Thai Nationals Entry To Hong Kong

[fishhooks]

Anyone know what requirement for a Thai National to visit Hong Kong for a short holiday less than 14 days?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Anyone know what requirement for a Thai National to visit Hong Kong for a short holiday less than 14 days?

It is visa exempt.

[ubonjoe]

Thailand has a bilateral agreement with Hong Kong so she will get a 30 day entry on arrival.

[theoldgit]

Might get a bit of a grilling if it's a young woman and she is entering on her own, my gf did but was still allowed in.

[nonthaburial]

Might get a bit of a grilling if it's a young woman and she is entering on her own, my gf did but was still allowed in.

Correct the HK immigration can be very hard on unacompanied girls, as can Korea. If she is travelling alone and you are in HK already, make sure she knows the address of where she is staying and your telephone number so as Immigration can contact you. If you are travelling together then make sure you are with her at Immigration. But one thing I must point out, the HK Immigration are not racialkists but very professional, so what ever the circumstances, I would suggest that she dresses relatively conservatively, wink wink, you know what i mean !

[jerrylee]

Anyone know what requirement for a Thai National to visit Hong Kong for a short holiday less than 14 days?

Visas are granted upon arrival, there's no need to apply,

however, first time single female within certain age-group/profile will be judged independently,

most likely will have to show, return ticket, hotel bookings and sufficient funds to last 14 days in HK.

This is going in at the airport.

It might be easier if one goes to Macau, and enter Hongkong directly by ferry or via china by road/rail.

[thaimate]

took my Thai wife and son to disneyland for his birthday ,no hassle at all ,but i got a 6 month visa ,they got 2 weeks .

[imaneggspurt]

when i went last i think i got 3 months and my ( thai ) wife got a month

[Smee]

Anyone know what requirement for a Thai National to visit Hong Kong for a short holiday less than 14 days?

Visas are granted upon arrival, there's no need to apply,

however, first time single female within certain age-group/profile will be judged independently,

most likely will have to show, return ticket, hotel bookings and sufficient funds to last 14 days in HK.

This is going in at the airport.

It might be easier if one goes to Macau, and enter Hongkong directly by ferry or via china by road/rail.

I doubt that entering Hong Kong form Macao s a good option for any Thai female. My wife and her sister, traveling with me and two male colleagues (one was Thai) arrived back from Macao by ferry with 3 hours to transfer to the airport and catch the flight home to Bangkok. Both my sister in law and my wife were immediately frogmarched to a back room as soon as the immigration officials saw they had Thai passports. There they were told to sit down and shut up and wait to be "processed". The area was full of females of all ages from the Philippines and Thialand, Some had been there for several hours and no one was telling them why they were there or when they might be released.

My wife is extremely well traveled: her passport has multiple entry visas from counties all over the world, including Canada and the EU to where she travels quite a lot (she is a photo journalist - and this was not her first trip to Hong Kong either). None of this made n difference to the authorities: they were simply pulling ALL Thia and Filipino women from the immigration queue and subjecting them to hours of inconvenience and intrusive and accusatory interrogation regardless of whether they were traveling with husbands or family or were part of a group. Their passports were not even opened by the immigration officers: the cover was all they needed to see to send all Thai and Filipino citizens off for a back room grilling.

I was told by an official "don't worry, this is normal procedure". It took a great deal of loud complaining on my part to get my wife and sister in law released in time for our group to grab a taxi and head to the airport just in time to catch our flight home. My wife later told me that she was trying to insist that immigration officials look at the ticket because if she didn't leave soon she could miss the flight. She was repeatedly told to sit down and be quiet. No one was at all interested in looking at her travel documents. Had it not been for me mounting an ever-louder hissy fit outside in the arrival hall demanding that my kidnapped wife and sister in law be released, which eventually embarrassed the authorities into actually checking the ticket and passports, we would certainly have missed the flight.

In short, any woman from Thailand or the Philippines entering Hong Kong is automatically regarded as a prostitute by the authorities and risks being treated with no respect or dignity by dint of their nationality, regardless of their actual circumstances or social standing. Sounds racist? Welcome to Hong Kong!

