BKK entry refusal

[anon789561]

4 hours ago, seancbk said:

I always look for the youngest Female IO.  10 years of living here on tourist visas and I've never had any issue with immigration.

just out of interest, why do you look for the youngest female IO? is there some kind of logic that they are more welcoming or do you just find the uniform hot and try to get their line ID on the way through?

[phuketrichard]

18 hours ago, overherebc said:

Nope, it won't make even the smallest dent in tourist numbers or income to Thailand.

agree;  tourist numbers are up this year an baring another unfortunate event will be up again next year...

Losing some "tourists" trying to game the system wont affect the bottom line..

[kylep]

Ok.. left BKK at midnight and arrived in Tokyo the following day. They gave me my passport at the boarding gate in BKK but there was no stamp on it. It's as if I never arrived in Thailand. 

 

Japanese immigration guy leafed through my passport and asked me where I flew from. Pointed at the disembarkation card where I wrote BKK and showed him the boarding pass stub. Fingerprinted and got the 90-days sticker. 

 

Will getting a visa at the Thai embassy here boost my chances of entry to Thailand? Or should I fly to Vietnam and get one there, then use the land border in Cambodia?

[ubonjoe]

16 minutes ago, kylep said:

Will getting a visa at the Thai embassy here boost my chances of entry to Thailand? Or should I fly to Vietnam and get one there, then use the land border in Cambodia?

Unless you are a legal resident of Japan you will not be able to get a visa at the embassy. The only issue them to Japanese and residents there.

Having a tourist visa would be a good option. I don't think you would have a problem flying in with one.

[darrendsd]

50 minutes ago, kylep said:

Ok.. left BKK at midnight and arrived in Tokyo the following day. They gave me my passport at the boarding gate in BKK but there was no stamp on it. It's as if I never arrived in Thailand. 

 

Japanese immigration guy leafed through my passport and asked me where I flew from. Pointed at the disembarkation card where I wrote BKK and showed him the boarding pass stub. Fingerprinted and got the 90-days sticker. 

 

Will getting a visa at the Thai embassy here boost my chances of entry to Thailand? Or should I fly to Vietnam and get one there, then use the land border in Cambodia?

You will have a much better chance if you have a Tourist Visa, as I said in a earlier post a friend of mine was denied on a Visa Exempt, he flew to Vientiane got a TV and flew back in 3 days later with no issues

 

If you get a TV from Vietnam the Embassy there require some extra documentation, it's best you check up on this before you apply

[kanook]

56 minutes ago, kylep said:

Ok.. left BKK at midnight and arrived in Tokyo the following day. They gave me my passport at the boarding gate in BKK but there was no stamp on it. It's as if I never arrived in Thailand. 

 

Japanese immigration guy leafed through my passport and asked me where I flew from. Pointed at the disembarkation card where I wrote BKK and showed him the boarding pass stub. Fingerprinted and got the 90-days sticker. 

 

Will getting a visa at the Thai embassy here boost my chances of entry to Thailand? Or should I fly to Vietnam and get one there, then use the land border in Cambodia?

I was at HCMC last month for a Non O visa.  As long as you satisfy the criteria, HCMC and Hanoi are ok.  Hong Kong would also be a good option, it is one of the friendliest and easiest Thai consulates in the region.

Edited April 16, 2018 by kanook

[gaff]

1 hour ago, kylep said:

Ok.. left BKK at midnight and arrived in Tokyo the following day. They gave me my passport at the boarding gate in BKK but there was no stamp on it. It's as if I never arrived in Thailand. 

 

Japanese immigration guy leafed through my passport and asked me where I flew from. Pointed at the disembarkation card where I wrote BKK and showed him the boarding pass stub. Fingerprinted and got the 90-days sticker. 

 

Will getting a visa at the Thai embassy here boost my chances of entry to Thailand? Or should I fly to Vietnam and get one there, then use the land border in Cambodia?

 

If you are smart you first fly to Cambodia and then to Thailand.

This way if you have to return it will be to Cambodia, not Japan or USA !

 

 

[oldskoolbeatz]

Kylep,

 

- Did they search your phone with/without your consent?

- Were you allowed to fly to any country you wanted or only allowed to fly to Japan where you came from? Could you have flown to Laos or Cambodia??

- Did the airline pay for your ticket back to Japan or was that out of your own pocket? (I read that it is the airlines responsibility if refused entry??)

- You showed them the money (20,000b atleast), + a flight ticket out within 30 days, did they give you a specific reason for denial?

