As of 2026-07-21 there is a modest Thailand entry cost for Indians, because no blanket visa exemption is in force: Indians enter on a Visa on Arrival (THB 2,000, about INR 5,740, up to 15 days) or a tourist e-visa (about INR 3,000, up to 60 days). A tourism trip only becomes free of a visa fee once the approved 30-day exemption is published in the Royal Gazette, which had not happened by 2026-07-21 (Royal Thai Government / Ministry of Foreign Affairs, e-Visa portal thaievisa.go.th , accessed 2026-07-21; Travel And Tour World, accessed 2026-07-21). This page breaks down every Thailand visa cost an Indian traveller can face, when it applies, and how to avoid paying more than the government fee.
This guide is maintained by Zurich Kotak General Insurance, an IRDAI-registered general insurer in India and part of the Zurich Insurance Group. It covers fees only; for routes, documents and timelines, start with our guide to Thailand visa for Indians .
Rules checked: 2026-07-21, and they are moving. The 60-day visa exemption Indians held from 2024 was withdrawn by a Thai Cabinet decision of 2026-05-19, and a replacement 30-day exemption was approved but takes effect only 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette, which had not happened by 2026-07-21, so it was not yet in force (Travel And Tour World, accessed 2026-07-21). Confirm the current entry route and fees on official Thai sources before you rely on any figure below.
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Thailand visa cost for Indians at a glance
As of 2026-07-21 the Thailand entry cost for an Indian tourist is a modest paid step: either THB 2,000 for a Visa on Arrival or about INR 3,000 for a tourist e-visa, because no blanket exemption is in force. A tourism trip becomes free of a visa fee only once the approved 30-day exemption is gazetted (e-Visa portal thaievisa.go.th , accessed 2026-07-21). The one online step everyone must complete, the Thailand Digital Arrival Card, is free (more on that below).
Three separate entry routes carry three different costs, so the right number depends on which route you use:
· Visa exemption (approved but pending): no fee when in force, but the 60-day version was withdrawn on 2026-05-19 and the 30-day replacement was not yet gazetted on 2026-07-21, so it is not currently a usable route.
· E-visa ( thaievisa.go.th ): a paid tourist visa you apply for online before you fly, allowing a stay of up to 60 days, and currently the route for a longer trip or one the VoA does not cover.
· Visa on arrival (VoA): a paid 15-day stamp collected at the airport, currently the quickest paid route for a short trip while no exemption is in force.
Full cost breakdown: Thailand visa charges for Indians
With no exemption in force, an Indian tourist currently pays either the VoA fee or the e-visa fee, plus the free mandatory Digital Arrival Card; the exemption line is free only once the 30-day rule is gazetted, and an agent may add a service fee on top. Here is the complete breakdown, with baht converted at 1 THB = INR 2.87 on 2026-07-21 (Exchange Rate API, accessed 2026-07-21):
Cost item | THB | INR (approx.) | Compulsory? |
Visa exemption, tourism | 0 | 0 | Free, but not in force on 2026-07-21 (30-day version pending Royal Gazette) |
Visa on arrival, 15-day stay (cash, baht only) | 2,000 | 5,740 | One of the two current entry routes |
Tourist e-visa, single entry (up to 60 days) | 1,000 | 2,870 | The other current entry route, for a longer stay |
Tourist e-visa, multiple entry (6-month) | 5,000 | 14,350 | Only if you choose multiple entry |
Exemption extension at Thai immigration (+30 days) | 1,900 | 5,450 | Optional, only once the exemption is in force |
Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) | 0 | 0 | Mandatory, but free and not a visa fee |
Card foreign-transaction charge (e-visa payment) | 1-3.5% + GST | varies | Only on the online e-visa payment |
Agent service fee (optional) | markup | 1,500-6,000+ observed | No; only if you use an agent |
Two things follow from this table. First, the current entry cost is a modest government fee (about INR 2,870 to INR 5,740), so any four-figure rupee “Thailand visa fee” beyond that is almost always an agent bundle, not a government charge. Second, once the 30-day exemption is gazetted a straightforward tourism trip inside its stay will cost nothing in visa terms, so re-check the live position before you pay.
The official e-visa fee is charged in Thai baht by a government payment gateway, so the rupee figure on your card statement will move with the exchange rate and your bank’s foreign-currency markup. Any Thailand visa cost in INR, including ours, is a dated conversion of the THB fee, never the official price. Sources also disagree on the exact e-visa figure, which is why the e-visa fee is the single most important line to re-check on the live portal before you pay.
The Digital Arrival Card is free and is not a visa fee
Every traveller to Thailand, visa-free or not, must complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) online before arrival, and it is completely free on the official portal; it replaced the old paper TM6 form and is separate from any visa (Thai Immigration Bureau, TDAC portal tdac.immigration.go.th , accessed 2026-07-21). Submit it within 72 hours (3 days) before you arrive, by air, land or sea.
Because the TDAC is mandatory, scam sites present it as a paid “entry permit” and charge a fee to fill it in. There is no government charge for the TDAC. If a site asks you to pay for it, it is a private business, not Thai immigration. Use only tdac.immigration.go.th .
Is the Thailand visa fee refundable if the visa is rejected?
Where you pay, for the e-visa or VoA, the fee is a processing charge and is generally not refunded if the application is refused; only once the exemption route is in force would there be no fee to lose (e-Visa portal thaievisa.go.th , accessed 2026-07-21). The government keeps the visa fee whether or not the visa is granted, which is standard practice across visa regimes.
