Interesting Immigration attitude at Swampy today

[marcusb]

On 8/25/2022 at 10:44 PM, ESLTeacher1989 said:

 

You should really get a visa though, its really not that hard and keeps immigration happy and it works out about the same price .........what's your problem

 

That really depends where you are. In the middle of Canada I have to courier a special envelope 20$  with a self addressed envelope inside $20 and a money order $ to Vancouver, with my passport and application photos etc.  Any complications I can phone them, but they never pick up the phone or answer emails. 

 Or I can just get visa on arrival, which I did 2 weeks ago, trouble free. 

[ubonjoe]

6 minutes ago, marcusb said:

That really depends where you are. In the middle of Canada I have to courier a special envelope 20$  with a self addressed envelope inside $20 and a money order $ to Vancouver, with my passport and application photos etc.  Any complications I can phone them, but they never pick up the phone or answer emails. 

 Or I can just get visa on arrival, which I did 2 weeks ago, trouble free. 

Not any more. The are using the e visa site now and at the embassy in Ottawa as well.

See: http://www.thaiconsulatevancouver.ca/th/บริการกงสุล/

[CANSIAM]

10 minutes ago, marcusb said:

That really depends where you are. In the middle of Canada I have to courier a special envelope 20$  with a self addressed envelope inside $20 and a money order $ to Vancouver, with my passport and application photos etc.  Any complications I can phone them, but they never pick up the phone or answer emails. 

 Or I can just get visa on arrival, which I did 2 weeks ago, trouble free. 

No more mail your passports to Embassy, all done online now ( E-Visa ). 

[sandyf]

On 8/25/2022 at 10:25 PM, Regyai said:

Stamped in 30days exempt with no further clever retort only her best snarl

Couldn't be more different when I arrived last night, IO was very pleasant, but then I had come with an appropriate E-visa.

Only question she asked me was "When is your birthday?",  bit surprised and had to think for a minute, when I said "today" she laughed and said "Happy Birthday".

 

[sandyf]

On 8/26/2022 at 1:53 AM, Mac Mickmanus said:

It is rather difficult to get a visa though , applying on line isn't an easy process 

Everything is difficult for those that don't want to do it.

 

Amazes me how people whinge about progress using smartphones and social media.

[Big FranK]

If you stay less than 2 months, i understand why people won't bother with evisa when they are entitled to visa exemption, even if they have to deal with Immigration for their one month extension. After all,  the point of visa exemption is to have as many short-stay tourists as possible, isn't it ? (unlike evisa which is mostly to get money from someone who is not even yet in the country)

[Lemsta69]

4 hours ago, marcusb said:

That really depends where you are. In the middle of Canada I have to courier a special envelope 20$  with a self addressed envelope inside $20 and a money order $ to Vancouver, with my passport and application photos etc.  Any complications I can phone them, but they never pick up the phone or answer emails. 

 Or I can just get visa on arrival, which I did 2 weeks ago, trouble free. 

Canadians don't qualify for VOA. you got a Visa Exemption. not same same.

[Iamfalang]

On 8/25/2022 at 10:25 PM, Regyai said:

Stamped in 30days exempt with no further clever retort only her best snarl

Two decades does not make you Thai!!!

 

Have you spent even one baht in Thailand?  Anyhow, you have not spent enough.

 

It's nice you are treated so poorly and yet keep coming back for more abuse.   

 

I like these stories because it tells me I'm smart for not retiring in Thailand.   From the top down

, the falang is really someone who you can treat badly over and over and over and over.

 

I'm sure you will be back.   sad.  very sad.   

 

yes, the computer will go red the next time you enter.  BAD FALANG, NO NO NO NO

[balo]

On 8/25/2022 at 5:37 PM, Mac Mickmanus said:

What happened next ?

They lived happily ever after  

[bob smith]

whats all this dross about

[marcusb]

6 hours ago, Lemsta69 said:

Canadians don't qualify for VOA. you got a Visa Exemption. not same same.

Yes, you're are right. Good job.

 

 

Ubonjoe, Cansiam  Thanks, wasn't aware of it. Checked into it a year and a bit ago and it was the mail in thing.  Didn't even bother checking this time, and I should have! 

[marcusb]

16 hours ago, Lemsta69 said:

not same same.

Not Taking the pi$$ but you brought it up, and Ive seen the same comment over the past 12 years quite often. I agree there is a difference in terminology. 

