Hassle at CW

[Londinium]

Entered 6 Dec at Suvarnabhumi on 60 day TR visa. At airport the officer noticed that the e-Visa showed my passport number as incorrect by 1 digit (a 13 instead of a 14). However a senior officer entered the correct details into the computer, stamped me in and said that all was fine.

 

Today I tried to extend the visa for 30 days (at a rather quiet CW) but the officer said he couldn’t do it unless the London embassy issued a new document with the correct passport number. No amount of gentle reasoning could make him see that the e-visa document was now irrelevant and that he had 35 years of entries to Thailand recorded on his computer, with many previous years of retirement extensions.

 

As it happens, I’m not too bothered this trip and my dates are flexible. I will start a new retirement extension process later in the year but have a few things to do in the UK first. Nevertheless, it’s worth everyone (including me) checking e-visa documents issued by embassies, and I wish I had just entered visa exempt.

[Gottfrid]

22 minutes ago, Londinium said:

As it happens, I’m not too bothered this trip and my dates are flexible.

So, no hassle for you, then.

[DrJack54]

OP, you could do a border bounce if required.

Inconvenient.

I just completed an eVisa to Vietnam so I will certainly check the details when it's approved..

[Londinium]

Well, it’s quite a journey to make for no result.

[allane]

Does Immigration really have 35 yrs. of history on their computers ?  I have lived here continuously since 1995. As you might guess, there were few computers here then, and few people who knew how to use one.  Most computers had dust covers on them most of the time. Bangkok Bank had a German guy at their head office overseeing their computers.

My guess would be about 15 yrs. of history at best.

[Londinium]

He just said that he could see my entire history, I didn’t cross-question. him on exactly how many years he was referring to.

[BritTim]

8 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

OP, you could do a border bounce if required.

Inconvenient.

Also, possibly slightly less inconvenient, there is a section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok that is able to correct visas with errors in them. It tends to be a rather bureaucratic process as I understand the MFA contacts the embassy that issued the visa before making the correction.

[Caldera]

I'm baffled how this can even happen. As you need to upload the passport data page when applying for an eVisa, they could just grab the machine readable data that includes the CORRECT passport number.

 

Hardly Thailand 4.0, is it?

[Londinium]

Thanks, BritTim, I emailed the London embassy. It’s clearly their fault, but I’m not expecting a magic resolution to this. I was tempted to bung the young IO but it might have made things worse.

[Londinium]

Following BritTim’s comment about a department, in Bangkok, that deals with mistakes on visas issued by embassies, I found this in the FAQs on the London Embassy site. It might help others in the future and does show that embassies know that errors are sometimes made.

 

5. I have obtained a tourist visa from the Royal Thai Embassy in London. They forgot to include a date of expiry in the visa. I had trouble at the airport but fortunately the Immigration officer allowed me to enter. Now I want to extend my stay but the Immigration Office insisted that they cannot permit the extension unless the visa is fixed. What should I do?

 In this case, please bring your passport to the Visa Division, Department of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Chaengwattana Road in Bangkok. If the visa is genuine, you can obtain any corrections or amendments of visa there.

[Scott424]

On 1/5/2023 at 12:11 PM, DrJack54 said:

OP, you could do a border bounce if required.

Inconvenient.

I just completed an eVisa to Vietnam so I will certainly check the details when it's approved..

Wise move Dr. Jack, last time I did an e-visa to Viet Nam, I mistyped my passport number by one digit, got to the airport to check in and was told could not use that visa as the passport numbers did not match.  I had to scramble to find a company that would provide me with what I needed via a visa on arrival, they even had someone at the airport who did the visa application process for me when I landed.  Cost me $125 for that one typo.

[BangkokReady]

On 1/5/2023 at 12:08 PM, Gottfrid said:

So, no hassle for you, then.

Certainly sounds like hassle.  He just wasn't too bothered by the hassle, this time.

[DrJack54]

11 minutes ago, Scott424 said:

I had to scramble to find a company that would provide me with what I needed via a visa on arrival, they even had someone at the airport who did the visa application process for me when I landed.  Cost me $125 for that one typo.

That's a pain.

Good that you point out the option to use Vietnam based agent to provide the "letter of approval" for visa on arrival.

Prior to covid being Oz I required visa for Vietnam and used one of those agents for 3 month multiple. Often.

Sadly for some reason Vietnam has taken the 3 month option off the table. 

[markclover]

So much for the e-scan paperless offices of the future.  We still have an illiterate person in a box squinting and reading numbers.

[Gottfrid]

2 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

Certainly sounds like hassle.  He just wasn't too bothered by the hassle, this time.

Ok, so there is a new kind of hassle. The kind that does not bother you. Wow! Never heard about that kind on this forum. Just a lot of tired complainers here that just want everything to be like home. Just to go home then!