It’s easy to get caught out with this when planning a stay in Thailand. For British citizens, we can get various different visas for staying in Thailand, and also a 30 day on arrival visa exemption. But how do they work out the 30 days (or 60 days or 90 days) ?

Well say you’d arrived 22-Aug-2009 and you’d pumped in 30 days to add into timeanddate.com http://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html you’d get 21-Sep-2009 …

Well actually that is wrong, the reason is that immigration include the day of arrival in your 30 days, so the correct date is 20-Sep-2009, that is the date you must leave.

This all sounds very obvious now I write it, but it wasn’t until I checked it out for myself. A recent border crossing visa run cost me an extra 500 baht because I was one day over. At the airport it doesn’t seem to be so much of a problem, last one day overstay they just waved me on, obviously I smiled and was courteous.

Also to note is that overstaying in Thailand isn’t a great idea, usually you’d just end up with a fine (500 baht per day). But it is imprisonable, which is dire in Thailand and from what I’ve read, you’d then have some massive problems getting yourself out of jail and out of Thailand. Bottom line is that you really really don’t want to go there.

So when you’re planning your trip, for timeanddate.com enter you’re arrival date and add 29 days (for 30 day stay) or 89 days (for 90 day stay), which will include your arrival day in the calculation. This will help you book the correct return flight, keep money in your pocket and keep you out of jail.