Thailand adds to requirements for visas

Staff writer, with CNA

 

 

Starting next month, individual travelers from Taiwan visiting Thailand would be required to provide financial details to obtain a visitor’s visa, local travel agencies said yesterday.

 

On Nov. 12, the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei announced that it was implementing an e-visa application and e-payment system from today, with those who hold Republic of China passports required to apply for a visa online and to schedule an appointment to submit their passports in person at the office.

 

The office said that it would cease to accept walk-in visa applications without an online appointment.

 

Local travel operators yesterday confirmed that starting next month, applicants would also need to provide bank details for the prior three months as proof that they can cover their travel expenses.

 

Full story: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2019/11/30/2003726723

 

Taipei Times: 2019-11-30

 

In other news.. Record arrivals predicted for 2020.. 

Assuming that they are rolling out the same piece of <deleted> that is already driving applicants in the UK nuts (based on reports here), this will do wonders to help tourism.

This from their website. http://www.tteo.org.tw/main/zh/bulletin/5041/111357-電子簽證申請.html

Same e visa application site as the Beijing, Paris and London embassies are using. https://thaievisa.go.th/Home/

 

So The Chinese are Going Elsewhere,Next The Taiwanese will be going somewhere else,That leaves only The Indians Left so to my reckoning there is going to be at least 40 Million of them arriving Next year,Hardly Any European's  Pattaya ( The World Famous FAMILY Resort is Empty already,Just 4 Weeks to go til Christmas.....Send in The TAT !!!

Last year nearly 700,000 Taiwanese visited Thailand.  Taiwan is not listed as a Visa exempt country, so all Taiwanese visitors will need to use the eVisa application.

 

So, how many potential visitors will give up coming to Thailand and chose Vietnam or elsewhere instead?  300,000?  400,000?

 

If the head of the TAT wants to save the tourist industry in Thailand, he should be ordering hits on the head of MFA and Immigration right now! ????

7 minutes ago, Nong Khai Man said:

So The Chinese are Going Elsewhere,Next The Taiwanese will be going somewhere else,That leaves only The Indians Left so to my reckoning there is going to be at least 40 Million of them arriving Next year,Hardly Any European's  Pattaya ( The World Famous FAMILY Resort is Empty already,Just 4 Weeks to go til Christmas.....Send in The TAT !!!

I guess nearly all of chinese tourists get a VOA and don't apply for a tourist visa at the embassy, so this doesn't change much.

2 minutes ago, otherstuff1957 said:

Last year nearly 700,000 Taiwanese visited Thailand.  Taiwan is not listed as a Visa exempt country, so all Taiwanese visitors will need to use the eVisa application.

That can get a 15 day visa on arrival that is free at this time.

Do the individual state agencies actually speak with one another? Doesn't the TAT speak with Immigration and say, you are making things worse for us and for Thailand please stop this nonsense ? 

2 hours ago, Nong Khai Man said:

So The Chinese are Going Elsewhere,Next The Taiwanese will be going somewhere else,That leaves only The Indians Left so to my reckoning there is going to be at least 40 Million of them arriving Next year,Hardly Any European's  Pattaya ( The World Famous FAMILY Resort is Empty already,Just 4 Weeks to go til Christmas.....Send in The TAT !!!

But according to one misguided writer, Indians are going to "Save Pattaya" ! 10,000Bht spending apiece per day ? You couldn,t make this stuff up ????

24 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

Do the individual state agencies actually speak with one another? Doesn't the TAT speak with Immigration and say, you are making things worse for us and for Thailand please stop this nonsense ? 

Immigration has nothing to do with what embassies and consulates want to issue visas. That is set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

taiwan enjoys developed nation status. they can travel to united states without a visa

https://www.quora.com/Which-countries’-citizens-can-travel-to-the-U-S-without-a-visa

 

3 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

But according to one misguided writer, Indians are going to "Save Pattaya" ! 10,000Bht spending apiece per day ? You couldn,t make this stuff up ????

Well somebody is making it up.

Several off topic and inflammatory posts have been removed.

Ok, let's reformulate. Looks like mods are busy at work.

 

The GDP per capita of Taiwan is about USD 25,000, compared to Thailand at USD 6,900.

 

They don't benefit from the visa exempt policy of Thailand,  and only qualify for visa on arrival (15 days), and will now encounter further headaches applying for SETVs.

 

This, in the context of a substantial 20% increase in tourism from this market.

 

Good on Thailand. Good luck. ????

Taiwan are simply the next country moving over to the E visa application platform. All Thai Embassy's worldwide have to move over to it. Non residents cannot apply for a Thai visa in a country using E visa.

The introduction of additional requirements for Taiwanese wanting to visit Thailand has nothing to do with Thai Immigration introducing new rules.  As Ubonjoe has already stated, the rules by which Thai Embassies issue visas is set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not Immigration.

 

I suspect that this may well be a political move by the Thai Government to kowtow to the ‘Chinese masters’ in order to gain support for the massive infostructure loans it is trying to aquire, or has already acquired.

 

FYI

The division between Mainland China and Taiwan stems from the bitter civil war between the Communists lead by Mao Tse-tung and his arch-rival lead by Chiang Kai-shek following the end of WWII in 1945.  The communists won the battle and created The People’s Republic of China (Mainland China).  Chiang Kai-shek was forced to retreated to the island of Taiwan and in 1949 and he created the Republic of China (Taiwan).

