I am an ex pat living in Malaysia and used to ride my motorbike up to Thailand 5 or 6 times a year with a group of friends for between 5 to 14 days we always tour round and usually stay in nice hotels however Thai immigration say we are only allowed to cross the border twice per year without getting a visa from the Thai embassy this never used to be the case and applies to all expats and Singapore bikers this means spending a  day at the embassy then another trip to pick up your passport which effectively means two wasted days  because of this rule change hundreds of bikers are just giving up on Thailand Question - how is this good for tourism

Rhetorical question

It’s been this way for two or three years, maybe longer. If you did your 5 or 6 times for the past few years it didn’t matter to immigration or perhaps you didn’t make as many trips as you thought. I feel sorry for you, but it’s the way it is.

 

Just to make it clear, that’s per calendar year, so you have 11 months to make your trips.

 

You can (Could) find info on malay Facebook grouos, GT-rider, rideasia and horizons unlimited websites. 
 

I know it’s not ideal, but I’m sure I read that if you have some residence permit in MY or SG then you can get a ME Visa from the embassy in KL, SG, KB or penang a year, I’m think the cost would be about 100MYR per trip. 

 

 

.,!;:?

On 2/7/2020 at 7:31 PM, Roulph said:

ride my motorbike up to Thailand 5 or 6 times a year with a group of friends for between 5 to 14 days

Do you run a motorbike touring business? 

On 2/7/2020 at 8:16 PM, recom273 said:

It’s been this way for two or three years, maybe longer. If you did your 5 or 6 times for the past few years it didn’t matter to immigration or perhaps you didn’t make as many trips as you thought. I feel sorry for you, but it’s the way it is.

 

Just to make it clear, that’s per calendar year, so you have 11 months to make your trips.

 

You can (Could) find info on malay Facebook grouos, GT-rider, rideasia and horizons unlimited websites. 
 

I know it’s not ideal, but I’m sure I read that if you have some residence permit in MY or SG then you can get a ME Visa from the embassy in KL, SG, KB or penang a year, I’m think the cost would be about 100MYR per trip. 

 

 

I agree with everything written in this post.

 

I'm sorry that I'm not so sympathetic to the "plight" of the OP. Easy enough to apply for a ME tourist visa or even just a single entry, getting a re-entry permit if a return within the validity of the entry stamp is foreseen. As for "wasted time" waiting for the visa, he could always use an agent, and even if he had to apply in person, that's a good excuse to spend some time hanging around Singapore, Penang, KL or Kota Bharu (locations of Thai consular offices in these two countries).

 

Malaysian citizens obviously don't have to worry about this, as they receive unlimited 30 day entries.