bjhabal

I agree, Malaysia is much better option, with almost similar cost and easier communication, just try to avoid the overstay at this stage, as it will be posted on the new passport.

Good luck,

Bishop

Buying goods in Thailand does not need a work permit and any type of visa is accepted, just make sure that you are staying legally.

Bishop

First try to get double entry visa from Canada if you can, and that will give you the ability to stay 60 days each and can extend it in Thailand for another 30 days each, however one entry will serve you for 60 days and then you can run to a nearby border and get free 30 days visa exemption stamp. You can do that 3 times during a six month period.

Good luck

Bishop

Don't worry, just tell the guy when submitting your application that you want double entries and he will write it down for you; that is what I have done as there is no space in the application form to let you choose how many entries you want, however, he will write down double beside the tourist visa box, and you will know whether they accept it or not when you pay for the visa as they will write X2 on the receipt and charge you B2000.

Good luck

Bishop

Hello everyone,

I just want to report my latest experience in Vientiane, as I have just comeback this morning after applying and getting a double entry tourist visa with a couple of my friends.

We applied for the visa at 08.45 Monday morning with at least other 700 people (seven hundred no joke) queuing in front of us; the 3 lines were up to behind the consulate room, but the service was incredibly efficient that we were out of the Embassy in less than 2 hours.

There were no question asked and everybody were quick to the window just to pay the fees and get the receipt after hearing their names been called.

One of my friends who applied with me, has a double citizenship, Russian-Canadian, and when he applied with his Russian passport for a tourist visa in the Thai Embassy in Moscow, they requested him to produce a lot of documents, which he found it a very much time consuming and asked the person in charge whether he has any other alternatives, and the answer was, yes go and get it from Vientiane, Laos??

Well, can anybody tell me why and how the staff of the Embassy in Moscow knows that the Thai Embassy in Laos giving the visa easily?

I want to point for 2 important notices here:

1. You have to ask for the double entries as there is no box to check, in your application and they will write it down by hand, many people did not know that and end up with a single visa.

2. Some times as in my case too, the immigration officer at the border do not staple your Lao exit card in your passport and as it is required to remain in your passport by the Thai Embassy, so make sure that they will do the job there. I saw at least 2 persons who found their exit cards are missing upon receiving their passport back, and they were wondering what to do next.

I hope with that much increasing applicant in Vientiane, there will be no dramatic changes to their excellent service there; just keep your fingers crossed.

Cheers,

Bishop

I am not sure if he means Vientiane or other Consulate in somewhere else, as in Vientiane it is the Embassy and not Consulate, unless he means the Consulate section in the Embassy. Anyway, I have just returned from Vientiane this morning with a couple of friends after obtaining 2 entries tourist visa without any problem. I will right some more details in the Vientiane update section in this page, read it if you are interested.

Bishop

I think some Embassies particularly in the third world countries do not update their website frequently, however for the Thai, I have seen people applying and paying for a visa to Laos, meanwhile Singaporean do not need a visa, though they list it among the countries that they need. The funny part is that some Embassies will keep issuing visa to people who do not need it if they apply for it not knowing the regulations; for example, when Cambodia canceled the visa requirement for Singaporean, the Embassy in Bangkok kept issuing the visa for my wife without telling her that she does not need it anymore; we only knew that after several trips to Cambodia, when one nice immigration officer asked my wife why she is getting visas when it is not required for her. The bottom line is that no one should rely one hundred percent on an Embassy based information and try to get it from other sources such as the ministry of foreign affairs if possible.

Cheers,

Bishop

I never used an extension service for my visas, however for those who do, a three entries valid for only three month, still much better than filling their passports with extensions, though will cost a little bit more.

Bishop

KL will give you only one entry 3 month tourist visa without any trouble.

Bishop

By Train: It is really not very convenient but the cheapest (B.48) one way, depart 5.55 morning and arrive about 12.00 noon. From the station you got to take either a (B.10) local bus (Truck) or Tuk-Tuk (B.80-100) to the border (6 km). But remember that going back by train could not be possible because the departure is around 2.00 o’clock, which leaves you with only two hours to do your border run (in older days this used to be more than enough) therefore you have to comeback either by a casino’s contracted bus or normal intercity bus.

By Bus: you have two options: the first one is the tour bus contracted with the casinos; those buses do not have a fixed station but many main stops such as Lumpini Park, Victory Monument, Big C Laphrao, etc.; the cost is (B200) one trip or round trip and drops you at the border (it taks 3 hours to arrive). The second is the normal intercity bus from Monchit station, the cost is a little over B200 per trip and the station in Aranyaprathet is next to the train station, which means you still have to take other transportation to the border.

Note: Do not stand behind the long Thai line, even if you been asked to do so, just go ahead to the foreigner lane and do not listen to those dealers at the border to guide you for what to do, they just want to get your money in any way they can.

Good luck

Bishop

If you do not know in which hotel you are going to stay, it is not a problem, just write "Hotel, Kawsarn Road, Bangkok" that's all what they want to know. It happened in front of me many times, and the officer(s) always asked them to write the street name and the city as this is what they are looking for.

Bishop

The shortest and cheapest way to do it from Bangkok is via Aranyaprathet / Poipet boarder to Cambodia.

Cambodian Visa:

You can either get the visa at the border for B.1000, and it will be done in five minutes or from the Embassy in Bangkok and the cost will be: US$ 20.00 if you collect your passport 2 days later or B.1100-1200 if you want your visa same day afternoon.

Transportation:

Train: It is really not very convenient but the cheapest (B.49) one way, depart about 6.00 o’clock morning and arrive about 12.00 noon. From the station you got to take either a local bus (B.10) or Tuk-Tuk (B.80-100) to the border (6 km). But remember that going back by train could not be possible because the departure is around 2.00 o’clock, which leaves you with only two hours to do your border run (in older days this used to be more than enough) therefore you have to comeback either by a casino’s contracted bus or normal intercity bus.

