Penang: Tourist Visa Rejected If Have 3 Tvisas Already...

[TimeBandit2]

I don't understand why there so many Thailand apologists.

Do they get a special visa?

Edited July 22, 2009 by TimeBandit2

[fxe1200]

agree 100%, why would anyone bother going to Penang or anywhere south these days, just fly up to Udon, cross the border the next day, get your visa in Vientiane, no worries whatsoever, and move on....the word has been out on Penang for over two years now, so why keep trying to push it? Vientiane is USER FRIENDLY, other places are not...wise up and move on.

Not everybody is living in BKK or way up North. For those living in the South, there still is Kota Bharu. Except that there is no booze or beer available at the 7/11, I have had no bad experiences with that consulate whatsoever.

[moe666]

I really don't care how people stay here legal or illegal but don't whine how unfair Thailand is when you have been gaming the system for months or years and get caught out. It's like the kid with chocolate all over his face and says I didn't eat the cake when his mom comes home early. You sound like a fool and look like a fool.

These post are typical of what starts out as informational and turns into a joke.

[easybullet3]

We have just got this news confirmed by two different visa agents in Penang, plus at least 2 members confirming the facts. Bad news for TR visa runners indeed.

Logical.

If tourism does not go well, you do anything to get rid of the remaining lot.

in these cases, I think that showing a healthy bank statment usually does the trick,,, (thats if you have one!!!)

I had this in Hong Kong,, they refused me.... so I said I have MY OWN money in the bank.. they asked me for a statment.. I asked if a print-out of my internet banking was ok... So, I printed out my English recent bank statment and returned to the Embassy and they were fine. no problems whatsoever.

they even told me "to avoid problems next time, make sure you always bring a recent bank statment" (either my home country or from thailand).

alternatively, you can get a new passport every 9 months!!!

but the best option it seems is to avoid penang!!! (or sign-up to an education course - if appropriate).

[aylo]

alternatively, you can get a new passport every 9 months!!!

just a problem with that.. they have computers... 5-10 years ago that would do the trick

[markg]

Tourism being killed? Wake up people ! There are exceptionally FEW genuine tourists who actually stay for a year on 3 back to back tourist visas.

This is being done to weed out illegal workers.

Isnt that obvious?

It's got nothing to do with stopping tourists coming. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of tourists who come on a 2 or 3 week break, need NO visa at all. They just fly in and get a 30 day stamp. For free.

How many other countries do that?

I'm not a Thailand apologist, but just try doing that in as a Thai going back to say Europe or the USA.

And to the people who keep saying 'i dont know why people use Penang' blah blah blah

Well, Laos may be nearer if you live in Bangkok, but HELLO, there are other parts of Thailand that people live in.

Fact is, from Phuket, you can 'do it yourself' on public transport to Penang for a few thousand baht. It's a 12 hour bus ride and its cheap.

Flying to Laos or KL isnt as cheap. To some people, that's important.

I think this is simply about loss of income to the consulate. Remember the post from Hull consulate when the Thai Govt made tourist visas free? I guess Penang is just saying that they cant be bothered doing the paperwork for a free tourist visa for people who are applying for their 4th visa.

Doing back to back tourist visas is taking the piss. You know it. Don't bleat when they shut the loopholes down.

I know there are probably a very few cases of genuine people who have private income and are in essence 'retired' in Thailand, but are under 50 years old so cant get a retirement visa. But by enlarge, they are few in number. I feel sorry for them, but the vast majority of visa runners are not in that group. They are working. Illegally.

[Stephen99]

No big deal - the spirit of the law is you should come here as a tourist for a short period of time............ if you want longer, you should make the necessary arrangements before you come........... not go in and out basically cheating the system because you want to live here semi-permanently.......

[PaulHamon]

Good news for the Thai language ED visa schools.

ud think there would be a school in every province. 1 days a week for 12 months, learn the language and get 2 stay. i've been thinking about it as my plan when i return.

the problem is they're just in bkk, pattaya, chang mai? not of the places I want to live. how about i nice beach town (no pattaya is not nice).

[vicco]

If you are a genuine tourist....it's not likely that you would need more than three back to back tourist visas. If you are not a genuine tourist...either get a proper visa or bugger off back home. The rules are not that complicated. Does your country allow people to just wander in and out pretending to be tourists?

[yasex]

Today i arrived at bana guesthouse and I was told when I gave them my passport, that since yesterday over 30 passports were rejected for tourist visa. The reason was stated as: If you have 3 Tourist Visa's already you have to fly in your own country to get another one. I was told this by staff of bananguesthouse and can not verify it.

I myself have 3 tourist visas (yeah, dam_n...) and tomorrow I will see whether I will get rejected too. I have a daughter and try to go for Non-O Visa (never did it, lets see...)

