Wongkitlo

8 hours ago, bannork said:

No, the Prime Minister of one country should not use the familiar tone of 'Uncle 'with another government's senior figure, the father of the current PM. It betrays a familiarity and a junior position in the relationship, almost as bad as Rutte calling Trump, 'daddy'!

Then she went on to say if there were anything he wanted, she would “take care of it''  and he was to take no notice about remarks from the head of her army in Region 2 who just wanted to ''seem cool''.

 Hun Sen before Thailand- wrong , wrong, wrong.

 

I was just commenting on the "uncle" part not the rest of the phonecall as criticizing  it seems a misunderstanding of Thai culture. Just because it is a familiarity in English it does not have the same connotations in Thai. You can call a waiter 'norng' which is the same you would call a younger brother. It does not mean you are treating him as a family member. I don't think Thai has a word for "Sir" which would be the English equivalent. I hate it when Thai people call me 'Mister' which could be seen as the equivalent of 'Koon". 

On 6/25/2025 at 5:44 PM, wensiensheng said:

“Pattaya Beach, a year-round tourist hotspot, faces challenges with debris during low tide, including plastic, glass, and hazardous materials, making cleanup efforts crucial for safety and reputation.”

 

They do know that the tide goes in and out every day, don’t they?

The locals at the next few days up are busy throwing their garbage bags in the sea to replenish it. 

My wife was offered this but does not want it. Thai tourists are the most difficult and demanding and complain the most. The worst are the bar girls who think they are princesses because they have found a farung to pay for their budget hotel and expect 5 star. 

I don't particularly like her but she was only saying what was obvious. The military are a seperate power to the government and unable to be controlled by the government. 

12 hours ago, michael888 said:

Hi, does anyone know if you need to show your passport at immigration vientiane when you go in to pay for an evisa (non O marriage)?  I ask because I want to rent a motowhen i get to vientiane but cant without giving them my passport.  Quandry.  

From memory you need to show it when you make payment. A tuk tuk to the embassy and back is not so expensive. 

50 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

Read posts above from @treetops and @Upnotover.

The latter part of your above statement is probably your issue.

They probably have updated the online form. Both @treetops and @Upnotoverseem to say different things. One says optional the other semi optional.

It would be a lot of extra work if it was not optional. Many people book one night, then add another, then another night. Would mean multiple tm30's for some guests.

Others leave early and it kind of defeats the purpose as they are already written in for a week, and decide to leave after a couple of days so in some cases it would mean immigration has multiple tm30 entries for the same guest. 

It is ok if you have a large hotel with specific staff for tm30's but if you have a small operation it is hard. Sometime's we have turnover of 20+ people per day. 

 I do think the tm30 system is just a money  earner. If you are in  a remote area or computer illiterate you are allowed to report arrivals at the local police station which kind of defeats the purpose of having everything computerised. Before COVID we used to take a form we printed with arrivals passport numbers there and the police would stamp it. I would then throw them out at the end of the month. Recently the chief or the local police station visited us for a different reasons. We asked if we could do the same and he said"Don't bother. Nobody cares about all that around here"

On 6/1/2025 at 10:15 PM, Liquorice said:

As an individual in private or rented housing, you complete the main TM30 form.

Hotels/Guest houses also complete the secondary part of the form advising who is in residence and the duration of stay.

 

 

 

 

This is the form from the immigration office. The online one is different. Unless it has changed there was no request for check out date (or maybe an optional one as some have said). I have not done one since last year. I was doing it for my wife's hotel but it took up so much time we decided to just say we were too stupid to work out the process of immigration comes. 

On 5/28/2025 at 11:47 AM, thesetat said:

Your hotel would have registered you there and leaving.

I agree what you are saying but I have done the reporting for tm30 online and, unless it has changed recently, it only reports arrivals. There is no option or obligation to report departures so Immigration will not know if he stayed 48 hours or longer. 

I have often thought this is the pointlessness of the TM 30 system.  You can be reported at the hotel you initially arrive in and then go to any province in Thailand and committ as much crime as you like and as far as  immigration  knows, you are still back where you were reported at.

1 hour ago, BrandonJT said:

 

They don't send them back.  They instead give them the incorrect entry stamp (visa exempt) and then they have to go back to the airport to get it fixed.  All because they didn't hand over the visa when they arrived as the e-visa site tells them to.

No. The evisa site does not tell you to print it.  It says you 'can' print it. Unlike some  other countries it does not say it is a requirement. 

34 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

The e-visa is an electronic application. The visa is issued in paper form you can print off.

The Non Imm O ME visa is no longer available using the e-visa application system.

Yes. It is a pity about the M.E visa. It made it easy if you moved around a lot. No need to change immigration offices. Hard to have a home visit if you are not always at the same home . 

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

Don't get hung up on what has transpired recently in the local area.

"This kind of visa" has been on the go for many years.

Evisas only (no paper visa from the embassy /consulate)have just been introduced this year. Otherwise I would have gone to Savanakhet for a multi entry one which was much easier for me. 

16 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

@Wongkitlo think you mentioned that an agent offered "instant service" to obtain the Non O e-Visa for 5k.

Do you think that was genuine. 

 

Yes. Definitely. I was sitting at his table as he sold one to somebody who was unaware of the turnover time and was flying out the next day. I have his card but probably better if people PM me to save him trouble. He was a nice guy apart from his scam. 

On 5/10/2025 at 9:30 AM, sandyf said:

It is a bit more complicated than that. Visas come under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration is under the Ministry of the Interior.

It is quite common in the UK for one ministry to have different ways to another. 

Since the printing has become such a topic of conversation it could allow further discussion.

