ethaniel

1 hour ago, KhunBENQ said:

"Chang" logo, forbidden alcohol promotion in public

Can you please explain more about this? We have beer logos on street signs outside of all local tiny restaurants.

Bumrungrad is very happy on taking money. We had an extremely negative experience with Bumrungrad. It's like visiting a bunch of doctors with totally different opinions. It's same as taking a chance in a casino.

8 hours ago, Maestro said:

Ethaniel, you did not post the arrival stamp you have in your passport, which would show the end date of the permission to stay when you arrived in Thailand, but from your extension disapproval stamp that date appears to be 19 NOV 2017. Two days before that date you went to an immigration office and applied for an extension of stay of seven days.

 

The current "Criteria and Conditions for Consideration of an Alien’s Application for a Temporary Stay in the Kingdom of Thailand" are listed in clauses 2.1 to 2.32 of the order of the Royal Thai Police No. 327/2557 (which has been wrongly translated as Order of the Immigration Bureau). Looking at your application and because of the lack of accompanying documents the immigration official must have recognised immediately that you did not qualify for any of the listed extensions and if you would have preferred to withdraw your application and leave Thailand not later than 19 NOV you would have reason to complain if the official did not explain this option to you, which would have avoided the extension disapproval stamp in your passport.

 

It appears, however, that you would have proceeded with your application anyway and on this basis the official applied paragraph four of the aforementioned Police Order:

 

 

This is the reason for the additional seven days you were allowed to stay despite the non-approval of your application. It may look like an extension of stay by seven days and de facto that's what if is, but from a legal point of view it is a grace period granted following the denial of your application.  You could have applied for three days or one hundred days, the result would have been exactly the same.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. This contains all the information that is needed.

However, even our local immigration office in Koh Samui has a special window with a sign "7-30 day extensions" (which means that the officers understand that this is confusing too). Since this is a problematic topic and raises questions among tourists, who are unfamiliar with the specific laws, I think that it will be good for TAT to get a few complaints regarding this (see post #1)

@Ubonjoe, can we close this thread please?

3 minutes ago, mahjongguy said:

" If they charge me 1900 baht for this service, and I request 7 days and they give me 7 days, it means that my request is approved "

Poor logic. You could ask for 3 days or 45 days, you'd still get 7 because you do not meet the requirements.  

Yet my point stands. I request, they give. If they don't give, then it's a whole different story (and I'm at fault).

This is how laws change. If they are not convenient and people complain, then they need to be changed.

Unfortunately, most of the people are too compliant and don't understand that they can change things just by speaking out.

2 minutes ago, glegolo said:

THAT is WHERE you shoot yourself in the foot.

I'm a dumb farang tourist. If I shoot myself in the foot, then it's a bureaucratic problem.

I see price, I see form. I pay 1900 baht. I put in the form 7 days. I get 7 days.

The immigration desk even has a sign on top of it which says 7-30 days extension.

Let me explain. I'm from a country (Russia) which gets a 30-day stamp on arrival (no need for a visa). I can extend this stamp for 7 days only. For this, I have to go to Immigration, pay 1900 baht, fill out a form with all of my personal information and amount of days that I would like to extend do. 

The form looks like this:

The extension field looks like this: 

So I put in 7 days. And 7 days is what I get. That means that my request has been approved. 

Due to bureaucracy, from their point of view, they're denying my application and want me to leave after 7 days.

Which is the same result.

So my request to TAT (which I'm asking you to join) stands the same. If they charge me 1900 baht for this service, and I request 7 days and they give me 7 days, it means that my request is approved (and the stamp in my passport should say the same).

If you have ever applied for a 7 day extension of stay, you might have received this ugly stamp in the passport.

The problem is with the phrasing. The phrase "extention of stay is not approve" looks like a visa refusal (or deportation) to other countries.

While in reality you are granted a 7 day extension. I had multiple times that I had to explain the meaning of this stamp to immigration officers and consulars in other countries.

If you too had this problem, you can help make a difference.

Go to the Tourism Authority of Thailand website: https://www.tourismthailand.org/Send-Complaint

And copy this message into the form:

Quote

I would like to report a problem that affects every single tourist that wants to extend their stay in Thailand by 7 days.

When a tourist goes to a immigration office and pays 1900 baht to extend their stay by 7 days, the immigration officer stamps a very ugly stamp into the passport which says:

 

APPLICATION FOR EXTENTION OF STAY IS NOT APPROVE
APPLIANT MUST LEAVE THE KINGDOM NOT LATER THAN
[DATE]

 

This stamp looks like a refusal and can cause problems during application for other visas in other countries.

In reality, the stamp should say:

 

APPLICATION FOR EXTENTION OF STAY IS APPROVED
APPLIANT MUST LEAVE THE KINGDOM NOT LATER THAN
[DATE]

 

Or even better - not say anything at all (leave just the date) and make the stamp smaller.

I visit Thailand a lot of times and now my whole passport is filled with this ugly large stamps that take up a lot of space. Every time I go to another country, I have to explain the meaning of these stamps to other country's immigration officers.

 

Hopefully, when they see this volume of complaints, they might change something. I understand that this is Thailand, and things move slowly. But I had only positive experiences with TAT so far.

And his phone is 0964766064

If anyone reads this, here is his location on Google Maps: https://www.google.co.th/maps/@9.4529368,99.9906451,3a,75y,106.47h,76.34t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soT530jWOdrXTVj6xgArtEQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

I'm from Russia. But as far as I know they will not approve my visa if I'm traveling in Thailand on a tourist visa (or a 30 day stamp). 

I would love to know other people's experience.

9 minutes ago, overherebc said:

Buy a 5 year elite visa for, can't remember how much.

500,000 baht ?

That's a heavy investment for me at this time.

I'm asking about Non-B - because it's a cheaper option...

Hello!

Are there any foreigners here who successfully applied for a USA tourist visa through the embassy in Bangkok?

What kind of visa were you staying on in Thailand at that time? How did the interview process go?

I'm currently staying in Thailand on a tourist visa, but I've heard stories that it's not enough to be able to apply in Bangkok.

Should I upgrade to a Non-B?

Hello! 

I live in Thailand for a long time with mostly 30-day entry stamps + 3 month visas from time to time.

I would like to apply for visas to foreign countries from Thailand instead of going all the way back home.

I've heard that I need a more "permanent" status, like a Non-B visa.

I was wondering - is it possible legally to open a company (or join an existing one as a shareholder) and get a Non-B visa - without the need of getting a Work Permit?

My reasoning is that a business owner (shareholder) doesn't have to work - you have the director and staff for that. So this way I don't see the actual need for a Work Permit.

Am I right/wrong?

On 17.02.2017 at 7:26 AM, ubonjoe said:

There would be no transit visa to get. You go through  Singapore immigration and get a visa exempt entry. Then check in for your return flight and go through departure immigration.

I don't recall any reports a person being denied entry because they had a return flight for the same day. I cannot see how they could do that since there are probably many people that make day trips to there for business purposes.

You are wrong sorry. To get a transit visa in Singapore you need to leave to a 3rd country. The airline check-in desk will not allow you to board if you don't have a visa and have a return flight to the same country.

You might also encounter problems at Singapore immigration. It's better to apply online for a normal visa a few days before.

Ok. We just completed a visa run: Phuket - Singapore - Phuket.

We used the lowcoster JetStar.

1. At the Phuket airport the JetStar Airline lady at the counter asked us how long we're going to stay in Singapore (1 day) and which country we're flying to next (Thailand).
2. Then she asked for our Singapore Visa. Which we obtained through a online agent earlier that day. I assume she wouldn't let us board without it.
3. We arrived to Singapore and had absolutely no problems at the border.
4. Since we had no luggage, we checked in online and simply printed our boarding tickets at the kiosk in the Singapore airport the next day. No need to go to check-in desk (and possibly be questioned about a thailand visa / onward flight from Thailand).

Our whole visa run took less than 24 hours. 

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

If questioned they could want to see the equivalent of 20k baht and/or a ticket out of the country. They could even ask for proof you are not working here by showing funds coming from outside the country.

I've read online that if you enter Singapore and get a transit visa in the airport, they will not allow you to board a plane back to the same country where you came from.

Weird. Any info on this?

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

I have never heard of anybody traveling form here having a problem on entry to Singapore.

There have been reports of people entering the country at Phuket having problems if they had already did an out/in for a new visa exempt entry before.

Thank you. Can you share some info on Phuket? Do they ask people to show cash or what?

Hello!

Has anyone done a same-day visa run through Singapore lately? Flights from Phuket are extremely cheap and it seems like a convenient option.

But I've read a story that some guy got locked up in a cell when he tried to do that in 2016:

https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/warning-visa-runs-singapore-may-no-longer-be-safe-sacha-stevensons-friend-finds-out-hard/

(although he flew in from Indonesia).

Just bought the tickets and am a little worried.

I would like to thank everyone in this thread for the information shared!

Just get a Visa!

The person needs to come back quick.

Hello.

Has anyone had experience successfully coming back shortly after paying 20.000 baht overstay fine?

My friend left the country on March 15 right before the new immigration rules took effect having overstayed by a couple of months and payed 20.000 baht fine.

He is a citizen of Russia.

Do you know if it's safe for him to come back now by plane and enter by a 30-day stamp-on-arrival?

Or better to wait 30-45 days abroad?

BTW, the Thong Sola Food market now has perfect Wifi (although it's ADSL, it's extremely stable - 15mbps/1mbps). I set it up myself

Hello everyone! Does anyone here use any fiber optic service on Koh Phangan?

I hear that CAT and TOT offer this on the island, does anyone use them by chance?

Just a reminder, this is a question about fiber optic service only. Not ADSL (ADSL sucks).