Hal65

@ThailandRyan Are you sure they can see the actual visa type, eg education, tourist, business, marriage, et cetera? Someone posted earlier that immigration can only see entry and exit date information, but not the type of visa attached to those entries.

@richard_smith237 But the visa type info is indeed wiped out from the switch, right? That is what I'm probing about.

Since 2018 I've been in Thailand on Edu visas, a tourist visa or two and a volunteer visa. 4 years prior to that was largely the same on other passports. I just got a tourist visa right now and think it's time to renew to a new passport. I've been told entries and exits are recorded at immigration but nothing more. Is this true? Will switching passports wipe out my ED/Vol/Tourist visa history?

Will do? Which airport gave you the grilling? Did you remember everything? I don't remember most of my visa excuses. If they start asking about my ED language visas I'll have an issue.

I am from the US, not sure if Americans can do eVisas? Sad to hear long stays are dying out. Edu visas have been my staple, I think they are still going strong, have you heard differently?

Even at Chiang Mai airport? I thought they were relatively easy compared to Phuket and both bangkok airports

The answer is yes, he was very specific that the start and end dates should align with the visa start and end. I just cancelled my 60 day hotel stay in Chiang Mai. Many hotels have free cancellation.

Sure thing: 1. $40 US 2. Printout of Agoda booking confirmation PDF attached to email (printout of booking page on website NOT acceptable. Booking.com also acceptable but I don't know what exactly) 2. Printout of ticket into Thailand 3. Printout of ticket out of Thailand. PNR not verified (mine listed no PNR, just a generic "reservation code" which itself was fake and no website was even referenced. Form itself: 4. Employer name (normally I leave this blank) 5. Thai guarantor: Hotel name and address (Put this under "Proposed address in thailand" and also "Local guarantor in Thailand") 6. Local guarantor in HCMC: Hotel name, address, phone As with everywhere else you hand over your passport. Fill out everything you can. They are not like Laos where some fields can be skipped. As of March 6, 2023 (the very day I applied) 2 working days are required for processing. A guy next to me had a hotel in Pattaya but a flight to Chiang Mai. The IO insisted on the train ticket number of the train he said he would use to travel down on. He did not have this since his plan was to book the train last minute. I did not run into this issue because I used a Chiang Mai hotel as guarantor and withheld my 2nd flight info from CNX to BKK.

Just found out now, I received a valid 90 day tourist visa ???? So they are picky upfront. But they do not validate the onward flight PNR. Next time I know what to do to be even safer.

No I had to order 1 day rush service from an agent to make it work. Don't count on visa on arrival!

I'm in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam and was told that my Thai tourist visa application at the local Thai consulate is likely to get denied because I was in Thailand during the entire COVID era, which they don't like to see. Should I even bother trying to fly into Chiang Mai airport (CNX) with a canceled visa in my passport from the rejection, to apply for visa exempt? Or should I just fly back to the US at this point?

Mental slip, yes you are correct ????

Questions about the "rejection case" 1. Is a rejection stamped into the passport? Is it logged into a computer? 2. If the answer to #1 is no for both, should I try for visa exempt at CNX (Chiang Mai, my flight is scheduled for March 9)? I hear it's 45 days at the moment. I'll gladly take that. I'm not sure if an HCMC consulate rejection would tar me for visa exempt though.

The school and visa runners I spoke to in Pattaya said not Laos for now. I don't know why. I sure wish I took their advice. So if I am rejected in HCMC should I consider a Visa on Arrival at Chiang Mai to be impossible too? What is left then? Go back to the US? Is it even possible to apply for a tourist visa there successfully?

Summary of current status: I have run up against difficult immigration at HCMC Vietnam. They appear to be scrutinizing applications hard. There is a fair chance I am denied due to onward ticket not being verifiable and long history of stays in Thailand. Prior thread I am considering flying into another nearby country using Visa On Arrival and abandoning my ticket to CNX (Chiang Mai Airport) in case I am rejected and my passport marked as "no legitimate reason to enter Thailand" as a local has warned me it might. In Pattaya I was told by local companies that land borders are bad right now. Also, Laos and Cambodia are bad. So I see a few options left 1. Hanoi 2. Kuala Lumpur 3. Singapore 4. Manila Are any of these options good for getting a Thai tourist visa? I would need visa on arrival, waiting for an embassy appointment would take too long. I am a US Citizen and I've been in Thailand about 9 years mostly on EDU visas.

