Why is Thai immigration so <deleted>ty?

[Gerard052]

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

Some foreigners are also a...holes too.

I agree.  I don't mean they are all like that, some are very helpful, others, not so much. 

[gejohesch]

15 hours ago, problemfarang said:

I have friends ....  and believe me they deserved more than you to come back to thailand

And how do you know that?

[gejohesch]

5 hours ago, BumGun said:

??? odd question,  a visa isn't a guarantee of entry THAT decision is made by the immigration official upon arrival. AFAIK that's the same in every country in the world

As replied above, that's nothing new, but thanks!

[gejohesch]

4 hours ago, OJAS said:

And this coming on top of the various bureaucratic hurdles which you and your GF no doubt had to surmount in order to obtain the necessary Schengen visa for her (which appears to me to require considerably more effort being expended than that required by a Westerner in obtaining a tourist visa for Thailand).

 

@gejohesch - so is it really the case that you and your GF have, to date, never attempted to obtain a Schengen visa to enable her to visit your home country, then?

 

 

 

Me and my GF have a lot of experience with Schengen (got sthg like 8 or 9 visas and visits behind us already). Yes, it's true that the Schengen visa process is a lot more cumbersome than getting a TR visa for Thailand. But maybe the real point in this story is that:

1 - Schengen countries do not depend as much as Thailand on tourism;

2 - For a EU citizen (and many others I guess), it's easier to go to a number of other interesting countries than Thailand - Thailand is not the unique "dream destination"!

[gejohesch]

4 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

@gejohesch Poor you! Did the immigration officer do his work? How unpleasant they did not show special respect for you, just smiled and let you in. A good advice, is that you just line up and accept the treatment you get. Option number two is move with GF to another country. Option number three is move alone to another country.

Believe me we (both my GF and myself) have been tempted for some time. If it was not for her family attachments....

[gejohesch]

3 hours ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

A GF's ID and house book is not normally needed for a tourist visa. Not getting the full story methinks, like how many back to back Thai stamps you already had in pp?

First part : the embassy I am dealing with requests proof of accommodation. I'm not staying in a hotel or other commercial site, but in my GF's house, so there it goes!

 

Second part : maybe you put your finger on sthg here. I actually am now traveling on a brand new passport. The Thai visa was the first and unique stamp on it. Possibly, just possibly, that combined with the fact that my passport is from a country different from the country where I am resident (and where I obtained the Thai visa) looked strange to the IO.

[gejohesch]

3 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Suspect that says it all - they are police and checking those with history intensely.  

Possible. Makes sense of course, but then is a "grilling" attitude reasonably to be expected towards all the people who are regular visitors to Thailand?

[gejohesch]

7 hours ago, sezze said:

I can see why you are unhappy with it, but look at it the other way around. These people are just doing their job, meaning they want to find out who is coming in and why and do we have any reason to doubt it. Maybe he seen something wrong , maybe he just had a bad day , maybe they just had new instructions. For me it seems he asked some questions and not just stamp/stamp .. . You were not set aside , not had a private conversation/investigation . Yes that experience isn't the most pleasant start but imho ok . I had costums officers asking more questions or even officers asking second amount of paperwork like ID/drivers license to check if my passport was correct.

Look at people from Thailand are handled with correct paperwork are handled by EU immigration officers . They are actually set apart and do get a 10 min talk/investigation (did bring in my GF for a holiday over few years ago).

Is doing some checks correct? I think it is , it is their job and as long as you have been treated correct, i think it is fine.

Thanks, that's maybe the best balanced reply I got so far.

I can tell you about our experience with my GF's Schengen visas (been visiting regularly for over 10 years now). She has never had any such experience as you describe. Usually, she just put the few docs in front of the Schengen IO (in France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria) and would get through within at most 1 or 2 minutes of checking. 

[gejohesch]

21 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

There is a clearly posted sign before the immigration counters asking people to provide passport and boarding pass.

 

As explained, they need to enter your arriving flight number. In the past, they could get that from your arrival form.These are no longer used, so they need the boarding pass or lacking that, some other document with flight number.

Nothing new to me. You did not read my story correctly: I had given my boarding pass to the IO right from the start. He only seemed to get satisfied when I dug from my pockets the boarding pass from Europe to Dubai (where I transited on my way to BKK).

