gejohesch

As a few above shared their experiences in other parts of the world, I will share a recent one I had (or rather witnessed) in Portugal. A friend of mine, citizen of another EU country than Portugal, wanted to register as resident in Lisbon. I happened to be around and I accompanied her to one of the "Lojas da Cidadão" to do the registration. A "Loja da Cidadão" is an office where all sorts of civil services are provided. In principle, the registration is immediate for any EU citizen. Just have to show an ID and fill a form with some basic info. Now, it happened to be a woman behind the desk and she was absolutely horrible, no idea why. The process only took some 15 minutes, I sat down with my friend to put the various docs in order (she had brought far more than what was required, to be on the safe side), on the chairs at the back of the office, a few metres from the desks. We chatted a bit of course, not loud at all, but another woman behind another desk told us off in a spurt of very unfriendly words. We could not understand any of it but the feeling was there. We left the office shocked by the very unfriendly attitude of the 2 women.

Are you sure? He might have become one of the Democrats' best assets, as he puts off loads of moderate Republicans and independent voters - as it has been demonstrated in the recent elections for congress.

There are 2 types : - the pleasant ones; - the ones who seem to wake up in the morning with the idea that they "have to defend the mother country against the undesirable foreigners". When I used to commute on the BTS in BKK, I saw that second type a number of times, usually women in uniform with frowning faces, going to work in some gvt office I guess. Having said that, I think these 2 types can be found in just about any country!

Not difficult, but passes prior to the flight arriving to Thailand : that's not a normal part of the "process", as far as I know.

Sorry but this is wrong: 1 - it never says anywhere "boarding pass from all the flights from departure point" (correct me, maybe I'm blind?), so the natural interpretation is " boarding pass for the flight of arrival in Thailand", which would make sense as (already said many times above), the IO needs to put in the record the flight number with which one arrives in BKK. Imagine the situation where one would take more than 2 flights from initial departure point to arrival in Thailand : would the IO require to see all the boarding passes? Would that not verge on the ridiculous? 2 - I cannot see what was wrong in "including the GF" in the post, as it directly related to where I was going to stay in Thailand - again, another (natural) question from the IO (and no problem with that)

I never had an unpleasant experience either (and I cannot count my entries to Thailand anymore!) .... until this time. This is why I'm puzzled and put this post on. Everything being subjective (of course), I can tell you that I look as respectable and as properly dressed as (nearly) everyone else. ????

Good reply, thanks, sums up a good part of the story I think.

Possibly

My own experience going to the USA (most of the time on business) : yes, the IO's question lots, but it was never unpleasant.

That seems indeed to be the case. What they do not seem to realise is that lots of the guys who "have GF's but are not tourists" bring a lot more cash into the country than the usual tourists.

Ah, that could explain my experience. I agree, "smile, be polite, answer whatever questions they have and don’t try to go be friends with them" It's not really so much that I was asked questions that irritated me a bit (hence my post) but it's 1) that the IO was at the edge of being unpleasant; and 2) I could not understand why having shown my boarding pass on the plane arriving in BKK, the IO also insisted for "the boarding pass" which eventually turned out to be the one for the plane I had taken to arrive in Dubai (where I transited to BKK). That I find was a bit over the top. Next time they will also ask me to show a receipt for my taxi ride to the departure airport in the EU???

It's my experience as well. My GF visited 8 to 10 times countries in the Schengen area already, she never had to show much documentation. Usually, passport only - with Schengen visa. Sometimes I believe, she was asked to show my invitation to come (there is a standard Schengen form for that), but I'm not even sure. There are hurdles to get a Schengen visa - we know by experience - but once it's done, it's plain sailing! (not "plane sailing", obviously ????)

Just came to this comment. You may have a point, especially as I am now traveling with a brand new passport. My entry to Thailand was the first time I used it to travel.

That's not the point. The point is that if a Thai embassy has issued a visa, having verified all the paperwork required for that, there has by definition already been quite a level of filtering.

I have lived and worked in Australia. True, a lot of paper work required for some things. For other things though, dead easy!

Another thing I would like to add. I can understand why the USA IO's are a bit of a pain : 1) the ESTA electronic authorisation process (online) which I used a few times to go to the USA (in the 90's and 2000's) did not ask for much info, so the "filtering" at that stage was minimal. Hence some additional checking would naturally be required on arrival in the USA. 2) the USA has been for a long time now the target of several terrorist organisations, justifying a high level of scrutiny by the IO's. That would also be the case, I imagine, for Israel. So, again : having already passed quite some screening / filterig when applying for the TR visa, and Thailand not being such a target by malevolent foreigners as the USA or Israle could be. Then why should the IO's at the entry point to Thailand be particularly inquisitive when dealing with a TR visa holder?

Nothing new to me. You did not read my story correctly: I had given my boarding pass to the IO right from the start. He only seemed to get satisfied when I dug from my pockets the boarding pass from Europe to Dubai (where I transited on my way to BKK).

Thanks, that's maybe the best balanced reply I got so far. I can tell you about our experience with my GF's Schengen visas (been visiting regularly for over 10 years now). She has never had any such experience as you describe. Usually, she just put the few docs in front of the Schengen IO (in France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria) and would get through within at most 1 or 2 minutes of checking.

Possible. Makes sense of course, but then is a "grilling" attitude reasonably to be expected towards all the people who are regular visitors to Thailand?

First part : the embassy I am dealing with requests proof of accommodation. I'm not staying in a hotel or other commercial site, but in my GF's house, so there it goes! Second part : maybe you put your finger on sthg here. I actually am now traveling on a brand new passport. The Thai visa was the first and unique stamp on it. Possibly, just possibly, that combined with the fact that my passport is from a country different from the country where I am resident (and where I obtained the Thai visa) looked strange to the IO.

Believe me we (both my GF and myself) have been tempted for some time. If it was not for her family attachments....

Me and my GF have a lot of experience with Schengen (got sthg like 8 or 9 visas and visits behind us already). Yes, it's true that the Schengen visa process is a lot more cumbersome than getting a TR visa for Thailand. But maybe the real point in this story is that: 1 - Schengen countries do not depend as much as Thailand on tourism; 2 - For a EU citizen (and many others I guess), it's easier to go to a number of other interesting countries than Thailand - Thailand is not the unique "dream destination"!

As replied above, that's nothing new, but thanks!

And how do you know that?

Oh, thanks for the info! I have traveled around the world for easily half of century and I did not know that! ???? That btw is not unique to Thailand, it's rather worldwide.