- What is your next move, as Joe stated, you won't be able to get a Tourist visa without residency in Japan?

 

Please keep us informed as many of us are in the same situation. Coming in on Visa Exempts every year and getting paranoid.

 

Wish you the best.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by oldskoolbeatz

[seancbk]

5 hours ago, Happy enough said:

9 hours ago, seancbk said:

I always look for the youngest Female IO.  10 years of living here on tourist visas and I've never had any issue with immigration.

just out of interest, why do you look for the youngest female IO? is there some kind of logic that they are more welcoming or do you just find the uniform hot and try to get their line ID on the way through?

I just think they are a bit more receptive to a big smile and a cheery Sawadee Khrap than an older woman or a bloke.    I would certainly always pick a woman over a man.  The male IOs always look so miserable!

 

[ubonjoe]

Two inflammatory posts have been removed.

[BritTim]

3 hours ago, kylep said:

Ok.. left BKK at midnight and arrived in Tokyo the following day. They gave me my passport at the boarding gate in BKK but there was no stamp on it. It's as if I never arrived in Thailand. 

That is good news. No stamp in the passport means it was an unofficial denial of entry, with likely no record in the immigration computer system. Thus, it should not raise any red flags on future entries.

[Neeranam]

18 minutes ago, seancbk said:

I just think they are a bit more receptive to a big smile and a cheery Sawadee Khrap than an older woman or a bloke.    I would certainly always pick a woman over a man.  The male IOs always look so miserable!

 

Out of interest, what language do to speak to them in?

I prefer the make officers and find them friendlier, especially when I mention carabao or make a joke.

Female ones are probably sick off being ogled by dirty old men.

[phuketrichard]

fly to Phnom Pehn, get a visa using an agent ( 3 nights $45-50)

than fly on to Don Meung.....

 

I always use the shortest line, or usually the one reserved for monks, pregnant ladies and old people..

[seancbk]

9 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

29 minutes ago, seancbk said:

I just think they are a bit more receptive to a big smile and a cheery Sawadee Khrap than an older woman or a bloke.    I would certainly always pick a woman over a man.  The male IOs always look so miserable!
 

Out of interest, what language do to speak to them in?

I prefer the make officers and find them friendlier, especially when I mention carabao or make a joke.

Female ones are probably sick off being ogled by dirty old men.

Sawasdee Khrap in Thai and I'll either say Kop Khun Khrap or just Thank you when they hand back my passport.   I don't speak to them unless they ask me something, but as that has only happened twice (both times I was flying from Macau and entering on VE, I was asked why I had no visa and I politely explained there is no Thai consulate in Macau so impossible to get a visa there, which they accepted as good enough).

I'm not an old man (let alone an ogling dirty old one!).   I dress smart and I'm always polite, which goes a long way here.

[chrisinth]

14 hours ago, yuiop said:

so total overstay 3.5 years?

I wouldn't suggest it to anybody.

you've been very lucky, never been asked to show your passport.

 

It all depends when the overstays were, obviously before the latest changes or that person wouldn't be getting a visa exempt stamp.

 

Seems a lot of people don't realize that overstay was not a huge issue before the latest rules. One could even say it was encouraged through the lax enforcement of the immigration rules. Pay your 20,000 baht fine to clear your overstay, leave the country and return the next day used to be the SOP for many here.

 

However, nothing stays the same in this ever changing world. A lot of people are thinking that these rules are aimed at deliberately making thing harder for long term stayers. While that has obviously happened, IMO the main reason for these changes has been national security and for a better (certainly not perfect) way for authorities to be aware of who is in their country. With obvious side effects related to long stayers, this cannot be frowned upon.

[kylep]

4 hours ago, oldskoolbeatz said:

- Did they search your phone with/without your consent?

They searched my backpack first. Then I was frisked. Things like my phone and wallet were placed on the table. After checking everything, she asked me to unlock my phone. I asked why and she simply said "i want look.. i want look".

- Were you allowed to fly to any country you wanted or only allowed to fly to Japan where you came from? Could you have flown to Laos or Cambodia??

No, I was offered no option. After being in that room, an officer returned with someone from Thai Airways. He looked at my ticket and left. Then returned later with a backdated booking. Showed my VietJet ticket. They ignored that.

- Did the airline pay for your ticket back to Japan or was that out of your own pocket? (I read that it is the airlines responsibility if refused entry??)

It was the return portion of my roundtrip ticket (LAX to NRT with United and NRT to BKK with Thai Airways as codeshare partner). Same route back. I didn't pay but was worried I might be charged more which wasn't the case.