Everything was a paper printout to be handed over, no digital documents

A guard confirmed that the main immigration officer working there is quite strict. Another person sitting there mentioned it wasn't that bad six months ago Today at the Thai consulate HCMC: - My landlord gave me an ID and rental receipt good for the full 60 day tourist visa I applied for. The immigration officer rejected it and said they only accept Agoda and booking.com (I didn't even know they could do this). - I ran to a local printer and quickly booked a reservation on Agoda. When I brought it back to him, he said a website printout was not good enough and would not be accepted. He said he needed a print out sent with the email. He also said my TM30 needed to be handwritten. And he wanted $40 U.S., not 2,000 Thai baht. - I went to a money exchanger, got the US dollars, and also handwrote all fields on a new TM30 (before I had only the signature and date manually signed/written). - On my third attempt he said to write in my Agada hotel as the guarantor in two places. For the local guarantor he wanted the local hotel in Ho Chi Minh city. Both of these needed name and address. The local hotel also needed a phone number. Also I needed to write in the name of my US employer. - They finally accepted and gave me a receipt saying to come back after two working days between 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM. My onward flight ticket was generated off of one of those generator sites. I wasn't smart enough to go with the option to have a real PNR number on it. I distinctly remember them looking at the "reservation code" on the printout (no PNR listed) and highlighting it. The two working days visa turnover makes me believe that they will be verifying the PNR number. They have a high chance to notice it comes up invalid and try to call me for a valid PNR, or issue a denial. QUESTION - Will they mark a rejection and reason in the Immigration system? - I'm thinking of just doing a 30 day visa on arrival at Chiang Mai airport as a plan B. My problem is I'm a U.S. citizen and have been in Thailand for close to 9 years. You guys think Chiang Mai airport immigration will scrutinize that travel history hard and also possibly decline me?

I filled a vietnam eVisa application. I thought it was done, but checked today and it was unpaid and therefore unprocessed. As a result I think I should just go with the visa on arrival. I'm a U.S. citizen who will be traveling from Thailand into Ho Chi Minh. I will stay for 5 days. Is the visa on arrival pretty straightforward? If you guys feel I should go with the vietnam Evisa despite me arriving in Vietnam on Saturday please let me know.

I run out of pages before years. I'm on my 4th passport in Thailand Will this also work with extensions?

Now I'm concerned in the other direction. I applied for the Vietnam eVisa for tourism. I'm in Thailand and an American citizen. Will this be an issue? I entered my USA address on the Vietnam eVisa form

At the US embassy it takes 8 to 11 weeks of processing time to issue a new passport. That's not including the time to mail it in. Expedited service takes five to seven weeks but is not available to international residents. My tourist visa is coming up from a Vietnam trip in a week. Which I believe is 30 days plus another 30 days extension. This long processing time has been a continuous frustration. Thailand has requirements for us to have our visa or passport with us for regular 90 day report stamps. And also extensions like above. How do you guys handle this?

Yes that's correct. If it's less waiting at a consulate it might be worth it, I'd like to get with the times. The variable wait leans me towards not pursuing the eVisa though

Thanks I did apply for the Vietnam E-Visa but I am asking about the Thai E-Visa. I have to wait until I'm out of country and in vietnam for that one (March 4). Monday is March 6 and 3 days would be march 9. But 10 working days is 13 and if they are all over the place with processing time I can not depend on leaving Vietnam back to thailand in a week

Does the Thai E-Visa sometimes take the full 3 to 10 business days for processing? My current flight from Ho Chi Minh is on March 8th; I'm booked at the consulate on March 6 for turning in the application and March 7 for pickup. I could make a longer trip of this. The variable processing time makes booking the return flight a bit challenging if I wanted to keep things short.

Local visa border run service told me not to do a border run at the moment. Flying is best. Yes I have an appointment on March 6