 

 To the consumer/tourist what is the difference between 30 day visa and 30 day visa exempt. Not terminology, I want to know if one is any different from the other as far as a regular 30 day tourist is concerned. Do Visa people get any more benefits, easier to renew, any advantages?   Thanks, genuinely curious. ????  

[AsianAtHeart]

On 8/26/2022 at 11:44 AM, PingRoundTheWorld said:

What for? We know the story - she flipped through a passport full of Thailand stamps (even though they were years old) and her "you come too often" lightbulb went off. Didn't even bother to look at the dates - just knee-jerk reaction to the stamps. Funny enough if the OP came with a new clean passport she wouldn't have asked him anything.

But the fact is, the visitor's entire history of entries, etc. is available in the system, and, once she scans the passport, should be accessible to her on the screen.  Dates should be more easily read there in a list format--why bother scanning the passport's pages manually?

 

(And, yes, I've been told by an immigration officer that all the info in the passport is kept in their system.)

 

So a "new clean passport" should not, technically, fix this issue, aside from the fact it would make it easier for the officer to read the dates in the history.  The system tracks the past passport history, and connects it to the current passport.

[Ralf001]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:05 PM, EricTh said:

Immigration officer needs to improve her English.

 

It should be 'You must get a visa' and not 'You will get a visa'.....

 

That said, if immigration is not strict with visa-runners, who would want to get a visa?

Yeah pretty sloppy of her to not be fluent in a language that is not her native tongue.

 

Wonder how she goes speaking Russian/German/American or any of the other languages spoken by the large variety of international visitors that come to Thailand ?

[thaiasia]

2 hours ago, AsianAtHeart said:

But the fact is, the visitor's entire history of entries, etc. is available in the system, and, once she scans the passport, should be accessible to her on the screen.  Dates should be more easily read there in a list format--why bother scanning the passport's pages manually?

 

(And, yes, I've been told by an immigration officer that all the info in the passport is kept in their system.)

 

So a "new clean passport" should not, technically, fix this issue, aside from the fact it would make it easier for the officer to read the dates in the history.  The system tracks the past passport history, and connects it to the current passport.

In 2018, at don mueang, I was taken aside and questioned why I visit Thailand so often. The IO went thru my passport and calculated how many days I had spent in Thailand.

 

If the information is available in their computers, why would she need my passport for that? That was 4 years ago though.

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Yeah pretty sloppy of her to not be fluent in a language that is not her native tongue.

 

Wonder how she goes speaking Russian/German/American or any of the other languages spoken by the large variety of international visitors that come to Thailand ?

As far as I know Russian/German isn't taught in Thai schools from age 7 to age 18.

After 11 years of learning English at school you'd think she would be pretty good at it.

[Ralf001]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

As far as I know Russian/German isn't taught in Thai schools from age 7 to age 18.

After 11 years of learning English at school you'd think she would be pretty good at it.

I know many Thai's that are not very good at speaking English, why should she be any better.

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, AsianAtHeart said:

But the fact is, the visitor's entire history of entries, etc. is available in the system, and, once she scans the passport, should be accessible to her on the screen.  Dates should be more easily read there in a list format--why bother scanning the passport's pages manually?

I would say it's because their computer system doesn't work.

Just the same as their fingerprint scanners don't work, their metal detectors, submarines and aircraft carriers don't work.

[mnomad]

On 8/26/2022 at 4:50 AM, scubascuba3 said:

Women immigration staff have a reputation at the airport, when I had an METV i used to avoid them, maybe the same woman 

This. Anyone one on repeat tourist visa or METV should try line up for a old male - repeated experiences suggest this is easiest route...

[mnomad]

15 minutes ago, thaiasia said:

In 2018, at don mueang, I was taken aside and questioned why I visit Thailand so often. The IO went thru my passport and calculated how many days I had spent in Thailand.

 

If the information is available in their computers, why would she need my passport for that? That was 4 years ago though.

Exactly. The information probably is available on the computer somehow but its certainly not what some suggest that a scan immediately calculates time in thailand, shows last entries, and the ridiculous notion that a single scan links all previous passports.  Either this functionality is restricted to certain systems or certain users or the training is below par because they alsmost certainly dont rely on it, the thumbing through passports and counting out "nung, song, sam" loud and slowly will continue

[AsianAtHeart]

2 hours ago, mnomad said:

This. Anyone one on repeat tourist visa or METV should try line up for a old male - repeated experiences suggest this is easiest route...

