Refused Entry in BKK - Second METV - Deported back to London

[SteveK]

2 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

What percentage of people do you seriously think that applies to, i.e. what %age have been refused entry?

A tiny percentage, which is why the airlines are not asking visitors to Thailand to sign disclaimers in case they are refused entry, at least not yet.

[Just Weird]

5 minutes ago, SteveK said:

It's relevant because not only are the immigration requirements deterring long stay visitors and ex-pats, but making life difficult for companies who want to do business here. Some companies will just decide that it's too much hassle and go elsewhere, taking their money and jobs with them, yet another own-goal for the "Land of Smiles".

It may be irrelevant to you but it is not irrelevant to my question directed at the poster who brought it up.

 

"Some companies will just decide that it's too much hassle and go elsewhere, taking their money and jobs with them, yet another own-goal for the "Land of Smiles".

Ok, that's your opinion but it's not a fact, unless you can point to a company (just one would do) that has made that decision.

[Just Weird]

2 minutes ago, SteveK said:

5 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

What percentage of people do you seriously think that applies to, i.e. what %age have been refused entry?

A tiny percentage

Exactly.

[yogi100]

6 hours ago, nailbrains8 said:

Let's not forget that in order to even be granted an METV you must show 6 months worth of bank statements to prove you can cover you stay... 

I didn't have to show any money, bank statements nor how much I have or I receive, just proof of being in receipt of a state pension. A letter from the pension people is adequate.  I suppose that they can work out how long you've been getting it by your age.

[yogi100]

4 hours ago, Nong Khai Man said:

You'll Have NO Problem entering with a Non-Imm " O " Multi.....

Is that not the same thing as an METV?

[yogi100]

56 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Exactly.

But what percentage of visitors will get to hear about these refusals, consider the dismal exchange rate, the insurance requirements the deteriorating attitude of some Thai people to Westerners and decide to call it a day with the LOS.

 

The hostile looks of the IOs has never been absent. I've never seen one smile or say welcome in 20 years of holidaying in the LOS. They can now give vent to that hostility whenever they feel like it or if it's their time of the month.

[BritTim]

50 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

I didn't have to show any money, bank statements nor how much I have or I receive, just proof of being in receipt of a state pension. A letter from the pension people is adequate.  I suppose that they can work out how long you've been getting it by your age.

 

42 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

5 hours ago, Nong Khai Man said:

You'll Have NO Problem entering with a Non-Imm " O " Multi.....

Is that not the same thing as an METV?

No, but the fact that you think it is explains your posts.

 

A Multiple Entry Tourist Visa is issued for a period of six months, and is for the purpose of tourism. It provides a 60-day initial period of stay on each entry.

 

A Non O multiple entry visa for those in receipt of a state pension (no longer available) used to be valid for a year from the date of issue. Like other Non O visas, it allowed an initial 90-day stay each time you entered Thailand.

 

There were many other differences.

[SteveK]

30 minutes ago, yogi100 said:

But what percentage of visitors will get to hear about these refusals, consider the dismal exchange rate, the insurance requirements the deteriorating attitude of some Thai people to Westerners and decide to call it a day with the LOS.

In the dark ages before the internet, it must have been hard to find out exactly what kinds of charades were going on at an airport halfway round the planet. In the information age, people have something in their pockets which can tell them immigration issues in seconds, so travellers now are much more savvy. Plus, with the international media now reporting quite quickly on all the people dying or getting raped in Thailand, combined with the stratospheric and incessant rise of the Thai baht, people can see at the push of a button or touch screen that there are much better value places to go which have everything Thailand has and more.

 

The Thai government is going balls-out to deny entry to tourists with cash to spend because they've been a couple of times before and at the same time holding meetings to try and find ways to promote tourism in the country. What have they come up with? Pushing tax-refunds for tourists, and giving out 100 baht vouchers at the airport? I don't know whether there is an extreme lack of communication between government departments, or if the people in charge are suffering with a severe educational deficiency, but I suspect it's a bit of both.

