Showing A Ticket And Cancelling It, (won't Immigration 'catch On'?)

easybullet3 · May 22, 2007

If I buy a ticket out of thailand to get past immigration for a '30 day visa on demand', and then I cancel it... ok, so I have entered thailand. BUT,, now its cancelled and I will do yet another visa-run to poipet next week and I will do EXACTLY the same thing again, (buy a ticket and cancel it).

will they have on computer records that I was supposed to fly back to europe a week ago?

wil they realise I am doing a scam to get past immigration? or you reckon they dont bother making notes of your exit flight at immigration?

jeebusjones · May 22, 2007

I don't think it matters, as long as you have/had a genuine onward ticket.

If you're asked about it, just say you decided to stay longer so you postponed the flight date.

Briggsy · May 22, 2007

You are perfectly allowed to do this. It's remaining in the country illegally that you can't do.

ronw · May 23, 2007

Why do you not do the decent thing.....and BUY a visa?

Does it make you feel good to act the cheapskate, in order to cheat the system?...if so....I feel sorry for your moral health!

do you realise that you are publicly declaring that you are a liar and a cheat?

Edited May 23, 2007 by ronw

cali4995 · May 23, 2007

Why do some farangs, always feel the need to "bash" on other farangs? Honestly, I struggle to understand the psychology of it? Do you think by putting down other people you're somehow elevating your own status with the Thai people (because you're not). At the end of the day we are all farangs so why not try to dispense some kind advice instead. There are a number of reasons why an individual might only want a 30 day exempt stamp. 1) maybe they're not staying 3 months in the kingdom. 2) maybe they are travelling to other countries in the region 3) possibly they need a little time to plan to make a run to malaysia or wherever to get a tourist visa. It's unfortunate an onward ticket is required at "some" checkpoints, because it really doesn't accomplish anything. jai-yen-nawy-krap

easybullet3, the solution is to go to a checkpoint that doesn't require an onward ticket.

ranong, mae-sot, mae-sai, tha-li, nong-khai, mukdahan, anywhere but Cambodia.

Edited May 23, 2007 by cali4995

Krub · May 23, 2007

You are allowed to change your reservation on a flexible ticket or cancel and re-purchase a new ticket and this will satisfy immigration for another 30 days stamp.

As long as you stay within the 90/180 rule you are ok

Edited May 23, 2007 by Krub

Gonzo the Face · May 23, 2007

Good Response...... I don't find it bashing...... always amazes me , the level and extreme to which some people will go , just to milk the system...... this visa exemption thing goes on and on and on.....

This country makes it extremely easy to stay here......chances are , easier than the posters home country.....

Just do the right thing, GET the Correct visa for what you wish to do........ if you can't , go home ......

====\\

I don't consider this bashing at all... good post....

PhilHarries · May 23, 2007

Excuse me but this is not "milking the system" or doing anything illegal. A tourist is legally allowed three back to back visa exemption stamps with a total stay of 90 days provided they then leave Thailand for a minimum of 90 days. Provided they don't work or get up to any illegal activities they have done nothing wrong. It's all very well sitting on your high horse saying "why can't he do it properly just like me" but you don't know his circumstances which is irrelevant anyway as he is not breaking the rules.

If the Thais wanted to force everybody except short stay tourists to get a visa they would have made it a 30 in 60 day rule. Or, as stated on another thread, abolished the visa exemption system altogether.

vermin on arrival · May 23, 2007

I disagree. I think this is bashing. The rules are not that you have to be on that plane. Just to show that you have the ticket and are able to move on. This used to be the sytem in Taiwan years ago when you got a landing visa. You just had to show a ticket leaving the country in 30 days. You didn't have to take that flight. You could change your ticket any way you so desired as long as you eventually left the country at the end of 30 days.

To call the people who do this immoral or liars and cheats is uncalled for. There are many ways to live a life. Just because someone choses a different path doesn't make them necessarily immoral. In this case, the person has chosen the correct visa for him to be the visa exempt entry.

It is not milking the system;it is a perfectly legal and valid way to spend a certain amount of time in this country. Otherwise, it would have been made illegal. Interestingly enough, the law about onward tickets is one that is very selectively enforced.

easybullet3 · May 23, 2007

wow!!! (this message is for 'RONW' who obliterated me). I wasnt expecting that sort of a reply to such a simple senario/question!!

if you wanted to know, I am in thailand on holiday. I dont work here. this is my second holiday here. I have been here this time for just over one year, (and my last holiday I was here also for one year). I saved up money in europe to do this kind of a holiday. also I am here with my son who is with me all the time. sometimes (becasue I am on holiday here for so long), one forgets what day it is (as I am not working), and I often remeber in the last minute that my toursit 60 or 90 days is over... so sometimes I need to do a 'last minute' poipet/cambodia visa-run. (i would always do the flight to penang, but if I book at a day or two's notice it becomes VERY expensive and it really 'eats' into my holiday budget).

