Thai Senator Calls For Stricter Thai Visa Rules

[Dutchy2]

This Thai senator mentioned the price of visas as an issue. In the Netherlands the government tries to conduct a 'cost price' policy. All official document, visa, passports, are stricktly cost price. Thailand uses a rip off policy and even dares to compare prices to other countries. One politician even copied the phrase 'to prevent foreigners from becoming a burden to the country' . It's a joke, those people should collect coconuts, not govern a country.

Dutchy

[Rhys]

Not tool long ago..another holier than thou..senator disrupted a Thai Airways flight because he did not get his First class seat..he got bumped.. but was given another seat due to a change of aircraft... but like all the Senators.. "YES" ALL the BUT HOOLES... He disrupted the flight causing a major delay and threaten to sue.. base on a suggestion of another Holier than Thou senator..

THE DUDE has little huevos in the wrong place.. and got called on it..

Little big man with a bag of methane syndrome.. spot on.. He can apply again..

That be up .. UP high up the BUTT BOB.

Smiles all around..

[Noodles]

Har Har Har. What a good laugh I had this morning reading this. Welcome to the real world senator!

Well said....well said

[cutethaigirl]

Senator from Isaan refused visa.

Oh dear.

Don't all the 'benefits' that appear to extend to certain areas of the Thai community apply in Britain then?

Guess he thought they did

Will there be a requirement for armed guards in Wireless Road soon?

Hee hee

CT

[lopburi3]

Multi entry Thai non immigrant visa valid one year - US$125

Multi entry US non immigrant visa valid ten years - US$100

[Martin]

There are armed guards in Wireless Road already. Before the visa-applications door opens at 07:30, and before the passport-collection window opens at 15:00, a white police car with two armed officers in it pulls up on the sidewalk alongside the queue. And, although the Gurkas don't display any arms, I wouldn't mess with them, either!

[castelleone]

the sad thing about the story is, that the senator only complains about not having been given a visa. But he does not tell us the story why je was refised.

Maybe he should be ashamed of the reason?

[castelleone]

the sad thing about the story is, that the senator only complains about not having been given a visa. But he does not tell us the story why he was refused.

Maybe he should be ashamed of the reason?

2nd copy. Sorry was too hasty in the first place

[Johpa]

PS: remember when notorious Samut Prakan parliamentarian Wattana Asavahame got all huffy when he was denied a US visa? He demanded to know the reason, so the embassy told him (and everyone else): you are suspected of being involved in the narcotics trade.

Yes, I remember Wattana. I believe there are far more "influential" characters in the Kingdom who no longer are welcome to travel to certain countries for the same reason. But board rules prevent the posting of negative remarks on one certain class of individuals who I suspect to be part of the group seen as persona non grata by countries like the US and the UK.

But said Isaan senator's complaint methinks focuses on the fact that he had to wait in a line ( a queue, oh mon dieu) with ordinary folks. One can only begin to imagine the total and complete humilation this fine fellow must have endured. Imagine having to stand behind some poor dark skinned ethnic Lao Isaan girl and not be able to demand that she step out of the way. For our esteemed Senator the humilation made the abuses at the Abu Graib prison in Iraq seem like a limp wristed slap on the wrist. From the prespective of the Thai elite, you know, the group that hates having to visit, and for the most part does not visit, the US because of the overly democratic demeanor of hotel clerks and the indignity of being treated as an equal by taxi drivers, that his reaction was fully understandable.

[Nam Kao]

This is just the first volley of the new "Send the Falangs Home" campaign.

Did he really try for a tourist visa? Why would he and others be declined?

Watch it all unravel

[ponder]

Brazil recently started requiring fingerprints for visiting Americans, as Brazilians (and everyone else) is required these days going to the US. I can't say that I blame them.

I would agree with that. I hate this system of treating all foreigners as undesirables. To get to the United States from Ireland I had to go through US Immigration in Shannon airport IN IRELAND and be treated like a criminal. I did not even want to go there, I was just going to a wedding. I certainly won't be going back.

I think it is disgraceful that that Thai politician was denied a visa. That is a serious insult to Thailand. I would love to see some British or American politician refused entry to Thailand but it will not happen.

[kenk3z]

With all this fuss about tourist Visas to the USA, I'd have to comment that the best way in is actually to get a Visa to Mexico. Then you can just run across the border and stay as long as you want. If you have children after you cross the border, those children and any generations of your family that follow are USA citizens.

So why give honest Thai people a hard time with a tourist VISA when the southern border is not really closed to the permanent immigration of South Americans?

I say let people in from friendly countries, and keep people out or screen them carefully from unfriendly countries. Thailand is a long-time friend of the USA.

kenk3z

[konangrit]

Brazil recently started requiring fingerprints for visiting Americans, as Brazilians (and everyone else) is required these days going to the US. I can't say that I blame them.

