Bad News: Double & Triple Entry Visas No More

[Hans Brix]

Went on my normal Penang run to get my usual triple entry tourist visa and was blind sided with the bad news; single entry visas only from now on. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. One good thing though, it opens up Laos and PP as nice options since Penang aint coming thru anymore

[astral]

...........it opens up Laos and PP as nice options .........

Neither of those have good reputations for being helpful to foreigners.

[Gumballl]

When I was in Vientienne in July 2004, they only offered the single-entry visa. I doubt much has changed.

[lopburi3]

I think the OP means that there is now no need to go to Penang if you only get the same thing as at other Consulates which are shorter trips. Expect we will be hearing more about this if it is a permanent change.

[sriracha john]

Any signs posted as to when it started? Any other means of confirming the change?... as it appears to be quite a exceptionally noteworthy shift in past policies and people have reported getting the multiple tourist visa's there in the fairly recent past.

[rainman]

Any signs posted as to when it started? Any other means of confirming the change?... as it appears to be quite a exceptionally noteworthy shift in past policies and people have reported getting the multiple tourist visa's there in the fairly recent past.

one of my friends came back from penang on thursday (2 days ago) with a triple entry tourist visa. not sure if the change was just done on thursday or friday or if its "not for everyone".

[bkkmadness]

Went on my normal Penang run to get my usual triple entry tourist visa and was blind sided with the bad news; single entry visas only from now on.

Where did you get this news from, direct from the consul or from the agents there that sort the visa out for you?

[Hans Brix]

let me provide more detail. firstly, this was not something to do with my specific application as the info was given to me by 2 different agents before submitting my app. I stopped by an agent that I had never used be4 and he told me 1st up that all his apps requesting dub and trip entries were kicked back (a new thing to him). I left that office and went to my regular guy in front of swiss hotel. without mentioning anything to him of my discovery of the other agent, he told me the same thing (I've used this agent for several trip entries). He said single only. Upon hearing this from 2 diff agents, I take it as the rule of law

Oh and I was in both agent's offices on Wed

Edited June 18, 2006 by george

[Thaiquila]

This sounds like an unfortunate development. You can also get single entries quite easily in Kuala Lumpur, which I find more fun than Penang.

[udon]

Went on my normal Penang run to get my usual triple entry tourist visa and was blind sided with the bad news; single entry visas only from now on. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. One good thing though, it opens up Laos and PP as nice options since Penang aint coming thru anymore

Hans,

thanks for the heads-up.

[visarunner]

One of my frinds was even refused ,recently a single entry in Laos , because of ,over 10, Cambodian Visa.

"You stay too long,go home".

I have not heard that anyone got a double in Laos or PP,may be Penang was a long accepted exception .

Edited June 17, 2006 by visarunner

[johnsjourney]

Don't panic, I was told (by my guesthouse) if I'd waited until Monday the guy who is happy to give multiple tourist visas would be back from holiday in Thailand. I didn't wait, came back on Friday with a single. This is backed up perhaps by a guy at the guesthouse getting given the wrong visa by mistake so I guess the usual management is away. So I'd assume this is the case unless people are coming back next week only with singles...

[Hans Brix]

Next week will be interesting in that case. I'm sure we'll get a report by someone before next weekend. I suppose that if the end of doubles and triples is true, the end of the world is not here but passport pages will be filling up a lot quicker and there will be a lot more visits to consulates.

I noticed something else a month ago when I returned from a visa run without a 60 day visa for the first time in 3 years. The immigration person at the airport said "you dont have a 60 day visa this time?". That kind of led me to believe that they keep and eye on habitual multiple entry tourist visa users. My situation is that I am retired at 48. It makes me think that much younger folk using this same practice would be suspect in immi's eyes

Edited June 18, 2006 by Hans Brix

[george]

To back up the report, we called the Swiss Hotel in Penang this morning, and spoke with one of the guys. One agent confirmed that they are just issuing singles.

The agents believe that they will not be able to arrange double/triple entries in the future. Apparently new instructions from Bangkok. Only the future will tell...

[Hans Brix]

I suspect that the powers at be finally said to Penang, "get with the program". I mean it's like every embassy/consulate in the region has clamped down on the multiple entries so why should Penang be allowed to be a rogue consulate. I am also certain that the agents and guesthouses would say this thing is only temporary as they are going to lose some business over this as customers branch out to other consulates that offer the same as Penang. I notice that this topic is quite popular at the moment with 132 users viewing. I think this is some pretty large news. I cant say I'm overly surprised though; each time I have gone to Penang, I have wondered whether it would be the time of some kind of change

[sriracha john]

Words from Bangkok will put some people:

"Between a rock and a hard place"

*sculpture by Nancy Doran*

[Our Man in Samui!]

Went on my normal Penang run to get my usual triple entry tourist visa and was blind sided with the bad news; single entry visas only from now on.