Bus: you have two options: the first one is the tour bus contracted with the casinos; those buses do not have a fixed station but many main stops such as Lumpini Park, Victory Monument, Big C Laphrao, etc.; the cost is (B200) one trip or round trip and drops you at the border (it taks 3 hours to arrive). The second is the normal intercity bus from Monchit station, the cost is a little over B200 per trip and the station in Aranyaprathet is next to the train station, which means you still have to take other transportation to the border.

Minivan: will drop you at the border but the cost is much higher.

Fees:

Cambodian immigration might ask you to pay B.200 for going back same day, but if you insert B.100 in your passport in advance, they will think you are a regular visitor and will accept it, (that is what I do always).

Return ticket:

I presume you already have an air ticket, though I have never been asked at that border to present one, it is required by rule and I always make sure that I have one, as I might be denied re-entry without it; however in case you do not have one, then a train ticket to Malaysia cost you B.1200 would be sufficient, and you can refund it back later loosing 20% of it’s value.

Hope this will help you a bit and good luck.

Bishop

they will transfer the stamp at the border but they will ask you to go to another counter or office to do it and then get back on line to get the exit stamp.

Bishop

To be black listed, you should have committed a serious crime, or broken the law severely, but for incomplete requirement you will only be denied entry and this has nothing to do with your future attempt to enter.

Furthermore denying entry is not necessary associated with the black list, bearing in mind that holding a valid visa doesn’t necessary means that you are surely entitled to enter (although it is 90% supporting of)! The last word for this decision is always lies on the hand of the immigration officer at the point of entry (according to most countries’ of the world law.)

According to your statement as lopburi3 answered, you are not blacklisted and the stamp they have put in your passport probably an explanation for the denying of entry. You still can enter with your old passport too if the validity period extended to be over six month.

Bishop

You are right Marvo, and that’s exactly what I was doing; in fact the police came to my work places several times and asked me what am I doing there, and whether I have a work permit or not? my answers was no I do not have one, but I am not working, I am just checking the performance of my investments, and whether there were any documents to be signed, then they asked one of the employees if I was working there and he answered no, and that was all. Now if there is something new in the law, I have no idea but I do not think it is a big deal to just sign the documents, because the penalty for not signing it is harsher anyway. I wish good luck and hope everything will go smoothly.

Bishop

You have asked a question and everybody answered you according to their experience or knowledge, non of us are either lawyers or government employees; however is it legal? Well if you know that it is legal then you won’t be asking this question in the first place; all what are you trying to do is to cover up illegal act so it can appear as a legal.

Is signing the papers outside will make your working in Thailand without a work permit legal?

If you are trying to do this just to buy sometimes in order to do your visa right, then it is ok, but my question is, if someone wants to check whether you have signed the paper outside or inside the country, wouldn’t he check too if you have a work permit or not?? I wonder!

Bishop

You should know that the immigration officer will be looking for the stamp of the last destination you have exit from. One of my friends told me it worked with him after explaining to the officer that he has dual nationalities (passports) and showed him the second passport, which has been photocopied an faxed to the native embassy to make sure that it is not a fake one; however, I don’t encourage you to use two different passports entering the same country. I have been stopped and questioned for quite a long time in Singapore last year for admitting using other passport in my previous visit.

Bishop

Take it easy, in the past I have signed hundreds of official paper for my companies, without even having a visa at all. All the work done by the accountant, and never been asked to report to any government agencies, though, I always been the managing director of my companies. It is just a routine work.

Bishop

Well, some embassies and/or consulate try to give people a hard time, but at the end you still can get your visa in one way or another.

Changing your passport gives you a fresh start, but that is not a necessary.

There are no rules for how long you can stay in Thailand as long as you enter legally; if you enter with visas, then you can stay for ever, but if you enter with 30 days visa exemption (not VOA as you mentioned) then you are allowed to stay for a maximum of 90 days per 180 days (3 month every six), however, you can get visas in between and use the combination to stay as long as you desire. Keep reading messages in this forum to get updates about where you can find the most tourist friendly Thai embassies and/or consulates.

Have a good day

Bishop

If it is clearly stated in your passport that you have a double entries visa and you have used only one, then there will be no problem to get your second entry, I guess the officer was just trying to scare you off. Nevertheless remember that you still can get a 30 days visa exemption in case some thing went wrong and that will give you enough time to plan for you next trip to get a visa. Try to relax; you have done the difficult job, the remaining is not that bad. Good luck

Bishop

I was expecting many pop up to ask you some questions about your trip, such as how you got there? Is there were many people applying with you? How many entries you got on your visa? But it seems to me that no one really interested in that region any more! Not even Lopburi3, Maestro or Chris! Well, who can blame them?

Bishop

Glad to hear the good news, and no thanks to me, I just did what everybody else is doing in this forum; we are here to help each other to the best of our ability. I am sure that chris is glad for you too, but I doubt he would really make the trip. Wish you a pleasant stay in the land of smile and cheers pal;

Bishop

Depending on your friend situation, some decent countries will give him a refugee or BR status. The situation I mentioned must be related to a political, racism or war. Criminal acts are definitely not included. If your friend -for instance- is a Turkish/Kurd, then he might has some ground for applying, but if he was wanted for a criminal or misbehavior (other than political) towards the army then he doesn’t. More details are needed to answer your question, but in general no other country except his own will ever give him a passport just because he needs one. I wish him a good luck.

Bishop

I guess I read it very fast, sorry for my misunderstanding, cheers.

Here you are completely right