jspill

See the OP, had a valid Ed visa and 25k, still denied. You do realise not everyone denied will start a thaivisa thread.

14 minutes ago, phuketjock said:

most of the people that we are discussing on this thread were in Thailand more than one year, so not tourists by definition

then?

One can use Ed visas for three years. 

There's no situation pertaining to remote online workers.

My logic would be if a consulate outside Thailand approves a visa you won't then be denied on arrival without access to an ATM but that's just me.

You can't quote any official source saying working remotely for overseas clients is illegal, just like you can't quote any limits to length of time being a tourist in Thailand.

5 minutes ago, phuketjock said:

I have been unable to locate your claimed definition of a tourist

Attached. World tourism organisation definition.

It's possible to be a tourist for a year. Don't get overly hung up on the word. In the modern age one can have an income on the internet while travelling. The UNWTO definition of a tourist is anyone who stays in places outside their usual environment, for any purpose, for up to a year. It doesn't necessarily have to be two weeks of beach and temples then back home. Indeed some countries issue 10 year tourist visas. Some call it 'visitor'.

55 minutes ago, maewang99 said:

silly but anyways....

an immigration officer can always deny entry for any reason.... check.

but if you left THAILAND.... with a valid everything.... and re-enter with a valid unused or multiple REENTRY PERMIT..... 

with or without 20K THB....

the officer can still just reject you? I think no.. but....

 

just to fully understand the fine points, ya know?
what's the skinny?

Only seen this thread but that border is known for problems.

1 hour ago, phuketjock said:

You are the one using extravagant numbers that you are unable to back up and so far the ones that you

have brought to light have all, bar none, been legitimately denied entry for various reasons from funds to

using tourist visas/exempt entries for long stays.

Delays at immigration at airports are nothing new and every time someone tries yet again to enter on a

tourist/exempt for the 5/6/7th time that will inevitably cause extra questioning and therefore further delays,

causing the queues to grow. Perhaps the IO may have been questioning someone who had been " learning Thai

on an ED visa for a year " whether they could actually speak any Thai.

But having said all that in 2016 there were 32,000,000 visitors to Thailand 99.9999999% of whom had no

problems at all entering on the appropriate visa/exempt/extension for the purpose of their visit.

Please stop making imaginary problems where none exist for 99.99% of the people coming to Thailand on 

Holiday you are unnecessarily scaremongering.

You and people like you have brought this on yourselves by thinking you could carry on abusing the tourist/

exemption entries to avoid getting the correct visa, and now it has caught up with you and now you are all

squealing foul play, down to yourselves i'm afraid you made the problem now you have to live with it tough.

What is even worse is that because of your selfish behaviour you have, unnecessarily, put everyone else entering

Thailand under closer scrutiny, another possible reason for delays at airports??

I gave 20 examples as asked. This isn't about tourists who on average stay ~10 days a year and come once or twice in their lives, of course they will have no problem. (Although the group of 5 Indians did.) They won't be reading thaivisa either.

What I'm saying is some slighter longer stayers may have problems sooner than they expect, e.g. they use one METV for the length of time it allows, then decide to enrol at a language school, they've done absolutely nothing wrong at that point. But if they follow Thai forums and see these posts they'll know to carry 20k and ideally come back via Nong Khai, just in case.

You say 'we never know all the facts' when it supports your opinion, then you say 'all bar none were legitimately denied', which one is it? You don't know whether it was legitimate or not, nor do I. Certainly some cases don't sound legitimate - cases where the tourist had 20k cash on them for example.

There are no limits on tourist visa use set in law so any 'abuse' is your opinion. 'Being a tourist too long' does not exist. Criteria for denying entry include e.g. lack of funds or suspicion of working illegally, some of those denied had 20k+ on their person, approved Ed visa, etc. and I happen to know they weren't working in the Kingdom. They got back into Thailand via Nong Khai. Anyone reading this in a similar spot might consider doing the same. 

23 hours ago, phuketjock said:

Of the 8 links you actually posted 

This thread is in itself a link to 3 of them. If you insist - link, link, and link for completeness. Like I said some are on other forums and TVF doesn't allow those links.

IMHO this is going on above and beyond the amount it should be, and 'get an appropriate visa' is not the correct response in all cases.

In some it may be, but for others they were doing nothing inappropriate by enrolling in a language school after a short time as a tourist, or leaving for 2 months after an METV then returning, or you know, never having stepped foot in Thailand in the first place.

Now Suvarnbhumi airport has delays too, partly lack of staff, partly this extra questioning.

"When someone came along who took a few minutes or needed an extra inquiry the queue grew and grew as a result"

Coins.co.th as mentioned above, works, if all you have is a Thai bank account you can buy and withdraw on there. The spread isn't great (their price to buy / sell), you lose about 2%, but the site works. Alternatively go on localbitcoins.com, filter for thailand, and shop around for an individual Thai seller / buyer to trade with. Pick one with good feedback and many trades. But the site acts as an escrow so you can't really be scammed. At certain times coins.co.th is better value, at other time localbitcoins.com is better.