But don't worry, this is "normal procedure".

Edited June 28, 2009 by Smee

[tominchaam]

Smee - is this something that happened recently? The reason why I ask is I intend to make the same trip with my TW soon.

[fishhooks]

Interesting answers, thanks, I should have said originally that we are traveling together.

Seems like the Chinese authorities now have an attitude that is not like the pleasant way which tourists were handled prior to the takeover.

I've been to HKG perhaps 20-30 times during the last 40 years, haven't been there for the last few years.

It's just too bloody expensive and the shopkeepers just as arrogant as they were in the 1970's!

[Electra]

Sounds like the HK Immigration were mounting some sort of operation that day Smee and your wife was unfortunately caught up in it.

As we know there is no visa requirement for Thai intending a short visit to HK but their immigration authorities, akin to those of Malaysia and Singapore, do examine passengers upon arrival, particularly from those countries identified as areas from which there is pressure to migrate, as to their intentions. If these are not considered credible then they may be refused entry. Thai spouses of farang on a short break generally do not experience too much difficulty in gaining admission but girlfriends may attract closer scrutiny if only to confirm the relationship is genuine and not a pretence in which the farang may be attempting to facilitate entry for a purpose other than that stated.

As far as I am aware this has been the procedure for many years both before and after the handover.

[Smee]

Smee - is this something that happened recently? The reason why I ask is I intend to make the same trip with my TW soon.

This happened last November 2008.

[Smee]

Sounds like the HK Immigration were mounting some sort of operation that day Smee and your wife was unfortunately caught up in it.

As we know there is no visa requirement for Thai intending a short visit to HK but their immigration authorities, akin to those of Malaysia and Singapore, do examine passengers upon arrival, particularly from those countries identified as areas from which there is pressure to migrate, as to their intentions. If these are not considered credible then they may be refused entry. Thai spouses of farang on a short break generally do not experience too much difficulty in gaining admission but girlfriends may attract closer scrutiny if only to confirm the relationship is genuine and not a pretence in which the farang may be attempting to facilitate entry for a purpose other than that stated.

As far as I am aware this has been the procedure for many years both before and after the handover.

I take your point, but note that we were arriving BACK in Hong Kong, to the ferry terminal, after three nights in Macao, NOT arriving in Hong Kong airport. The immigration formalities at the airport were not a problem coming in or out. The mass cull of Thai and Filipino women was at the ferry terminal, not the airport, and is apparently normal procedure there. My wife shares my family name, her passport is chockablock full of used international visas, including several for China, and she had the return ticket to Bangkok in the passport CLEARLY indicating her flight was departing in 3 and a half hours. Had anyone actually bothered to look at it, they would have seen this. I doubt this was an unusual operation: they were clearly trying to catch Thai and Filipino females that had done a visa run to Macao. Equally clearly, my wife in no way fits that profile. But removing Thai and Filipino females and forcing them to undergo humiliating and time-consuming "investigation", which apparently consists of making them sit around for hours on end before grilling them to see if they will eventually confess to being illegal workers, is what these people do as a matter of routine so far as I was led to understand by the immigration chief on duty, who finally came out to see what all the noise was about and felt bound to offer some sort of explanation to the irate farang demanding to know why his wife and sister in law had been detained.

It's sure put us off ever returning to Hong Kong again!

Edited July 3, 2009 by Smee

[Crash999]

I doubt this was an unusual operation: they were clearly trying to catch Thai and Filipino females that had done a visa run to Macao. Equally clearly, my wife in no way fits that profile. But removing Thai and Filipino females and forcing them to undergo humiliating and time-consuming "investigation", which apparently consists of making them sit around for hours on end before grilling them to see if they will eventually confess to being illegal workers

The HK immigration department does this at the ferry terminals to screen for visa runners who skirt the 30-day rule by hopping in and out of Macau for a day. It's not just Thai and Filipinos but also Indonesian women, as well as anyone who has been flagged by the computer as having a suspicious profile. If one is pulled back into the room then one is put into the queue and one's passport is only reviewed when one gets to the front which can take time during peak hours. I've seen the process several times- the 'grilling' merely consists of asking the person why they're going to HK, how long they plan to be there, if they have evidence of an onward journey, and if they have sufficient funds to cover expenses during their stay.

