URGENT : PP Embassy asked for employment letter for tourist visa

[anatta0]

Hi, me and my friend applied SETV in Phnom penh, we are aware it is a stricter place. We applied with Lucky lucky visa agent, the agent email us late today that the Thai embassy wants to see Employment letter, i suppose a letter from our home country or wherever we work right ? I know i should call lucky lucky but they are already closed now for today and we have a flight out tmrw late evening, thinking we will be able to get our visa after 4 days according to them. 

 

The problem is me and my friend work in IT as programmer, we work as freelancer, develop website remotely for people and also run online store remotely. We are self employed, so how can we write this employment letter ? What should be the content? 

As a freelancer also i dont have an officially registered company. 

 

Update : this is the first time we applied SETV anywhere and also we both had been in Thailand with 30 days exempt visa and extended another 30 days. 

Edited March 14, 2019 by anatta0

[BritTim]

There is zero chance that you will be able to get a visa by tomorrow. Hopefully, you will be able to get your passports back and try to enter Thailand visa exempt. Although the agent's fee will be gone, insist Lucky Lucky return the visa application fee. If you still want to try for the visa, you will need to write a letter explaining why an employment letter cannot be provided, and attend the embassy in person to argue your case. There would still be a risk of the application being accepted, but the visa cancelled without prejudice. If successful, the application would still take several days.

[thermic]

Write a letter yourself clearly explaining your conditions and how you earn your money. That was exactly what I was asked when I told them that I was not employed by a company in a Thai embassy at home country. It worked in my case.

[claffey]

You are receiving an income and 'working' in Thailand. Do you pay income tax here? A letter from yourself is not going to help your case. Get your passport back and stay in Cambodia..

[SteveK]

What kind of genuine "tourist" travels with a letter from their employer proving that they are actually employed?

 

Next thing you know, they will want a certificate from a local doctor proving that you are actually alive.

 

Or maybe the original copy of your birth certificate. And a certified and notarised copy of a document proving that you think the moon is made out of cheese.

 

Take your hard-earned money and spend it somewhere where you are appreciated.

Edited March 14, 2019 by pr9spk

[Leaver]

Forgo the flight back, it's not worth the risk of being detained at the airport.

 

Pick up a 1 month visa to Vietnam through Lucky Visa, or go and get it yourself.  (if you are not from one of the countries that get 15 days visa exemption)

 

Get the 6 hr bus ride to Ho Chi Minh City, or the short flight.

 

Try the Thai Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

You might even like what you see in Vietnam, and forget all about the begging and grovelling for a visa to Thailand.  ????

[SteveK]

There are plenty of other countries in the world, it's just unlucky that you are trying to get into one which is going all-out to deter Western visitors. If I could re-wind my life a few years, knowing what I know now, I would never have gone to Thailand.

[onera1961]

8 minutes ago, pr9spk said:

There are plenty of other countries in the world, it's just unlucky that you are trying to get into one which is going all-out to deter Western visitors. If I could re-wind my life a few years, knowing what I know now, I would never have gone to Thailand.

In the last count nomadlist has 2,000 cities in the World. 

 

[Nyezhov]

52 minutes ago, pr9spk said:

There are plenty of other countries in the world, it's just unlucky that you are trying to get into one which is going all-out to deter Western visitors. If I could re-wind my life a few years, knowing what I know now, I would never have gone to Thailand.

OK thats fine, so you arent in Thailand, you hate it, we get it...so why are you here? Just to argue with folks who have no problems here?

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Nyezhov said:

OK thats fine, so you arent in Thailand, you hate it, we get it...so why are you here? Just to argue with folks who have no problems here?

That shouldn't take him very long!

[SteveK]

1 minute ago, Nyezhov said:

OK thats fine, so you arent in Thailand, you hate it, we get it...so why are you here? Just to argue with folks who have no problems here?

No, I love Thailand. But I'm sure that there are other places that I would love as well, where these petty immigration issues don't exist. I'm here because I'm married to a Thai.