I am far from being 'tight', I often do a 60 day visa, and sometimes do a 30-day free visa.

i'm just amazed at your response!

if you are a wealthy independant person, then good luck to you for having lots of cash (and shame on you for putting down others). If you are an english teacher or a worker that is scraping by over here, then good luck with the job. remember me while you are working every day!! (I rent a condo in bangkok, spend most my time shoping, sightseeing and travelling around the islands, hanging with friends and eating and having a blast with my son.. (I have been doing this for a year.. no working, no job, no worries, its been a great holiday).

maybe one day you will grow to be a person without contempt, bitterness, hatred towards other people.

I checked your 'other' posts in thai visa.com and it seems you have on occasion asked for help in some situations. did anyone write to you calling you names or telling you that you are a dumb-ass for not knowing something?

maybe try answering politely next time or just dont say anything at all!!

take care, and good luck with the bitterness, (which probably comes from unhappiness issues)

ALSO, I would like to point out that some of these rules just 'suddenly' get enforced by immigration (without any notice). - i know that they have always been in place,, but were never previously enforced. when you arrive to do a visa run and find you need an onward ticket, then you need to somehow get around it to get back into the country!!! you expect me to live the rest of the year in camboida? i dont think so. (a couple of weeks 'tops' is adequate for me in cambodia). if they want a ticket, then I will show them a ticket. simple. if I need to pay a full priced British airways ticket and then cancell it for the refund, then ok. no problemo. if I go to pennang ever 3 months, no problems. its just doing what you gotta do to stay here.

i do the penang trip often and sometimes I do the 30 day visa run. depends on the circumstace. my life, my choice. your coments only showed the type of person you are and can be.

lets hope your kid grows up with a nice caring/sharing/helping attitude, rather than your blamefull one.

easybullet3 · May 23, 2007

also, a good point that "PhilHarries" made: its nothing illegal what we are doing! we are not milking the system.

by making a ticket and then cancelling it, we are ABIDING EXACTLY BY THE RULES AS SET OUT BY IMMIGRATION.

we are showing immigration an onward ticket that leaves the kingdom within 30 days.

this is exactly what they require.

if immigration ever asked me, I could produce a LOT of cash to prove to them that I am more than capable of living here for a few years without working. So, "RonW", dont call me a cheapskate!!!!!

even if I have do have money, I still have a budget that I try to keep. i wont spend 8000 or 9000 on a 'last minute' round trip (for me and my son) to penang, when i can do it for a couple of thousand to poipet (3.5 hrs from bkk)

Jimjim · May 23, 2007

Don't worry, they just like to voice their preconceived ideas about the nature of a person just because they happen to make a visa run.

ronw · May 23, 2007

If I have maligned you then I apologise.....however, in your OP, you openly state that what you are doing is a SCAM............so I naturally assumed that you were one of the incessant whiners and whingers who are continually seeking ways to circumvent the system.

Thailand makes it very easy to stay here....and I for one can see the injustice of paying another country a fee in order to stay in Thailand without charge..............but many others cannot seem to understand the logic of this.

For your information....I am certainly not rich...and I am not working here, legally or otherwise....

I have however, ALWAYS bought a visa, and regard that as a privelege, ...and a duty to be honoured...and for you to make assumptions about my personality or nature...............and to cast aspersions on my family....beggars belief!

WilliamIV · May 23, 2007

Cali - I agree with your sentiments - but how do you know that ronw is Farang?

Even if his profile were to say he is? ...

He (or she) might be Thai

Even a Thai Immigration Officer !!!! hahaha

We are all anonymous here - aren't we?

Bill

Jimjim · May 23, 2007

Quite the overstatements. Not really a scam. The requirement is to have an outgoing ticket. He obviously did. Whether he cancels it or not is up to him. Usually a scam harms someone such as getting money from them that you don't deserve. This is not even comparable. He's actually playing by the rules pretty much. He's keeping the spirit of the law which is that they just want to know you have means to get out of the country. A scam would be if he had a fake ticket and did not have the means to survive in Thailand or to get out of the country. It seems you made many assumptions about him as well. He's living as a tourist which is perfectly acceptable under visa free exemption. He is here legally and not working. So get over it. Your tone is far too harsh and misguided. Perhaps you should shout into a pillow instead of going on here over your anger at those ###### visa runners.

WilliamIV · May 23, 2007

Just because someone goes to a neighbouring country

and asks questions about a Returnn Ticket

does not neccessarily mean they are "Doing a Visa Run"

Posters should refrain from Pre-Judging those requesting advice / help

If I invite my recently retired Brother from UK to Bangkok for an "Extended" visit

and he enters with a return Ticket to UK for say 90 days later

And while based in Bangkok he decides to visit the famous Temples in Cambodia & Laos

on seperate say two week trips and maybe a visit to Singapore or Hong Kong ...

