Myanmar Entry and Exit requirements

A little bit of pre-planning is needed

Visas and Entry Fees

If you are not planning to stay in Myanmar you will not need a visa.

Dive boat operators from Thailand get a special license to enter the Mergui Archipelago, which is a part of Myanmar (Burma). It’s not the same procedures that you would use if you entered Burma by plane or overland.

A Myanmar (Burmese) Visa is *not* required, unless you want to visit Myanmar before or after the liveaboard.

However there is a Myanmar (Burma) entry fee which is currently $230 US.
This allows up to 7 days per person.  This is a ‘per entry’ fee.

For longer trips (Smiling Seahorse does some 9 day trips) the fee is a little higher.

Burmese officials have very strict requirements on how this money is to be paid.  It has to be US dollars, cash only, new bills. They won’t accept old, used notes, cheques, credit cards or any other currencies. 

What you will need to have ready

A little bit of pre-planning makes everything go smoothly.

Please buy the US dollars before you arrive in Thailand.  Foreign currencies are difficult if not impossible to buy here.

Please have the $230 US cash in exact change and new bills ($10, $20, $50 and $100 notes are acceptable). This makes the entry and exit procedures much quicker and easier.

Most people can enter Thailand for 30 days without a visa.  However, if your country of citizenship requires you to have a Thai visa, please make sure you get a double or multiple entry visa as you will be leaving Thailand and then coming back in again.

We also require:

  • One colour copy of the photo page of your passport.  You will need to email this to us as soon as possible, but at least three weeks before the trip departs.
  • TWO recent colour passport-size photographs.

We strongly advise you to take out dive insurance for any liveaboard trip.