chucky66

thanks for the info...think I'll give it a go!

C66*

I'm thinking of getting a 60 day tourist visa in Phnom Penh but I keep reading (albeit old posts) that the Thai embassy either isn't issuing visas to non-Khmers or they can be awkward.

Has anyone been and received a 60 day tourist visa recently, if so was it relatively easy, stress free and how much did it cost? the Thai embassy in PP's website is crap with no info at all!

I also have the option of getting the visa in KL - any recent experiences there?

Thanks for any help!

C66*

Hi,

Is this okay asking a question here?

We are going to be in Pattaya for a couple of weeks and will be heading to Vietnam afterwards but we need our visas for Vietnam.

Does anyone know if there is a travel agency offering a service where they can get your Vietnamese visa for you in Pattaya?

Alternatively if you fly into Vietnam does anyone know if they would do a visa on arrival?

Thank you for helping out.

C66*

Note that the non-immigrant type O visa cannot be used for people who are visiting Thailand for tourist purposes only. For each 30 day visa exemption stay in Thailand you will now definitely need an 'air' ticket (only air) out of the country within the 30 day period 'to be shown when entering the country and/or by your airline'. These rules are now strictly enforced! The rules around whether you will be allowed to re-enter Thailand having spent 90 days in the country (30+30+30 visa exemptions or 60+30 tourist visa) is still unclear. Despite several statments to try and clear this point up no-one seems to know if you will have to leave the country for 90 days before you can return on 30 day visa exemptions or a tourist visa.

See this from Birmingham, UK Thai consulate:

------------------------------------------

The Thai authorities have recently announced changes to the way in which they will deal with tourists entering Thailand for up to 30 days without a valid visa and as there is some confusion as to the exact meaning of this announcement we hope that this explanation will help clarify the situation.

The most important point to understand is that this only affects people who do not have a valid visa. If you have a valid visa there is no change at all to the way your travel arrangements will be dealt with and you need read no further.

If you are entering the Kingdom of Thailand without a valid visa there is a concession which allows you to do so providing that the following conditions are ALL fulfilled.

1. Your Passport is on a list of passports approved for this purpose. It is likely to be but please check if you are in doubt.

2. Your visit to the Kingdom of Thailand is for tourism purposes only.

3. You hold a confirmed air ticket to leave the Kingdom within 30 days direct from a Thai airport. Please note that you must travel by air and travel from an an airport outside of Thailand does not count.

This has been the rule for many years and nothing has changed in this regard. The only thing that has changed is that these rules are going to be applied more strictly than in the past. This means that you will not be allowed into the Kingdom of Thailand without a valid visa unless you can fulfil all of the above conditions. In addition to this anyone who has entered the three times in succession without a valid visa will be automatically barred from entering the Kingdom under any circumstances for 90 days from the date of the last exit.

Note that this enforcement of the current rules are intended to end the practice of a person without a valid visa going to the border every 30 days.

Please also be aware that Airlines often check if passengers have either a valid visa or a return ticket within 30 days and will exclude you from boarding a flight to Thailand if you have neither. The Thai authorities have asked Airlines to be more vigilant in this respect.

The last point is that this 30 days only applies if your total stay is up to 30 days. It is not a free 30 days which can be added to the length of your visa as some people seem to think.

All Visa application forms are now available in Acrobat Reader Version 5 or above and Microsoft Word. If you have an old version of Acrobat Reader, you can download a free version from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

Kind Regards

Geoff Howard, Hon Consul for Thailand.

This move by Thaksin shows the fraud that he and the political party he leads really is.

Foreigners cant own property in Thailand and have to jump through all sorts of hoops to stay in Thailand but there he is in our country (UK) with his million pound house in his millionaire district of London with an almost indefinite allowance to stay in our country. And I thought that immigration laws between Thailand and the UK were supposed to be reciprocal?

One rule for Thaksin, another rule for everyone else?

Something surprises me : why people don't call immigration services, locally and abroad ? Or send e-mail, or fax ?

Why we don't go overthere, to ask what are the details of the new regulations ?

If hundreds or thousands of people try to get bit of information. By doing a synthesis we would have a pretty clear view of the situation...

Or we would expose the fact that neither the thai officials know what to do exactly...

It would be a good test.

Ive already tried contacting the Thai consuls in the UK and I intially got an e-mail saying they were unsure of the new regulations. I then enquired further as to how it may affect my travel plans and I have not recieved a reply since. A note has gone up on the front page of one of the consuls website here in the UK which states:

------------------------------------------

Visa Changes 01 October 2006

As a result of the rumours about visa changes coming into effect on 01 October 2006 our communication systems are becoming quickly blocked with enquiries and we are struggling to answer them quickly enough.