Where did you get this news from, direct from the consul or from the agents there that sort the visa out for you?

Do you have a work permit, or are you in a retirement or some other criteria????

[nasa]

I got my multiple entry VISA on the 2 June 2006 in Penang. Just arrived in Chinag Mai Yesterday (17 June 2006) and the immigration give me 3 months visa stay.

[Hans Brix]

Nasa, I believe this is something that came down very recently

[Backpack_thailand]

Hopefully, if this is true then it will only apply to tourist visas!

[chinadarling]

Does this sort of thing apply to people who have regular jobs in Thailand or only to those in the grey area?

---

Coming from Canada a country that is very open and once you have your residence you can stay as long as you can afford, Asian countries puzzle me. Then again, as long as there are lots of willing dups. They will keep screwing us. It will likely take a big pullout of foreign $ and personel to really affect change in Asia.

---

[The Coder]

Does this sort of thing apply to people who have regular jobs in Thailand or only to those in the grey area?

No, it is illegal to work in Thailand with a tourist visa.

I don't understand the intention of the new restriction. What's the difference between allowing someone to stay continually in Thailand on single vs triple entry tourist visa? As long as back to back are allowed (which they are), removing the triple option just makes it more inconvenient for long stayers and 3x more work for the consulates who must process people 3x more frequently than before. It also means people staying on tourist visas will spend more days outside of Thailand applying for new visas, thereby trimming the amount of baht spent in Thailand. Seems like Thailand loses every way you look at it and gains nothing.

[treb]

Does anyone have any clout with the government to find out about policy, say 'this organization', Bangkok Post, or other.

It seems evident that the government (or some people in it) do not like the 'visa run' group of ex-pats. Seems the Thai Government should lower the age for retirement visas and just make all these people prove their incomes and/or fixed accounts. The Government would certainly make out financially and stop the confusion on welcoming 'tourists'.

[The Coder]

It seems evident that the government (or some people in it) do not like the 'visa run' group of ex-pats.

This particular restriction does nothing to prevent visa runs, in fact it encourages even more of them.

[Thaiquila]

Does this sort of thing apply to people who have regular jobs in Thailand or only to those in the grey area?

No, it is illegal to work in Thailand with a tourist visa.

I don't understand the intention of the new restriction. What's the difference between allowing someone to stay continually in Thailand on single vs triple entry tourist visa? As long as back to back are allowed (which they are), removing the triple option just makes it more inconvenient for long stayers and 3x more work for the consulates who must process people 3x more frequently than before. It also means people staying on tourist visas will spend more days outside of Thailand applying for new visas, thereby trimming the amount of baht spent in Thailand. Seems like Thailand loses every way you look at it and gains nothing.

Well, I wouldn't try too hard trying to find the logic of this.

[homeless007]

one month ago...phnom pen...despite top documentation & proof of funds called for interview and refused double/multiple entry and told in very certain terms not to come back and.... "tell your friends not to come to my consulate to get visa"....ended up with single entry after 25 min. interview...amazing thailand...unfortunately i don't know of any alternatives to live at.....have tried several places around the world...any suggestions?

[johnsjourney]

As I see it this is still speculation with as much evidence for as against, based mostly on what third parties, rather than what the consulate or any official officials are saying. The last thing some would want if this is merely a temporary change of service (see my message on the first page), is for it's profile to reach the attention of those who may therefore feel the need to change it. However as I think Thaiquila is saying there is no point applying even this small amount of logic to such situations, so I keep an open mind until next week.

Edited June 18, 2006 by johnsjourney

[Hans Brix]

It opens the door to further clampdowns later like a limit to the number of back to backs you can get. also the clampdown could happen more abruptly, not having to wait for huge #s of outstanding triples to expire

[aqua4]

It opens the door to further clampdowns later like a limit to the number of back to backs you can get. also the clampdown could happen more abruptly, not having to wait for huge #s of outstanding triples to expire

That has crossed my mind. If they pushed everyone to the borders with "Visa Runs" they could turn around and say, too many Cambodian stamps - Go home.

[texan_cowboy]

Next week will be interesting in that case. I'm sure we'll get a report by someone before next weekend. I suppose that if the end of doubles and triples is true, the end of the world is not here but passport pages will be filling up a lot quicker and there will be a lot more visits to consulates.

I noticed something else a month ago when I returned from a visa run without a 60 day visa for the first time in 3 years. The immigration person at the airport said "you dont have a 60 day visa this time?". That kind of led me to believe that they keep and eye on habitual multiple entry tourist visa users. My situation is that I am retired at 48. It makes me think that much younger folk using this same practice would be suspect in immi's eyes

Thanks George,

Any word about the B visa for teachers being disallowed in Penang as well? I was planning a trip early next month, but now I am not so sure.