Des1

From what they said to me in an email it is just a case of too many applications ... and i guess not enoght staff.

An update if anyone is interested. I just received (finally) my METV from the Thai Embassy in Ottawa. How they managed to send it to me at 3 a.m Monday morning in Ottawa I have no idea. They told me in a previous email they have received MANY visa requests, thus the delay. I started the process Oct. 01, on the 12th they requested more information on my travel plans. This, I think, is what confused many of us. They wanted a PDF document. I think now it did not matter the content, just the document format to plug into their system. They never replied to emails saying documents had been received, so we were left wondering. They should have, like other embassies, acknowledged receipt of information. Oh well. lesson learned.

An update if anyone is interested. I just received (finally) my METV from the Thai Embassy in Ottawa. How they managed to send it to me at 3 a.m Monday morning in Ottawa I have no idea. They told me in a previous email they have received MANY visa requests, thus the delay. I started the process Oct. 01, on the 12th they requested more information on my travel plans. This, I think, is what confused many of us. They wanted a PDF document. I think now it did not matter the content, just the document format to plug into their system. They never replied to emails saying documents had been received, so we were left wondering. They should have, like other embassies, acknowledged receipt of information. Oh well. lesson learned.

I hear you. I am still waiting as well. Good to the end of the year with a visa exempt.

I just checked this forum again and saw your post. Did you apply for a METV? Regarding the forms you submitted, how did you enter your travel plans, did you show flight tickets or anything like that? I started the process Oct 01. On the 12th they asked for travel information, an itinerary. At first I just sent an outline of my plans to exit/enter Thailand, then followed up with an actual purchased ticket for one exit. I am still waiting. I entered Thailand visa exempt so I am good untill the end of the year. I just wonder how one person can get the visa quickly and another person waits so long?

I was referring to politics in my original post. I would suggest the things you mentioned would be in the category of living as an expat in Thailand, which commenting on i fully support.

Fair enough.

For sure age is a factor as to who pays attention to most of the posts.

I guess i'll chime in again, as a newbie. What i like about this forum is the good information offered. As for people's political opinions, that is the sort of thing that ruins an information forum. Some may feel this is "not" an information forum but rather a platform for them to preach to the choir. Free speech and all that. No one really cares about your political views, or at least not on an expat forum where we just need advice on how to live in a foreign country. Grab your buddies and hit a local bar.. rant to your hearts content. Just don't expose the rest of us to whatever is pissing you off today.

I'm fairly new here and I've found this forum to be great. People with considerable knowledge willing to respond to questions and offer advice. Not too many idiots. This forum has hepled me a lot.

I believe we were talking about visa-exempt

I am in Thailand now on a visa -exempt so waiting for my visa, applied for before i left

Again...not sure how you calculate the visa-exempt. Each entry will give you 75 days if you apply for the 30 day extension. It might be wishfull thinking that all the old rules still apply upon re-entry. I am still having trouble getting a METV from Canada. I hope you are right. Just offering my opinion.

always appreciate support from fellow expats , or holiday people

Not sure what you are saying .. visa exempt can be with extension = 75 days. So a border run after that ( before march deadline) for another visa exempt, with extension = another 75 days. Total: 150 days .. not six months This is considering immigration will even let you in again. Do I have this wrong?

Well .. for a short time .. not the lenght of time I was planning

Ok, I had the same problem. My flight was booked and i did not have a visa. I entered Thailand Visa-exempt. This gives me 45 days...if necessary another 30 day extension. Still waiting for Ottawa Thai embassy to say yes or no.

Not sure what is going on in Ottawa. When i posted my latest update I heards from a brit (I think) who had no problems with the METV. I suppose everyone's previous travel stamps to thailand might be a factor? Who the F* knows.

Thanks for your comments. One thing different with my application, they asked for an itinerary (it's a required part of the process in Canada) to justify the multi-entry. I sent them a basic outline of my travel plans, it may not be enough.

update... yesterday my application status showed pending document check. Today it was back to requesting documents. I did not receive an email asking for more information. So, not sure if it was just a glitch. They are closed for the weekend now so we'll see what next week brings.

The more i think about it the better I feel about getting the visa. This is the beginning of tourist season in Thailand and I imagine they are getting a lot of visa requests now that travel has opened up. Remember what happened at the airports with the rush of people, they couldn't cope. I figure the embassy is very busy without extra staff to help. So, yes, you may have to leave without the visa like i did. I would be careful about pushing them, eg: resending your information a bunch of times, it might <deleted> them off. I think I am qualified to offer some advice on this, in so much as I left without a visa - stay calm.

forgot to reply to this .. no, I didn't get a notification that my information had been received.

If it makes you feel any better I am strill waiting as well. I did resend the travel info. Maybe next week?

I think it's been only 4 working days since i sent the info so I'm not in a panic yet. The status on the website still shows requesting documents. I did call the embassy and sent an email as well, to no avail. I can get a 30 day extension to my visa exempt so I still have lots of time to get it sorted out.

Right, I ran out of time waiting for the visa. I just didn't expect it to take so long, considering my previous experience. My mistake. I contacted a well known company called The Thai Visa Centre and they said when I finally get it I just need to leave the country and re-enter using the visa. I received the request from the Thai Embassy on the 13th .. while I was sitting in Vancouver airport waiting for my flight. I send the info right away.