12 hours ago, OJAS said:

Ditto American & French immigration

Add Aussie to that!

14 hours ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

Last time I entered Thailand (February) I was “questioned” by a female IO at Swampy. This is in the fast track lane and I have Thailand elite visa.
Do you have business here, Do you have Thai family? Why you come so many times? What’s your job? Where you stay condo?

Are they just questioning to check a box? Then I thought she maybe liked me. Honestly I was taken aback as I never hear a peep from Thai IOs and returning to the US is more hassle!

Q: "Why you come so many times".

 

A: "Because I have Thai Elite, so I can come as many times as I want for as long as I want".

 

That would have been my answer seriously, after forking out the cost for Elite.

Edited April 1, 20188 yr by lkv

Q: "Why you come so many times".
 
A: "Because I have Thai Elite, so I can come as many times as I want for as long as I want".
 
That would have been my answer seriously, after forking out the cost for Elite.

If I'm ever asked my response would be : Because Thais are so sexy, I cant get enough of it.

I find that the biggest problem is caused by the immigration officers themselves because what I have found is that they will stamp or place the visa on any page in the PP and not keep them in order and that is not only in Thailand. In my passport I have Singapore, Malaysian, Thai, Indonesian and Loa visa and entry stamps all mixed in together, if they used 1 page at a time instead of missing pages and then someone else going back to the missed page it would make their jobs a lot easier. 

Example: I have done 3 trips to Singapore before I ever came to Thailand but I have Thai entry and exit stamps mixed in with the Singapore ones and my last Thai visa is on page 5 and my previous one is on page 11 and on page 2 there is space for 3 entry/exit stamps but all other pages up to and including page 18 are full. As far as I'm concerned the IO's in all the countries cause the problems.

Apart from trying to break the monotony of the job they also have a rule book to follow.

If visiting 5 +times a year as a tourist of course they are going to look twice

20 hours ago, Briggsy said:

The same thing happened to me and more.

 

I stay here on METV's.

 

On leaving Suwannaphum and flying back to the UK, the IO is going back and forth in my passport tutting and shaking her head. This display goes on for so long (about 3 minutes) I am forced to ask in Thai politely, "Is anything the problem?"

 

The reply was, "Where you visa?" in poor English.

 

I replied in polite Thai that I had a visa and I had not overstayed.

 

The reply in poor English, "Why you no visa?" "Why you go Laos?"

 

I replied in polite Thai that I had a visa.

 

"Next time you visa," was the next shot.

 

I replied in polite Thai that I had a visa.

 

She finally stamped me out and I left.

 

There were no repercussions.

At a guess, what she probably means is that you have too many visa exemptions and next time you go overland border crossing into THailand you will need either a single entry visa or a multiple entry visa.

 

You are only allowed 2 entries by land border on visa waiver in any one callendar year. After that you have to go to the consulate/Embassy and apply for a visa or fly into the kingdom.

Please correct me if I am wrong but isn't a visa exempt land border crossing only valid for 15 days

11 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

Please correct me if I am wrong but isn't a visa exempt land border crossing only valid for 15 days

It has been 30 days since January of last year when the rule limiting visa exempt entries at land border crossings to 2 per calendar year.

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It has been 30 days since January of last year when the rule limiting visa exempt entries at land border crossings to 2 per calendar year.

Thanks ubon I am a bit behind the times on that one not that I need it

I have actually found immigration to mostly be relatively nice, compared to what I have experienced even with my home country (the U.S.) upon returning. 

 

Even when I wad questioned and “warned” by an IO, she was actually quite pleasant under the circumstances, at least as much so as could be expected. 

 

Leaving from the airport is safe, because there is really nothing they can do to prevent you from leaving.  

 

I am not an expert, but with travel back to Europe and a METV issued in Europe, after a stay of a couple of months, I think you might be okay just enetering the country in BKK.  Just make sure to have bank statements and cash on you.  

 

You can then do subsequent boarder/visa runs by land as you have been. 

 

Otherwise, you can do as you say and enter by land.  That sounds like a pain with a lot of baggage, however.

 

One thing I always do at the airport is put my landing permission card, or whatever it’s called, in the passport on the same page as my entry/extension stamps.  It could be something as simple as having to search through the passport that could annoy an IO, so I try to make it easy for them to find the correct page.