 

Stop treating repeat tourists like convicts. Can you imagine a car dealership which you go to regularly for servicing and always buy your cars there. Then after a few years they say "nope, you've been here too much, you'll have to go somewhere else now". It beggars belief - the country needs money, the tourism industry needs tourists, and these people are at the airport waiting to come in with cash in their pockets! Yet they are now clamping down even more on tourists, making it even harder and harder to qualify for visas and creating new hoops to jump through seemingly every month. What on Earth are they thinking?

 

Sometimes I suspect that it will take the tourism industry to catastrophically implode with closure of hundreds of bars, restaurants and guesthouses before the people with the power to do anything notice, but of course, by then it will be too late. The businesses will be closed, the jobs will have been lost, and many of the old ex-pats will probably have a basic grasp of pidgin Vietnamese by then.

Edited October 12, 2019 by SteveK

[lkv]

15 minutes ago, SteveK said:

In the dark ages before the internet, it must have been hard to find out exactly what kinds of charades were going on at an airport halfway round the planet. In the information age, people have something in their pockets which can tell them immigration issues in seconds, so travellers now are much more savvy.

The downside of it though, is that you have plenty of anonymous trolls making up rejection stories on forums, some because they are mentally deranged, and others that may have vested interests, advertising related. Or to influence public opinion.

Edited October 12, 2019 by lkv

[SteveK]

5 minutes ago, lkv said:

The downside of it though, is that you have plenty of anonymous trolls making up rejection stories on forums, some because they are mentally deranged, and others that may have vested interests, advertising related.

Are people really sad enough to sit and write a several hundred word, fake report about being denied entry? 

[yogi100]

5 minutes ago, BritTim said:

 

No, but the fact that you think it is explains your posts.

 

A Multiple Entry Tourist Visa is issued for a period of six months, and is for the purpose of tourism. It provides a 60-day initial period of stay on each entry.

 

A Non O multiple entry visa for those in receipt of a state pension (no longer available) used to be valid for a year from the date of issue. Like other Non O visas, it allowed an initial 90-day stay each time you entered Thailand.

 

There were many other differences.

Cheers Tim. Mine runs out 28/3/20.  It's a non imm O multiple entry visa. I'm going to the LOS in about 3 weeks.

 

Will I have to get insurance and is it likely they'll think I'm working or short of funds. I always have more than 20 K baht with me in £s when I enter.

 

A friend of mine was grilled at the airport earlier this year and it's made me a bit apprehensive. I probably won't go back there after my current visa expires.

 

It's just not the same country any more. Who needs hassle on holiday especially when it's such a long and expensive trip.

[lkv]

Just now, SteveK said:

Are people really sad enough to sit and write a several hundred word, fake report about being denied entry? 

Yes.

 

They learned from China.

 

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/10/china’s-paid-trolls-meet-50-cent-party

[whitemouse]

21 hours ago, MattDM said:

Didn't count really the days in 2018. Two SETV's with extension plus about 5 weeks of the start of the METV

And what harm did his SETV and METV cause to this nation? He spent his money here, just like retirees. Unless his age (under 50) is held against him by our "hang em high" squad, what actual harm did he cause by staying I Thailand, spending his tourist money in Thailand? 

[MattDM]

"With that history there was always a high risk they wouldn't let you in this time, especially coming in at BKK. There's obviously something pretty wrong with a system that takes money off you for a visa and then doesn't let you in. Did Hull give you any kind of warning that this might happen?"

 

None at all. I specifically asked about it as well, as it was a concern.

 

I shall be ringing them on Monday to give me pointers for the way forward. Is a refund available? Can you try again without consequence? will a new passport help? Was I just unlucky? I have a bunch of questions for them quite frankly.

 

If anybody has any questions, stick them on the thread and i will do my best to ask them

[SteveK]

Visas are non-refundable so a refund is impossible, even if they admit error, which won't happen. I think the best thing you can do is give them as many details as possible about what happened and try to make them aware that this is happening to people with valid visas. Although I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if they aren't interested.

 

Moving forward, and I know this might sound a bit melodramatic, you might want to think about somewhere else to spend your hard-earned money, rather than risk this happening again. Because you just know that there will be something in their computer system now that will flag up should you try again, despite what people on here may say - if you have been detained they must have kept your details.

