Non Immigrant Visa By Mail While Not In Thailand.

[homeless007]

Can I legally apply for a Non Immigrant 0 visum from and while in the Philippines in a European Thai Consulate by mail? Manila won't issue such a visum.

I need it to apply for retirement. Thanks. Homeless.

[Lite Beer]

Sorry but you cannot.

Why dont you go to Singapore or KL. OR Penang.

[ovenman]

Wasn't the question answered to your satisfaction in this same thread that you posted yesterday???

[torrenova]

I was informed by email from a certain place that were my passport to magically arrive in their office with the correct paperwork and bearing a Thai exit stamp, that the required visa would be entered into the said passport which could magically find itself back in my hands though not directly from them.

In essence. Go to somewhere for a week, whilst you are there send it to a mate with the downloaded paperwork and have him send it to the required place and returned to him. He would then sent it to you wherever you were having your week's vacation.

The fact that you did not leave the secondary country has nothing to do with the Thai authorities. You were not in Thailand when you applied for the visa.

Whilst not quite as it is intended, there is nothing wrong with the logic. You have not upset thailand and your applying for a Thai visa has nothing to do with the secondary country.

[Maestro]

Can I legally...

The question is about the legality of it all. Laws generally do not state what is legal; they state what is illegal and leave the assumption that whatever is not declared illegal is therefore legal.

1. It is not illegal for you to mail your passport to a Thai consulate in another country with an application for a visa.

2. It is not illegal for the Thai consulate to issue the visa and send the passport back to you.

3. It is not illegal for you to travel with that visa to Thailand and present it to the Thai immigration officer.

4. It is not illegal for the Thai immigration officer to consider your visa invalid and give you only a 30-day visa-exempt permission to stay. Please see, for example, this note on the website of one of the immigration offices:

- Visa that have not been obtained by the traveller personally are considered incomplete documents. The passport holder will not be allowed to stay in Thailand according to the visa but only according to the rights of the nationality of the passport holder.

In other words, you do not risk arrest and a fine or imprisonment. The worst that can happen is that you are treated as if you had no visa. I remember reading a post of a ThaiVisa member saying that this is what happened to him.

If you feel strongly about it, go ahead and do it and then come back here and post your experience.

--------------

Maestro

[jackmuu]

To say that a visa not obtained personally isn't acceptable is just not true, I and many others obtain Non 'O' visas by post with no trouble at all. If they were not acceptable then the Thai consulates would not provide such a service.

[Crossy]

To say that a visa not obtained personally isn't acceptable is just not true, I and many others obtain Non 'O' visas by post with no trouble at all. If they were not acceptable then the Thai consulates would not provide such a service.

Obtaining by post IS obtaining personally if YOU post the letter Employing a 3rd person (your mate in the UK) to post and receive the application is not a 'personal' application.

That said, I see no reason why the Thai authorities would ever know, your most serious issue is being an a foreign country with no passport and it going astray in the postal system.

As a Brit I have two passports, obtained for the express purpose of travelling whilst the 'spare' is away having a visa (for some other country not Thailand) inserted. Obviously it is important that you don't send away the PP with your Thai entry stamp in it

[jackmuu]

To say that a visa not obtained personally isn't acceptable is just not true, I and many others obtain Non 'O' visas by post with no trouble at all. If they were not acceptable then the Thai consulates would not provide such a service.

Obtaining by post IS obtaining personally if YOU post the letter Employing a 3rd person (your mate in the UK) to post and receive the application is not a 'personal' application.

That said, I see no reason why the Thai authorities would ever know, your most serious issue is being an a foreign country with no passport and it going astray in the postal system.

As a Brit I have two passports, obtained for the express purpose of travelling whilst the 'spare' is away having a visa (for some other country not Thailand) inserted. Obviously it is important that you don't send away the PP with your Thai entry stamp in it

Exactly what I do, send one by UPS and keep the one with the valid Thai stamp with me here. Easy really. And like you say, as long as you don't stay in a country without a passport, you are laughing.

[ovenman]

To say that a visa not obtained personally isn't acceptable is just not true, I and many others obtain Non 'O' visas by post with no trouble at all. If they were not acceptable then the Thai consulates would not provide such a service.

Obtaining by post IS obtaining personally if YOU post the letter Employing a 3rd person (your mate in the UK) to post and receive the application is not a 'personal' application.

Okay then, technically how is this really any different than employing an agent in Penang to procure a visa for you?

[jackmuu]

To say that a visa not obtained personally isn't acceptable is just not true, I and many others obtain Non 'O' visas by post with no trouble at all. If they were not acceptable then the Thai consulates would not provide such a service.

Obtaining by post IS obtaining personally if YOU post the letter Employing a 3rd person (your mate in the UK) to post and receive the application is not a 'personal' application.

Okay then, technically how is this really any different than employing an agent in Penang to procure a visa for you?

Since when is 'technically' applicable in this country?

It is legal to send a passport to a consulate in the UK to get a visa by post.

Penang agents? Wouldn't know.

[Crossy]

To say that a visa not obtained personally isn't acceptable is just not true, I and many others obtain Non 'O' visas by post with no trouble at all. If they were not acceptable then the Thai consulates would not provide such a service.

Obtaining by post IS obtaining personally if YOU post the letter Employing a 3rd person (your mate in the UK) to post and receive the application is not a 'personal' application.

Okay then, technically how is this really any different than employing an agent in Penang to procure a visa for you?

IMHO I think the technicality is that you're supposed to be in the locale administered by the consulate you send the PP to. If using an agent in Penang you're still actually in Penang

Sending your PP to the UK for a visa whilst you are in Thailand is NOT legal. We had an example a short while back where this was done (the poster did not use a second PP). his new visa was spotted by the outgoing immigration officer and invalidated, all time trouble and money wasted!

Edited August 11, 2007 by Crossy

[ovenman]

To say that a visa not obtained personally isn't acceptable is just not true, I and many others obtain Non 'O' visas by post with no trouble at all. If they were not acceptable then the Thai consulates would not provide such a service.

Obtaining by post IS obtaining personally if YOU post the letter Employing a 3rd person (your mate in the UK) to post and receive the application is not a 'personal' application.

Okay then, technically how is this really any different than employing an agent in Penang to procure a visa for you?

IMHO I think the technicality is that you're supposed to be in the locale administered by the consulate you send the PP to. If using an agent in Penang you're still actually in Penang

That sounds "more correct" to me. Which would mean that the actual problem is not necessarily using a third-party to make the visa application for you. I myself would be a bit leery of sitting in Manila (or wherever) while my passport was off globetrotting, but perhaps that's my own personal paranoia.

[Crossy]

To say that a visa not obtained personally isn't acceptable is just not true, I and many others obtain Non 'O' visas by post with no trouble at all. If they were not acceptable then the Thai consulates would not provide such a service.

Obtaining by post IS obtaining personally if YOU post the letter Employing a 3rd person (your mate in the UK) to post and receive the application is not a 'personal' application.

Okay then, technically how is this really any different than employing an agent in Penang to procure a visa for you?

IMHO I think the technicality is that you're supposed to be in the locale administered by the consulate you send the PP to. If using an agent in Penang you're still actually in Penang

That sounds "more correct" to me. Which would mean that the actual problem is not necessarily using a third-party to make the visa application for you. I myself would be a bit leery of sitting in Manila (or wherever) while my passport was off globetrotting, but perhaps that's my own personal paranoia.

Agreed, my original '3rd party' answer was not well thought out I don't think I'd like to be anywhere locally without a PP, sending my spare off whilst I was in KL would IMHO be fine although not in the spirit of the regulation.