 

 

Yep On US. I’m a US citizen born and raised there. I spend 95% of the time in APAC on business. Went to US with Chinese customer for factory tour etc. He went through the line no problems. I’m I. The citizen line and get to the officer. He asking a million questions (yes it’s probably hectic boring job for some). After about 10 minutes I said do you know I’m a US Citizen ? You’ve asked me over and over where when etc..you have my passport you see where I’ve been same as I told you  then he jaw jacked me for another 20 minutes.......you just never know. 

47 minutes ago, DJ54 said:

Yep On US. I’m a US citizen born and raised there. I spend 95% of the time in APAC on business. Went to US with Chinese customer for factory tour etc. He went through the line no problems. I’m I. The citizen line and get to the officer. He asking a million questions (yes it’s probably hectic boring job for some). After about 10 minutes I said do you know I’m a US Citizen ? You’ve asked me over and over where when etc..you have my passport you see where I’ve been same as I told you  then he jaw jacked me for another 20 minutes.......you just never know. 

I usually get back fairly unscathed, but yeah they always wanna throw a little, useless jab in there that I’m not sure how to best respond to, something like “you’ve been gone a long time, what were you doing?”. If you’re not 9 to 5 with a mortgage there is clearly something wrong! :)

 

 

19 hours ago, NutsMango said:

Thai immigration - angry, lemon faces.

 

Vietnam immigration - smile and "welcome"

Malaysia also, couldnt be nicer in my experience., Thai IO are just rude and ignorant,its got nothing to do with the number of people passing thru, they get plenty of breaks, there are times during their Shift when its Dead, we only see its busy because we just stepped off a 777 or whatever and think its like that for them all day its not, these idiots love the power Trip just look at the Cops Jeez, absolute Joke.

1 hour ago, Soneva said:

I have actually found immigration to mostly be relatively nice, compared to what I have experienced even with my home country (the U.S.) upon returning. 

 

Even when I wad questioned and “warned” by an IO, she was actually quite pleasant under the circumstances, at least as much so as could be expected. 

 

Leaving from the airport is safe, because there is really nothing they can do to prevent you from leaving.  

 

I am not an expert, but with travel back to Europe and a METV issued in Europe, after a stay of a couple of months, I think you might be okay just enetering the country in BKK.  Just make sure to have bank statements and cash on you.  

 

You can then do subsequent boarder/visa runs by land as you have been. 

 

Otherwise, you can do as you say and enter by land.  That sounds like a pain with a lot of baggage, however.

 

One thing I always do at the airport is put my landing permission card, or whatever it’s called, in the passport on the same page as my entry/extension stamps.  It could be something as simple as having to search through the passport that could annoy an IO, so I try to make it easy for them to find the correct page.

 

 

I've tried that and usually it's been taken out and they then start at page one and go through each page. It beats me what 15/16 pages of stamps will convey to them some being 3 or 4 years old.

We travel at least 4 times a year and it always happens.

1 hour ago, Soneva said:

I have actually found immigration to mostly be relatively nice, compared to what I have experienced even with my home country (the U.S.) upon returning. 

 

Even when I wad questioned and “warned” by an IO, she was actually quite pleasant under the circumstances, at least as much so as could be expected. 

 

Leaving from the airport is safe, because there is really nothing they can do to prevent you from leaving.  

 

I am not an expert, but with travel back to Europe and a METV issued in Europe, after a stay of a couple of months, I think you might be okay just enetering the country in BKK.  Just make sure to have bank statements and cash on you.  

 

You can then do subsequent boarder/visa runs by land as you have been. 

 

Otherwise, you can do as you say and enter by land.  That sounds like a pain with a lot of baggage, however.

 

One thing I always do at the airport is put my landing permission card, or whatever it’s called, in the passport on the same page as my entry/extension stamps.  It could be something as simple as having to search through the passport that could annoy an IO, so I try to make it easy for them to find the correct page.

 

 

Funny I do the same thing EVERY entry into BKK ( I put my landing card in the page of my METV)  Nine out of ten times the first thing they do is take the landing card out, then scan the passport and they do not leave their finger where the visa was and then the process of going page by page starts to look for my visa!!

8 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

Funny I do the same thing EVERY entry into BKK ( I put my landing card in the page of my METV)  Nine out of ten times the first thing they do is take the landing card out, then scan the passport and they do not leave their finger where the visa was and then the process of going page by page starts to look for my visa!!

 

haha yea, the same happens with me too. i also make sure i clearly say i have a two month visa as they are not always paying attention due, i suspect, to the drudgery of the task.