Please click below to read a PDF file detailing our understanding of the visa issue. This is based on historical official information and on what we have heard from various sources.

We must make it quite clear that no official statement has yet been issued by the Thai Immigration Bureau and so it may be necessary for us to revise our advice to travellers at a later date.

Click Here <----Basically doesn't say anything when you click.

-----------------------------------------

Im surprised that the Thais dont consider that they are treated equally once in the UK. I work with many Thai people here in the UK who are free to come and go as they please, buy property, educate themselves and use all of our welfare benefits without prejudice!!

As for student backpackers spending less money...thats quite a sweeping statement to make. There are backpackers which visit Thailand (student or otherwise) with a very large expendible income £1000-2000 per month according to www.gapyear.com. Shouldn't all tourists be treated equally without distinction. Just because some student backpackers may have less money to spend does that mean that they dont matter?

How exactly do you prove that you are a backpacker visiting the country for 6 months for purely tourist purposes and not illegally working for example? Amazing how desperate the thais were for touristss just after the tsunami and now they seem to want to half their intake almost overnight? My travel plans are going to change for the nxt year. This confusion over immigration frankly gives me a headache and I would rather take my money elsewhere where they treat westerners as an equal and want my money without me having to jump through hoops.

The notion that Thailand's economy will collapse without the 40,000 a month or so that 20,000 visa runners contribute to the economy in (quote) "condos, beer, beer, beer, taxis, women, women and women" is as laughable as it is patronising.

If people really think the Thai economy is built on this, they are very much mistaken. For a start, the entire tourism industry contributes only 17% to GDP so the pissy little contribution made here isnt going to affect the macro-economy very much.

Thailand's economy would barely miss a heartbeat if all expats stopped spending tomorrow, let alone those caught by these rule changes.

Are farang really so egotistical as to think we are NEEDED in Thailand? We're not needed - we're tolerated. Up to a point.

17% is a huge proportion of a counties economy, however where is this figure from? If the Thai economy only tolerates tourists then why were they crying out for visitors to come back to the country following the tsunami??? A loss of just 1% of a countries economy is a huge blow and would have consquences.

Agreed that the new visa restrictions will keep down the numbers of illegal workers but what about backpackers and other long visiting tourists going to Thailand who just want to visit and spend money?

The new restrictions will inadvertently affect these visitors too! Even multiple entry tourist visas are now going to be restricted to a one off 60 day visa (already the case at Penang).

This is very very bad news for many people. Not only because of the new restrictions but because they are so ###### hard to work out. Get things wrong and your visit will end in the honeymoon sweet at the Bangkok Hilton prison. Fingers crossed that the confusion around this will end soon! Its amazing that not 2 years ago after the Tsunami the Thai people were crying out for tourists to visit their country to help rebuild what had been destroyed and now the TRT govt decides to hand pick the types of people which they waant to visit (i.e: once a year package tourists).

but as I understand it there have been comments made saying that tourist visas will only be given to the person's country of origin.

i.e: a British person would only be able to get a tourist visa from Britain and not a neighbouring country.

But if you can do this and also get back to back tourist visas with visa exemptions (i.e: using a tourist visa during the VOE cooling off period) then does it not make a whole mockery of what this 'supposed' clampdown is about (i.e: stopping illegal workers) as this would permit almost limitless stays in Thailand? The only difference between the old rules and the new ones are that they create more confusion for everyone and the immigration get more revenue from visas?

C66*

Ive read though pages and pages about this change now and I cant see a clear answer to my question. have I missed it somewhere?:

Q) Do the 90 days permitted in a 6 month period only apply to visa exemptions?

e.g. In a 6 month period could you have 90 days using 3 x 30 VOE and then 90 days using a single entry tourist visa (60 + 30)?

C66*

Are you allowed to take that much money out of Thailand in your hand luggage (foreign money or thai baht)? I thought there were restrictions on that kind of thing?

The area I usually stay in is around soi 8 (I think) off beach road in central Pattaya.

The Flipper Lodge, Sunshine and the likes are all pretty much booked up until March, apart from the occasional 2-3 day vacancy.

This cant be right as I just had e-mails from Flipper and Sunshine today to say they had rooms but their prices were much higher than I had expected.