[Sheryl]

11 minutes ago, gejohesch said:

Nothing new to me. You did not read my story correctly: I had given my boarding pass to the IO right from the start. He only seemed to get satisfied when I dug from my pockets the boarding pass from Europe to Dubai (where I transited on my way to BKK).

I was replying to someone else, not you

[lopburi3]

15 minutes ago, gejohesch said:

Possible. Makes sense of course, but then is a "grilling" attitude reasonably to be expected towards all the people who are regular visitors to Thailand?

There has been a short cut to new entry status using airport turn around in the past so boarding pass is often checked for last several decades.  Your history likely triggered that response.  But immigration can be hit or miss for anyone in most locations - I once had issues with Hong Kong (40 years ago) even on a diplomatic passport.  In Kenya they were convinced my telephoto camera lens was a bomb and took 2 people from Consulate to get me through.  

[PETERTHEEATER]

6 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

Maybe a silly question but why on Earth does an immigration officer need to see you boarding pass once you have arrived? 
On departure I would understand, although there as well it is irrelevant. What counts is valid travel papers and, depending on local regulations, presentation of a visa which allows to arrive in the country. Access into the country remains at the decision of the immigration department as per pre-defined rules. 

Hence, what is that story with the boarding pass now? 

It confirms the Flight Number and Carrier on which you arrived.

[Speedhump]

Many replies here seem to ignore the simple fact that there some IOs who are just nasty, maybe they're racist, maybe theur going through a divorce, maybe they hate their job. Who knows? . Occasionally you can find one that makes the experience very unpleasant indeed. I never have in six years, but there is one senior IO in the local office now who has made a straightforward renewal very difficult indeed for someone I know. I haven't needed to renew since they moved to the customer-facing desk, so I can't speak from experience.

 

Now, maybe all the IO apologists can stop beating up the OP without having all the information?

[gejohesch]

4 hours ago, gejohesch said:

Yes I have (USA, many times) and it's true it's not usually a very cozy experience either. One difference here is that the online process to prepare to enter the USA (I cannot remember what it's called, used to cost sthg like 15-20 USD) did not ask for much info, whereas to obtain the Thai TR visa, I already had to pass a number of hurdles / justifications.

Another thing I would like to add. I can understand why the USA IO's are a bit of a pain :

1) the ESTA electronic authorisation process (online) which I used a few times to go to the USA (in the 90's and 2000's) did not ask for much info, so the "filtering" at that stage was minimal. Hence some additional checking would naturally be required on arrival in the USA. 

2) the USA has been for a long time now the target of several terrorist organisations, justifying a high level of scrutiny by the IO's. That would also be the case, I imagine, for Israel.

 

So, again : having already passed quite some screening / filterig when applying for the TR visa, and Thailand not being such a target by malevolent foreigners as the USA or Israle could be. Then why should the IO's at the entry point to Thailand be particularly inquisitive when dealing with a TR visa holder?

[wangotango]

11 hours ago, lom said:

I guess you have never been to the U.S and been questioned by their immigration staff.

Or Israel...

Or Australia 

[lamyai3]

7 hours ago, Ali Katz said:

Not everyone's cup of tea but India issues 5 year tourist evisa for round $80US. Easy to get, no paperwork and few requirements. 

The 5 year option is considerably more expensive. Plus you're not allowed more than 90 days per entry and maximum 180 days in a year. 

[Gottfrid]

6 hours ago, gejohesch said:

Believe me we (both my GF and myself) have been tempted for some time. If it was not for her family attachments....

So, then you must start ask yourself, if that is ok for you?

[Hellfire]

They should have introduced a “sex-tourist visa” long time ago. 15 shots a month with the possibility to add additional 15 by visiting a local immigration facility. For those able to have 15+ shots a month - a special “Elite Sex-tourist” visa should solve their problem (starting from 1 mln baht). Too expensive? No money - no shots, as they love to say in the Land of Smiles.

 

 

[jimn]

11 hours ago, pomchop said:

never ever been asked to show printed copy of tourist visa to extend before...done it many times over the years...it is all stamped right there in passport for all to see....hardly naive when it comes to knowing immigrations love lots of paper but with advent of e visas seems time to move on to at least accept a phone grab from official thai embassy rather than yet another printed piece of paper.....