Bear in mind though if you have more than a Thai bank account, if you still have your home country bank accounts, you don't actually need to 'open an account in Thailand', you can just buy bitcoin on Coinbase.com at 1%. 

The advice 'don't use Thai exchanges' more specifically should be don't hold coins on any exchanges, Thai or not. As soon as you buy on Coins.co.th, Localbitcoins, or Coinbase, all three of which are exchanges, send the coins to yourself at Exodus.io desktop wallet. That is your 'bitcoin account' to hold coins on. Don't hold large amounts of coins on any online exchanges.

3 minutes ago, lkv said:

Yes, I am aware of your history. You did  that did endless visa exempts, way over 6, well after the computer started blinking. :)

Now you and JackThompson have become advocates of land borders.

Yes I had 7 visa exempts in 2016. Already explained that was 2016 and the recent uptick in denials started in early 2017. Difference of opinion is fine but don't deliberately ignore things.

If anything that should add to my credibility - if what I'm doing now is 'scaremongering' then I did the complete opposite in 2016. Go figure.

Just now, lkv said:

The problem is you're not stating what I define to be facts.

 

You're putting together some very dubious reports from posters with zero history here or what seems to be "made up" history, and some people that you say personally know, multiplying it with numbers (it must be higher because not everybody is on TV),and drawing up a doom and gloom conclusion.

 

The issue is the credibility of the reports to begin with.

No all I'm doing is saying X number of reports exist. Then yourself and PJ want to quash discussion - I don't mind if you believe there's an issue or not, I'm just posting facts for the benefit of people reading. They can decide.

There will never be any way to know if something on the internet is true or false, there could be 1000 reports and that line of logic would still apply. And yes we never know both sides of the story. 

Yes I know 4 guys personally that were denied, people can choose to dismiss that or not, up to them, I'd like to think I come off as someone credible. My posting history is longer than yours and PJ's combined. I've been on the forum going on 8 years, 10k posts across various forums. Up to you as they say.

As for multiplying things that's just how statistics work, if 20 odd people wrote about their experience then probably 200 didn't bother. May have contributed to the 5 hour delays at the airport this week.

I did post a list maybe it was in another thread, ok I'll do it here. It's not scaremongering to post reports. Facts don't care about your feelings.

1, 2, 3 - the three reports in the OP of this thread

4  - the Muay Thai guy from Bangkok Expats Facebook group

5 - stoicccc - link

6, 7 - This guy, can't recall it was on thaivisa too. Then in the comments there's a guy saying it happened to him, and 2 saying it almost happened to them

8 - Californiadreaming82 - link

9 - Introuble - link

10 - Stuart Fox - link

11 - GregoryH - link

12, 13, 14, 15, 16 - the 5 Indians link

17. 18 - guys from another forum, we're not allowed to link to other forums, welcome to PM me

19 - Johnny396 - link

20 - However many in Sadao yesterday

All in 2017. I'm forgetting some. A few weren't OPs, they were posts within the threads above. 'Oh this happened to me too' etc. 

31 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

How about if they have an Extension based on work and Re-entry permit?

Not sure.

3 hours ago, lkv said:

I posted the thread that jspill quoted me on not for the purpose of scare mongering but to underline the fact that people using Multi Entry NonB's with a WP attached are being asked for 20K proof.

 

Sadao has reports going back for years of people being asked to show 20K on SETVs and IO's asking for tea money there if one cannot show the 20K.

 

The only thing that's new is that they seem to be taking it to the next level with multiple entry nonB holders. And supposedly they don't like bribes anymore for the time being. We'll see how long that lasts.

 

It's a specific situation limited to Sadao and should not be used as "extra ammunition" to reinforce some other reports that lack credibility in my opinion.

 

No one said it was scaremongering or being used as ammunition. People can just be aware of it, it's relevant to the thread title. 

3 hours ago, phuketjock said:

You are doing it again quoting the same refusals over and over again, 3 people have been refused entry one no money, one with 

overstay, and one suspected of working we think.

The Indians were rejected for what reason, who knows but i strongly suspect there may have been something dodgy about their

visa for all of them to be refused, or perhaps an attitude problem nobody knows do they??

There is no "uptick " in denials other than in the scaremongering mind of you and people like you.

You have dropped another figure of 20 are you now saying 20 people have been refused in the last 0-18 months? because that

would not be true would it?

You then recommend using land borders then your very next post tells all to avoid a certain land border.

Mountain out of mole hill comes to mind, stop making something out of nothing you are scaremongering.

I'm saying 20 recent denials, specifically since the start of this year. The 0-18 months figure is how long they've been in the country, i.e. some were rejected having never entered, some had been in Thailand a year, some a bit longer. 