[Crash999]

Interesting answers, thanks, I should have said originally that we are traveling together.

Seems like the Chinese authorities now have an attitude that is not like the pleasant way which tourists were handled prior to the takeover.

I've been to HKG perhaps 20-30 times during the last 40 years, haven't been there for the last few years.

It's just too bloody expensive and the shopkeepers just as arrogant as they were in the 1970's!

You won't have any problem. It's only at the ferry terminals or Shenzhen border that they give extra scrutiny. At the airport the immigration offer might ask her when you both plan to leave and (in some cases) could ask if you and her show your onward ticket. But odds are that they'll just stamp her for 30-days without saying anything.

[Arkady]

I remember many years ago there was a big stink in the local media about a middle class Thai girl from a Catholic school in Bangkok who went to HK to attend a Christian conference representing her school. HK immigration immediately decided she was a hooker with a cock and bull story and gave her the third degree for several hours at the airport before denying entry and deporting her back to Thailand. The poor child was traumatised by the experience. It doesn't sound as if anything has changed. To Hong Kong people Thais and Filipinos are the lowest of the low - prostitutes, drug dealers and servants who can never work hard enough to please their Hong Kong Chinese employers. Against all the odds the hookers still manage to get through as there is no shortage of them in HK. The authorities might ask themselves whether their policy to harass respectable Thai and Filipina women is really of any use, since the hookers know how to get themselves in.

[agt554]

Just as a quick note, I just arrived back in BKK from a trip with my young Thai GF this weekend, and we flew into Macau, spent a few days there, took the ferry into HK, spent a few days there and came back the same way. Immigration couldn't have gone any smoother....no questions at all, most likely since I was there with her. I was shocked that her processing actually went faster than mine. There were other Thais there, and didn't see any problems. But I wouldn't be surprised if they pull unaccompanied females who fit a certain profile.

[nakachalet]

tominchaam

personally, as a person coming and going out of hkg very frequently, i do not think you and

your tw would have any immigration problem entering and leaving hkg when papers are in order.

as we know, appearances, mannerism and protocol are vitally important in oriental culture.

if you are more individualistic than most, then macau would be a much better accommodation.

they are much more accepting of individualistic life styles.... lol

a few chinese phases might go a long way too, if you care:

ah sirr; officer,

tor-chay; thanks,

tor-chay-sai; thanks alot

umm-goi; excuse me pls

don't jump on me yet.... this is cantonese, applicable in hkg

but if you are in china, it is different entirely:

sae-sae: thank you

tui-puur-chee: excuse me

nin-how: how are you? for both musculine and feminine

jai-jian: farewell, solong, goodbye

oppp, sorry, got carry away a bit.... but that was all

the chinese i know.... lol

[tominchaam]

Smee and Nakachalet – I appreciate your replies. We look forward to Macao as well as Hongkong and do not worry about the hkg immigration too much as we have plenty of time. Even a few hours of waiting is even acceptable bearing in mind we now know why.

Tor-chay-sai!

[jacquesparra]

Anyone know what requirement for a Thai National to visit Hong Kong for a short holiday less than 14 days?

No problem at all. Only a thai passport, no visa. I have done this before.

[Crash999]

The authorities might ask themselves whether their policy to harass respectable Thai and Filipina women is really of any use, since the hookers know how to get themselves in.

No one is being harassed- I've been in the immigration room several times and the questions are all very basic and obvious to try and ascertain if a person is planning on working in Hong Kong. The interviewers are all polite and certainly not intimidating. The only criticism I have is that when many flights come in at the same time the process of waiting around to be reviewed/interviewed can take a while.

I've seen some very dodgy folks trying to get in, but if their stories add up, they have ongoing transportation, and enough money to last them during their 'holiday' then they are let in. I saw a guy get rejected once- he appeared to be a construction worker and couldn't explain why he was going to Hong Kong. He also had just 1000 baht with him for his month's stay and couldn't give any references.