[fforest1]

It sounds like to me Lucky Visa was not a very lucky choice for a visa agent....

[KarlS]

PP has always been known as 'difficult' and it sounds as though they have decided to ramp their requirements. IMO you should abandon attempts to secure a Thia visa in Cambodia and seek, as others have suggested, a visa from an Embassy in a different country. 

[JackThompson]

24 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

It sounds like to me Lucky Visa was not a very lucky choice for a visa agent....

I don't think it is Lucky-Lucky's fault.  This is the first I've heard of the consul there asking for METV documents for an SETV application (which is what they are doing).  The official rules are proof of money, flight-out, and accommodations, but the consuls can add anything they want.

PP is a lousy place to get an SETV these days.  I used to say it was a good "first one" to get with no previous SETVs in one's passport, but it may now even be useless for that, it seems.

[phuketrichard]

DO NOT write a letter saying ur employed!!!

write a letter saying you left your job on XXX and are on a 3, 6 month holiday using funds you saved,

 

Your applying for a TOURIST visa, ( ie ur NOT working)

normally takes 3 full days to get visa.

[digbeth]

3 hours ago, pr9spk said:

What kind of genuine "tourist" travels with a letter from their employer proving that they are actually employed?

 

Next thing you know, they will want a certificate from a local doctor proving that you are actually alive.

 

Or maybe the original copy of your birth certificate. And a certified and notarised copy of a document proving that you think the moon is made out of cheese.

 

Take your hard-earned money and spend it somewhere where you are appreciated.

 

Thai people getting a tourist visa to most 'western' countries have to provide proof of employment/income all the time

[freedomnow]

Another office creates an add-on out of thin air that has never been asked for elsewhere for SETVs...that employer letter is asked for METVs in a person's home country and even the employer letter can be waived if you have a good bit of dough at your back...but not now in UK from April 1st.

Same old same old.

[anatta0]

Ok, too late, i already give the letter saying that i have a part time work with company in my country that i can run remotely in my laptop while i travel. Also have some side job that i can run remotely, which is true. But i am not employed or do any business in Thailand.

 

Lucky lucky said we will get the news today by 5 PM. Either approved or rejected. Before we submitted the visa, we already been warned by lucky lucky that these days, the embassy may ask employment letter. We knew going to Vientiane will be easier, but i like coming to siem-reap and pp as i have not been there before. Also we have no any SETV. 

 

I understand many are frustrated with the visa rules of Thai immigration here. Fyi, i am from Indonesia, have travelled to 9 ASEAN countries (not yet to Brunei) and had been a digital nomad for years in few countries. There is a good reason i picked Thailand.

[KarlS]

2 minutes ago, anatta0 said:

Ok, too late, i already give the letter saying that i have a part time work with company in my country that i can run remotely in my laptop while i travel. Also have some side job that i can run remotely, which is true. But i am not employed or do any business in Thailand.

 

Lucky lucky said we will get the news today by 5 PM. Either approved or rejected. Before we submitted the visa, we already been warned by lucky lucky that these days, the embassy may ask employment letter. We knew going to Vientiane will be easier, but i like coming to siem-reap and pp as i have not been there before. Also we have no any SETV. 

 

I understand many are frustrated with the visa rules of Thai immigration here. Fyi, i am from Indonesia, have travelled to 9 ASEAN countries (not yet to Brunei) and had been a digital nomad for years in few countries. There is a good reason i picked Thailand.

Don't be surprised if (when) your application is rejected especially if it mentions "remote working"! 

[anatta0]

9 minutes ago, KarlS said:

Don't be surprised if (when) your application is rejected especially if it mentions "remote working"! 

Yeah, i feel silly now ???? Digital nomad is a normal thing nowadays, but i forgot that i should see from the Immigration eyes, it is a no no.

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, digbeth said:

Thai people getting a tourist visa to most 'western' countries have to provide proof of employment/income all the time

Wages in all Western countries are higher than Thailand, so they have a reason to move there, overstay, and take jobs illegally.  Western-country passport-holders have no similar motivation in coming to Thailand, where an illegal-job pays less than the lowest-paid job in our passport-countries.

