Interesting experience at BKK immigration this morning

[kmw]

Interesting experience just had at immigration at BKK airport, flew in first class with China Airlines so they gave me a VFS fast track pass that I used, 6 IOs 4 of them female 2 male, was trying to walk slowly as the male IOs had one person each being processed, so got waved over, she looked at my passport and didn't like what she saw, I was coming in on a non immigrant business visa, however she called one of the supervisors over, then fun and games started, they asked me "you work?" I reply "yes on this visa I start working" but they were more interested in my past visas, as I have 5 metv back to back and about 7 visa exempt on my passport, they kept on asking "you work before? and I kept on saying "No! Non-work before, holiday!, But now start work as I have business visa, Anyway half an hour later they stamped me in, what a nightmare, I knew DMK was bad but BKK I think are cracking down or questioning people who have been here on tourist visas for extended periods of time, just thought I would share

[NCC1701A]

13 minutes ago, kmw said:

I think are cracking down or questioning people who have been here on tourist visas for extended periods of time, just thought I would share

yes this the new normal now. 

[KittenKong]

15 minutes ago, kmw said:

was trying to walk slowly as the male IOs had one person each being processed,...... they asked me "you work?" I reply "yes on this visa I start working" but they were more interested in my past visas, as I have 5 metv back to back and about 7 visa exempt on my passport, they kept on asking "you work before? and I kept on saying "No! Non-work before, holiday!, But now start work as I have business visa,

So you were deliberately trying to pick the immigration lane you used, you have many previous long stays without apparently needing to work anywhere but now you are going to work here?

 

They thought you seem dodgy and I can see why.

 

I can compare this with my BKK entry this week: fast track immigration, picked the shortest line, got stamped in. Took about 1 minute with no questions asked at all.

[somtumwrong]

Oh, back in 2014, with pages after pages of visa exempts, I can remember the look on the face of the male IO.

'You have girlfriend in Thailand?'

'Yes'

A smile and a <STAMP>

 

Pretty different now haha

[kmw]

15 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

So you were deliberately trying to pick the immigration lane you used, you have many previous long stays without apparently needing to work anywhere but now you are going to work here?

 

They thought you seem dodgy and I can see why.

 

I can compare this with my BKK entry this week: fast track immigration, picked the shortest line, got stamped in. Took about 1 minute with no questions asked at all.

I normally try to get a male IO as for some reason the females don't like me, just always had issues with them in the past, I'm in my mid thirties dress smart casual, and of an Asian appearance, 

[Stocky]

7 minutes ago, kmw said:

I normally try to get a male IO

I usually try to pick a queue with a female IO as they're more efficient and quicker!

[LongTang]

22 minutes ago, kmw said:

I normally try to get a male IO as for some reason the females don't like me, just always had issues with them in the past, I'm in my mid thirties dress smart casual, and of an Asian appearance, 

 

Agree, So far i have been only questioned by female IO.

I think its a kind of women to women jealousy thing..

 

[Nong Khai Man]

17 minutes ago, Stocky said:

I usually try to pick a queue with a female IO as they're more efficient and quicker!

NOT Always............A Female IO Once Stamped me in on a Multi-Non-Imm " O " For 30 Days at Nong Khai,Until I Pointed ouit HER Mistake,She just Laughed & Then Changed it to the 90 Days !! Thank You Ma'am....

[ThaiBunny]

1 hour ago, kmw said:

but BKK I think are cracking down or questioning people who have been here on tourist visas for extended periods of time

But that isn't what happened. They were questioning whether you had previously worked while here on a tourist visa because you now have business visa

[Orton Rd]

23 minutes ago, Stocky said:

I usually try to pick a queue with a female IO as they're more efficient and quicker!

Except for the older fat ugly ones, they are often looking for a problem

Edited June 21, 2019 by Orton Rd

[LongTang]

5 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

But that isn't what happened. They were questioning whether you had previously worked while here on a tourist visa because you now have business visa

 

This is BS. Whether he was working or not, The man is trying to do the right thing by getting the proper visa for his stay, Why give him a hard time for that??