Ive been looking around for some hotels at the the end of Feb/beginning March and Im shocked at the prices that some places are asking for a room. I usually visit in April/May and always get a great walk in rate. Is Pattaya usually so busy at the end of Feb that the hotels can charge double what their rates are in April/May? The area I usually stay in is around soi 8 (I think) off beach road in central Pattaya.

As a foreigner I was advised that you cannot get one of these repatriation certificates if you plan to buy land or a house using a Thai company and that only when you buy certain condos (local govt approved) can you get this certficate?

This is one of the main problems I have with investingin Thailand is that these rules/laws for foreigners are not made clear. When it is my hard earned money that Im investing this lack of clarity makes things a lot more risky.

I still dont get why anyone would want to invest in property or land in Thailand if repatriating money (getting their money out of Thailand and back to their homeland) is so difficult. This limiting factor will therefore always restrict the profitability of investments and until I get an answer Im not putting any of my money into Thailand until someone tells me a clear and easy way of how to get it back out again should I need to.

I think that you need to be more explicite on how you will purchase the house - unless you are Thai you cannot own land, but in my experience money and Thailand is one way traffic!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Okay...sorry. The usual way foreigners in Thailand try to buy more than a condominium in Thailand..... I intend to set up a Thai company and use this to purchase the house/land.

I know that with condominiums foreigners can repatriate their money from the sale but I cant find any information of repatriating money on houses bought via a Thai company. My guess is that there are a lot of foreigners who are buying up real estate in Thailand and not thinking about how they would ever get their money back to their country of origin should they need to!

Any ideas?

As the title suggest Im thinking of buying a house in Thailand but then I suddenly thought...What happens if I want to sell my £50,000 home in a few years time? Would I be able to take the money from the sale out of Thailand and back into my UK bank?

Is repatriation of your money back to the UK difficult or straight forward?

C66*

Samui has so far not been zoned, however the island has its own opinions on what sort of nightlife it wants and they are pretty much along the views of Purachai and his vision for Bangkok.

speaking as a scientist...it worried me a week ago when the govt was declaring that it would be free of bird flu within two weeks. Another human case indicates that it is still prevalent and ive just been watching on BBC that there are actually 3 new cases of human bird flu in Thailand revealed today and that it could take up to two years to clear the thing up!

Yet another Thai Rak Thai party cock up!

Heading to NanPlaza in April- so I guess I'll see first hand-literally right around the corner from my hotel. I'll be gutted if I find things dead quiet after midnight.

By April the actual bars/ go-gos will bprobably be emptying out at midnight. Most of the action will be on Sukhumvit where I envisage ghetto blasters, impromptu podium dancers and disco lights.

NIGHTLIFE IN PERIL: Death Knell

Published on Feb 12, 2004

Bar owners yesterday predicted doom and gloom for the nightentertainment industry as a result of the strict new midnightclosing laws.

So harsh are the new closing times, set to come into effect on March 1, that all expect a crippling drop in revenues, while many said they would have to cut staff.

Operators outside designated entertainment zones were bracing for the worst; inside the designated zones, bars can stay open until 2am and pubs until 1am, but outside the zones, midnight closing is the new rule.

Massageparlour tycoon Chuwit Kamolvisit yesterday called on people affected by the new rule to gather for a demonstration at the Royal Plaza on Saturday evening. He said the operators should have been given at least a year to prepare for the changes, not just a few weeks.

The outspoken businessman also predicted more corruption as a result of the new rules. “Initially, strict enforcement is unavoidable but as time passes you can expect payoffs. I know this well; I have had the experience myself,” he said.

Somyos Suthangkoon, president of the Association of Entertainment Business Operators, said yesterday that with shorter hours, nightspots outside the designated zones were heading for extinction.

“We are preparing to go out of business. Owners like me can easily find new jobs but I have to take pity on the waiters, parking valets and taxi drivers who don’t have many choices. They may be forced to go into crime or prostitution,” he said.

Somyos said that only 10 per cent of Bangkok’s approximately 8,000 nightspots are located in the designated zones. Of all the entertainment venues in the city, only 3,000 have proper operating permits, he said.

One Bangkok bar owner, who requested anonymity, yesterday accused the government of doublecrossing operators in imposing the midnightclosing time.

He said business operators in the designated zones had expected longer opening hours while those elsewhere believed the current 2am closing time would have remained.

Janya Saipornchai, owner of the Krungthon Complex, which is not located in any of the city’s three designated zones, said she expected a negative effect from the new closing time.

“But it’s still too early to predict whether we will have to go out of business,” she said. “I’m still in the dark what to do next.”