 

Since the end of the civil war the Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China) has considers Taiwan (Republic of China) to be part of its territory.  However, in reality Mainland China has had absolutely no jurisdiction over Taiwan, and this has been a big ‘thorn in the side’ of past and present Chinese leaders.

 

Mainland China (the Peoples Republic of China) refuses to have any diplomatic relations with any country that recognises Taiwan (the Republic of China) and it may well be this fact that has encouraged Thailand to introduce these extra requirements.

2 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

The introduction of additional requirements for Taiwanese wanting to visit Thailand has nothing to do with Thai Immigration introducing new rules.  As Ubonjoe has already stated, the rules by which Thai Embassies issue visas is set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not Immigration.

 

I suspect that this may well be a political move by the Thai Government to kowtow to the ‘Chinese masters’ in order to gain support for the massive infostructure loans it is trying to aquire, or has already acquired.

 

FYI

The division between Mainland China and Taiwan stems from the bitter civil war between the Communists lead by Mao Tse-tung and his arch-rival lead by Chiang Kai-shek following the end of WWII in 1945.  The communists won the battle and created The People’s Republic of China (Mainland China).  Chiang Kai-shek was forced to retreated to the island of Taiwan and in 1949 and he created the Republic of China (Taiwan).

 

Since the end of the civil war the Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China) has considers Taiwan (Republic of China) to be part of its territory.  However, in reality Mainland China has had absolutely no jurisdiction over Taiwan, and this has been a big ‘thorn in the side’ of past and present Chinese leaders.

 

Mainland China (the Peoples Republic of China) refuses to have any diplomatic relations with any country that recognises Taiwan (the Republic of China) and it may well be this fact that has encouraged Thailand to introduce these extra requirements.

It is the exact same worldwide gateway and requirements that the UK, France and China are already using. All country's will be switching over to it. No need for an conspiracy theories.

.....so the Taiwanese people I know are well educated, “Westernized / worldly” and are NOT “Cheap Charlies- many special English as their second language. 

 

I wonder if these new restrictions are influenced from Mainland China bossing Thailand around? 

 

2 hours ago, toenail said:

.....so the Taiwanese people I know are well educated, “Westernized / worldly” and are NOT “Cheap Charlies- many special English as their second language. 

 

I wonder if these new restrictions are influenced from Mainland China bossing Thailand around? 

 

No. As previously stated, this is Taiwan having to move over to the same crappy One Size Fits All system already inflicted on France, the UK and mainland China, the poor sods. With any luck they will vote with their feet and help cause Thailand to rethink. I wouldn't hold my breath on the Thailand rethinking score, though...

17 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

This from their website. http://www.tteo.org.tw/main/zh/bulletin/5041/111357-電子簽證申請.html

Same e visa application site as the Beijing, Paris and London embassies are using. https://thaievisa.go.th/Home/

 

Thanks Joe as you are pointing out No big deal Just bringing them into libe with all the other immigrants

9 minutes ago, lkv said:

If they were to put Taiwan on visa exempt, Thailand would want Taiwan to reciprocate, and unfortunately, for valid reasons, that will not happen.

According to a paper I am not allowed to link to, Taiwan extended visa free travel for Thais on August the first, for another year, until July 2020. Hopefully after that the Taiwanese authorities will take a good hard look at their visa free arrangements. 

14 minutes ago, baboon said:

According to a paper I am not allowed to link to, Taiwan extended visa free travel for Thais on August the first, for another year, until July 2020. Hopefully after that the Taiwanese authorities will take a good hard look at their visa free arrangements. 

Yes, i kept adding to my previous post. It's currently visa free travel for Thais in Taiwan, visa on arrival for Taiwanese in Thailand.

2 hours ago, lkv said:

Yes, i kept adding to my previous post. It's currently visa free travel for Thais in Taiwan, visa on arrival for Taiwanese in Thailand.

Thai's get a 14 day visa exempt entry for Taiwan.

Taiwan does not have a standard visa on arrival program but offer visa exempt entries of varying lengths to many countries.

I suspect that there are diplomatic reasons for Thailand not offering visa exempt entries for Taiwan.

5 hours ago, baboon said:

No. As previously stated, this is Taiwan having to move over to the same crappy One Size Fits All system already inflicted on France, the UK and mainland China, the poor sods. With any luck they will vote with their feet and help cause Thailand to rethink. I wouldn't hold my breath on the Thailand rethinking score, though...

Do Chinese not get visa on arrival?

That's strange because some western countries do... You'd think the Eastern countries would too.

41 minutes ago, SanookTeufel said:

Do Chinese not get visa on arrival?

They get a 15 day visa on arrival after applying for it. Normally the fee for it is 2000 baht but that is exempted at this time.

 

41 minutes ago, SanookTeufel said:

That's strange because some western countries do... You'd think the Eastern countries would too.

I think you may be confusing a 30 day visa exempt entries that those from many western countries get with a visa on arrival.

Rather a very muted response from TV...if this concerned farangs i think it's explosive....

On 11/30/2019 at 3:05 PM, ubonjoe said:

Immigration has nothing to do with what embassies and consulates want to issue visas. That is set by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I stand corrected, so couldn't TAT speak to the MFA ?

18 hours ago, ubon farang said:

No big deal. Just bringing them into libe with all the other immigrants.

Yep, no big deal... except that so-called "e-visa" thingy (just online visa application, really) is useless piece of <deleted>, according to every poor soul who was forced to use it.

Hopefully Hong Kong is NOT next?

 

Yes HK locals are visa exempt, but hordes of international HK visitors apply for visa in HK consulate during their Asian trips.