 

It will be very interesting to hear what the answers to your questions will be, I suspect that they won't have any substantial answers seeing as they seem oblivious to how Thai immigration are behaving.

 

I think the questions I would like to ask would be:

 

"Why did you issue me a visa for Thailand when I was only going to be refused entry?"

 

And if they say that they had no way of knowing that this would happen then ask:

 

"Why not? Why do you not understand the methods employed by Thai immigration? How can you be giving out visas and advice to people travelling to Thailand when you don't know anything about their rules and regulations, written or unwritten?"

 

At least being back in the UK you are much more likely to get a straight answer to a straight question. Make sure you keep notes of everything just in case you end up going to the press with this story, if that prevents one person having their travel plans ruined because they read about it in the paper then it will be something worth doing.

Edited October 12, 2019 by SteveK

[BritTim]

2 hours ago, yogi100 said:

Mine runs out 28/3/20.  It's a non imm O multiple entry visa. I'm going to the LOS in about 3 weeks.

 

Will I have to get insurance and is it likely they'll think I'm working or short of funds. I always have more than 20 K baht with me in £s when I enter.

Since you have a multiple entry Non Immigrant O visa (and not the long stay Non Immigrant O-A visa) there is no requirement for health insurance. Of course, having it in some form is still a good idea. If you are old enough for a UK state pension, I doubt it will cross immigration's mind that you could be working. Anyway, so far, those with Non O visas have very rarely been subject to invented, unofficial rules at immigration.

[baboon]

6 hours ago, yogi100 said:

Cheers Tim. Mine runs out 28/3/20.  It's a non imm O multiple entry visa. I'm going to the LOS in about 3 weeks.

 

Will I have to get insurance and is it likely they'll think I'm working or short of funds. I always have more than 20 K baht with me in £s when I enter.

 

A friend of mine was grilled at the airport earlier this year and it's made me a bit apprehensive. I probably won't go back there after my current visa expires.

 

It's just not the same country any more. Who needs hassle on holiday especially when it's such a long and expensive trip.

A multiple entry Non O and time spent out of Thailand? Chances are you will sail through or at worst, be asked a couple of questions before sailing through. Where are you flying in from?

[Caldera]

I think the Thai authorities don't have any valid excuse for mistreating this visitor. The consulate saw his entire history in his current passport, so not having access to immigration's database isn't a valid excuse in this particular case. There's no official or published rule that he broke either. Just rogue IOs making up their own rules, quite possibly to receive a kickback on detention fees charged and most certainly to "promote" their own little "privileged entry" service that they've set up at BKK. Disgusting.

[yogi100]

5 hours ago, baboon said:

A multiple entry Non O and time spent out of Thailand? Chances are you will sail through or at worst, be asked a couple of questions before sailing through. Where are you flying in from?

LHR to Swampy with Thai Airways.

 

I left Thailand after my last visit on 17/7/19 having been there for 84 days.

 

I keep in touch with falangs by phone I've met over the years in the LOS. They are all aware of these developments and few of them read this forum or any other. Bad news travels.

 

One English couple are very concerned because a few years ago they spent 6 million baht on a retirement house in Koh Samui. They are not in perfect health and their enquiries about selling the house have not been very encouraging. No ones buying!

 

 

[Gweiloman]

Cheers Tim. Mine runs out 28/3/20.  It's a non imm O multiple entry visa. I'm going to the LOS in about 3 weeks.
 
Will I have to get insurance and is it likely they'll think I'm working or short of funds. I always have more than 20 K baht with me in £s when I enter.
 
A friend of mine was grilled at the airport earlier this year and it's made me a bit apprehensive. I probably won't go back there after my current visa expires.
 
It's just not the same country any more. Who needs hassle on holiday especially when it's such a long and expensive trip.

Hope you don’t mind me asking this but it’s a genuine question.

I presume you are not working any longer as you have the time and resources to travel to Thailand regularly. I also presume you have been doing this for a few years (in that your current non-o is not your first).

What is the attraction of Thailand for you? I can’t imagine that it’s temples (seen one, seen them all), the regular Thai person (unless you are fluent in Thai or them fluent in English) or Thai food (it’s good but surely not that good that you want to eat it all the time).