9 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

Funny I do the same thing EVERY entry into BKK ( I put my landing card in the page of my METV)  Nine out of ten times the first thing they do is take the landing card out, then scan the passport and they do not leave their finger where the visa was and then the process of going page by page starts to look for my visa!!

This time I'm going to try this little sticky but not really sticky thing and see if it helps.

You guys must not smile enough! Unfailingly polite and make some chit-chat. I doubt theirt salary is more than 20-25-30, eh!

 

I'm almost 70 and it's rare the stocky, shaved-headed US Migra doesn't ask me a slew of questions about Thailand before saying, "Welcome home, Son!"

 

Now, Canadians, just better hope they don't get out the flashlight!

We had a young 18 year old woman from Mongolia coming in to America through Los Angeles Airport. She told us us she was being questioned by an IO who was Hispanic and couldn't understand what she did for a living.....she told her she was the assistant to a Shaman, which is a somewhere between a mystic and a holy man. This seemed to completely baffle the IO. Eventually a rather large rotund male IO stepped in and said, "I'll handle this." (By the way, the young Mongolian girl is very attractive.) The male IO says to her, "Have you ever milked a horse?" (this is common in Mongolia) she responded, "Have you ever milked a goat?" The IO burst out laughing, stamped her passport and said, "Welcome to America."

True story.

Quote

Well, as my title says the IO was not very happy and scanned my passport twice, shaking his head and looking at me like <deleted> but did not say a word. 

I get this EVERY freaking time I leave. The IO scans my passport, flicking through the pages and shakes his head. Don't worry too much. Maybe they don't like passports full of blue stickers?

18 hours ago, ebonykap said:

Add Aussie to that!

Aussie immigration is like the most laid-back immigration in the world. They are really anal about bringing in food though.

Well, as my title says the IO was not very happy and scanned my passport twice, shaking his head and looking at me like but did not say a word. 

I get this EVERY freaking time I leave. The IO scans my passport, flicking through the pages and shakes his head. Don't worry too much. Maybe they don't like passports full of blue stickers?


I’ve never had a problem leaving. I hope I do not get any bad looks or head shaking in the future!

However, I suspect the reality is that it matters little. And IO shaking his or her head or not is “up to them” — they have no authority to really do anything upon departure anyway, especially if there has been no overstay.

It can’t be fun sitting in a booth at BKK all day, doing mind numbing, soul killing work of scanning and stamping passport after passport. So a certain amount of surly behavior can be expected.

I got unbelievably rude treatment once from the person checking tickets and passports at the entrance of the fast track queue. That’s undoubtedly a worse job. They aren’t officials and spend the day standing.

All across the world, low pay and dreadfully boring work makes for a lot of hostility among certain airport employees. I’ve found that to be true almost everywhere.


Sent from my iPhone using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

14 hours ago, Proboscis said:

At a guess, what she probably means is that you have too many visa exemptions and next time you go overland border crossing into THailand you will need either a single entry visa or a multiple entry visa.

 

You are only allowed 2 entries by land border on visa waiver in any one callendar year. After that you have to go to the consulate/Embassy and apply for a visa or fly into the kingdom.

I have zero visa exemptions. I never use visa exemptions.

On 3/31/2018 at 11:01 PM, Briggsy said:

The same thing happened to me and more.

 

I stay here on METV's.

 

On leaving Suwannaphum and flying back to the UK, the IO is going back and forth in my passport tutting and shaking her head. This display goes on for so long (about 3 minutes) I am forced to ask in Thai politely, "Is anything the problem?"

 

The reply was, "Where you visa?" in poor English.

 

I replied in polite Thai that I had a visa and I had not overstayed.

 

The reply in poor English, "Why you no visa?" "Why you go Laos?"

 

I replied in polite Thai that I had a visa.

 

"Next time you visa," was the next shot.

 

I replied in polite Thai that I had a visa.

 

She finally stamped me out and I left.

 

There were no repercussions.

Well done! 

 

She picked on the wrong person.

2 hours ago, Soneva said:

However, I suspect the reality is that it matters little. And IO shaking his or her head or not is “up to them” — they have no authority to really do anything upon departure anyway, especially if there has been no overstay.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. For sure they can flag you the system so you'll be bothered coming in next time.

