
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Pay in cash at the embassy
Take the application confirmation and the cash to the Visa Gate within the published hours. The processing clock starts when the fee has been received and acknowledged — not when you submit.
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Wait about 14 working days
Do not buy non-refundable tickets against this.
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Print the e-Visa
Thailand is explicit: mobile or electronic copies of the e-Visa will not be accepted. Print it and carry the paper.
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File the TDAC within three days of travel
Separate from the visa, free, and required on every entry. See below.
What it costs, and why we are not printing a figure
We would rather give you one number. We cannot honestly, and here is exactly why.
The Royal Thai Embassy in Islamabad has published three different tourist visa fees across three of its own pages: PKR 13,000 for a single-entry visa on its tourist visa document, and PKR 5,000 on both its fee page and its FAQ page. All three predate the January 2025 move to e-Visa, and the live fee now sits inside the portal, visible after you log in and select the mission.
What is certain: the fee is paid in Pakistani rupees, in cash, at the embassy, and "visa fees are non-refundable under any circumstances" — including if you withdraw the application or it is refused. Check the figure inside the portal before you travel to Islamabad with cash, and ask us and we will tell you what applicants are currently being charged.
Source and date. Fee pages of the Royal Thai Embassy, Islamabad and its e-Visa FAQ of March 2025, read 11 October 2026. The fee is set by the Thai authorities and paid to them, not to Breeze, and they can raise or lower it without notice. Our own charge is quoted separately.
Processing time
The embassy's March 2025 e-Visa FAQ states: "The estimated processing time is approximately 14 working days after the visa fee has been received and acknowledged."
You will still find five working days on an older Islamabad page. That figure belongs to the pre-e-Visa system and has been superseded. Plan on 14 working days from the day you pay, and add the gap between submitting and getting to the embassy with cash.
Documents
Two lists are in play and it is worth knowing which is which. The e-Visa system's own minimum is short; the Royal Thai Embassy Islamabad's published tourist visa list is considerably longer, and although it was last updated in June 2023 — before the e-Visa switch — it is the only Pakistan-specific list Thailand has published, and it tells you what this mission actually looks for.
The e-Visa system asks for:
- The biodata page of your passport
- A recent photograph, taken within the last six months, as a JPG or JPEG no larger than 3MB — missions that publish a spec ask for a white background at 3.5cm × 4.5cm
- Proof that you are in Pakistan, as above
- Supporting documents as required
The Islamabad embassy's published tourist visa list adds:
- A personal covering letter
- A letter from the organisation that employs you or that you own, and that organisation's registration paper — excluding government and international organisations
- Two copies each of your CNIC and your passport biodata page, and a copy of the visa page
- A confirmed and non-refundable air ticket — note the wording; Thailand asks for a purchased ticket here, not a reservation
- Documents relating to your accommodation
- Your original bank statement covering at least one year, with a certified covering letter from the bank
- Documents showing the trustworthiness of the applicant, and any other relevant supporting documents
For a multiple-entry tourist visa the same list sets a figure: the bank account must have held more than PKR 650,000 for six consecutive months. That is the only balance figure Thailand publishes for Pakistani applicants, and it applies to multiple entry only — not to the ordinary single-entry visa most people need.
Thailand publishes no separate document list for salaried, self-employed, retired or student applicants. What it does publish is a list written on the assumption that you have an employer or own a business — which leaves a real gap for two groups of applicants. Rather than paper over it, here is where each profile actually stands.
Asked of every applicant
Identity
On the embassy's list- Passport valid at least six months from arrival, with one blank page
- Two copies of your CNIC, and two of the passport biodata page
- A photograph taken within the last six months, JPG under 3MB
- Proof you are in Pakistan throughout the application
Money
Longer than most countries ask- One year of original bank statements, with a certified covering letter from the bank
- For multiple entry only: more than PKR 650,000 held for six consecutive months
- No balance figure is published for a single-entry visa
The trip
A purchased ticket, not a booking- A confirmed and non-refundable air ticket
- Accommodation documents for the stay
- A personal covering letter explaining the trip
What changes with what you do
If you are salaried
The profile the embassy's list is written for- A letter from the organisation employing you, on its letterhead
- That organisation's registration paper — this is the item salaried applicants most often arrive without, because it is about the employer, not about you. Government and international organisations are excluded from the requirement
- Salary credited into the account you are showing, across the one year of statements
- Leave approval covering your travel dates, which belongs in the covering letter if the employer letter does not state it
If you own a business
The list treats your firm as the referee- A letter from the organisation you own, and its registration paper — the same requirement, pointed at your own company
- Business bank statements alongside the personal year, if the funds you are showing sit in the business
- NTN and tax returns strengthen a trader's file even though the embassy does not name them, because they evidence that the business is real
- If you travel to Bangkok frequently on trade, say so in the covering letter and explain the pattern — repeat short trips draw questions
If you are retired
The honest answer: the list has no slot for you- The embassy's published list has no retired category. It asks for a letter from the organisation employing you or owned by you — and a pensioner has neither. Anyone showing you a "Thailand retired person's checklist" wrote it themselves
- So the covering letter has to carry the file: who you are, what you did, what you live on now, and why the trip is happening
- Pension book or payment order, with the one year of statements showing the pension arriving
- Property or other income documents, which matter more here than for anyone else because there is no employer letter to lean on
- Tell us at the start if you are retired — the file is built differently and the covering letter does more work
If you are a student or dependent
Also unlisted, and the funder becomes the subject- Like the retired case, the embassy's list has no student or dependent category — it assumes an employer
- A bonafide letter from your institution confirming enrolment and approved leave is the natural substitute for the employer letter
- Your funder's documents do the heavy lifting: their organisation letter and registration paper, and their bank statements
- The one year of statements should belong to whoever is actually paying, with the relationship evidenced — usually by the NADRA Family Registration Certificate
- For a child travelling without both parents, notarised consent from the parent not travelling
Proof of funds at the border — a real figure, often missed
Separately from the visa application, Thailand sets an amount you must be able to show on arrival. It is not folklore: it rests on the Immigration Act B.E. 2522, which bars entry to a foreigner "having no appropriate means of living on entering the Kingdom", with the amounts set by a Ministry of Interior notification of 8 May 2000.