Could it then be the bar scene? If so, I hear that Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China also has active nightlife.

As I mentioned in my first sentence, this is a genuine question.


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[Briggsy]

@MattDM

 

Pretty much the same that happened to me on an METV arriving from the UK.

[baboon]

1 hour ago, yogi100 said:

LHR to Swampy with Thai Airways.

 

I left Thailand after my last visit on 17/7/19 having been there for 84 days.

 

I keep in touch with falangs by phone I've met over the years in the LOS. They are all aware of these developments and few of them read this forum or any other. Bad news travels.

 

One English couple are very concerned because a few years ago they spent 6 million baht on a retirement house in Koh Samui. They are not in perfect health and their enquiries about selling the house have not been very encouraging. No ones buying!

 

 

So you have spent several weeks in your home country and are flying direct. I would estimate your chances of being admitted are 90% at the very worst.

You will probably breeze through and almost wonder what the fuss is about.

[Tuvoc]

Yes, I read stuff in the forum and it does make you worried, perhaps needlessly.

 

My Thai wife and I have visited Thailand very frequently over the las 10 years, but for max. 3-4 weeks each time. Now we have a house over there and she spends most of her time there, ahead of me joining her permanently in 12-18 months time. So now when I visit for 2 weeks three or four times a year the TM6 has a Thai residential address, and I was asked last time if I lived there or not. The IO accepted it when I said no, but they will probably ask it again. That is a concern. Having an return ticket or onward ticket should help but it seems that it doesn't always. They can still refuse entry. Theoretically I should have no problems at all, but if you get the wrong IO who has been having a bad day, you just don't know.

[Martyp]

1 hour ago, Gweiloman said:

Hope you don’t mind me asking this but it’s a genuine question.

I presume you are not working any longer as you have the time and resources to travel to Thailand regularly. I also presume you have been doing this for a few years (in that your current non-o is not your first).

What is the attraction of Thailand for you? I can’t imagine that it’s temples (seen one, seen them all), the regular Thai person (unless you are fluent in Thai or them fluent in English) or Thai food (it’s good but surely not that good that you want to eat it all the time).

Could it then be the bar scene? If so, I hear that Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China also has active nightlife.

As I mentioned in my first sentence, this is a genuine question.


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Hmmm. Here is a genuine answer.

 

I’m sick and tired of churches in Europe. Seen one. Seen them all . . . at this point. Three years later I’m still excited to visit new temples in Southeast Asia. They are all so different and often in beautiful locations. They are fun and full of life. Except for some exceptional stained windows, European churches are drab and dull. 
 

The Thai people are, for the most part, wonderful. I’ve been welcomed everywhere I go. City and country. People are generally nice everywhere though. Thai culture frowns on public confrontation so public spaces are quite nice. Some friends from New York City visited and after two weeks one of them remarked, “You know? . . . all the time we’ve been here we haven’t heard anyone yelling”. That sums it up. I ride the Bangkok BTS trains daily. People are quiet, well dressed, and polite. I can hardly say the same for the dirty San Francisco BART system or New York subways.

 

 I’m not going to have a deep, complex, or technical conversation with a Thai person because of language barriers but that would be true interacting with anyone who speaks another language. You would be surprised at how easily you can have a friendly interaction with others even with the language barriers. You should try it some time. And what makes you think Thais don’t speak English? I go salsa dancing weekly and most of the Thais I meet there speak English just fine. Like anywhere it depends on where you go and who you meet.

 

Thai food, I love it. My wife is an excellent Thai cook. I eat Thai for about 80% of my meals. I prefer it over Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Indian food. You get the picture. Yes. It is that good. BTW. It is much better here than Thai food in whatever country your from. We also eat out about half the time because inexpensive Thai food here is fabulous compared to say, cheap food in America (and it is not all that cheap in the US).

 

Believe it or not there is more to entertainment here than the bar scene though the bar scene is excellent if you take the time to look around. Hotel bars. Riverside bars. Rooftop bars. Clubs. British pubs. Cocktail bars. Wine bars. And yes, even beer bars outside Nana Plaza. 
 