This will just reduce the likelihood of people making the move to get a proper visa..

[Destiny1990]

They just trying to improve their English skills.

You work? Where you go? What your name? Give them a long complicated answer and wait for their next question 

[KittenKong]

3 hours ago, kmw said:

I normally try to get a male IO as for some reason the females don't like me, just always had issues with them in the past,

I really do have a dull life.

[dick turpin]

4 hours ago, kmw said:

I normally try to get a male IO as for some reason the females don't like me, just always had issues with them in the past, I'm in my mid thirties dress smart casual, and of an Asian appearance, 

 

…….personally I am of a British appearance

[berybert]

Western people are weird. We laugh at the Thai police because they are lazy and do nothing.

Then we moan about the immigration staff because they do their job. 

[lkv]

23 minutes ago, berybert said:

Western people are weird. We laugh at the Thai police because they are lazy and do nothing.

Then we moan about the immigration staff because they do their job. 

Thai people laugh at Thai police also. The only reason they don't moan about Immigration is because....well...they are Thai. Some probably started to do that also though, with the resurrection of the TM30. It gets a bit too stressful for them.

 

 

 

[kmw]

4 hours ago, LongTang said:

 

Agree, So far i have been only questioned by female IO.

I think its a kind of women to women jealousy thing..

 

Totally agreed , I think female IOs are on some kinda power trip

[Matzzon]

5 hours ago, kmw said:

I knew DMK was bad but BKK I think are cracking down or questioning people who have been here on tourist visas for extended periods of time

Yes, and the simple thing is. A tourist visa is not to be used for permanent stay. I know many are going to say, but I am not 50 years old yet, I am not married to a Thai or that you do not have any thai children. Ok, your loss! That´s the rules in this country. Just to accept them and embrace the pure facts that a tourist visa has that name, because you should not use it to stay as a person living in the country on them.

[Estrada]

21 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

yes this the new normal now. 

He is talking about 7 visa exempt tourist entries, not tourist visas. This is not the new normal, it has been this way for the last 20 years. It has been reported many times by Thai Visa. I have had this problem several times as I was working in Libya from 2004 to 2010 on a 10 weeks on 3 weeks off rotation and had to use the visa exempt tourist entry, although married to a Thai. Thai immigration stopped me once and refused me entry due to multiple visa free entries and only got let in after I pointed out that a friend was the former head of Immigration and was expecting me for a get together. There are quite a number of ex-pats with Thai wives that work overseas on rotation that have no choice other than to use the 30 day visa exempt method, as they cannot be here to make an annual extension based on marriage etc. 

[hansnl]

20 hours ago, LongTang said:

 

This is BS. Whether he was working or not, The man is trying to do the right thing by getting the proper visa for his stay, Why give him a hard time for that??

This will just reduce the likelihood of people making the move to get a proper visa..

Why give him a hard time?

Because they can!

[richard_smith237]

The Op has been here for a while on a METV... this time he's re-entered on a Non-Imm B (Business Visa).

Questioning if he was working in the past seems a rather common sense assumption.  

The Op answered their questions, they accepted the answer and stamped him in. 

 

I'm really not sure what the issue is with any of this, the Immigration officers were doing their jobs and had no issues with letting the Op enter Thailand after he'd answered their questions. 

 

------

 

Some posters have written that the Immigration Police were being overzealous etc because he was on a Valid Visa for work (this time), thats kind of like someone implying that because someone is suspect of a criminal offense (say theft) last time, but have not done anything wrong today they should not be questioned... These are Police - In this case they're just doing their jobs.

 

------

 

I work overseas (rotation 28x28 days). If I am ever asked if I am working in Thailand I can prove that I'm working overseas and answer the questions that I'm in Thailand on my days off - I think its a perfectly reasonable question to be asked that I am complying with Thai law or not. 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by richard_smith237

[from the home of CC]

when you consider the amount of scammers that arrive and reside here I'm surprised they're not more strict... 

