Border Crossing

[murni]

I have been told that if we want to cross over just for a couple of hours, Mae Sai immigration will allow this with copies of passport (we don't want to pay re-entry fees). Have any of you ever done this?

Thanks for your help.

[sceadugenga]

There's no re-entry fee into Thailand.

The photo copy system is reputed to work, I've not tried it personally though.

[davidgtr]

I have been told that if we want to cross over just for a couple of hours, Mae Sai immigration will allow this with copies of passport (we don't want to pay re-entry fees). Have any of you ever done this?

Thanks for your help.

Did it once again two weeks ago. A very sensible & realistic proceedure.

You need two photopies of two pages in your pasport.

1. The page with all your details &

2. The page with your visa / entry stamp + TM card.

Cost 100 baht.

You still need to pay US$10 / 500 baht on the Burmese side.

[sceadugenga]

What I like about it David is that it saves 4 stamps in your already over loaded passport. Will try it next time.

[davidgtr]

What I like about it David is that it saves 4 stamps in your already over loaded passport. Will try it next time.

Agreed the less stamps using up space your passport is a big bonus. I've just renewed my Oz passport - full after 5 years & a new 64 page now costs 7,550 baht. Ouch. Every Laos trip uses up 1 1/2 pages in your passport.

[svenivan]

I find it more easy to send the wife with a shoppinglist.

Cost for her is only 40 baht on the Thai side and 10 baht in Burma.

And I can have a hmm refreshing drink and stay on the Thai side!

Edited May 5, 2009 by svenivan

[Limbo]

I find it more easy to send the wife with a shoppinglist.

Cost for her is only 40 baht on the Thai side and 10 baht in Burma.

And I can have a hmm refreshing drink and stay on the Thai side!

"Male chauvinist pig!" would you be called on other webboards only for mentioning the evident,

but in this heavily male dominated society it is alright to call things by their name.

I think you are right. I am almost sure!

I suppose you don't send her to buy pantsand shirts, but more recreative materials like a good wodka or so,

some nice Penfolds (bin 2, chiraz-mourvedre, lately still of the year 2006 voor the sympathic prize of 390 Baht!),

or some superb German beers, because after inbibing these you can without any problem look at the DVD's

your poor wife had to smuggle and that at the end happened to be only in Chinese.

And that is good!

That's the way it should be, the more I think about it.

Limbo

[murni]

Sorry, I forgot to say we are on retirement visas. Hence the re-entry fee.

Thanks for your replies.

[svenivan]

Sorry, I forgot to say we are on retirement visas. Hence the re-entry fee.

Thanks for your replies.

What you have are visa with "Single Entry", cost 1900 baht.

Then you must go to Immigration before you leave Thailand to make a "Return-Entry" and that cost 1000 baht.

But if you make a "Multiple Entry" visa from the beginning you can come and go to Thailand as often as you wish.

A "Multiple Entry" visa cost 3900 baht (that was the cost before I introduced shoppinglists ).

So if you are on Retirement or any other visa doesn´t matter, it is the extra stamp with either "Single Entry" or "Multiple Entry" that is important in this case.

I know because I left Thailand on a "Single Entry" without a "Return-Entry" many years ago and I lost my visa and had to start from the beginning again (leaving Thailand, visiting a Thai embassy somewhere to get a 2 month touristvisa etc etc )

[bsacbob]

Oh my my Sven you think of everything, details on the "hmm refreshing drink" please (for research purposes only)...!!

I find it more easy to send the wife with a shoppinglist.

Cost for her is only 40 baht on the Thai side and 10 baht in Burma.

And I can have a hmm refreshing drink and stay on the Thai side!

[DrDave]

Earlier this year I made the mistake of stamping out of Thailand, and then deciding not to stamp into Myanmar (didn't want to pay the fee for the Myanmar entry, which was $10US or 500 baht - hmm, someone's making a few bucks on that exchange rate). In any event, standing outside the Myanmar office where you pay your entry fee (for non-Thai citizens), I told my wife and her family that I'd just hang out around there and wait for them to finish shopping. I went across the street to that place that has several shops inside, which seems kinda like no man's land as there's a Thai checkpoint for people returning to Thailand just a few meters further inside the "border" than this shop. I poked around inside for about a half-hour or so, and perused the dvds outside for a while, and then a Thai immigration guy walked up to me and told me that the "guys across the street" wanted to talk to me (meaning the Myanmar immigration office, where you pay the entry fee). Uh-oh, that doesn't sound good. Turned out you can't just hang out in what looks like no-man's land without stamping in, as it's actually Myanmar. The officers there were actually very nice - I told them my wife had gone on and she had all the money (which was true), and they said no problem, I could just wait there in the office for her. After a while, they got tired of looking at me, and one guy took me across the street to the preliminary Thai checkpoint, grabbed a stool from inside their office, and told me I could wait over there (no need to pay the entry fee when my wife returns). Once the wife and family show up, we proceed to Thai immigration, and I'm told that I can't re-enter Thailand because I didn't stamp into Myanmar! Explaining that I wasn't trying to do a visa run or get additional days (I had permission to stay in Thailand for another year), didn't do any good. I had to go back to the Myanmar immigration office, pay the 500 baht, and get a simultaneous stamp in and out. The guy who stamped me in/out was mildly amused that Thailand wouldn't let me re-enter, but also showed a bit of sympathy.

It was obviously all my fault for not paying attention to the entry fee for Myanmar, but I was pleasantly surprised at how gracious the immigration officers there were.

[svenivan]

Earlier this year I made the mistake of stamping out of Thailand, and then deciding not to stamp into Myanmar (didn't want to pay the fee for the Myanmar entry, which was $10US or 500 baht - hmm, someone's making a few bucks on that exchange rate).

Once the wife and family show up, we proceed to Thai immigration, and I'm told that I can't re-enter Thailand because I didn't stamp into Myanmar!

However you turn, you end up with your ass in the back !

Old saying in Sweden !