Naturally for this kind of visa the main local sources are Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam (have heard Malaysia is impossible). Entry from Vietnam is by air only leaving Laos and Cambodia as the land entries. Both require visas printed and both also use  evisas and traditional stickers  which generate paperwork for IO's. I am sure if the IO has paperwork for printed visas they need for the evisas as well. 

Their borders are also notoriously corrupt with IO's charging extortionate amounts for visas, extra charge for forgotten photos, fake health checks and overpriced printouts. 

In Thailand, unlike their neighbours, they have introduced a totally electronic visa. Hopefully it is some move towards a non corruptible, paper gree system with no fines from IO's for not having a printout etc and piles of paperwork like @Rob Browder has highlghted. 

Posters have mentioned the website says that people 'can' printout but maybe this is  to cater for the people who do not use smartphones and difficult airport workers. I do doubt that anybody is going to arrive at Swampy and be sent back to their home country because they have not printed their visa. The papers would be full of it especially since Thailand is pushing people to easily get visas instead of turning up visa exempt and jumping across borders. 

I could introduce another thing. We now have a DTAC system instead of running around borrowing pens when you arrive and carrying an easily lost exit form which you pay a fine to replace. Is anybody suggesting we should print out the DTAC form. Naturally not because the IO has it on his computer immediately you fill it out at the airport.

15 hours ago, Rob Browder said:

In this case, I think you got so much doubt, because you reported two "seemingly unlikely" things - quick-service for your eVisa (DTV people had reported delays there), and not needing a printout of your eVisa to enter Thailand (from a paper-obsessed bureaucracy).

 

Both results are good news, of course - and thanks for reporting.

I just found his manner slightly confronting. Tod Daniels had advised me on another page that he had heard other reports of quick service. 

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

@Wongkitlo you have a Non O and have been stamped into Thailand for 90 days (as you stated) 

Thanks for posting that. 

This is great news for those looking to obtain a Non O. 

A process time of not much more than a day is fantastic. 

Thanks for advice and help. 

5 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Any chance of posting entry stamp to Thailand from the e-Visa you obtained in Vientiane 

47 minutes ago, norsurin said:

I agree.This is the same what happens when u arrive Thailand in fex Suvarnabhumi.The IO give u 60 days visa on arrival.But i see people come up with stories here that don't add up or make any sense.I guess he get a visa on arrival in the border.Thats it.Happens everyday to houndreds of foreigners.

Thanks. I have lived in Thailand for nearly 10 years, have been on the forum for over 6 years compared to your 1 year. If you bothered reading the original post you would see I went to the Thai Embassy in Vientiane. Do you really think you get a visa on arrival from an Embassy. 

I put up the report to help other people, not for you to troll me. Next time I might think twice before doing so. 

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

You have to bear in mind that not many countries extend visa status to the extent Thailand does.

When you go to immigration, as there is no stamp in passport, you need to submit copies of the visa along with any other documents.

Indeed it could be said that it should all be on computer, but you have to live with the reality.

I think the reality is that they have it all on their computer and paper copies are unnecessary. Even if some countries still have paper visas it is a thing of  the past and, even though I  I know that Thailand likes collecting paper copies of everything, maybe in this regard they are catching up to the rest of the world. 

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

Any chance of posting entry stamp to Thailand from the e-Visa you obtained in Vientiane 

I am not at home at the moment but definitely can when I arrive😉

14 minutes ago, Caldera said:

 

As things stand, no official announcement has been made to that effect, and the guidance on the eVisa website that I've posted here advises successful applicants to print out their eVisa.

 

I neither doubt your first-hand report nor am I surprised, as it's in their system just like you said. I just don't think there's any guarantee that another official at another border or on another day doesn't want the printout, which is why your success story is of dubious value to others. Anyone entering with an eVisa anywhere is best advised to have a printout. 

Well the only negative of not having a printout would be you would need to walk 10 metres to the print station near the Thai Immigration at the Friendship bridge and wait in a queue to get a print out 

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

As you can see. Few folk surprised the quick process.

Here is part of your post earlier. Correspondence indicating approval.

......

"Please print out the attached eVisa Approval Letter and present it along with your passport to the Immigration Officer upon the arrival to The Lao PDR"

 

I'm confused. This is a Non O to Thailand.

Why present letter to "officer upon arrival to the Lao PDR".

Could you post the stamp you received entering Thailand.

Obviously remove any sensitive info. 

There is a difference between the Laos evisa email and the Thai evisa email. The Laos one definitely requests a print out of the visa but the Thai one does not. In my report I detailed my entry to Laos( the Thai IO initially thought I was a border runner) and then my journey to the embassy in Vientiane. It is pretty obvious I am talking about a Thai visa particularly as the picture I attached says 'Thai E-Visa'

1 hour ago, norsurin said:

The whole story from the OP don't make any sense.

Why is that? It is similar to what Tod Daniels has said on Facebook but his reports were even quicker 

16 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

So to confirm, you're stating that you submitted your e-visa application to the Thai Embassy in Vientiane on Friday, and you received the Non O e-visa on the following day, Saturday.

Yes. Next day. There was also an agent there saying he would get it for me  immediately if I paid him 5000 b

9 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

I'm still in shock also 

However in another current thread @Tod Daniels stated....

 

"Your best bet is to slog on over to Vientiane or Savannakhet and apply for the 90 day Non-O visa online thru a consulate there, go pay for it in person at the consulate and IF you uploaded the required documentation) the visa will be approved in less than a day after you pay (don't pay any attention to their posted 15 days processing) regular old Non-O, Non-B, Non-ED visas are approved FAST there"

 

Hopefully more reports will be posted in future. 

Yes. Tod told me to go there on the Thai visa Fbook site.