I witnessed this first hand back in january, and they use actual ink unlike the US and also take a picture similar to a mugshot. Apparantly some US citizens had to wait in the queue for up to 8 hours. I also believe that US citizens require a Visa for which the price is equal to the cost of a US visa for Brazilians. They take tit for tat very seriously.

Fortunately I'm a British Citizen, so no need for a visa or fingerprints when visiting Brazil or the US (as of last month at least anyway), but I do have to admit that the immigration procedures for Visa holders in the United States are understandable and will not be a problem for me when non-visa holders are also included.

The time it takes to get through immigration in Bangkok is a breeze compared to the US and Brazil.

[mrvietnam2001]

I say let people in from friendly countries, and keep people out or screen them carefully from unfriendly countries. Thailand is a long-time friend of the USA.

kenk3z

Hey you're right and the USA is Thailands biggest trading partner as is par for the course.

That said, if the borders were open without any rigid pre-screening, the US would have an additional 20 or 30 million inhabitants. The reverse obviously wouldn't be the case.

If I had anything to say about it, I would play hard ball especially on the issue of property ownership.

Mr Vietnam

[konangrit]

With all this fuss about tourist Visas to the USA, I'd have to comment that the best way in is actually to get a Visa to Mexico. Then you can just run across the border and stay as long as you want. If you have children after you cross the border, those children and any generations of your family that follow are USA citizens.

So why give honest Thai people a hard time with a tourist VISA when the southern border is not really closed to the permanent immigration of South Americans?

I say let people in from friendly countries, and keep people out or screen them carefully from unfriendly countries. Thailand is a long-time friend of the USA.

kenk3z

I crossed the border from San ysidro to Tijuana last month, whilst there was no immigration going into Mexico, returning to the United states was another matter. After queueing up for a while I got to the immigration officer to be told that seeing as I didn't have the entry card in my passport I had to return back to the US immigration office to get a new one. There was a huge queue of Mexicans waiting for visas here, fortunately I didn't require one so got to go straight to the front and get a new embarkation card, for which I was charge a fee.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that if you are from a country which requires a Visa to enter the United States (such as thailand) you will still need a Visa to cross from Mexico to the US.

[DaveYo]

Funny, I have been in the past mentioning home property and land property rights in Thailand for a long time.

For starts Thailand does not realize that by granting ownership of land and property to Expats they can really boost their economic engine tit for tat. By going the way of protectionism they hurt themselves in the long run.

True USA and Britain should adopt the same standards as other countries who give their citizens a hard time of property and ownership rights. Being equal is the dream am I right or wrong.

But be forewarned, if this dude of dudes start barking in their legislature for tougher visa rules, this can spell more trouble for us resident expats here in Thailand.

Also if he is a Senator, why didn't he go through the Government protocols for the visa????????? If he had done that as well as the others who he complains that were not issued same, he would have gotten it the express route.

It could be that Britain is now pissed off at Thailand for the recent arrests of their citizens the last 8 months etc of being picked on or whatever. Nothing to do with illegal activity. I am only merely pointing out that many foreigners getting busted were of British nationality.

Or maybe Thailand beat the Brits in their soccer championship game someplace and somewhere.

What gets me is they call Soccer --------> Football. Actually the word football is owned as copyright by the National Football league.

It is like this. They used to call it Soccer (which the term is correct) but the interest dropped like a bomb. So they decided to call it Football, which somehow and someway the twisted sport jockeys accepted that as the legit name to replace the word Soccer.

I cannot believe the stupidity of people accepting the Euro 2004 Championships as Football when in reality it is Soccer!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at the two balls if you not believe. I rest my case. As to the Senator, Bon Voyage!!!!!!!!!!

Daveyo

[john b good]

Brazil recently started requiring fingerprints for visiting Americans, as Brazilians (and everyone else) is required these days going to the US.  I can't say that I blame them.

I would agree with that. I hate this system of treating all foreigners as undesirables. To get to the United States from Ireland I had to go through US Immigration in Shannon airport IN IRELAND and be treated like a criminal. I did not even want to go there, I was just going to a wedding. I certainly won't be going back.

I think it is disgraceful that that Thai politician was denied a visa. That is a serious insult to Thailand. I would love to see some British or American politician refused entry to Thailand but it will not happen.

I think it is disgraceful that that Thai politician was denied a visa.

Are you trying to take the pi*s or what. You should be posting on the jokes section.

There are many countries around the world that practice rascism but few compare with, and as blatantly as Thailand.

That is a serious insult to Thailand. Bullsh*t

There had to be a reason and one would not need to be too adventurous with their thinking to come up with a list longer than this thread to date.

