Thai Embassy in New Zealand increases visa fee 600%

[John Drake]

2 minutes ago, sirineou said:

NZ$300  is a lot !!

6x of the cost in the US, $40 USD or NZ$64 in todays exchange. 

what did you guys do to piss them off? 

 

 

Hobbits.

[shackleton]

Who is coming up with these numbers 8 billion Chinese tourists coming to Thailand 🇹🇭 👀 

There will be no hotels or accommodation available for other  tourists to stay 

Plus the airports will be over welmed 😱 

 

[Dolf]

Cheaper to do visa exempt plus extension or do a border run. Nobody wants to pay $300 for 2 months.

[cracker1]

31 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I thought NZ had an agreement with Thailand so no visa was required for up to 90 days.

NO. All Thai's entering NZ must apply for a Visa before arrival.

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, John Drake said:

 

Hobbits.

I think that need a bit more 'splaining 

[BerndD]

There are no changes on the homepage of the Thai Embassy in Berlin, the Non-Immigrant 1-year multiple-entry visa costs €175 = 6.808 THB.

[Jonathan Swift]

54 minutes ago, Pouatchee said:

bageeeeezzzzz... who else but ruskies and chinese and indians do they want here?

Funny sidenote - I always that the word "Russkies" was an ethnic slur created by Americans, but in fact that's what Russians call each other!

[Jonathan Swift]

42 minutes ago, IamNoone88 said:

North African French arabs

The Mooninites

[Simon1287]

7 minutes ago, sirineou said:

NZ$300  is a lot !!

6x of the cost in the US, $40 USD or NZ$64 in todays exchange. 

what did you guys do to piss them off? 

 

I was wondering that lol.

 

Maybe they are using NZ as a testing ground before possibly rolling it out across the rest of the ones they don't care about.

 

I doubt they'd give a stuff if a handful of Kiwis got upset so lets try a "grab all we can" as far away from anyone else as we can and see how it works. If it does then "Whooopeee! let's fleece more"

 

 

[Dogmatix]

I think part of the problem is that Thailand doesn't adjust visa fees for inflation for many years and then does it in big jumps.  Fees charged by immigration got their last major uplift in 1999.  So there could a big increase planned there too.  These new fees for tourist visas do seem a steep though with all their talk of encouraging more long stay tourists.

 

Western countries increase visa fees every year. The US B1/B2 has gone up about 30% in two years but to be fair is still very good value.  6,660 baht for a multi-entry 10 year visa to a huge, developed country with climates ranging from the tropics to the Arctic and limitless tourist attractions is a lot less than Thailand is charging in NZ for a 6 month visa.  You are also allowed to do business on the US visa which is not the case with these Thai tourist visas.  I think they need to look value for money and competitiveness.

Edited February 27 by Dogmatix

[Jonathan Swift]

1 hour ago, Skeptic7 said:

Did I miss something???

What's the current price❓

What's the percentage of the increase❓ 

yes, you missed the headline: "Thai Embassy in New Zealand increases visa fee 600%"

You also missed: The current price is $300. And here's the math: Current price ($300) reflects  600%  of the old  price (six times the original amount) so you divide it by 6 and the answer is the original cost of $50. Be careful how you phrase this. The new cost is 600% of the old. But the percent of the increase amount (your third question) which is $550 on top of the old price of $50, there the math gets weird - the increase amount of $550 is 1100% of the original price $50. ($50 being 100%)  And if you say that the increase amount is 600% of the original price, in other words it went up BY 600%, then it's $50 PLUS $300 = $350. This is why there is a difference when you say something is 5 times more than, or five times as much. People mess that up all the time. 

Edited February 27 by Jonathan Swift

[dinsdale]

1 hour ago, Pouatchee said:

 

8 billion? thats more than the world population.

these numbers from the TaT?

 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand anticipates welcoming 8 million Chinese travellers

Not sure where your getting 8 billion from but even 8 million is 21,857 per day, every day.

[tandor]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

So why will this not apply to ALL countries?

And what has the exchange rate got to do with it, quote the price in THB and any moron  potential visitor can work that out in his own currency.

should rename the source Thaigerlfriend, maybe more believable

[steven100]

56 minutes ago, Ironman1958 said:

Hey Thailand!

You keep saying you want MORE people to visit!

This IS NOT the way to do that

 

no point telling us ....  send an email to the TAT

[Liverpool Lou]

9 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

 

Not sure where your getting 8 billion from but even 8 million is 21,857 per day, every day.

From The Thaiger's article...

" Thailand anticipates welcoming 8 billion Chinese travellers this year..."

[Korat Kiwi]

I hear all the talk about the visa fees not being increased for a while, and that they normally have a big jump when they do decide to increase them. 

 

OK so what difference have they made to their immigration/tourism etc to warrant such a leap?  

 

Is it now 600% easier to get through immigration (airport)?  Are the tourist attractions 600%,better? 

 

Bang for the buck doesn't really add up. 

 

I agree what another post says.  Come here for 30 days under visa exempt. Apply for an extension if required.  And if you want to stay longer.... Do a border run. 