- You showed them the money (20,000b atleast), + a flight ticket out within 30 days, did they give you a specific reason for denial?

Yep, showed them my USD + JPY (almost 1k USD combined). Showed them my Chase and Wells Fargo credit cards too. All were ignored.

- What is your next move, as Joe stated, you won't be able to get a Tourist visa without residency in Japan?

I might fly to Vietnam or Cambodia first. I just checked. There are daily ANA flights to Phnom Penh but I have to check how much it will cost me. Will drop by a HIS travel agency in Shinjuku tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by kylep

[Cletus]

4 hours ago, chrisinth said:

It all depends when the overstays were, obviously before the latest changes or that person wouldn't be getting a visa exempt stamp.

 

Seems a lot of people don't realize that overstay was not a huge issue before the latest rules. One could even say it was encouraged through the lax enforcement of the immigration rules. Pay your 20,000 baht fine to clear your overstay, leave the country and return the next day used to be the SOP for many here.

 

However, nothing stays the same in this ever changing world. A lot of people are thinking that these rules are aimed at deliberately making thing harder for long term stayers. While that has obviously happened, IMO the main reason for these changes has been national security and for a better (certainly not perfect) way for authorities to be aware of who is in their country. With obvious side effects related to long stayers, this cannot be frowned upon.

You seem to forget that overstaying means you are breaking the law, but this is not relevant for you, I see your point.

As long as you think of yourself as a smart person for circumventing the system for 3.5 yrs, breaking the law in a foreign country doesn't really matter to you, does it?

Out of curiosity, when you're back home do/did you use to constantly brake the law same you do in Thailand?

[Just Weird]

On ‎4‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 6:24 PM, Thaidream said:

So much nonsense on this post- he is the truth

 

-No foreigner owns land in Thailand-  

To quote you...

"So much nonsense on this post-..."

Ain't that the truth!

 

"-No foreigner owns land in Thailand-..." 

Unless you are stating that you know for a fact that no land is currently foreign-owned in Thailand, that is wrong, investors in Thailand who meet the requirements can own land for residential purposes.

[chrisinth]

3 minutes ago, Cletus said:

You seem to forget that overstaying means you are breaking the law, but this is not relevant for you, I see your point.

As long as you think of yourself as a smart person for circumventing the system for 3.5 yrs, breaking the law in a foreign country doesn't really matter to you, does it?

Out of curiosity, when you're back home do/did you use to constantly brake the law same you do in Thailand?

You seem to be getting me mixed up with the person who said they had two overstays (totaling 3.5 years) in their passports.

 

FWIW, I have been living full time in Thailand for 20+ years. Never a day's overstay in that time. Before that I will admit that I overstayed almost every visit as the allowed stay at that time was 15 (maybe 14?) days for visa exempt and our leave periods were normally 21 days (or more). Paid the overstay (200 baht a day) and looked forward to coming back the next time.

 

As I said in the post you are commenting on, this was considered normal. Even for long overstays.

 

And as for your last clever remark about breaking the law in my own country, never been caught, no outstanding warrants...................

[mstevens]

12 hours ago, chrisinth said:

Seems a lot of people don't realize that overstay was not a huge issue before the latest rules. One could even say it was encouraged through the lax enforcement of the immigration rules. Pay your 20,000 baht fine to clear your overstay, leave the country and return the next day used to be the SOP for many here.

What you say is absolutely true, but can you not see how Immigration (in any country) may look at one's past record when evaluating whether they are a travel risk or not?  People who overstayed for a long time knowing they could pay 20,000 baht when exiting the country and return almost immediately should have considered that they broke the law, that 20,000 baht is a large fine by Thailand standards i.e. it is a serious issue and most importantly, that this will always be on their Thailand immigration record - and they therefore should have considered that IT COULD BECOME A PROBLEM FOR THEM IN THE FUTURE.

[ubonjoe]

Several, baiting, bickering, flaming posts and replies to them have been removed. 

[chrisinth]

4 hours ago, mstevens said:

What you say is absolutely true, but can you not see how Immigration (in any country) may look at one's past record when evaluating whether they are a travel risk or not?  People who overstayed for a long time knowing they could pay 20,000 baht when exiting the country and return almost immediately should have considered that they broke the law, that 20,000 baht is a large fine by Thailand standards i.e. it is a serious issue and most importantly, that this will always be on their Thailand immigration record - and they therefore should have considered that IT COULD BECOME A PROBLEM FOR THEM IN THE FUTURE.

