3 hours ago, alex8912 said:

I’m confused. OP when your son announced “Hey, they gave me 3 months instead of two, this must be something new!" Were YOU present?  Didn’t you know tourist visas are only for 60 days?? 

If that is not the case and you did NOT hear him say this didn’t you think it was strange he was still in Thailand after 60 days? Or again you did not know anything about TV length? 

I was surprised and I did ask to see his passport which he wasn't carrying.  Both he & his GF swore they saw the date and they thought the reason he was given 3 months had to do with the fact he was coming off of an educational visa which somehow changed things.  I didn't understand how this would work, but I just chalked it up to me getting old and not keeping up on things.  Having said all that, you are right. I should have been more careful. 

18 hours ago, burlap said:

The officer said: "I'm not your teacher, it is your responsibility to know the law."

He just didn't know but would never admit it. You will mostly never hear from any Thai that they don't know but rather receive wrong information.

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

I think we will see an improvement of the availability since the have done some changes to catch those that have been making multiple appointments.

Today they did some changes to prevent repeat booking, meaning once a person has booked and cancelled this booking the account became INVALID. Honestly speaking we and other companies still have no glue where many "ghost booking" come from. When system is back online just have a look on Friday 22nd March, it shows full, but do you really think that 250 person booked appointment and are eager to stay over the weekend just for a Thai Visa ? And now you need to do booking with real email as people get two letter, so no fake booking anymore, but system is nearly full up to 4th April. And in many cases people required to go for visa application do know only few days in advance. This afternoon we talked to our competitor and they too said that they get calls from customer require booking for 21st and 25th but nobody can help them, we not "PREBOOK" or "RESERVE", so really no idea of what is going on.

5 minutes ago, burlap said:

I was surprised and I did ask to see his passport which he wasn't carrying.  Both he & his GF swore they saw the date and they thought the reason he was given 3 months had to do with the fact he was coming off of an educational visa which somehow changed things.  I didn't understand how this would work, but I just chalked it up to me getting old and not keeping up on things.  Having said all that, you are right. I should have been more careful. 

You always have to double or even triple check . Thailand is unforgiving. He should have no problem in entering via Nong Khai, keep in mind that 30 days counts as his first entry for this calendar year, he is allowed two.

31 minutes ago, elviajero said:

If he has a Thai mother, he is Thai by birthright.

 

With proof of his Thai nationality he can easily get a 1 year extension of stay from immigration.

What would be 'proof of his Thai nationality?' His mother has lived in the US since before he was born and is now a US citizen.  I'm not sure she's kept her Thai documents current.  She'll be visiting here the end of April for 3 weeks, maybe they can do something together then. if he can figure out a way to reenter the kingdom before then.

9 minutes ago, burlap said:

What would be 'proof of his Thai nationality?' His mother has lived in the US since before he was born and is now a US citizen.  I'm not sure she's kept her Thai documents current.  She'll be visiting here the end of April for 3 weeks, maybe they can do something together then. if he can figure out a way to reenter the kingdom before then.

Get some advice from someone who is a genuine expert on how to claim Thai citizenship without risking a call up for national service. I understand it can be done if someone eligible for Thai citizenship can prove they live abroad.

1 hour ago, burlap said:

What would be 'proof of his Thai nationality?' His mother has lived in the US since before he was born and is now a US citizen.  I'm not sure she's kept her Thai documents current.  She'll be visiting here the end of April for 3 weeks, maybe they can do something together then. if he can figure out a way to reenter the kingdom before then.

In which case all he would need is to provide proof of his mother’s Thai nationality, and he would be granted permission to stay for 1 year.

 

He doesn’t have to formally register his claim to nationality. 

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

Get some advice from someone who is a genuine expert on how to claim Thai citizenship without risking a call up for national service. I understand it can be done if someone eligible for Thai citizenship can prove they live abroad.

Why does he need to “claim Thai citizenship”?

 

More comment on subjects you have no clue about?

1 hour ago, visarunner said:

NO, NO, NO WAY. 

Why no way?.....Have you personally checked it out? 