 

I think this may just be the start...  Other visas may get hit with a price hike soon. 

 

It may no longer be the land of smiles for us retirees. 

 

I'm thinking Robbie Williams... 

 

   Good Morning Vietnam has a nice ring to it. 

[MadMac]

Clown show. You don't need a visa to enter TH if you are a New Zealander. But nice we talked about it. 

[Phil1964]

1 hour ago, elektrified said:

8 billion Chinese tourists? B.S.

It says 8 million in the article.

More than enough one would think?? (7,999,999 more than enough IMHO!!🤣).

 

[MangoKorat]

1 hour ago, Nickcage49 said:

Well that will really encourage people to come to Thailand. How to kill tourism, by the land of fake smiles.

Sadly, despite the complaints, it will make no difference. People will just moan and pay up.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

Not to be racist, but my "sample" of New Zealanders I've met hasn't been exactly great. Some weirdo with Tourette who kept swearing at us, some angry white boy and his Maori friend who tried to fight me for no reason (we talked to the same girl or something), others who have hurled racist remarks at me once they've learned my nationality, and there's always the NZ rugby team who used to terrorize Roppongi bars every time they were in town. I have yet to meet a decent New Zealander. I'm sure they exist, but the ones I've met were rude and/or violent. So....anything that reduces their numbers here is welcome. Next please do Russian and Chinese. Indians can stay- they might be annoying but they're not violent and they don't push prices upwards, coexist lol.

[Pouatchee]

43 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

 

Not sure where your getting 8 billion from but even 8 million is 21,857 per day, every day.

 

look who i quoted... you will find the answer...  ; )

 

and bear note... the translation came from the notorious petch pailin... god she  su.. ks

Edited February 27 by Pouatchee

[PingRoundTheWorld]

1 hour ago, Nickcage49 said:

Well that will really encourage people to come to Thailand. How to kill tourism, by the land of fake smiles.

You say that as if less tourists is a bad thing... the sad reality is that for us - expats - the more tourists, the worse it gets. Higher prices, more competition for everything, more crowded, etc. I love the low season for a reason...

[Homburg]

2 hours ago, BestB said:

how much tourism is coming out of NZ to Thailand?

Less than before methinks!

[Korat Kiwi]

7 minutes ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

Not to be racist, but my "sample" of New Zealanders I've met hasn't been exactly great. Some weirdo with Tourette who kept swearing at us, some angry white boy and his Maori friend who tried to fight me for no reason (we talked to the same girl or something), others who have hurled racist remarks at me once they've learned my nationality, and there's always the NZ rugby team who used to terrorize Roppongi bars every time they were in town. I have yet to meet a decent New Zealander. I'm sure they exist, but the ones I've met were rude and/or violent. So....anything that reduces their numbers here is welcome. Next please do Russian and Chinese. Indians can stay- they might be annoying but they're not violent and they don't push prices upwards, coexist lol.

Seems like you may have found your kiwis in the bar scene. 

 

And I'd be the first to acknowledge that some kiwis are terrible with booze. 

 

Those kiwis that don't live by the booze are I would like to think a bit more laid back. 

 

I personally like to have a beer or 2, but know my limit.  Have a great time and leave if I think it could go pear shaped. 

 

Never had a problem in Thailand and had many expat friends when living in Chiang Mai. 

 

Maybe these visa increases will keep the riff raff away? 

[PingRoundTheWorld]

5 minutes ago, Korat Kiwi said:

I personally like to have a beer or 2, but know my limit.  Have a great time and leave if I think it could go pear shaped. 

I'm more than willing to change my opinion, lol. Thanks for reaffirming you guys (decent kiwis) exist! 🙂

 

5 minutes ago, Korat Kiwi said:

Maybe these visa increases will keep the riff raff away? 

Hope so! Come to think of it, it might be a good idea across all nationalities... not that it really matters as they can still get in visa exempt anyway.

[Gknrd]

Add another country to the list of folks that won't be coming to Thailand.

Pretty soon it will be only Russia, China, and North Korea in the LOS's

What a great country to retire in.. 

Edited February 27 by Gknrd

[Elkski]

I agree its a test country.  Probably even a 50% drop wont he much.  Maybe a bit of a jab at the price of a thai visa to NZ.   Maybe NZ people do cause more ruckus than average.  This free to ruzzians pisses me off. 

[Neeranam]

53 minutes ago, MadMac said:

Clown show. You don't need a visa to enter TH if you are a New Zealander. But nice we talked about it. 

That's what I thought.

[Ben Zioner]

To me this looks like a retaliation about the visa fees Thais might have to pay to visit New Zealand. I tried to work it out and it looks like 7000 to 9000 THB. I that's the case there would be nothing to complain about.

[degodasilva]

42 minutes ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

You say that as if less tourists is a bad thing... the sad reality is that for us - expats - the more tourists, the worse it gets. Higher prices, more competition for everything, more crowded, etc. I love the low season for a reason...

You do realise that many of the things expats enjoy only exist - or only exist to the extent with which they exist - because of all the tourists that visit the country.

 

You can't have it both ways I'm afraid.