 

Until fairly recently, Thai immigration policy reflected this reality, and used our presence to maximize income-opportunities for their own citizens.  But, recently, they decided (likely paid-off) to throw their own citizens under the bus, by making harder and harder for us to visit/stay here.

 

49 minutes ago, anatta0 said:

Fyi, i am from Indonesia ...

That could explain this previously unreported request at that consulate; Thai authorities may view your coming to Thailand as a potential means to obtain a higher-paying job than in your passport-country - even though this may not be at all true, in your particular case.

[Caldera]

That's an unusual request, even considering it's Phnom Penh we're talking about. Maybe something the OP wrote on the application form (they do ask for the applicant's occupation, after all) triggered it, if it was unclear or suspicious? OP, could you share with us what you wrote there?

[anatta0]

8 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

That could explain this previously unreported request at that consulate; Thai authorities may view your coming to Thailand as a potential means to obtain a higher-paying job than in your passport-country - even though this may not be at all true, in your particular case.

EDIT : 

It is a NEW NORMAL now in PP for employment letter on SETV, before we applied, Lucky Lucky agent already told us, many get asked for employment letter too. So we have to be prepared for it. 

 

My friend's national is USA, he got the same request from embassy too. 

Edited March 15, 2019 by anatta0

[anatta0]

9 minutes ago, Caldera said:

That's an unusual request, even considering it's Phnom Penh we're talking about. Maybe something the OP wrote on the application form (they do ask for the applicant's occupation, after all) triggered it, if it was unclear or suspicious? OP, could you share with us what you wrote there?

We didn't fill any application form, all are handled by the visa agent. I am Indonesian passport holder, my friend is USA passport holder. 

 

It is a NEW NORMAL now in PP for employment letter on SETV, before we applied, Lucky Lucky agent already told us, many get asked for employment letter too. So we have to be prepared for it. 

Edited March 15, 2019 by anatta0

[Caldera]

2 hours ago, digbeth said:

Thai people getting a tourist visa to most 'western' countries have to provide proof of employment/income all the time

A Thai who helps out at a Thai restaurant in Europe "under the table" can easily make 4+ times as much as working a regular job in Thailand. That's simply not the case the other way round, so that comparison makes little sense.

[KarlS]

1 minute ago, Caldera said:

A Thai who helps out at a Thai restaurant in Europe "under the table" can easily make 4+ times as much as working a regular job in Thailand. That's simply not the case the other way round, so that comparison makes little sense.

Mmm  Obtaining a Schegan tourist visa as a Thai is not easy - 

[Caldera]

2 minutes ago, anatta0 said:

We didn't write anything, all are handled by the visa agent. I am Indonesian passport holder, my friend is USA passport holder. 

Interesting, not filling in the form by yourself might not work in your favor. When I applied for a SETV in Phnom Penh last year, I also used an agent (not Lucky Lucky though), but he made me fill in the application form by myself. Back then, things were still easier in any case, they just wanted a bank statement and a ticket out as supporting docs.

[Caldera]

2 minutes ago, KarlS said:

Mmm  Obtaining a Schegan tourist visa as a Thai is not easy - 

And for a good reason, which was my point. For a "typical" Thai (who, as you wrote, doesn't easily qualify for a Schengen visa), working illegally on such a visa would be much more attractive than for a typical Westerner in Thailand.

[Cloudy]

Time for you to head on to another country you’re clearly working here in Thailand And trying to circumvent the system


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[KarlS]

1 minute ago, Caldera said:

And for a good reason, which was my point. For a "typical" Thai (who, as you wrote, doesn't easily qualify for a Schengen visa), working illegally on such a visa would be much more attractive than for a typical Westerner in Thailand.

Sorry, but unlike you, I do not indulge in Thai bashing. The chances of what you refer to as a "typical Thai" getting a Schengen visa range from nil to zero. 

NB I did not use the word "typical", it was your choice to use that disparaging word.