Fourth Visa Exempt in a Year

[Nyezhov]

My daughter, US Citizen, has a Work Visa in China valid until 2019. She has already made 3 Visa Exempt entries to Thailand this year, all through  Don Mueang, never staying for more than 2 weeks (beaches, shopping, dental care, seeing me). Her most recent trip she was questioned, where you stay, where you go, etc. We are planning to meet around Christmas, is it going to be a hassle for her to enter into Don Mueang? Or should we meet up in Chiang Mai? Coming in from China, land crossings are not ideal. She always has plenty of cash and a return ticket, and again, she always leaves well before her time is up.

[Phuket Man]

Two Visa Exempts Entries permitted in a calender year.

[Nyezhov]

4 minutes ago, Phuket Man said:

Two Visa Exempts Entries permitted in a calender year.

Well she has already done three so how does that work

[Phuket Man]

Tell her to get a Visa.

[Nyezhov]

"Tell her to get a Visa."

 

 

For a six day stay?

Edited October 2, 2018 by Nyezhov

[howerde]

The 2 visa exempt entries rule per calendar year are for land border crossing, there is no such rule entering by air 

[swissie]

I do 3 visa-exempt per calendar year. Always 3 months apart. Never any problems.

Of course, as an old geezer, Immi-Officers don't assume that I come to Thailand to work as a illegal english teacher. Might be different for younger folks.

Cheers.

[BritTim]

Normally, I would say the fourth visa exempt entry (when her previous stays add up to less than six weeks total, and with gaps in between) would be no problem at all. However, the questioning at Don Muang on her last entry indicates that the immigration official saw something that raised a flag in his mind. My guess is that there are further visa exempt entries in previous years (so a total of six or more since the middle of 2015). This triggers an alert to prompt the official to scrutinize the traveler more closely as a genuine tourist. If that was, indeed, the reason, I do not think there is anything to worry about. She may get the same questions on her next entry, but denied entry is very unlikely.  If the official's concern was the result of something else, it would be safer to enter with a tourist visa from a Thai consulate in China.

Edited October 2, 2018 by BritTim

[oldskoolbeatz]

16 hours ago, BritTim said:

Normally, I would say the fourth visa exempt entry (when her previous stays add up to less than six weeks total, and with gaps in between) would be no problem at all. However, the questioning at Don Muang on her last entry indicates that the immigration official saw something that raised a flag in his mind. My guess is that there are further visa exempt entries in previous years (so a total of six or more since the middle of 2015). This triggers an alert to prompt the official to scrutinize the traveler more closely as a genuine tourist. If that was, indeed, the reason, I do not think there is anything to worry about. She may get the same questions on her next entry, but denied entry is very unlikely.  If the official's concern was the result of something else, it would be safer to enter with a tourist visa from a Thai consulate in China.

Would entering Thailand through a land border with out a visa, only a visa exempt be possible? Any change of refusal?

Edited October 3, 2018 by oldskoolbeatz

[Yme]

Somebody with more authority on immigration matters will be along soon, but in the meantime my view is that she will have no problems with four VEEs over the course of a year. She might be asked to show she has the funds to support herself... in cash, on arrival.

[atyclb]

20 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

20 hours ago, Phuket Man said:

Two Visa Exempts Entries permitted in a calender year.

Well she has already done three so how does that work

 

 

sub-optimal extrapolation

[atyclb]

what about for someone living in vietnam or cambodia with a 1 year visa but making 90 day overland visa runs to thailand?

Edited October 3, 2018 by atyclb

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, oldskoolbeatz said:

Would entering Thailand through a land border with out a visa, only a visa exempt be possible? Any change of refusal?

She could do this 2x per calendar year only by land - but if avoiding the one bad land-entry-point at Poipet/Aranya, would have no problem entering.  Worst-case, they might ask to see 20K Baht worth of cash (most likely if entering from Malaysia).

 

21 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Or should we meet up in Chiang Mai?

We have no denied-entry stories of people in her situation at Chang Mai in recent years, that I recall.  There was one case where someone using many visa-exempts had to sign a form of some sort.  The lack of bad-reports could be due to a lower volume of entrants, but it could also be that they are not targeting people with short-stays entering visa-exempt.

 

The reason some suggest using a TR-Visa to enter - even for a short stay - is that Visa-Exempt entries are issued at the sole discretion of immigration, and there is a Ministerial order restricting their use.  The order is targeted at preventing people from using them to do quick out/ins to extend their stay indefinitely, but IOs at the Bangkok airports have shown a pattern of hassling people who are not using them back-to-back. 

Edited October 3, 2018 by JackThompson

[flexomike]

20 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Well she has already done three so how does that work

Two if by land crossing, should be no problem if by air

 

[Suradit69]

21 hours ago, Phuket Man said:

Two Visa Exempts Entries permitted in a calender year.

That's two per calendar year using a land border.

[LeoTex]

On ‎10‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 8:57 AM, Phuket Man said:

Two Visa Exempts Entries permitted in a calender year.

 

Is this something new? I'm now returning home from my 3rd Visa Exemption this year and will do one more in December.

I did 4 last year and 5 the year before that and have done at least 4 per year for the past 15 years.

Please direct me to where you found this information.

I think false information given on the form sure isn't very helpful.

LeoTex

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, LeoTex said:

 

Is this something new? I'm now returning home from my 3rd Visa Exemption this year and will do one more in December.

I did 4 last year and 5 the year before that and have done at least 4 per year for the past 15 years.

Please direct me to where you found this information.

I think false information given on the form sure isn't very helpful.

LeoTex

 

I suspect you arrive in Thailand by air. There are no hard limits of visa exempt entries when entering by air. Since the start of 2017, you are restricted to two visa exempt entries per calendar year when arriving at land crossings.

 

Although there are no hard limits on visa exempt entries when entering by air, immigration officials have discretion on whether to give them. Some officials object to people who they regard as using visa exempt entries to spend too much time in Thailand, and a denied entry is the occasional result. If spending more than about 90 days a year in Thailand as a tourist, it could be safer to use actual tourist visas rather than entering visa exempt.

[MadMuhammad]

13 hours ago, flexomike said:

Two if by land crossing, should be no problem if by air

 

 

Air ‘should’ be no problem whatsoever. I have had 33 visa exempts in 5 years with 7 & 8 respectively in 2016/17. 

I’ve never been questioned or beld

up for any longer than it takes to stamp

my passport.