2 hours ago, visarunner said:

Today they did some changes to prevent repeat booking, meaning once a person has booked and cancelled this booking the account became INVALID. Honestly speaking we and other companies still have no glue where many "ghost booking" come from. When system is back online just have a look on Friday 22nd March, it shows full, but do you really think that 250 person booked appointment and are eager to stay over the weekend just for a Thai Visa ? And now you need to do booking with real email as people get two letter, so no fake booking anymore, but system is nearly full up to 4th April. And in many cases people required to go for visa application do know only few days in advance. This afternoon we talked to our competitor and they too said that they get calls from customer require booking for 21st and 25th but nobody can help them, we not "PREBOOK" or "RESERVE", so really no idea of what is going on.

The advanced booking system leaves people needing visas open to all kinds Hanky Panky .....Lets say they decided to only allow 50-100 appointments a day...The appointments would be backed up for months ahead of time.....And the funny thing is just about the only people who would plan that far ahead would be the visa runners...lol ......The regular tourist would be out of luck....

Edited March 13, 20197 yr by fforest1

2 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

The advanced booking system leaves people needing visas open to all kinds Hanky Panky .....Lets say they decided to only allow 50-100 appointments a day...The appointments would be backed up for months ahead of time.....And the funny thing is just about the only people who would plan that far ahead would be the visa runners...lol 

It would appear that the system is being booked up with fake appointments by ‘someone’, and it would be reasonable to assume it’s local “fixers”.

 

There is no way it would be booked up a month in advance otherwise!

Maybe my case is not relevant but just last month I was 9 days overstay.  don muang airport . Flew to Penang, returned 2 days later,to same don muang  no questions asked at all, officer friendly and smiley. 

11 minutes ago, elviajero said:

It would appear that the system is being booked up with fake appointments by ‘someone’, and it would be reasonable to assume it’s local “fixers”.

 

There is no way it would be booked up a month in advance otherwise!

The visa situation could get really bad if they start having other Thai embassys use the advanced booking system....

Edited March 13, 20197 yr by fforest1

4 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

The visa situation could get really bad if they start having other Thai embassy use the advanced booking system....

Yes it could. Easily fixed with the right programming!

14 hours ago, KarlS said:

Speculation is not proof or evidence.

Isn't unproven speculation (whether of not having sufficient income, working or otherwise) the basis on which immigration also seems to be denying entry in recent times?

 

Speculation also seemed to be enough for the embassies to scrap income letters, given that there's no hard proof of any cases where anyone lied to get a letter.

1 hour ago, lamyai3 said:

Isn't unproven speculation (whether of not having sufficient income, working or otherwise) the basis on which immigration also seems to be denying entry in recent times?

 

Speculation also seemed to be enough for the embassies to scrap income letters, given that there's no hard proof of any cases where anyone lied to get a letter.

LOl, No speculation involved in determining if someone has 10/2000Baht cash! 

You are also speculating about why (4)Embassies withdrew from issuing 'income' letters!

These immigr officers are as smart as their stamps.

28 minutes ago, KarlS said:

LOl, No speculation involved in determining if someone has 10/2000Baht cash! 

You are also speculating about why (4)Embassies withdrew from issuing 'income' letters!

You need to keep up with recent reports. People have been denied entry recently without opportunity to even show whether they have the 10/20k on them.

 

Since the four embassies are being so furtive about their reasons for stopping the income letters, one can only make an educated guess about the specifics. But you're missing the point - the reason for discontinuing them was based on unsubstantiated speculation that there was widespread lying about income going on, yet there's not been a single case to corroborate this.

16 hours ago, burlap said:

... they thought the reason he was given 3 months had to do with the fact he was coming off of an educational visa which somehow changed things. 

If that ED stay history was visible in his passport, this has also been reported to make IOs angry; the airport IOs evidently don't get a cut of the "no hassle" ED-extension payoff-money, so take revenge on those who have old ED Visas.  I suggest anyone with ED history, who wants to return as a Tourist, get a new passport, first.

 

17 hours ago, burlap said:

Thanks.  My son has a Thai mother and a Thai girlfriend, so he's not just looking for a generic SE Asian country to hang out in.  

Understood.  In that case, he is very lucky.  As others have pointed out, he should be able to get 1-year stays on that basis, and not have to struggle with the other forms of stay non-Thais must deal with.