Consul-General Edward J Wehrli said yesterday 85-90 per cent of Thai visa applicants are now using the website at thailand.us-visaservices.com or calling the embassy's equally new call centre, to make appointments for their visa applications. In introducing the two services, the embassy followed a model already introduced in Mexico, South Korea, China and the Philippines.

Wehrli said applicants must make an appointment by accessing the "Visa Information and Appointment" section on the website at a cost of Bt400, or call the call centre at 001 800 13 202 2457, at a cost of Bt750. They then go to the embassy at a pre-arranged time for an interview. The visa fee remains the same - US$100 (Bt3,900) - and delivery of approved visas by Thailand Post - the embassy's exclusive delivery operator - costs Bt50 to any address in the country.

"The new services eliminate two trips for applicants," Wehrli said. "First they do not have to get in line to make appointments and, second, issued visas are sent directly to their addresses so it saves time picking them up."

Wehrli said some business travellers and tourists could get multiple-entry visas valid for 10 years, but students are allowed to stay only for the period of their study.

Those whose visa applications are rejected may have failed to convince the embassy that they will return to Thailand, or may have been ill-prepared in their presentation. Wehrli said there was no time limit for reapplying, but he suggests that applicants make certain they are well prepared.

Last year, 71,000 Thais applied for US visas, 16 per cent more than in 2004. Up until the first week of March 2,000 applicants had been interviewed this year and the number is expected to reach 9,000 by the end of this month.

US Ambassador Ralph Boyce said 50 million tourists visited the United States last year, and 31 per cent of them were Asians using prepaid package tours. The top five destinations for international tourists are California, Florida, New York, Hawaii and Texas.

The US Embassy and the American Chamber of Commerce plan to hold their first tourism promotion event at the Bitec Convention Centre in September.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation