observer90210

39 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

Suratthani immigration...

Application form and copy of wife's house book plus 3 photos.

500 baht !! The girl knew it was a dodgy request, when I told her they should be free she just smiled sheepishly :) I paid but asked for 2 CORs...

Got to get along with them as I do extensions here...

Did you ask her for a receipt?

Perhaps next time, use a discreet bodycam and film the cheat!!...Then either send footage to My Mate Nate or to the anti corruption bureau at the PM's office in Bangkok...may cool them down? or not?

8 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Mass transit is a great thing for lots of purposes, but not very efficient for "surgical missions" of shopping.  I miss the car trunk for hitting the hardware store, putting 10 kg of tools into the trunk, then to the drug store and another 2 kg of goodies, then to the grocery store and another 20 kg of food and cleaning stuff, then pick up a 20 kg bag of fertilizer.   With a car, that's one trip, done and dusted.  With mass transit, that's at least 2-3 trips if it's doable at all, because I can't lug it all around from store to store.

 

And that doesn't even consider the fact that 90+% of the city and 99% of the country can't be reached by mass transit at all- at least not directly.  I love the MRT and BTS, but they're no substitute for a good road system and functioning traffic laws.

 

Just for the weekend groceries, I agree that it is inconvenient to impossible to tug along the shopping when living in urban metros...

I try to have my groceries delivered after choosing them in person in the shop and always try to bargain a discounted delivery for heavy stuff, but not always possible or practical I agree.

But on the other hand one can build 5 extra fly over roads on each existing road, it will saturate at one point as populations increase,  access to a car is easy today for the masses and our commuting habbits don't change. Not to mention many commuters use 2 or 3 cars instead of car sharing...

The future lies perhaps in more efficient roads but definately needs for a change in our mobility patterns and from society in general.

However, don't get my point mistaken, I would never adhere to a community where only the rich and connected could afford to use their cars or to a society that bans cars from urban areas as it is the case in many European or UK cities...so what is the solution?

If you are in St Tropez area (French Riviera), in July and August its a standard issue to get jammed for hours, say if you drive from Sainte-Maxime to St- Tropez before noon and back around 5pm...and it's been bad to worse since years....public transport saves the issue once again if you take the boat to cross over...

As for Bangkok, who cares for bad traffic at peak hours? The skyTrain is salvation, though a few extra trains at peak hours would be more then welcome!... The River Boats also provide good mobility if your destinations are along the piers..

The future of commuters lies in well connected, cheap, 24/7 fast frequency public transport grids, as the roads are on saturation and may not look much better in the future...

1 hour ago, ripstanley said:

They DO NOT want you to show proof of income. Please read posts 99 and 100. They posted info on the website in March that they did but this has been changed since early April

Good.

More proofs on income?

Perhaps the Thai Immigration boys gave an informative lecture to the Aussie Embassy boys?

And what about Thai Customs with regard to Ali Express parcels.

Any good or bad experiences here to share?

Thanks in advance for your feedbacks or recommendations!

On 20.06.2017 at 3:50 AM, cruisemonkey said:

There is no official/published maximum number of visa exempt entries by air per year. 

 

After six visa exempt entries by air - total, over your lifetime - you are 'red flagged' by the computer system. Thai Immigration officers (may) use this 'convenient' fact (and their discretion) to extort money from the unknowing by at first denying entry to those on their seventh entry. Then, they will "do you a favour" and allow entry when they are satisfied you are really a tourist i.e. have resort/hotel booking(s), enough money and a return/onward journey ticket... and the required amount of baht is proffered. You will not receive a receipt.

 

In Thailand the criminals wear uniforms.

so if one is to understand your post, a tourist who comes each year just for a few weeks on holiday under Visa Exempt, will be flagged after six years of annual consecutive holidays?

as for the bribery issue, I always have a very discreet lapel pin body cam that records everything...could be worth filming if any form of extortion occurs at immigration in Suvarnabhumi (as it had happen sometimes to some friends living in Thailand)....Once your passport safely stamped politely refer to the PM's anti-corruption bureau and meekely hint that you prefer to talk to their distinguished, to save the country honour, rather then post your footage on youTube...instant results and transfer of the corrupt fellow guaranteed!

14 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

no return ticket in some cases.

oki so that's why they wanted a visa despite having visa exempt passport. thank you.

33 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Either visa or for visa exempt entry onward ticket with departure within 30 days is required.

ok get the point, thank you.

1 minute ago, ubonjoe said:

What makes you think one immigration officer makes the decision. It is certainly not the officer at desk on entry that makes the decision. It takes an officer of a certain rank to deny entry and it may go through a couple of officers before it gets there.

Obviously, but stil it is a bit stressful on arrival!!...but perhaps no big issue,  as I do tend to worry a bit about details.

Nevertheless, if there remains a possibility that it could occur for an unknown reason, that is disturbing - once again I fully hope that I am wrong, but on reading many of the stories,  and seeing that entry refusal is being enforced and sometimes for no apparent reason, it is a bit unconfortable to start a sojourn of the sort.

20 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Lufthansa made me sign a document online, stating that I would be responsible for all fees involved in my return, if I was denied entry for any and all reasons.  First time for that in thirteen trips, have had to show visa before....once the fat pig at UAL was trying to deny me because I was changing planes in Beijing and didn't have a visa for PRC...

I don't take LuftAir anymore...to many unexpected strikes!!...but looks that Luftair has got wind of the new Thai Immigration Policies of pushing back people.

But for the Visa, why did they ask for a visa before?  In other words, if one has a passeport that qualifies for Visa Exempt to Thailand, LuftAir would not let them fly???....

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Why

Nothing has really changed. Just a few more cases that were posted on this forum.

You are right...but what is scaring me off, I admit, it that there is absolutely no consistency in the rules that already did exist...a bit to much is in the hands of the sole immigration officer who can plainly refuse entry just on assumptions? I just hope that I am totally wrong on this one....

Just now, JackThompson said:

I do believe in personal privacy, and am astonished people give theirs up.   But, "up to you."

 

I don't worry about official agencies - though history shows they often have ties to unsavory characters, if you read the now-declassified docs from 40 yrs ago.  I figure they know where I am 24/7, anyway.  I do worry more about private-corporations having that data.  Also, straight-up bad guys - consider this really simple case:  Bad Guy knows your schedule, knows the toys you have, uses those to burglarize your home.  But if you put disinfo in your FB-account to protect yourself, now you look like you are "hiding something" and could come under suspicion from the good-guys.  Yuk.  I simply opted out.

Fully agree...I deleted my FB account almost 6 years ago....if I need to communicate free of charge from one part of the world to the other I either use wassUp or faceTime and works fine...

If you can, that is only if you can,  if I was in your place, I would postpone my trips until things chill down a bit with Thai Immigration chaps...

Give your money to another country in the world that is more hospitable on arrival....

<removed>

1 hour ago, possum1931 said:

What sort of food. what happens if a farang cannot eat Thai food? Unlimited booze?? That can't be true.

Well my distinguished poster, in the first place, one could be intrigued if a farang visits Thailand with an aversion to Thai food!

24 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Detainment room at 3000 Baht per day ?

Whats all that about ?

 

well if it is all inclusive, with food, wifi, a/c and unlimited booze one may consider such an amount!!!!!!!

How much cash did he have? No cash?

Did he have a confirmed return ticket? No?

From which country is his passport?

An answer to these 3 questions, may make things clearer...

Good luck to the poor chap in detention...<removed>

14 minutes ago, turnipandchips said:

Do you think she and my GF maybe had an argument during the interview and she isn't telling me. haha

well we all know what girls are like mainly when they see red!!!!....but on the whole, I find her treatment quite unfair as UK immigration could always check at the give adress after 60 days if she has left or not...not very fair! Hope it get's sorted out for you both!

after reading ^..... us farangs rant against Thai Immigration???!!!!

maybe the UK immigration lady wanted some fish-n-chips money?

Ok thanks to all above for your good pieces of information.

you could try to "force" them with a plumpy brown enveloppe?

1 minute ago, jeab1980 said:

No its not you can read that take everything and still get bounced away. Every individual branch seems to have its own idea on foriegners opening a bank account.  For instance 3 weeks ago pattaya a friend tried BKK bank in central no joy cannot do. The branch up by big C same no can do need WP ect ect.

 Went with him to my Failsafe BKK beach road armed with 10k cash cert of residence. And a smile no problem account opened in about 20 mins with a visa card not union pay. On a visa exempt. Before you ask easy got a letter from his hotel stating he was living there for 55 days. When asked about only 30 days on exempt by checkers easy going to extend it by 30 days no hassle.

Very true!!...each branch, each manager makes his own rules...a bit like the Immigration officers who interpret the laws in a very individual matter....to get back to the bank topic, if you walk into the bank accompanied by a customer who is known to the bank (for exemple the realestate developer/sales agentwho sold you your house for ex.), things just get done in a giffy as per western standards with all smiles and waï's!!

If a friend from abroad comes on a holiday with visa exemption 30 days to stay at your house that you own (leasehold), say for a total sojurn of 2 or 3 weeks ,  does the housemaster need fill up the TM30? - With consideration that the friend has already filled the form with the address at immigration on arrival at the airport?

8 minutes ago, jphasia said:

 

Well, i agree with you but please take note we are not arguing. As stated in my first post, a rule is a rule and no argue on that. Yes we messed up as my wife missed that her passport has 5 and half month validity left only. But when the airline staff informed us about this problem, we were ready to accept that she has to postpone her trip today to get a new passport prior to come back to Myanmar. We just highlighted to the airline staff that she entered and exit Myanmar 2 weeks ago (so she was already within the 6 months validity left) and neither the airline or the immigration in Myanmar mentioned anything that time. Also that she had return ticket booked for her return to Thailand in 10 days. The airline asked us to acknowledge the risk of being denied in Yangon and eventual charges by both immigration and airline, which we accepted.
If they would have denied my wife to check-in again after after discussion, no big deal, she would have reschedule her trip today and I would have fly alone.

We did not delayed anyone because first we are travelling on premium or business only and using the respected business check in counter which is usually not crowded and gladly they were nobody behind us. Also we came for check-in very early as we had plan to have lunch at the airport.
We are both travelling a lot. Myself actually flew from Yangon to Bangkok yesterday evening and back to Yangon this afternoon with my wife.
As I mentioned in my first post, we are not complaining about this situation. Just failing to understand this rule.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good and I hope you enjoyed your trip and that things get sorted out soon.

I am confident that you did not take my comment as a direct hint on your situation, and that you have assessed the point and the picture I was attempting to describe on some situations at check-in that do occur quite often.

Have a nice evening.