Tourist Visa Requirements Changed?

[tenjinando]

As I have every year for many, many years, I applied for a tourist visa for two months to go to Thailand during prefectural university break. Being a university professor I use the time to work on my Thai language and visit friends including three boys whom I have been sponsoring. I have spent huge amounts of money paying for medical operations, helping families buy land to build homes, financing children's education, etc. Lately I have been told I must have a letter of authorization from the university to go to Thailand including my position as professor and the time period allowed by the university. Suddenly, this month I have been told I must include the time I have been employed as a tenured professor and my monthly salary! After submission, I was informed that now I must also have a bank statement! Have requirements been changed? There is nothing posted at any of the Thai embassy sites or on the web anywhere. Am I just being singled out? Being a civil servant employed as a professor at the prefectural university ought to be enough recommendation and guarantee of my eligibility for a tourist visa for two months, I should think. Any suggestions or information to give me?

[Firefan]

First post since you joined in April 2007? A man of few words....

Yeah - sounds like you are just being singled out. The embassies/consulates all over the world have the right to ask for ANY extra documentation they might require. Is there a consulate somewhere in Japan you can apply at rather than the main embassy? Could be an idea.

Cheers!

[PaddyBKK]

What nationality are you ?

You may be eligible for a visa on arrival.

PaddyBkk

[sjaak327]

I'm assuming that you are from Japan, so no visa on arrival, you do qualify for visa exempt though, so if they are giving you this much trouble, you might want to just book a return to Thailand within 30 days, have a changeable ticket, change your departure date (for your return flight) and do a visa run for another 30 days. If needed you can repeat this one more time (another 30 days). Go to Laos for your visarun, Japanese citizens are visa free for Laos (as in you don't pay for a visa on arrival).

Or apply to a different embassy or consulate (if possible).

For your information the requirements for a tourist visa from MOFA Thailand:

Passport or travel document with validity not less than 6 months

- Visa application form completely filled out

- Recent( 4 x 6 cm.) photograph of the applicant

- Evidence of travel from Thailand (air ticket paid in full)

- Evidence of adequate finance (10,000 Baht per person and 20,000 Baht per family)

- Consular officers reserve the rights to request additional documents as deemed necessary

Edited July 17, 2008 by sjaak327

[bangkokgas]

I just had to jump in on this one! I suspect you are not Japanese but that would not make any difference in my opinion. The Thai consulate/embassy in Tokyo are hard-nosed to say the least. I live here in Thailand, my wife is Japanese and financially independant and they will not give her a tourist visa to visit me no matter how much money she shows them, how much Thai she speaks, (and she speaks it well). So, she just gets the 30-day visa exempt stamp, pops up to laos for a three-month (60-day tourist visa, or to Penang for the same and no problem). They have the biggest you-know-what up the you-know where in Tokyo. It is political cr@p in my opinion. Why would a Japanese with xxx millions of yen want to come to Thailand and "cheat" the "system? Only because the Thais are p'eed off that Japan makes it difficult for their citizens to go to Japan of course. London is just as bad before I get accused of "flaming". All the best with your application, but if I were you, I'd just do what my missus does and be done with it.

Gas

[tenjinando]

Thank you all for your replies to my problem. I am a naturalized Japanese citizen of American desent (parents were immigrants to the U.S.). Most of my life has been here in Japan where I am a professor of Nagasaki Prefectural University. Perhaps the Thai consulate that handles my visa application has a thing about Japanese civil service personnel, or perhaps they think that I am too old to spend two months in Thailand. As too my not having contributed anything to the forum, four years ago my two adopted sons and their friend went to Khon Kaen to send me off on my return to Japan from Roiet where I had built a mission house for personal evangelism and as a home away from home. While killing time we went to a park by a lake where the kids played ping pong or just went to see what there was to see. I sat on a bench waiting for the time to pass. The kids all came back (9 kids) and waited with me while our driver and one of the kids finished their game. Two Americans walked by, one in his late thirties or early forties, the other younger. As they passed us the older one loudly said, "Now isn't this suspicious!" and continued dirty remarks about me because the kids were around me. I tried to say something, which he took to mean something else completely, and was threatened with a beating! The kids and the driver asked what was going on. When I told them they were deeply offended and wanted to leave immediately. As a result, I stay away from foreigners, who seem to jump to conclusions with no idea of the truth or desire to know it, while in Thailand. After giving the best part of my life and fortune to help Thais I don't need to be berated by strangers while I am anywhere in Thailand. I am leary of getting involved and would rather stand back from the foreign community and learn from the "outside."

[lopburi3]

OK. You have brought it up several times in this short thread; and if you go to Consulate with the same information; (I take care of Thai kids and spend a lot of money in Thailand) theme I suspect you may find some suspicions. As wrong as the impression may be it is a fact of life, as you admit. This thread is closed as there does not seem to be any more helpful information to be shared and there is no reason to take it in other directions.