Tourist visa in phnom penh

[Hellfire]

Just now, Caldera said:

Denying entry to someone with a valid visa is quite a rare thing with Thai immigration, it has only been reported from a few airports and the Aranyaprathet border checkpoint. If you've come across a report contradicting what I wrote, then by all means, post a link.

 August 2016. Arrive from Vientiane to Suvarnabhumi with a freshly issued tourist visa. Only two more previous visas in the passport. The IO woman goes through my passport and I can see her unhappy face expression. Until that day I was naively sure that Visa in the passport = 100% entry guarantee. So they took me aside and another officer started questioning me (at that time only one year total stay in TH). “I have a girlfriend waiting for me in BKK”. They made me dial her and then talk to her on the phone. Luckily, they let me in. Since then, for three years until Covid started, I only used this method: Fly BKK - Udon Thani, then taxi to Nong khai border crossing (and the same way to come back).

[BritTim]

7 hours ago, Hellfire said:

 August 2016. Arrive from Vientiane to Suvarnabhumi with a freshly issued tourist visa. Only two more previous visas in the passport. The IO woman goes through my passport and I can see her unhappy face expression. Until that day I was naively sure that Visa in the passport = 100% entry guarantee. So they took me aside and another officer started questioning me (at that time only one year total stay in TH). “I have a girlfriend waiting for me in BKK”. They made me dial her and then talk to her on the phone. Luckily, they let me in. Since then, for three years until Covid started, I only used this method: Fly BKK - Udon Thani, then taxi to Nong khai border crossing (and the same way to come back).

As @Calderapointed out, refusing entry with a valid tourist visa has been reported from some airports (of which Suvarnabhumi is one). His point is that, historically, almost all land crossings will invariably honour visas, as will some airports (such as Chiang Mai). Reports of refused entry with a valid visa at entry points where this has never previously occurred are useful.

[Hellfire]

34 minutes ago, BritTim said:

As @Calderapointed out, refusing entry with a valid tourist visa has been reported from some airports (of which Suvarnabhumi is one). His point is that, historically, almost all land crossings will invariably honour visas, as will some airports (such as Chiang Mai). Reports of refused entry with a valid visa at entry points where this has never previously occurred are useful.

You are probably right. And my main idea is that, unlike in the past, living on Visa runs in Thailand these days can be unpredictable and problematic from many aspects.

[Daithi85]

1 hour ago, Hellfire said:

You are probably right. And my main idea is that, unlike in the past, living on Visa runs in Thailand these days can be unpredictable and problematic from many aspects.

And very expensive.