Janya said the business operators were given only a short period to prepare for the new regulation. She ruled out the possibility of moving her business into a designated zone, saying that in view of the industry’s current situation it was difficult to secure bank loans.

She called for the designated entertainment zones to be expanded to cover the Thon Buri area, where many nightspots are located.

In Bangkok, the zones designated for entertainment venues cover the Patpong area, and New Phetchaburi and Ratchadaphisek roads. Inside the entertainment zones, nightclubs and bars can stay open until 2am, while pubs and discotheques must close at 1am.

Taifah Chayavoraprapa, a nightspot magnate on Khao San Road, which is not covered by the zoning plan, said the early closing time would be a setback for the tourism industry and damage the nation’s status as a magnet for international backpacker tourists.

“Even now when we have to close at 2am, the tourists ask me, ‘What for?’ I simply don’t know the answer,” he said, adding that the nightspot owners had no choice but to comply with the new constraints.

He said a decline in tourists might force him to open his restaurants and entertainment venues only on Fridays and Saturdays when there were usually more customers. He may also consider relocating his businesses to a neighbouring country that aspires to attract backpackers.

Pattanapong Ekvanich, president of the Association of Phuket Tourist Businesses, yesterday called for longer opening hours for entertainment venues in the designated zones, as the island province is a tourist attraction.

An owner of a bar near Phuket’s Patong beach said that most nightspots in the area cater to foreign tourists and that there have been very few problems involving young troublemakers. He was referring to the pretext put forward by the government that the midnight closing time would protect youths from vice.

Anek Nurak, president of the Surat Thani Tourism Association, expressed concern yesterday that the midnight closing time for most entertainment venues would lead to job losses for many workers in the industry and less revenue for the southern province, which relies heavily on tourist spending.

He foresaw a drop of 10 to 15 per cent in tourism revenue due to the midnight closing time.

A business operator on Koh Samui yesterday said the early closing time would drive away foreign tourists and weaken the island’s tourism industry, its major source of income. He said fullmoon parties alone contribute at least Bt100 million each month to the island’s economy.

He said islands such as Samui and Phangan should be exempted from the new closing time as their entertainment venues cater mostly to foreign tourists.

In Chiang Mai, Somkiat Saimai, who heads an association of restaurateurs and entertainmentbusiness operators in the northern province, said that local operators had started adapting themselves to cope with the changes. Some have offered discounts and others have cut costs to survive.

In a related development, senior Metropolitan Police officers met at the bureau headquarters yesterday to discuss plans to enforce the new closing times.

Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Maj General Jetna Mongkolhathi, who chaired the meeting, told reporters afterwards that he foresaw no problem in enforcing the new closing times. Police would first focus on entertainment places outside of the designated zones, which must close by midnight, then enforce the new rules on venues inside the zones.

This isnt just about closing times Bluecat. Purachais proposals are for bars to not open until 9pm in the designated zones. Many tourists, short, long term, whatever would not want to have to wait until 9pm for the bars to open? This would mean 3 hours opening for entertainment venues outside of the zones. Not every tourist/ backpacker goes drinking in the zones. What about Khao San Road, Sukhumvity, Asoke etc etc.

I hope your right indio-slam because these policies are gaining a lot of thumbs up from the thais. Im going to hold off on my visit to Thailand until the end of the year when hopefully all of this silliness will have passed over.

Out of ten million arrivals you'll be sorely missed....jeez.

Did I say Id be missed? I get one holiday a year and that holiday uses up a third of my yearly wage and the reason for my visiting thailand is for the whole package (nightlife and scenery) ....If you were me Dr patong what would you do? Go to thailand now when there is the risk of midnight closing or wait a while until you know how best to spend your hard earned money?

Sheesh!

I hope your right indio-slam because these policies are gaining a lot of thumbs up from the thais. Im going to hold off on my visit to Thailand until the end of the year when hopefully all of this silliness will have passed over.

Sukhumvit Road is gonna be chokablok with girls selling their pussy if they all get chucked out at Midnight . (its bad enought now with girls hawking their pussies )

And places selling rice porridge will become all night pickup joints !

Looks like you will all become afficianoes of rice porridge with a little extra on the side .

will the Thermae become a rice porridge Joint ?

this entire scheme does not sound very well thought out ,better to keep the hookers in the bars instead of on the streets.

Customers will pack out the Nana disco from midnight till 1 am . so they must be pleased

at least one advantage : Bar - fine can be used more senseful

Its gonna be a 3 hour time slot to find your girl though and Nana disco, NEP or even soi cowboy are not designated as entertainment zones and so closing time would be midnight and not 1am.