All year round, in the cities and country, there are festivals with food, music, dancing, and parades. They are varied and lots of fun. They are traditional and modern. There are jazz clubs. Free classical concerts in the park. The other night we saw a dance performance of Introdans, a modern ballet company from the Netherlands at the Thailand Cultural Center. Bangkok has a pretty nice art scene as well. I found a nice art movie theater as well. There is plenty to do and see and it is less expensive and less crowded.

 

I just returned from my annual trip to the US. It was great to see old friends again but otherwise it is pretty boring. I’m still suffering from sticker shock (i.e. high prices). I was glad to return home to Bangkok.

 

addition: I forgot to mention the many National Parks. Khao Yao National Park has spectacular wildlife. The islands and beaches in the South of Thailand are great with some of the best snorkeling anywhere.

Edited October 13, 2019 by Martyp

[Selatan]

14 hours ago, SteveK said:

In the dark ages before the internet, it must have been hard to find out exactly what kinds of charades were going on at an airport halfway round the planet. In the information age, people have something in their pockets which can tell them immigration issues in seconds, so travellers now are much more savvy. Plus, with the international media now reporting quite quickly on all the people dying or getting raped in Thailand, combined with the stratospheric and incessant rise of the Thai baht, people can see at the push of a button or touch screen that there are much better value places to go which have everything Thailand has and more.

 

The Thai government is going balls-out to deny entry to tourists with cash to spend because they've been a couple of times before and at the same time holding meetings to try and find ways to promote tourism in the country. What have they come up with? Pushing tax-refunds for tourists, and giving out 100 baht vouchers at the airport? I don't know whether there is an extreme lack of communication between government departments, or if the people in charge are suffering with a severe educational deficiency, but I suspect it's a bit of both.

 

Stop treating repeat tourists like convicts. Can you imagine a car dealership which you go to regularly for servicing and always buy your cars there. Then after a few years they say "nope, you've been here too much, you'll have to go somewhere else now". It beggars belief - the country needs money, the tourism industry needs tourists, and these people are at the airport waiting to come in with cash in their pockets! Yet they are now clamping down even more on tourists, making it even harder and harder to qualify for visas and creating new hoops to jump through seemingly every month. What on Earth are they thinking?

 

Sometimes I suspect that it will take the tourism industry to catastrophically implode with closure of hundreds of bars, restaurants and guesthouses before the people with the power to do anything notice, but of course, by then it will be too late. The businesses will be closed, the jobs will have been lost, and many of the old ex-pats will probably have a basic grasp of pidgin Vietnamese by then.

I think the Thai government knows exactly what they are doing. I think they are trying to get rid of Thailand's image as a sex tourist attraction. You yourself have said before that Malaysia was a boring place for you and you preferred Cambodia. That shows many young farangs are in Thailand mainly for sex and to allow the continued visa-runs would keep Thailand's huge sex industry alive and definitely the Thai government doesn't like that. Malaysia has plenty of beautiful islands, cool highlands, better infrastructure, good food and cleaner air but that wouldn't be attractive enough to the typical sexpat. 

I have always avoided visiting Thailand in the past even though it is Malaysia's neighbour because of its image as a sex capital but after the previous military junta took over and tried to clean up its image, then only I started visiting Thailand for the food, shopping, temples, culture, scenic views and also for business. The Thai government's effort is paying off because it is now common for Malaysians to visit Thailand with the whole family, unlike in the past, where mostly only men would go to Thailand solely for the whores.

[Gweiloman]

Hmmm. Here is a genuine answer.
 
I’m sick and tired of churches in Europe. Seen one. Seen them all . . . at this point. Three years later I’m still excited to visit new temples in Southeast Asia. They are all so different and often in beautiful locations. They are fun and full of life. Except for some exceptional stained windows, European churches are drab and dull. 
 
The Thai people are, for the most part, wonderful. I’ve been welcomed everywhere I go. City and country. People are generally nice everywhere though. Thai culture frowns on public confrontation so public spaces are quite nice. Some friends from New York City visited and after two weeks one of them remarked, “You know? . . . all the time we’ve been here we haven’t heard anyone yelling”. That sums it up. I ride the Bangkok BTS trains daily. People are quiet, well dressed, and polite. I can hardly say the same for the dirty San Francisco BART system or New York subways.
 