This, by the way, is true at virtually any country's border--I've experienced it in Canada and elsewhere.  The reason is simple: women tend to feel they have something to prove (that they are in authority over you), whereas men are generally more comfortable with knowing who they are and are just doing their job.  By the same token, it can often be the case that the more senior the officer, and/or the higher the rank, the more latitude he will grant in dealing with people--simply because he has nothing to prove, he's already settled in his identity (in fact, being lenient may be his expression of his authority--as he has the ability to do so).  Getting a man only increases the odds of a pleasant experience: it's not a sure thing, as there are always some who come with an attitude.

 

As for being told that the information was all linked in the computer, this was just a week ago--though I have a hard time believing it has not already been the case for a long time.  I suspect that the computer system / software is not well enough developed to make the information easy to access quickly, and it is more routinely accomplished where time allows, such as for visa applications, than in settings where there may be a long queue of people waiting who either already have a visa or are visa exempt.  Woe unto the last in line or the one who arrives on a near-empty plane, giving the officers more time!

 

But that the information is there is not in question.  I was told, for example, that they have all my visa information from my previous passport, whose number is linked to my current passport in the system.

[scubascuba3]

2 hours ago, mnomad said:

This. Anyone one on repeat tourist visa or METV should try line up for a old male - repeated experiences suggest this is easiest route...

Last time, fierce looking woman on the desk so i avoided and chose man queue, just as i got to front, shift change, man left woman went to desk, luckily she was good as gold

[Neeranam]

On 8/26/2022 at 1:46 AM, ukrules said:

It's not his job to keep immigration happy (nobody cares what they think) - you've got that mixed up completely - it's their job to keep the tourists happy

Immigration is NOT there to keep tourists happy. 

They are there to keep out undesirables, like the sex pests.

[peterfranks]

3 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

I know many Thai's that are not very good at speaking English, why should she be any better.

Could it be because in other civilised countries it is a requirement to get a job as IO?

 

I'm sure it is the same in Thailand

[Ralf001]

4 minutes ago, peterfranks said:

Could it be because in other civilised countries it is a requirement to get a job as IO?

 

I'm sure it is the same in Thailand

do you have a copy of the employment requirements that you are sure of ?

[peterfranks]

2 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

do you have a copy of the employment requirements that you are sure of ?

No do you? Why it would be different in ANY country, since an IO is supposed to communicate with foreign visitors, so he should at least manage the world's most used foreign language.

 

Stop trolling every thread Jerome

[Ralf001]

Just now, peterfranks said:

No do you?

I do not but using your "theory"... should each individual Thai IO be fluent in the language of all visitors to Thailand.... is that also part of the employment conditions ?

[peterfranks]

1 minute ago, Ralf001 said:

I do not but using your "theory"... should each individual Thai IO be fluent in the language of all visitors to Thailand.... is that also part of the employment conditions ?

I didn't say fluent in the language of all visitors.

 

Stop trolling Jerome, second time

[Ralf001]

Just now, peterfranks said:

I didn't say fluent in the language of all visitors.

 

Stop trolling Jerome, second time

but should be fluent in a language that is not her native tongue ?

[Lemsta69]

7 hours ago, marcusb said:

Not Taking the pi$$ but you brought it up, and Ive seen the same comment over the past 12 years quite often. I agree there is a difference in terminology. 

 

 To the consumer/tourist what is the difference between 30 day visa and 30 day visa exempt. Not terminology, I want to know if one is any different from the other as far as a regular 30 day tourist is concerned. Do Visa people get any more benefits, easier to renew, any advantages?   Thanks, genuinely curious. ????  

it's not a question of terminology, there are 3 distinct tourist visa classes at the base level:

 

- Tourist Visa (TR), single entry aka SETV

- Tourist Visa Exemption scheme aka VE

- Tourist Visa on Arrival aka VOA

 

there is currently no 30 day tourist visa. SETV allows for 60 days, extendable once for 30 days at immigration office once you've been admitted to Thailand. it must be applied for outside of Thailand, usually in one's home country. 

 

Visa Exemption means you can rock up to Thailand without a visa, so cheaper and less hassle; no pesky forms to fill out and no massive sticker in one's passport. us "Westerners" get stamped in for 30 days, extendable once for 30 days.

 

VE scheme isn't extended to all nationalities. however, in lieu of applying for a tourist visa beforehand, citizens of a handful of countries can get a Visa On Arrival. cost is B2,000 and it only as allows 15 days stay for tourism purposes, non-extendable.

 

however from 1 October 2022 the Thai government is temporarily extending the VE period from 30 to 45 days, and the VOA from 15 to 30 days. 

 

that's the simple version. feel free to ask for clarification on any of the points.