Getting a FREE Thai Visa on Arrival at the Chiang Mia International Airport, Thailand

I felt very excited as we were waiting for our pending flight going to Thailand. Thailand has long been on my list as a country to visit. Having been in Asia for the past few weeks, we still had a couple of weeks left before our flight back to Canada. Why not visit Thailand, we thought. We booked our flight tickets and off we went!

 On the eve of our departure for Thailand, there was a weather warning issued by the Hong Kong Weather Department - a Black Rain warning which signified a severe and very heavy downpour for the city. 

Starting after 9 p.m., we heard and saw heavy thundering and bright flashes of lightening across the sky. The rain was heavy as we could hear it hitting heavily on the buildings all around us. I worried about the possibility of our flight being cancelled.

 Fortunately for us, the rain gave way and by 1p.m. on the day of our departure, the Black Rain warning was removed. We were happy getting on the Airport Express Train taking us straight into the Hong Kong Airport. However, our flight  was delayed for four hours! 

Thank goodness, we still arrived at the Chiang Mia Airport before midnight.

Since we did not have a Thai visa to enter Thailand, we needed to apply for one and we knew that we could get one upon our arrival to Thailand. Getting the arrival card at the Chiang Mia Airport was painless. We lined up at the Immigration Counter and the officer asked us for the visa ( Arrival Card). We told her we didn't have one. Without a fuss, she instructed us to go and apply for one at one of the computer stations. We filled out the form at one of the airport's computer station and were able to get one within a few minutes. The arrival card was sent to our email. We showed our digital arrival card on our phone to the officer. That was it! We sailed through the Customs, easy and free! 

A word of caution to travellers planning to visit Thailand. Obtaining an arrival card is a requirement and this is a standard easy procedure to follow for visitors entering Thailand. It is ABSOLUTELY FREE! 

If you are applying for an arrival card online prior to your arrival, YOU DO NOT NEED TO PAY A CENT FOR IT. Be careful of online scamming websites. If it asks you to pay a fee, this is a fake government website! We almost got scammed as the site we first logged on required us to pay a few hundred Canadian dollars for it! We said forget it and decided to apply for one upon our arrival at the Thailand Airport. This decision saved us hundreds of Canadina dollars!  

  Having gone through the Custom, we ordered a taxi from the airport taking us to our hotel in the old town of Chiang Mia. The ride was only about 15 minutes. After checking into our hotel, we went out looking for some food. There was a street vendor selling freshly made Thai food not far from our hotel. We got talking to the vendor who even offered to share a bottle of beer with us as the law in Thailand forbidded any stores selling liquor after 12:00a.m. 

Our first encounter with the friendly Thai people was a pleasant one indeed! We looked forward to exploring and learning more about the Thai people and their cultures in Chiang Mia in the next few days! RT, Chiang Mia, Thailand 2025