Following acceptance into the Fernthai Volunteer Foundation programme we will be here to guide you through the entire process. Rest assured we do everything in our powers to make the entire process as straight forward as possible. We will e-mail you an itinerary and checklist with detailed guidelines to help you along the way. After you have joined us there are a number of things you will need to do at various stages.

If you are on a 2 week short-term program and come from any of the following 46 countries you can enter Thailand as a tourist for a maximum of 30 days under the "visa exemption rule" provided you have access to living expenses of 20,000 baht (approx £300) per person and are in in possession of a confirmed flight ticket (e-ticket acceptable) to show they will be exiting Thailand within 30 days of entry. Open tickets do not qualify.


1. Argentina 2. Australia 3. Austria 4. Bahrain 5. Belgium 6. Brazil 7. Brunei 8. Canada 9. Chile 10. Denmark 11. Finland 12. France 13. Germany 14.Greece 15. Hong Kong 16. Iceland 17. Indonesia 18. Ireland 19. Israel 20. Italy 21. Japan 22. Kuwait 23. Laos 24. Luxembourg 25. Macao 26. Malaysia 27. Netherlands 28. New Zealand 29. Norway 30. Oman 31. Peru 32. Philippines 33. Portugal 34. Qatar 35. Russia 36. Singapore 37. South Africa 38. South Korea 39. Spain 40. Sweden 41. Switzerland 42. Turkey 43. United Arab Emirates 44. United Kingdom 45. United States 46. Vietnam

If you are staying in Thailand more than 30 days you will need our help to apply for a category O non-immigrant volunteers visa (if you don't hold a Thai passport already). Upon acceptance on a mid-term program we will send you all the necessary info. This will need to be done 1 - 2 months prior to your visit to Thailand.

You will also need to sort out your flight arrangements to Thailand. Our programme dictates that you leave Bangkok to travel to the village (under our supervision) on the first of each month, and arrive back in Bangkok on either the fourteenth or thirtieth of each month. Therefore, with this in mind, we strongly recommend you leave yourself plenty of time either side of these dates as they are the only two dates each month that accompanied travel to and fro the village of Baan Nakhor will be possible. Full details of schedules can be found on our Prices & Scedules page in the Volunteering section.

You will also need to sort out your travel insurance making sure your repatriation or any medical emergency is catered for.

Finally, at least six weeks prior to travel, you will need to ensure you have had all of the appropriate inoculations for traveling to Thailand. Please consult your local medical group for specific information. We have provided detailed information in our medical section for reference only and insist you take the advice of your local medical group. Having joined Fernthai Volunteer Foundation you will find us right behind you lending a helping and reassuring hand every step of the way.