Onward ticket for Thailand: the 30-day rule

What Thailand and your airline may ask for

• An onward or return booking that leaves Thailand within 30 days of the day you land, by air, train, bus or boat.
• An exit booking in your name exactly as it appears in your passport, which your airline may ask to see at the counter in India.
• The Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC), completed online in the 72 hours before arrival.
• The address where you will stay, as entered on the TDAC.
• Proof of funds if asked: 10,000 THB per person or 20,000 THB per family, depending on your category.

Thailand: the options side by side

Thailand cut the stay to 30 days

Indian passport holders had 60 days visa-free in Thailand from July 2024. From 15 September 2026 the exemption is 30 days, and the embassy’s onward-travel wording uses the same number: tickets to leave “within 30 days of the arrival date”.

This catches travellers who planned on the old rule. An exit from Phuket on day 45, copied from an itinerary written in 2025, now falls outside the condition. Count from the date you land in Thailand, not the date you leave India; an overnight flight from Delhi that lands the next morning starts the count on the Thai date. Leave a few days of margin inside the 30, so a delay or a change of plan does not push you over.

What “confirmed” means at the check-in counter

The embassy asks for confirmed tickets. A flight reservation is a seat held with the airline in your name on a flight out of Thailand, which is a long way from a screenshot of a search result. It is not an issued, paid ticket, though. Whether it satisfies the agent is the agent’s call, and on arrival, the officer’s.

Before printing a boarding pass in Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru, agents look up Thailand’s rule in Timatic, the airline industry’s database of entry requirements. Travellers on low-cost carriers to Southeast Asia report being asked for onward travel at check-in, with enforcement that varies from counter to counter. On a one-way ticket, expect the question, and have the booking ready on your phone and on paper.

Leaving Thailand by train, bus or boat

Thailand’s wording is unusual: it names train, bus and boat tickets alongside flights. An overland exit is therefore a valid plan on paper, whether that is a train south towards Malaysia or a bus into Cambodia. Check the next country’s rules too. Malaysia is visa-free for Indians until 31 December 2026; Cambodia needs an e-Visa or a visa on arrival.

The difficulty comes at the start of the trip. A bus ticket bought on an app is hard for a check-in agent in India to verify, and some agents will not accept it. An onward reservation out of Bangkok inside your 30 days gives the counter a booked flight on paper. It does not commit you to fly: a reservation is not a ticket, and it lapses on its own.

Timing the reservation around TDAC and check-in

The airline, not the desk, sets how long a held reservation lasts, and it can release the hold at any time without notice. So order the onward reservation on the day of your Bangkok flight, or at the latest the evening before, and open it as soon as it arrives to check the names and route against your passport and TDAC. A booking made a week ahead may be gone by the time you reach the counter.

Nobody can promise the hold still exists when you reach Thai immigration the next morning. If you want a document that certainly does, a paid, refundable ticket is the stronger choice. Submit the TDAC in the 72 hours before arrival, with the same passport and the address of the place you will actually sleep on your first night, and carry your proof of funds alongside.

Flying from India to Thailand

Your reservation should follow a route you could realistically fly. These are common options; schedules change, so the desk confirms what is bookable for your dates.

Mistakes to avoid with a Thailand trip

• An onward date planned on the old 60-day rule. From 15 September 2026 it must fall within 30 days.
• Counting the 30 days from your departure in India instead of your arrival date in Thailand.
• Ordering the onward reservation weeks ahead, when you buy the Bangkok flight. Airlines drop holds without warning, and it may be gone by check-in.
• A name on the booking that differs from the passport, such as a missing surname or swapped first and last names.
• Showing only a bus ticket at check-in in India, which the agent cannot verify.
• An edited or invented ticket. A fabricated PDF is document fraud and can lead to refusal.

Dummy ticket and hotel bookings, matched to your itinerary

We do not send one loose document. The desk matches the flight reservation and every hotel booking to your itinerary: the same dates, the same cities, and no night left uncovered. These are the real documents of one order for a Switzerland visa file, issued on 5 November 2026: one flight reservation and four hotel bookings that cover all 9 nights between the two flights. Personal details are blacked out; everything else is as issued.

• Flight reservationEtihad, Hyderabad (HYD) to Zurich (ZRH), status Confirmed
• Hotel booking, ZurichMEININGER Hotel Zürich Greencity, 3 nights
• Hotel booking, GenevaB&B HOTEL Geneva Airport, 3 nights
• Hotel booking, LucerneSeminarhotel Romerohaus, 2 nights
• Hotel booking, Zurich AirportLeonardo Hotel Zurich Airport, 1 night

Open the full documents and the day-by-day table: flight and hotels matched date by date

How to get your Thailand onward ticket

Thailand questions, answered