[konangrit]

What gets me is they call Soccer --------> Football. Actually the word football is owned as copyright by the National Football league.

Football may be copyrighted by the NFL in the United States, however this only applies in the juristiction of 5% of the worlds population. I doubt if it is copyrighted by the NFL in any other of the worlds countries which make up 95% of world population with the possible exception of canada.

It is like this. They used to call it Soccer (which the term is correct) but the interest dropped like a bomb. So they decided to call it Football, which somehow and someway the twisted sport jockeys accepted that as the legit name to replace the word Soccer.

Soccer is an abbreviation for Association Football. The Football Association was formed in London in October 1863 when representatives of eleven clubs and schools met in an attempt to standardize the rules of the game. One of the rules prohibited the carrying of the ball, a rule that would lead to the Rugby-oriented clubs leaving the Association several months later. The name Association Football was coined to distinguish it from Rugby.

By 1889, the abbreviation socca' was in use, and the spelling soccer had made its appearance by 1895.

football - the open-air game, first recorded 1409; forbidden in a Scottish statute of 1424. The first reference to the ball itself is 1486. Figurative sense of "something idly kicked around" is first recorded 1532. Ball-kicking games date back to the Roman legions, at least, but the sport seems to have risen to a national obsession in England, c.1630. Rules first regularized at Cambridge, 1848; soccer (q.v.) split off in 1863. The U.S. style (known to some in England as "stop-start rugby with padding") evolved gradually 19c.; the first true collegiate game is considered to have been played Nov. 6, 1869, between Princeton and Rutgers, at Rutgers, but the rules there were more like soccer. A rematch at Princeton Nov. 13, with the home team's rules, was true U.S. football. The earliest recorded application of the word football to this is from 1881.

So there you go, the word football was being used to describe the game you know as soccer in 1863, 19 years before the word was applied to the game you know as football and 32 years prior to the first appearance of the word soccer.

I rest my case.

[Martin]

"Soccer" is in fact a slang corruption of "Association Football", to distinguish it from "Rugby Football".

I think both were well on the scene long before "American Football".

I am not a follower of any of the three, but it has always struck me that it is in Association Football that the ball comes most in contact with feet, rather than hands.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Brazil recently started requiring fingerprints for visiting Americans, as Brazilians (and everyone else) is required these days going to the US.  I can't say that I blame them.

I would agree with that. I hate this system of treating all foreigners as undesirables. To get to the United States from Ireland I had to go through US Immigration in Shannon airport IN IRELAND and be treated like a criminal. I did not even want to go there, I was just going to a wedding. I certainly won't be going back.

I think it is disgraceful that that Thai politician was denied a visa. That is a serious insult to Thailand. I would love to see some British or American politician refused entry to Thailand but it will not happen.

You have hit the nail on the head. If a British MP was denied a visa for Thailand the Foreign Office would raise hades. But as you say, it wouldn't happen.

[PvtDick]

With all this fuss about tourist Visas to the USA, I'd have to comment that the best way in is actually to get a Visa to Mexico.

Good thought, but the problem is that getting a visa to Mexico is just is just as difficult for a Thai as getting a visa to the US. The documentation required is identical, and even the form looks very similar. I suspect the US has requested Mexico to make it tough, for exactly the reason you indicate.

[PvtDick]

Brazil recently started requiring fingerprints for visiting Americans, as Brazilians (and everyone else) is required these days going to the US.  I can't say that I blame them.

I witnessed this first hand back in january, and they use actual ink unlike the US and also take a picture similar to a mugshot. Apparantly some US citizens had to wait in the queue for up to 8 hours. I also believe that US citizens require a Visa for which the price is equal to the cost of a US visa for Brazilians. They take tit for tat very seriously.

Fortunately I'm a British Citizen, so no need for a visa or fingerprints when visiting Brazil or the US (as of last month at least anyway), but I do have to admit that the immigration procedures for Visa holders in the United States are understandable and will not be a problem for me when non-visa holders are also included.

The time it takes to get through immigration in Bangkok is a breeze compared to the US and Brazil.

...and the funny thing is, Thais get into Brazil visa- and fingerprint-free!

[maerim]

Or maybe Thailand beat the Brits in their soccer championship game someplace and somewhere

Right on DaveYo.

I can just see the good senators face when he saw the reason for his application for a visa denied.

Visa denied because the Thai football team might have or could have in the past or possibly in the future (can't take any chances here) beat the Brits at football someplace or somewhere.

Keep em coming Dave, every one a gem.

[Baaksida]

There are armed guards in Wireless Road already. Before the visa-applications door opens at 07:30, and before the passport-collection window opens at 15:00, a white police car with two armed officers in it pulls up on the sidewalk alongside the queue.

