tenjinando

By your action you just should be treated same as this "officer" .....corruption is on both sides ..."seller and buyer" this way next people will be affected same way.

It could cost you much less going back to any close countries to get full visa...

You should send a letter of complain to any possible office including new Prime minister...

To be honest next time I would use any kind of recording device on any contact with those people....IT IS EASY this days and cheap. (Any smart phone has recording software ...).

Satisfaction could be sweet. if you show him even sound recording after all.

Thank you for your advice. As you suggest, any time you are mistreated, it is a case of "even Steven;" you deserve whatever comes to you whether you are in the right or in the wrong. It takes "two to tango."

I have heard from many members and understand that, more of less, I just got shafted and can't do much about it without putting myself in danger. However, the second part of my problem is: before the end of the 30 days, if I got to an immigration office like in Pattaya, do you think they will still give me a 30 day visa exemption? Right now, that is the most important to me (my fixed ticket with Jetstar is for Oct 1 - Nov 29. If I can't get an extension, I face even more problems. Can someone give me advice on that?

This probably wont be much help to you, but i was going to Japan with my Thai girlfriend, for a short 4 day stay. ( end of a cruise liner holiday ). My girlfriend would have gone to the Japan embassy in BKK. She would need a letter from her employer saying she could have the time off. She would need to produce her bank book and show she had enough funds in her account to support herself for those 4 days ( even though i was sponsoring her ) . these funds should not ba a lump sum. i put about 200,000 in there. plus she would need a sponsor letter from me. I actually phoned the Japan embassy in BKK, and they were quite helpful.

That is very helpful indeed because it is exactly how I was treated at the Thai consulate in Osaka, Japan, when requesting a two month visa (I am Japanese). At the time I was a professor at the prefectural university and had to "get permission" to travel, show how long I had been employed as a prefectural civil servant, my salary, a guarantor in Japan in the case I couldn't care for my self financially while in Thailand, and an affidavit stating the exact amount I had in my back account. Japanese receive a one month's visa on arrival in Thailand. I don't know why for the life of me so much detailed information is required to get an extra month's visa. But seeing your situation, I am inclined to believe the two countries are having a spat. It was suggested to me to go to Laos for a visa extention for Thailand.

As for my sons case, I cannot afford to have them sent back to Thailand because the Japanese immigration refuses to recognize their "visa" (which is actually just the embassy recommending that the immigration department in Japan accept the requested visa. And, being high school students, all the documentation you mentioned may prove impossible. I am not giving up yet, but they may have to be satisfied having me go to visit them more frequently and give up the idea of trying to show them how I live in Japan and what life is like here.

Thank you for showing me that there is a similar visa problem traveling to and from both countries.

Sincerely,

Kaaru Ando, professor emeritus

Thank you for the information. I have been checking the sites you recommended, and I found that they are somewhat difficult to understand. Together with the information on the sites about new provincial application centers with postal service (not too sure what that means), there is another (last) notification telling Thais that they must go to the Japanese embassy in Bangkok! Does anyone have any ideas?

I have been sponsoring two Thai cousins for six years and aiding their grandmother who has raised them. They had asked me to accept them as my sons with their grandmother's permission and I agreed and took all financial responsibility for raising them. I have also sent them through junior high and senior high school. They will both graduate next spring and I want to have them visit me in Japan before going on to two years of post graduate studies. I want to give them a chance to meet my daughter and grandson again, as well as to see how I live in Japan. We need to know what procedures are necessary for them to travel to Japan and what problems they might encounter. I am now a retired university professor and would have to accompany them to Japan as neither has experience travelling nor a good command of English. Any information would be welcomed. Thank you in advance.

42/2 is house number 42 at Muu 2 (section of the village # 2)

Thank you all for your replies to my problem. I am a naturalized Japanese citizen of American desent (parents were immigrants to the U.S.). Most of my life has been here in Japan where I am a professor of Nagasaki Prefectural University. Perhaps the Thai consulate that handles my visa application has a thing about Japanese civil service personnel, or perhaps they think that I am too old to spend two months in Thailand. As too my not having contributed anything to the forum, four years ago my two adopted sons and their friend went to Khon Kaen to send me off on my return to Japan from Roiet where I had built a mission house for personal evangelism and as a home away from home. While killing time we went to a park by a lake where the kids played ping pong or just went to see what there was to see. I sat on a bench waiting for the time to pass. The kids all came back (9 kids) and waited with me while our driver and one of the kids finished their game. Two Americans walked by, one in his late thirties or early forties, the other younger. As they passed us the older one loudly said, "Now isn't this suspicious!" and continued dirty remarks about me because the kids were around me. I tried to say something, which he took to mean something else completely, and was threatened with a beating! The kids and the driver asked what was going on. When I told them they were deeply offended and wanted to leave immediately. As a result, I stay away from foreigners, who seem to jump to conclusions with no idea of the truth or desire to know it, while in Thailand. After giving the best part of my life and fortune to help Thais I don't need to be berated by strangers while I am anywhere in Thailand. I am leary of getting involved and would rather stand back from the foreign community and learn from the "outside."

As I have every year for many, many years, I applied for a tourist visa for two months to go to Thailand during prefectural university break. Being a university professor I use the time to work on my Thai language and visit friends including three boys whom I have been sponsoring. I have spent huge amounts of money paying for medical operations, helping families buy land to build homes, financing children's education, etc. Lately I have been told I must have a letter of authorization from the university to go to Thailand including my position as professor and the time period allowed by the university. Suddenly, this month I have been told I must include the time I have been employed as a tenured professor and my monthly salary! After submission, I was informed that now I must also have a bank statement! Have requirements been changed? There is nothing posted at any of the Thai embassy sites or on the web anywhere. Am I just being singled out? Being a civil servant employed as a professor at the prefectural university ought to be enough recommendation and guarantee of my eligibility for a tourist visa for two months, I should think. Any suggestions or information to give me?