divingcam

I was there on Saturday 24th. It was very busy and a uniformed female immigration officer directed me to 'counter 4' where an immigration guy told me I needed to pay 3,000 baht to come back the same day. I told him no-way, just stamp my passport out please. He said I needed to stay 7 days in Malaysia, which I know to be <deleted>. Eventually, after many threats form him, I paid 2,000, and he told me to come back to see him when I returned to Thailand. Going into, and returning from Malaysia was quick and painless, no questions, nothing, the Malay immigration guys were totally cool and did not care that I was doing a border bounce. Back at the Thai side, I decided to try and see if anyone would challenge me, so instead of going back to 'counter 4' and the corrupt officer, I went to the office in the middle with the two windows (used to be 1 side Departure, one side Arrival, but now both sides are Arrival). I was stamped back into Thailand quickly with no problems, no questions, no hassle. The issue here is entirely the corrupt pri*k at counter 4, and I'm <deleted> off with myself for having paid him 2,000 Baht. I should have just stood my ground and demanded that he stamped me out (politely). No-one else at that border crossing said anything to me re. staying overnight in Malaysia. I have a ME Non-B visa and Work permit. I later called the immigration hotline 1178 on Saturday afternoon, and after some consulting with colleagues, the girl on the phone said that there was no law, rule, or anything else to stop me going into Malaysia via a land border and returning the same day on a multiple entry visa. This whole thing is entirely corruption from the Thai side. The uniformed female officer who originally directed me to 'counter 4' clearly knew that she was sending me to be ripped off. Avoid 'Counter 4' and get stamped out of Thailand at the little one-person shack on the left side with the big queue as you walk through the immigration area.