 I’m not going to have a deep, complex, or technical conversation with a Thai person because of language barriers but that would be true interacting with anyone who speaks another language. You would be surprised at how easily you can have a friendly interaction with others even with the language barriers. You should try it some time. And what makes you think Thais don’t speak English? I go salsa dancing weekly and most of the Thais I meet there speak English just fine. Like anywhere it depends on where you go and who you meet.
 
Thai food, I love it. My wife is an excellent Thai cook. I eat Thai for about 80% of my meals. I prefer it over Japanese, Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Burmese, Indian food. You get the picture. Yes. It is that good. BTW. It is much better here than Thai food in whatever country your from. We also eat out about half the time because inexpensive Thai food here is fabulous compared to say, cheap food in America (and it is not all that cheap in the US).
 
Believe it or not there is more to entertainment here than the bar scene though the bar scene is excellent if you take the time to look around. Hotel bars. Riverside bars. Rooftop bars. Clubs. British pubs. Cocktail bars. Wine bars. And yes, even beer bars outside Nana Plaza. 
 
All year round, in the cities and country, there are festivals with food, music, dancing, and parades. They are varied and lots of fun. They are traditional and modern. There are jazz clubs. Free classical concerts in the park. The other night we saw a dance performance of Introdans, a modern ballet company from the Netherlands at the Thailand Cultural Center. Bangkok has a pretty nice art scene as well. I found a nice art movie theater as well. There is plenty to do and see and it is less expensive and less crowded.
 
I just returned from my annual trip to the US. It was great to see old friends again but otherwise it is pretty boring. I’m still suffering from sticker shock (i.e. high prices). I was glad to return home to Bangkok.
 
addition: I forgot to mention the many National Parks. Khao Yao National Park has spectacular wildlife. The islands and beaches in the South of Thailand are great with some of the best snorkeling anywhere.

Thanks. A genuine answer and I can see why you still enjoy living in Thailand.
As for myself, I’ve lived here now for over 10 years. Most of that time was in Bkk (Asoke, Lat Krabang, Ramkamhaeng) and the past 2 years in CM (retirement). During those years, I’ve driven/ridden throughout most of Thailand (all but the 3 southern most provinces, something that will be rectified next week when I make my regular road trip to Malaysia, going via Yala/Betong as opposed to Hatyai/Sadao.
I’ve seen pretty much all of what Thailand has to offer in terms of sights and sounds and food including the night life of which I was an active participant in my earlier years here.
Now however, I have a much more easygoing life and honestly, I could substitute CM for any other developed city in SEA.
But I still wonder why some would jump through such hoops in order to stay here, when they are not emotionally or financially tied to this country


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[moontang]

I just returned from the States, too.  Gained weight, but was eating steaks and oven fries galore.. much cheaper than here, but lower end restaurant food sucked.. including 21.50 us for two at Five Guys, which people rave about, but is Wendy with 50% higher prices.  Green grapes at 89 cents per pound, otherwise uninspiring produce.  But stuff like mustard, almonds, BBQ sauce, pickles.. much cheaper than LOS.  People seemed rude as Hell at retail, and was even hard to find an open cashier to pay for my package of Calvin Klein underwear at Macy, which were about 80% less than Central.  Got a nice stash of Partagas, too.  Parents started with zero and did well, watch tons of baseball, and got a post it note on the fridge that says "2019." I am very glad to be back in BKK.  It ain't perfect, but it's home. 

[Moon6966]

It's normal to be sent back to original country
I don't know maybe he could have asked to be sent elsewhere

Why do they force a flight back to London?  Can he choose to take a flight somewhere else?  Do they just force your last departure origin or home country?

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[Tuvoc]

This next visit I have an onward flight to New Zealand on the same ticket a week later, i.e one ticket with Thai Airways LHR - BKK - AKL - LHR. As a dual national I'd ask to be sent there on the next available flight. Heaven forbid it comes to that though.

Edited October 13, 2019 by Tuvoc

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, Martyp said:

European churches are drab and dull.

Crikey, better find a Michelangelo  to spruce up the Sistine.