Not being a Brit, I once asked at the guard's booth of her majesty's embassy for the way to another embassy. The guards were Thai staff, of course, but guess what, I received the most precise and correct information in excellent British English that I'd ever been given in Thailand...

So, Mr. Senator, please just ask politely for a visa suitable for your purposes, and you should be given a visa, provided that you are not a big-scale criminal or killer of thousands of your compatriates...

[john b good]

Brazil recently started requiring fingerprints for visiting Americans, as Brazilians (and everyone else) is required these days going to the US.  I can't say that I blame them.

I would agree with that. I hate this system of treating all foreigners as undesirables. To get to the United States from Ireland I had to go through US Immigration in Shannon airport IN IRELAND and be treated like a criminal. I did not even want to go there, I was just going to a wedding. I certainly won't be going back.

I think it is disgraceful that that Thai politician was denied a visa. That is a serious insult to Thailand. I would love to see some British or American politician refused entry to Thailand but it will not happen.

You have hit the nail on the head. If a British MP was denied a visa for Thailand the Foreign Office would raise hades. But as you say, it wouldn't happen.

But "doc", the likelihood of a British MP being involved in some nefarious activity that would jeopardise a visa application (to most anywhere) is not all that great.

If one was to look into the background of many Thai politicians you would be likely to find a good and sufficient reason to decline them a visa (apart that is, for a visa for Burma perhaps)

There has been mention (earlier in this thread) of Vatana Asavahame being refused a few years back a visa for the US due to his widely reputed drug connections and involvement. I see that he is still a politician so there will be many who are tainted by association.

Would you seriously support a visa application for say Chalerm Yubamrung.

Maybe a bit tongue in cheek but, Osama bin Laden would rate higher on a visa application list (almost)

And whilst on British MP's it would be extremly difficult to name just one who has acquired the infamy of many (very many) Thai politicians.

[Martin]

Baaksida: the man in the guardbooth at Her Majesty's Embassy (who looks Thai) is a Gurka from Nepal.

He will have done many years in one of the Gurka Regiments of the British Army, before retiring from 'active' soldiering and being selected as an Embassy guard.

Many who have served with the Gurkas (especially their British Officers), or who have seen them in battle, reckon they are the finest soldiers in the world.

Having trekked through the hills where they spent their boyhoods, and seen how hard life is there, I am not surprised that the best boys from there turn into superb soldiers.

Next time you are passing the Embassy, make your enquiry again. But this time start by saying "Namastay" (which is the Nepali equivalent of "Sawasdee"). You will receive the most delightful smile imaginable.

[LivinLOS]

And while they may be 'retired' from active soldering the ones I have seen at the embassy looked like some of the most double hard b@stards I have seen in a while.. Certainly capable of 'keeping the peace' !!

To comments a few posts back about rude embassy staff to Thai females (single or not) having visited the UK embassy with my lady and my brother doing it with 2 (and taking one to IRL and NZ requiring visa's) we and her have been treated with the utmost of civility and respect. Personally I have a terrible time with Beaurocracy, queueing, etc yet am continually pleasantly surprised at how curteous (and fast) the staff have been at various UK embassies and consultes worldwide.

[cutter007]

I heard a couple of times in this thread, be careful we don't want to upset the

Thai government or they might make it hard on foreigners.

This rebutal always makes me laugh, sure they can pick on a couple of backpackers, or hassle a couple of "shady" english teachers without work permits.

But get real, do you know what would happen if they really did make it hard for foreigners working in professional jobs.

They would leave.......equals........no more subways, no more new airports, no more sizable engineering projects of any kind, aka Thailand joining the ranks for 3rd world in arms brothers, Cambodia and Laos.

[BKK_banger]

If one was to look into the background of many Thai politicians you would be likely to find a good and sufficient reason to decline them a visa (apart that is, for a visa for Burma perhaps)

And whilst on British MP's it would be extremly difficult to name just one who has acquired the infamy of many (very many) Thai politicians.

What is all this negativity about Thai politicians that posters automatically accept that they are dodgy and a Senator was refused because of his infamous criminal past?

The sad fact is that he was probably denied for being unprepared for the application or the interview.

I have read many Notices given at the Brit Embassy to explain the reasons for an applicant's rejection. I have never seen a criminal past mentioned on any rejection.

Admittedly these rejections have been mostly for young ladies of modest means. There are requirements and they can easily be satisfied with a properly compiled application.

And if you were the joker in front of me in the queue on May 26th looking for a settlement visa for his nice young boyfriend then shame on you. Don't you know you need photos for the form? And how about the other 4kg of documents, you only had the form.

My wife got a settlement visa in 2 weeks and was not even interviewed as such. They only asked where her marriage certificate was in the files of info and when she wanted to go. Always be prepared....

[udon]

There was a time, when you couldn't get in to Australia unless you had a criminal record....