| Entering on | Per person | Per family |
|---|---|---|
| Tourist visa | THB 20,000 | THB 40,000 |
| Visa on arrival (not available to Pakistanis) | THB 10,000 | THB 20,000 |
It may be cash, or its equivalent in a form the officer accepts. Children under 12 are excluded. And Thailand is clear about who decides: "The final decision on entry into Thailand rests with Immigration Bureau officers at the entry checkpoint."
Do not confuse this with the PKR 650,000 figure above. That is the embassy's requirement for a multiple-entry visa at the application stage. This is what you carry when you land.
The Thailand Digital Arrival Card
Compulsory since 1 May 2025 for "all travelers, regardless of passport category, entering the Kingdom of Thailand". It is free, it is filed online, and it must be done on every entry — not once.
- Official site: tdac.immigration.go.th
- Submit within three days before you arrive
- Required for every non-Thai traveller including children and infants, completed by a parent or guardian, whatever the visa type and whatever the mode of transport
- The only exemptions are travellers transiting without passing through immigration control, and holders of a border pass
Thailand's own page for it is titled, pointedly, "Official Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) – No Fees Required." If a site asks you to pay for a TDAC, it is not the official site.
Stay, validity and extending
Stay: a tourist visa permits no longer than 60 days per entry.
Validity: a single-entry tourist visa is valid three months from the date of issue; a multiple-entry tourist visa is valid six months, each entry still capped at 60 days. The clock runs from issue, not from travel — so a visa issued in January for a trip in May may expire before you fly. Thailand's rule is that travellers must enter within the validity of the visa.
Extending: possible from inside Thailand through the Immigration Bureau. We deliberately do not print the extension fee here — the Thai Immigration Bureau's own site was not reachable to verify it at the time of writing, and the figure circulating online is not something we will repeat without seeing it on the authority's page. Ask at an immigration office in Thailand, or ask us and we will check it for your dates.
Overstaying is charged at a minimum of 500 baht per day, capped at 20,000 baht. Beyond 90 days of overstay, Thailand deports and bans. The published ban lengths differ between Thai mission pages, so we will not state one; what is consistent is that paying the fine before departure matters, and that a long overstay ends in a ban.
Where Pakistani applications fail
- No proof of being in Pakistan. The embassy says such applications will be rejected. Upload a utility bill or tenancy document even if nobody asked you twice.
- A reservation instead of a ticket. The Islamabad list says confirmed and non-refundable. That is an uncomfortable requirement — buying a ticket before a visa — and it is worth a conversation about how to handle it before you book anything.
- A fake booking. Thailand's warning is explicit and it names consequences: if any uploaded document, "especially airline tickets and hotel bookings", is found to be fake or fraudulent, the application is rejected immediately and the applicant and their travel agent may be blacklisted. We will not submit a file with a dummy booking in it, and you should not let anyone do it in your name.
- A statement shorter than a year. Most countries ask for six months. This mission asks for twelve, originals, with a bank covering letter.
- An unprinted e-Visa. Electronic copies are not accepted at the counter.
What Thailand says about paying agents
The embassy publishes this under the heading "Important Warnings – Avoid Fraud!": "The Thailand e-Visa system is completely online, and anyone can apply by themselves. Do not pay extra money to any person claiming to have connections to get a Thai visa."
We agree with it, and it shapes what we charge for. Nobody has connections at a Thai consulate, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something that does not exist. What we are paid for is the file — the year of statements assembled correctly, the covering letter that answers the questions this mission asks, and the location proof that stops an outright rejection.
How we prepare your file
On a Thai application our work is in three places. First, the documents this mission specifically asks for and the generic internet does not: the organisation registration paper, the year of original statements with the bank's covering letter, and the proof you are in Pakistan. Second, the covering letter, which carries the whole file for a retired or student applicant because the embassy's list has no category for them. Third, the sequence — submit, pay in cash at the Visa Gate within the published hours, then count 14 working days from the acknowledgement, not from the submission.
Breeze Travels & Tours has worked on visa files from Davis Road, Garhi Shahu, since 2003. Flights are issued by the same desk on our own IATA accreditation — see air ticketing.