That does not make him a "Visa Runner"

He is a GENUINE Tourist and will seek several Visa Exemption free 30 day entry stamps

because THAT is all he needs and because they are meant to accomodate such a situation.

Not EVERYBODY is trying to stay in Thailand permanently

But he might need to know at which points of re-entry he may need another

outward ticket to satisfy requirements

Bill

bkkandrew · May 23, 2007

Do you realise that you are publicly declaring that you are a tosser and a prat?

Back to the OP - have used 'onward' ticket for 7 years, which usually is cancelled or varied, but never broke the 30-day rule, or now the 90/180 day rule. I don't think that this will change, as there is no method Immigration can use to ensure you actually travel on the onward ticket you present to them.

Fred Sanford · May 23, 2007

Yep indeed, the OP was a victim of typical visa situation, high and mighty bashing. enuf to make me puke as it has since sept. why do these people bother responding?

lopburi3 · May 23, 2007

The original post asks "wil they realise I am doing a scam" so I believe the judgment had already been made. If this is not a troll the poster should at least be expecting negative opinions to be posted.

The fact is this is regulation that has not been actively enforced in the past but is being so now in selective places. If they decide to limit the work arounds they will do so but for now nobody is being hunted down for changing there minds and don't expect that to happen.

Sunny Valentine · May 23, 2007

As far as I know there is no requirement to leave Thailand within 30 Days in the book, only to show the confirmed and paid ticket. As 3 30 Days in a row are now perfectly legal in the rule books, this regulation is nothing but stupid. A genuine tourist might quite well leave Thailand after say 3 weeks for a few days in Cambodia or Laos via a land border, come back through a land border, collect another 30 Day stamp, and then finally leave via land border to his final destination outside Thailand, to catch his return flight from maybe KL or Singapore. The rule to show a ticket within 30 Days does not comply with the spirit of the new regulations allowing you 3 consecutive back to back 30 Day stamps.

This rule comes from older times where these new rules were not in place.

This ticket rule is therefore against both the spirit and the words of current immigration rules. The fact that it is enforced by some borders is the scam. A way to counter this scam would be:

Buy a Business Class full fare freely rebookable and refundable Thai Airways One way ticket out (to any destination, for Penang it would be about 14000 Bt.) Use this at the border, rebook it in Thailand every time you need to run the border, and at the end of the one Year validity, cancel it for a full refund through your International Credit Card. This in fact costs you nothing, but the cost for the Thai Government (owner of Thai Airways) would be considerable, all the rebookings and twice the Credit Card fees. This way the scammer (the Thai Government) pays for all. Som nam na.

Sunny

ronw · May 23, 2007

Regardless of whether you are complying with the letter of the law., by using nefarious means to circumvent the regulations , it is a FACT that you are cheating the system, and by declaring that the ticket will be used, when in reality you have no intention of doing so.....makes you a liar.

This is an ethical,or moral question,and it is up to your personal conscience,how you regard your actions....and personal abuse will not lend weight to your argument ....

bkkandrew · May 23, 2007

You really need some help.

The law states that you should have an onward ticket so that you are able to comply with the 30 visa exeption program. Having the ticket, whether you use it or not, is in compliance with the law. It is not nefarious, or lies, but compliance.

You, on the other hand, are a pedantic zealot, who presumably comes to the forum just pick a holier-than-thou fight with others.

Are you one of the guys that hands out bibles at the end of Cowboy on an occasional basis?

Huw · May 23, 2007

Maybe keeping it cool would be in order. If the law allows this then it is legal so no problem doing it is there? If the Thais didnt want this to be allowed then they would change the law wouldnt they? Perhaps they only want to be assured that incoming people have the means to leave at the end of the visa? Doesnt seem unreasonable, but some of the replies to the OP do.

Cool is good.

H

Edonista · May 23, 2007

Do you realize you are publicly accusing of cheating an absolutely innocent person ?

He bought a ticket out of Thailand within 30 days to show it to border Immigration to comply to their new crazy requirement. Why on Earth should he be compelled to board that plane ? He is absolutely in full right to change the departure date and use the modified ticket for another visa run.

endure · May 23, 2007

OK, that's enough:

"2) Posting another members personal details, photos or web site details is forbidden and will result in being banned. Excessive, aggressive posts against other members, moderators and admin; or flaming will not be tolerated. 'Flaming' is best defined as posting or responding to a message in a way clearly intended to incite useless arguments, rants, and/or for launching personal attacks, insulting, being hateful, useless criticism, name calling, swearing and other bad behavior or comments meant to incite anger."

Edonista · May 23, 2007

Who is declaring anything ? You have to show the ticket to prove you are able to leave Thailand within the next 30 days. If instead of boarding the plane you change the ticket date 30 days later and make another visa run, you again comply to the requirement of being able to exit the country within the next 30 days, so what are you cheating ?

What the hel_l is wrong with people like you ?

endure · May 23, 2007

I said that's enough. Next flamer gets a holiday.

lopburi3 · May 23, 2007

This topic is closed.

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