KL - BKK visa border run almost denied for my 80 year old mom

[Justanotherone]

 

my 80 year old mother came here half september

she got 30 days on arrival

we went a few days before expire date to local immigration for a 30 day extension

I prepared a TM30 and everything

got blasted there the 1st time.... The Tm30 I did as house master of the place I rent, online, never a problem for my own tm30

I registered using the blue book copy, but my passport

NOPE... they wanted the owner copy of id card or no extension...

Gladly the owner lines me the copy... just forwarding or mailing to an immigration email address was not possible, had to go find a shop to print it out...

You know, being in the stone age and everything...

So that was stressful enough...

We did change return ticket after 'successful' extention...

Did not see my mom for 3 years due to covid ...

So I thought, ok... let's do a border run to Kuala Lumpur... cheapest, no stuff like buying visa as in Cambodia..

She did it alone...as... I am not vaxxed... trip went fine to KL...

On the way back, same day, 10 PM, long day for her,  THAI IMMIGRATION at the airport...

They brought her to some other lane for old people, or is it the SCAM LINE ?

 

They Tell her.... trip to KL was not needed,   YOU HAVE TO GO BACK TO YOUR OWN COUNTRY...

and you can come back, THE NEXT DAY (to/from Europe... 11 hours flight, 2.000 euros or more...)

She has a flight out next week... but we planned to change that after a successful border run, not before...

So they roasted her why she was here, where she stayed

PS: my mom comes from a non-ENGLISH speaking country...  this is her 3rd language same as me

Apparently, the 70+ year old man before her, and some other people also did the same RUN in the morning, same flight out and in...

She saw the man before her plead to immigration and hand over cash money hush hush and then he was soooooo thankful to those nice people at immigration...

I was waiting at the airport, phone was on... none tried to call me...

Well my mom does not have a Thai sim card, she uses WIFI at my place... and free wifi from airport simple does not work...

 

Immigration pretended to call me on their phone, nobody at all called.

My mom pleaded if they could get me to come explain the situation, but that was not allowed...

After 20 minutes of checking this and that, supervisor, she surprisingly got the needed stamp...

 

She was surprised to get it and why all this <deleted> ?

Does Thailand not need or want tourists to spend money to make it almost impossible give a stamp after leaving the country and entering legally ?

My mom did not give money or was not asked money... maybe she did not know how THAILAND works... that you need to grease the wheels for getting a 45 day stamp what she deserves, no ?

This was again a very bad experience with those nice Thai people with a bit of power...

Or am I wrong ?

Does leaving the country, just for the stamp out  and later the stamp in,  first border run in her life, by air, to be able to spend a bit more time with the family a bad thing ?

Edited November 25, 2022 by Justanotherone

[ubonjoe]

Apparently some rouge immigration officers making problems for a person that is doing nothing wrong.

I can't say much more than the above.

 

[bigupandchill]

All you can do is tell everyone you know, and tell them to tell everyone they know - to prevent more vulnerable people getting treated this way.

[DrJack54]

41 minutes ago, Justanotherone said:

So I thought, ok... let's do a border run to Kuala Lumpur... cheapest, no stuff like buying visa as in Cambodia..

She did it alone...as... I am not vaxxed... trip went fine to KL...

On the way back, same day, 10 PM, long day for her,  THAI IMMIGRATION at the airport...

Seems she flew to KL and back again (same day) to Bangkok.

Personally for same day reentry I would have suggested flight return Bangkok to Udon Thani and done a land border exit and reenter at Nong Khai.

Stay one night in UT is an option.

Or.....a land border bounce using minivan etc. 

Depends where you are located. 

 

Think if she had spent some time in KL the result would have been better. 

Edited November 25, 2022 by DrJack54

[AgMech Cowboy]

Interesting info. I was contemplating a KL or SING by air border bounce in a couple of months. Maybe I will reconsider and head up to Udon Thani.

[BusyB]

3 hours ago, AgMech Cowboy said:

Interesting info. I was contemplating a KL or SING by air border bounce in a couple of months. Maybe I will reconsider and head up to Udon Thani.

I just did one to KL close to the end of a 30 day extension. It's an interesting, quite flashy and fun city full of really interesting sights and experiences and you get a free 90 day stamp on arrival. I'll be going back. 

 

H o w e v e r,  I spent 2 whole days there checking the place out - so a 4 day out and in trip not a straight 'bounce'.

 

No questions asked on return at Swampy. Got 45 days, extendable by 30.

[Onerak]

9 hours ago, Justanotherone said:

grease the wheels for getting a 45 day stamp what she deserves, no ?

It was a shame they had to subject her to such a plight. What she would be doing in Thailand except vacationing. There is no greasing required to get visa exempt entry but saying that she deserves it is not correct. She does not deserve anything. It is up to the IO to let her in to Thailand or not. But in my wildest imagination I would never think that they would have denied entry to an 80-year old lady. 

[aussiexpat]

 

11 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Personally for same day reentry I would have suggested flight return Bangkok to Udon Thani and done a land border exit and reenter at Nong Khai.

Stay one night in UT is an option.

Or.....a land border bounce using minivan etc. 

Surely you're not suggesting this border run trip for an 80 year old woman, traveling alone with English as her 3rd language?

 

Flight to KL and back to BKK made perfect sense to make an easy trip for her (with no reason for IO hassling her in BKK)

 

Edited November 25, 2022 by aussiexpat

[BritTim]

It is very sad that your mother was exposed to such a stressful experience.

 

It is impossible that the squeaky clean officials at the airport could have been angling for bribes. They obviously suspected that your mother was working illegally in Thailand, or, perhaps they were considering denying entry on the basis explained in Section 12 (8) of the Immigration Act which reads:

Quote

Reason to believe that entrance into the Kingdom was for the purpose of being involved in prostitution, the trading of woman of children, drug smuggling, or other types of smuggling which are contrary to the public morality.

Seriously, I find it vexing when I read of attempts by officials to take advantage of vulnerable elderly people.

[DrJack54]

5 hours ago, aussiexpat said:

Flight to KL and back to BKK made perfect sense to make an easy trip for her (with no reason for IO hassling her in BKK)

She did it in one day.

Not a clever idea. 

Land borders different.

 

I suggested Udon Thani return flight.

Udon airport is hour from friendship bridge. 

Also domestic flight more simple than international. 

Edited November 25, 2022 by DrJack54

[bodo]

4 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

She did it in one day.

Not a clever idea. 

Land borders different.

 

I suggested Udon Thani return flight.

Udon airport is hour from friendship bridge. 

Also domestic flight more simple than international. 

Can I do the border crossing Nong Khai - Vientiane, in order to get a Visa Exempt, the same day? 

That is not being frowned upon by Thai immigration?

[DrJack54]

2 hours ago, bodo said:

Can I do the border crossing Nong Khai - Vientiane, in order to get a Visa Exempt, the same day? 

That is not being frowned upon by Thai immigration?

Yes that is possible.