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

The Op has been here for a while on a METV... this time he's re-entered on a Non-Imm B (Business Visa).

Questioning if he was working in the past seems a rather common sense assumption.  

The Op answered their questions, they accepted the answer and stamped him in. 

 

 

 

 

If he had been working before, do you think he would have answered that he had, it's a fair cop, damn, lock me up. A bit like the question that used to be (maybe still is) on USA forms asking if you have ever engaged in terrorist activity. "Sir, I cannot tell a lie, I dun it."

[ubonjoe]

A off topic nonsensical post has been removed.

[Burma Bill]

Not visa related, but I recently had a bewildering experience with Immigration at DMK. I was returning from Cambodia with Air Asia's "Fly-Thru" service to my home in Khon Kaen. At DMK, there are Immigration desks set apart from the main area dedicated for "Fly-Thru" passengers on Air Asia, Nok Air and Thai Lion Air. A lady IO was manning the only desk open and as the result of a build-up, a male IO came to assist in an adjoining desk without the Bio-metric Identification System. Passengers lucky to be processed by him had just their photos taken, passports processed and allowed to enter Thailand. I, unfortunately, ended up with the lady IO and whilst she processed my paperwork I tried to use the Bio-metric system without success. It kept telling me to replace my fingers on the scanner. I apologized to the lady IO who stated "no problem, you can go through" handing me my passport - unbelievable! On the outward journey I had no problems with the new Bio-metric system in Khon Kaen International Departure Lounge One.

[alex8912]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

The Op has been here for a while on a METV... this time he's re-entered on a Non-Imm B (Business Visa).

Questioning if he was working in the past seems a rather common sense assumption.  

The Op answered their questions, they accepted the answer and stamped him in. 

 

I'm really not sure what the issue is with any of this, the Immigration officers were doing their jobs and had no issues with letting the Op enter Thailand after he'd answered their questions. 

 

------

 

Some posters have written that the Immigration Police were being overzealous etc because he was on a Valid Visa for work (this time), thats kind of like someone implying that because someone is suspect of a criminal offense (say theft) last time, but have not done anything wrong today they should not be questioned... These are Police - In this case they're just doing their jobs.

 

------

 

I work overseas (rotation 28x28 days). If I am ever asked if I am working in Thailand I can prove that I'm working overseas and answer the questions that I'm in Thailand on my days off - I think its a perfectly reasonable question to be asked that I am complying with Thai law or not. 

 

 

Yah after he answered their questions for 30 minutes! 

Now you can reply like “ I don’t find being questioned on a proper visa for JUST 30 minutes a problem blah blah blah” 

[Speedhump]

20 hours ago, berybert said:

Western people are weird. We laugh at the Thai police because they are lazy and do nothing.

Then we moan about the immigration staff because they do their job. 

Hua Hin immigration are good at their job, apart from one young idiot trying to scam me for 500 baht to transfer a visa stamp from old to new passport, I demanded a receipt and soon got the cash back. My only tea money experience. They even neatly place stamps so as to use each passport page efficiently. Not like the lazy arrogant SOBs in the UAE, one little stamp right in the middle of a fresh page, time and time again. I want to throttle them.

[Chazar]

20 hours ago, berybert said:

Western people are weird

No,  ALL people  are weird except  me of course.

[PerkinsCuthbert]

On 6/21/2019 at 11:25 AM, KittenKong said:

So you were deliberately trying to pick the immigration lane you used, you have many previous long stays without apparently needing to work anywhere but now you are going to work here?

 

They thought you seem dodgy and I can see why.

 

I can compare this with my BKK entry this week: fast track immigration, picked the shortest line, got stamped in. Took about 1 minute with no questions asked at all.

Wow, Sleuthhound par excellance!

[Gandtee]

20 hours ago, dick turpin said:

 

…….personally I am of a British appearance

Ah. So likely of Asian appearance.????