Quite. The main point of my previous post was that the laws/rules were always there, just not enforced as they were written.

 

When the new laws/rules were introduced with the bans (dependent on length of time) on overstayers, that was their solution to the problems.

[Thaidream]

-No foreigner ever owns land in Thailand- Period!!!.  There are ways for investors to lease the land for periods of years to conduct business.  However, they do not have a Channot indicating they are the owners. The Channot is in the name of the land owner- a Thai-  

 

As far as a person appealing an exempt refusal of entry- it appears from reading the Immigration Act that this is not allowed.  However, I must admit just because I have never heard of an appeal- does not make it so-  one poster indicated it is possible and said some people when appealing had won.  However, I think the OP made the right choice- he left- no marks in Passport- will return with a Visa.

[jackdd]

22 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

-No foreigner ever owns land in Thailand- Period!!!.

http://library.siam-legal.com/thai-law/land-act-2497-limitations-of-foreigner-rights-sections-86-96/

Aliens may acquire land by virtue of the provisions of a treaty giving the right to own immovable properties and subject to the provisions of this Code.

So if a foreigner gets permission of the Minister it seems to be possible for the foreigner to own land.

[Thaidream]

You are grasping at straws- there is no treaty with any country that would allow a minister to approve the ownership of land and there never will be. There have been a few cases in my memory  in which private investors have petitioned for land ownership- all denied.  In the Thai view there is ample relief for huge investors to use the land under a lease to build factories and conduct business.

 

Thais will never allow any foreigner to own land in Thailand. Their  fear is that wealthy foreigners will be able to gain control of their natural resources and eventually political control.  A foreigner can become a naturalized Thai citizen and gain all the rights of a Thai citizen.  There are some very prominent and wealthy foreigners who have done that-  one being the owner of the Pizza Company-Since they are Thai- they then can own land.

[Cletus]

16 hours ago, chrisinth said:

You seem to be getting me mixed up with the person who said they had two overstays (totaling 3.5 years) in their passports.

 

FWIW, I have been living full time in Thailand for 20+ years. Never a day's overstay in that time. Before that I will admit that I overstayed almost every visit as the allowed stay at that time was 15 (maybe 14?) days for visa exempt and our leave periods were normally 21 days (or more). Paid the overstay (200 baht a day) and looked forward to coming back the next time.

 

As I said in the post you are commenting on, this was considered normal. Even for long overstays.

 

And as for your last clever remark about breaking the law in my own country, never been caught, no outstanding warrants...................

Apologize, my previous post was meant for user jspill

[oldskoolbeatz]

There must be plenty of people coming in every day with a long history of visa exempts. Do these refusals happen most of the time or was the OP just unlucky?

[Media1]

19 hours ago, kylep said:

 

don't ever let any Thai access your phone. She can look at the floor. lol once they start that crap what you do won't make any difference. Tell her l refuse do to my personal photos are there. Sorry. But as l said l are not working here and never have. You can't be blacklisted because the goose wanted a phone which she has no authority to access.

[Media1]

2 hours ago, Thaidream said:

-No foreigner ever owns land in Thailand- Period!!!.  There are ways for investors to lease the land for periods of years to conduct business.  However, they do not have a Channot indicating they are the owners. The Channot is in the name of the land owner- a Thai-  

 

As far as a person appealing an exempt refusal of entry- it appears from reading the Immigration Act that this is not allowed.  However, I must admit just because I have never heard of an appeal- does not make it so-  one poster indicated it is possible and said some people when appealing had won.  However, I think the OP made the right choice- he left- no marks in Passport- will return with a Visa.

who on there right mind wants to but land here lol

[jackdd]

37 minutes ago, oldskoolbeatz said:

There must be plenty of people coming in every day with a long history of visa exempts. Do these refusals happen most of the time or was the OP just unlucky?

Probably unlucky, and maybe, as somebody mentioned, because of his skin color.

And from reports here it seems that at land borders it's generally easier than at the airport.

 

My current Visa exempt history:

1. (December 2015) air

2. land

3. land

4. air

5. air

6. air

7. air

8. land

9. land

10. air

11. land

12. land

 

I do usually use close to the maximum number of 30 days and extended 4 of them by 30 days.

So out of about 28 months (since December 2015) i spent nearly 16 months in Thailand on Visa exempts, always for like 2-4 months at a time.

The only thing they ever said to me was that i reached the limit of 2 land border crossings for this year (and last year). Besides of this stamped straight in.

Edited April 17, 2018 by jackdd