Photocopies of visa, arrival stamp and passport ID page along with a completed TM7 form and 1900 baht are normally required for an extension

[Celsius]

A better question is why are you so shxttx

[problemfarang]

10 hours ago, gejohesch said:

Oh, thanks for the info! I have traveled around the world for easily half of century and I did not know that! ????

 

That btw is not unique to Thailand, it's rather worldwide.

huh? if you know that then.. what?! lol

[problemfarang]

10 hours ago, gejohesch said:

And how do you know that?

check your history.. and the way you act just because you had to answer few question. you are a joke bro

[JeffersLos]

Why on Earth would you get so irate at an immigration officer doing their job.

 

 

Is it because they are Little Asian and you are Big White-Man in your mind, and thus, how dare they! How dare they!!

[geisha]

It might have triggered questions that you did not give the boarding pass of your departure flight, which they usually like to know ?? You say from » Europe » sounds a little bit cloak and dagger. 
 You did  also mention that your visa wasn’t done in your home country , so maybe a few reasons there for a more thorough questioning., Otherwise, some IO officers are more difficult than others , as is all over the world .

[Maestro]

On 12/19/2022 at 12:16 PM, gejohesch said:

...o this is where I’m a bit puzzled: with a visa from a Thai embassy, for which I already had to provide all sorts of docs including my GF’s details (bat prachachon, tabian baan etc), why should I get such a barrage at immigration?...

The immigration officials at Suvarnabhumi airport have no access to the documents you submitted to the Thai embassy with your visa application.

[gejohesch]

16 hours ago, wangotango said:

Or Australia 

I have lived and worked in Australia. True, a lot of paper work required for some things. For other things though, dead easy!

[gejohesch]

8 hours ago, Maestro said:

The immigration officials at Suvarnabhumi airport have no access to the documents you submitted to the Thai embassy with your visa application.

That's not the point. The point is that if a Thai embassy has issued a visa, having verified all the paperwork required for that, there has by definition already been quite a level of filtering.

[gejohesch]

On 12/20/2022 at 2:56 AM, ourdon said:

There is a possibility that the IO  is just responding to pressures from within their organization because they have found indications of document forging from a nameless Northern country.

 

Just speculation from a report Tim Newton gave a few weeks ago.  My story with no details has the saving grace of not including Jewish space lasers.????

Just came to this comment. You may have a point, especially as I am now traveling with a brand new passport. My entry to Thailand was the first time I used it to travel.

[gejohesch]

On 12/20/2022 at 2:56 AM, ikke1959 said:

Maybe depends on the country... I went with mypartner to France with a Spanish Schengen visa and nothing asked.. stamped and in in seconds...

It's my experience as well. My GF visited 8 to 10 times countries in the Schengen area already, she never had to show much documentation. Usually, passport only - with Schengen visa. Sometimes I believe, she was asked to show my invitation to come (there is a standard Schengen form for that), but I'm not even sure.

 

There are hurdles to get a Schengen visa - we know by experience - but once it's done, it's plain sailing! (not "plane sailing", obviously ????)

[gejohesch]

On 12/20/2022 at 2:57 AM, gascooker said:

Have a look at the news.

 

There is currently a big investigation here into drug dealing and money laundering by foreign nationals who acquired visas through fraudulent means, often supported by bent immigration police.

 

There is a national ‘crackdown’, and people are being asked to produce visas to prove they are in the country legally, if they are unable to do so they are being rounded up and arrested.

 

Understandably, there has been widespread fury amongst the Thai public about what’s been happening, so expect this to continue.

 

What you experienced is merely an extension of immigration officers likely being told to double check everyone leaving and entering the country.

 

When dealing with immigration just smile,  be polite, answer whatever questions they have and don’t try to go be friends with them.

Ah, that could explain my experience. I agree, "smile,  be polite, answer whatever questions they have and don’t try to go be friends with them"

 

It's not really so much that I was asked questions that irritated me a bit (hence my post) but it's 1) that the IO was at the edge of being unpleasant; and 2) I could not understand why having shown my boarding pass on the plane arriving in BKK, the IO also insisted for "the boarding pass" which eventually turned out to be the one for the plane I had taken to arrive in Dubai (where I transited to BKK). That I find was a bit over the top. Next time they will also ask me to show a receipt for my taxi ride to the departure airport in the EU???