It's not scaremongering I'm just stating facts we have about 20 reports, if people don't want to believe it that's fine. Those that do can be aware and take precautions, like carrying 20k and using any land border other than Sadao or Poipet.

It's you that's having a weird emotional reaction to me just listing reports of denials, not sure why. 

Everyone being asked to show 20k at Sadao land border even with a non B / work permit -

17 hours ago, phuketjock said:

What is this guy doing an a tourist visa if he owns a condo here hardly a tourist is he, and

if he is 66 why does he not apply for a retirement extension, if he can afford to buy a condo

surely he has the necessary finances to obtain one?

Thats' just off the top of my head and I am not even an IO.

The rest of your post is the same stuff you keep bringing up, and as usual only one side of the

story is given on here. 

And what you fail to mention in your post is that the refusals you keep bringing up are over

several years, aren't they?

Not necessarily over several years. For example the two thaivisa members in the OP, kohphanganlover and the German Ed visa student, were in the ~12 month range, and the US / Afghani from another thread did 9 months on one METV then was denied. Then the Indians I mention above did a whopping zero days in Thailand.

I wrote not too long ago that if it was over several years no one would be surprised / could really complain. But the recent uptick in denials is affecting people much earlier, anywhere from 0 - 18 months. 

Yes on the internet obviously only one side of the story is given, that's all it's possible to ever know. But people can read ~20 stories and take appropriate precautions, like using land borders for now.

On 02/08/2017 at 2:05 AM, Chou Anou said:

Yes, it IS about "a couple of cases." Literally.  That's what started all this.  People just love to panic (and certain websites like to encourage the panic, because it gets them more clicks $$$).

No, the article in the OP just focuses on a few specific cases but it clearly states it's happening to many.

Two specific cases were notable because they happened on consecutive days, were both reported on thaivisa, they met in the detention cell and one posted a photo of the cell. Then the third was posted to a Facebook expat group and the screenshot of that just goes well with the article. 

They gave 3 examples for the sake of the article but it's happening to many. About 20 denial cases so far that I've read, and about the same number of cases of being interrogated then finally let in. 

The reports keep coming in. Here's a new one, 66 year old New Zealand national is told he can only have one single entry tourist visa per year, hasn't been in Thailand for over 6 months. Almost denied but reluctantly let in.

"i have only recently, re-entered thailand {bkk} on a setv  visa...i am nz citizen who last left thailand on 13jan 2017...the imm officer was not going to let me in---saying the rules have now changed. i can only get i setv entry per year....he told me he wasnt interested that i owned condo here and did not want to work here" - Link to post

Here's an April thread I missed before and didn't see linked here. A group of Indians have a 5 day vacation planned out with return ticket, hotel bookings, they've never even been to Thailand. They are all questioned for some hours at the airport then denied and have to fly home.

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/977875-immigration-officer-refused-entry-at-bangkok-airport/

Then we have the 4 hour airport delays recently in the news. As well as various other excuses like lack of staff / four flights arriving at once, one of the reasons given was 'increased questioning'. 

Half the IOs were busy carting off tourists who couldn't produce 20k baht, getting them to buy expensive airfares back to where they came from at a commission, plus 700 baht for their detention cell

On 22/07/2017 at 5:16 PM, Daryle said:

Pay for your own education and you can go where you like. Every think of that?

 

'Ever'.

The irony.

3 hours ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

Most tourists have a computer in hand luggage. Did he have a visa from Bucharest or did he plan on on visa on arrival (15 days)? Did he show return flight and required hotel bookings? Once they decide they are rejecting a traveller sounds like nobody is allowed to go to an ATM. Showing a 4,000,000 Leu bank balance on Mobile banking site won't help either.

Ok I posted too soon. After 5 hours he got let in.

He paid 2000 for the visa on arrival that his nationality gets - 15 days, yes. He opened his Skrill wallet online balance and they accepted that. Completely contrary to other reports, weird.

He had a flight out for 15 days time, yes. But didn't have hotel bookings. They asked for both, luckily one was enough.

Perhaps a supervisor said ok he's never actually been to Thailand before let's not be so ridiculous as to deny this guy entry too. 

5 hours ago, phuketjock said:

That's funny quick google and only turns up Russians Ukranians and Malaysians no

mention of any Romanians as yet, so appears not so common knowledge???

Do you really have to freak out every post lol. Here's three threads then about Romanians - Bangkok link, Phuket link, Pattaya link

Common knowledge most of the ATM skimmers in Thailand are Romanian. 

No I just mean him being Romanian, nothing else. 

A friend of a friend got denied entry today and it's his first time ever in Thailand. 

He's Romanian, had a computer in hand luggage, and didn't have the 20k, so a bit more suspicious than a normal tourist.

Still, it's his first time in the Kingdom so that goes against the idea this is about long stay tourists. He's been in the airport 4 hours so far. Is not being allowed access to an ATM to withdraw money.