For most Indian tourists this risk is small, because the current fees are modest. The exposure grows if you pay for a multiple-entry e-visa (about INR 14,350 at today’s rate) or if you are refused entry after paying, and it grows further once non-refundable flights and hotels are counted. Rejections are usually avoidable (incomplete documents, photos that break the specification, mismatched details), but avoidable is not the same as impossible, and one way to protect the money you do spend exists: travel insurance with visa-fee reimbursement, covered further down this page.
Agent charges vs applying yourself
Agents legitimately charge for convenience, but the markup on a Thailand visa is large relative to the government fee, and many quotes never separate the two; Indian portals advertise bundled “Thailand visa” prices of several thousand rupees for a route whose official cost is about INR 2,870 (single-entry e-visa) or THB 2,000 (VoA), and will be zero once the exemption is gazetted (observed on Indian visa-agent sites, accessed 2026-07-21). Rush and “guaranteed” tiers add more.
A bundled rupee price is not dishonest in itself; the problem is that the quote rarely tells you what the government fee inside it actually is. Before paying any agent, ask three questions: what entry route does my trip need, what is the government fee inside this price, and will the application be filed on the official portal in my own name and email so I receive the visa directly?
An agent is honestly worth it in a few cases: a long or non-tourism stay that needs the e-visa, a large group, or a traveller uncomfortable with the online form and card payment. For most Indian tourists the honest answer is that the current route is a modest VoA or e-visa fee plus the free TDAC. For the paid route, our step-by-step guide to the Thailand e-visa application walks through the official portal screen by screen.
One caution that matters more than price: thaievisa.go.th is the official e-visa channel and tdac.immigration.go.th is the official arrival-card channel. Lookalike domains with official-sounding names charge inflated “government fees” or sell documents of uncertain value. If a site is not on a go.th government domain, treat it as a private business.
Where the visa fee sits in your total Thailand budget
The visa is usually the smallest line in a Thailand trip, a modest VoA or e-visa fee today and nil once the exemption is gazetted; flights, hotels and activities are the real spend, which is why they, not the visa, are what travel insurance is built to protect. For the full picture of what a Thailand trip costs an Indian traveller, see our guide to Thailand trip cost from India , where the visa is one line item among flights, stay, food and local transport.
The sensible sequence is to confirm your entry route first (VoA or e-visa), complete the free TDAC before you fly, and then treat the larger, non-refundable costs of the trip as the thing worth insuring.
Protecting the money you spend on the visa and the trip
Where you do pay a Thailand visa fee, and for the far larger non-refundable cost of flights and hotels, travel insurance is how you protect it. Zurich Kotak’s Smart Travel policy includes Visa Cost Cover, which reimburses your visa fee if the application is rejected or you are denied entry on arrival; it returns the fee itself, not the policy premium, and the retail visa-denial benefit is not available on multi-trip policies . For a Thailand trip, Smart Travel is an Asia-geography plan (Excel or Prime tiers, sum insured up to USD 500,000 on Prime), covering the risks that actually cost money abroad, from emergency medical treatment to trip cancellation for listed reasons, with claims handled by Europ Assistance India on a cashless or reimbursement basis and the Zurich Insurance Group’s global network behind it.
Once the exemption is in force the visa fee is nil, but the denial-of-entry and trip-disruption cover still matters, and the medical cover matters most of all. The sensible sequence for a Thailand trip is: confirm your entry route, complete the free TDAC, take travel insurance for Thailand , and only then lock in non-refundable bookings.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How much does a Thailand visa cost for Indians?
A: As of 2026-07-21 a modest fee applies, because no blanket exemption is in force: about THB 1,000 (roughly INR 2,870) for a single-entry e-visa allowing up to 60 days, or THB 2,000 (about INR 5,740) for a visa on arrival allowing 15 days, converted at 1 THB = INR 2.87 on 2026-07-21 (e-Visa portal thaievisa.go.th , accessed 2026-07-21). The earlier 60-day exemption was withdrawn on 2026-05-19 and a 30-day replacement is approved but not yet gazetted, so a tourism trip becomes free of a visa fee only once that takes effect. Rules are changing, so confirm on official Thai sources before you travel.
Q: Besides the visa, is there any charge to enter Thailand?
A: Only the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC), and it is free. Every traveller must complete it online within 72 hours before arrival on the official portal tdac.immigration.go.th ; it replaced the paper TM6 form and is not a visa fee (Thai Immigration Bureau, accessed 2026-07-21). Any site charging for the TDAC is not the government.
Q: What is the Thailand e-visa fee in Indian rupees?
A: About INR 2,870 for a single-entry tourist e-visa and roughly INR 14,350 for a multiple-entry (6-month) e-visa, converting THB 1,000 and THB 5,000 at 1 THB = INR 2.87 on 2026-07-21 (Exchange Rate API, accessed 2026-07-21). The fee is charged in baht, so the rupee amount on your statement moves with the exchange rate and your bank’s markup; no INR figure is the official price, and sources disagree on the exact THB fee, so confirm it on thaievisa.go.th .
Q: Is the Thailand visa fee refundable if I am rejected?
A: No. The e-visa and visa-on-arrival fees are processing charges and are generally not refunded if the application is refused (e-Visa portal thaievisa.go.th , accessed 2026-07-21). Once the exemption is in force there is no fee to lose. Travel insurance with visa-fee reimbursement, such as Zurich Kotak’s Visa Cost Cover, can return the visa fee if the visa is rejected or you are denied entry on arrival .
Q: Why do agents quote thousands of rupees for a Thailand visa?
A: Because the quote bundles a service fee, and sometimes a rush charge, on top of a modest government fee (about INR 2,870 for the e-visa or THB 2,000 for the VoA), which will be zero for tourism once the 30-day exemption is gazetted. A large “visa fee” beyond the government charge is buying convenience, not entry permission. Ask any agent what the government fee inside the price is, and which route your trip actually needs, before you pay.