On 4/1/2018 at 1:06 AM, Happy enough said:

i went through JFK immo with my mrs many years ago. bloody nightmare. 1st took me to an interview room as the passport i had then said issued british embassy bangkok and also all the print on the front of the passport had pretty much all worn away so it raised suspicions. kept asking why i was in thailand etc. was in there around half an hour. came out and said where's my wife, she was in another interview room. 15 minutes later i was starting to get pissed off and tried to go in the room but they kicked me out. i asked what the problem was and they said the picture on her visa (she was using thai passport back then) was not clear. the visa also incorporated a picture we supplied to the embassy. in the end they come out and are asking me about it. we showed them the passport pic we supplied to the embassy as she had the sames ones on her. i basically said if the pic on the visa isn't clear then tell your embassy to buy a new printer, they printed it! anyway, after a lot of pissing around they eventually let us through. on the upside the people of new york were much friendlier than their immo

If it makes you feel any better, JFK IO are a-holes to Americans too.

 

I once had a flight from Brussels to Sao Paulo with an 8 hour layover at JFK. The transit lounge was small and cramped so I decided to clear Immigration. Being a US Citizen living full time in the US, I didn't anticipate any  problem. But I was pulled aside and interrogated for half an hour, with 2 IO agents demanding to know what I was doing (repairing machines in Brussels and Sao Paulo). After endless brutal and repetitive interrogation they let me pass, warning me that my decision to clear Customs made me look like a drug smuggler. Over the next few years whenever I cleared Customs at JFK I'd be pulled aside, brought to an interrogation room, and all of my belongings would be meticulously searched while I was interrogated, sometimes causing me to miss connections. I eventually made a point of NEVER clearing customs at JFK.

 

The best place to enter the US is/was Honolulu. There were signs in the Immigration and Customs hall asking for passengers to report any agent who was rude or impolite, and they always gave what seemed to be a genuine warm greeting. Unfortunately I haven't entered in Honolulu in years so I don't know if it's still the same - a casualty of the new long haul planes allowing travel from the US to the South Pacific without stopping in Honolulu.

Paranoid......

11 hours ago, Soneva said:

It can’t be fun sitting in a booth at BKK all day, doing mind numbing, soul killing work of scanning and stamping passport after passport. So a certain amount of surly behavior can be expected.

Most jobs are soul-killing drudgery.  A tiny few get to "do what they love, and the money follows."  The other 99% don't get to do a crappy job at work, because it sucks, though. 

 

Someone ought to ask how they get the IOs in the Philippines to be friendly.  Another poster mentioned Vietnam.  It's the same job, basically - so what's the secret?  A friendly disposition is an important part of the job, given they are generally the first person of the country a foreigner interacts with, so the IO represents their nation.  

 

Maybe, the policy at "friendly border" nations is, "If you don't do your job with a smile, you get to find a new job?"  That's how it is at most "customer service" jobs.

Edited April 2, 20188 yr by JackThompson

31 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Most jobs are soul-killing drudgery.  A tiny few get to "do what they love, and the money follows."  The other 99% don't get to do a crappy job at work, because it sucks, though. 

 

Someone ought to ask how they get the IOs in the Philippines to be friendly.  Another poster mentioned Vietnam.  It's the same job, basically - so what's the secret?  A friendly disposition is an important part of the job, given they are generally the first person of the country a foreigner interacts with, so the IO represents their nation.  

 

Maybe, the policy at "friendly border" nations is, "If you don't do your job with a smile, you get to find a new job?"  That's how it is at most "customer service" jobs.

Well, you are so wrong.

These are not waiters and waitresses, but law enforcement officers.

They are actually trying to conduct an investigation on every person they come in contact with, not delivering a pizza.

And unfortunately; people lie, try to cheat, don't have their act together and create problems.

I have never had a problem with any of them and I personally do not care about their attitude.  I get, they probably have to deal with a lot of losers. 

Edited April 2, 20188 yr by bkk6060

3 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Well, you are so wrong.

These are not waiters and waitresses, but law enforcement officers.

They are actually trying to conduct an investigation on every person they come in contact with, not delivering a pizza.

And unfortunately; people lie, try to cheat, don't have their act together and create problems.

I have never had a problem with any of them and I personally do not care about their attitude.  I get, they probably have to deal with a lot of losers. 

That sounds more interesting than many jobs.  And it does not explain why the ones in some other countries do not have this "attitude problem."   In my passport country, there are polite - or at least "civil" - cops, and there are rude jerks who have no business being in public-contact, who live to abuse power. 

 

Not replying to polite greetings, then throwing your passport at you while looking disgusted and staring at some point in the distance to avoid eye-contact, is not "professional behavior" - whatever challenging aspects of the job may include. 

 

Note that I have met some friendly IOs - so not tarring all of them with the same brush - but it is clear that some are not suited for any public-facing job.