I just wanted everyone to know before you come here to penang, because here is a lot of chaos -farang wise. Some don't know where to go or what to do. People breaking down. I wonder why people can not fly/drive to Thailand and get the 15/30days.

Anyone has a idea whats going on? It started yesterday 21.07.2009.

pffffffff

when the free-Tourist Visas promotion will be over, even Penang will re-issue visas, it's just a matter of money

[hhgz]

"oh forgot they dont like tourists..."

They do like tourists. They don't like people living in Thailand long-term under the guise of being "tourists".

[z21rhd]

This ruling was given out 7 weeks ago by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Thailand's Embassies and Consulates in South East Asia. Not the ministry that the Police and Immigration report to.

It does seem that the Ministry of Tourism and that for Finance were able to persuade Foreign Affairs to drop the 1,000 baht fee for the visa - however the Xenophobics in the latter ministry have countered with adding a further restriction which it appears to now being enforced by the Penang Consulate.

The ability to obtain multiple entry tourist visas has existed for over 10 years - it appears that wheels turn very slowly in Thailand's Bureaucracy.

Sometimes one wonders at the actions of governments - but the example of the police harassment of motorcyclists eg.. The driver not wearing a helmet , but it is quite fine for 2/3 passengers not to have helmets. And there are lots of other examples.

[PaulHamon]

These threads are becoming laughable. Genuine holidaymakers do not normally need to get three consecutive 60 days tourist visas, especially not from the same consulate! The only people this will have any effect on, should not be on tourist visas in the first place.

can you tell me what a genuine holiday is? I'm sorry I don't understand...

I would for a couple of years and then spend a year in Thailand doing nothing....

Just beacase i'm not a American with 2 weeks holiday a year don't mean i'm not on a holiday.

I like riding my bicycle and sitting on the beach, living cheap and enjoying the best food in the world.

[yasex]

If you are a genuine tourist....it's not likely that you would need more than three back to back tourist visas. If you are not a genuine tourist...either get a proper visa or bugger off back home. The rules are not that complicated. Does your country allow people to just wander in and out pretending to be tourists?

getting a "proper visa"as you say, mate, is so complex and full of red-tape, a real burden for simple people, like someone who works for six months in the West and spend six months holidays in the East, and there are scores of them around, think only about how many German, Swiss and Scandinavian construction workers who work only from april to september in their countries ( due to the weather) or people involved in the ski season (thousands) like rescuer and ski trainers who do six month in the Alps and six months in Phukhet or Pattaya.

In the end , those people are GENUINE tourists, being a genuine tourist does not mean to stay in a place for a determined lenght of time.

You are wrong.

[JR Texas]

If you are a genuine tourist....it's not likely that you would need more than three back to back tourist visas. If you are not a genuine tourist...either get a proper visa or bugger off back home. The rules are not that complicated. Does your country allow people to just wander in and out pretending to be tourists?

getting a "proper visa"as you say, mate, is so complex and full of red-tape, a real burden for simple people, like someone who works for six months in the West and spend six months holidays in the East, and there are scores of them around, think only about how many German, Swiss and Scandinavian construction workers who work only from april to september in their countries ( due to the weather) or people involved in the ski season (thousands) like rescuer and ski trainers who do six month in the Alps and six months in Phukhet or Pattaya.

In the end , those people are GENUINE tourists, being a genuine tourist does not mean to stay in a place for a determined lenght of time.

You are wrong.

If you don't have a secure long term visa solution (and nobody does even though many think they do), you are a "tourist" in Thailand.

Phrases like "proper visa," "border runners," "perpetual tourists" are all taken from Thailand's misguided social engineering program........a program that continues to be a disaster for tourism and local, micro-economies that depend on it.

The person who said that "this is not Government policy and only applies to Penang" is off the mark. The government knows precisely what its embassies are doing.

They entire system is xenophobic........it is anti-foreigner, anti-tourism, anti-foreign investment. It is broken! I can't understand why the system is allowed to function in a way that hurts Thailand.

A certain department must have tremendous power to get away with this sort of thing at a time when Thailand needs foreign dollars and investment.

Somebody needs to take out a big broom and...............clean house.

[dsfbrit]

Go Thailand Go, drive more tourists away! Tourism only accounts for 6% of GDP (323.5 billion baht)......hmmmmm, guess they don't need us!

This is the typical attitude I often see on this site. Nothing is being done to stop genuine tourists from coming to Thailand for holidays. These regulations are to stop the farangs that have no, or very little money, from abusing the system and using consecutive tourist visas, to live and often work,illegally, in Thailand.

As an earlier post said about going to Singapore for visa ( no money)

Why should the Thai government allow farang with little or no money abuse the system and break the law?

Genuine tourist who came here for their holiday ae always welcomed and the Government has done many things to make it easier for them including waving the visa fees for tourists for the rest of the year.

I agree in principle with what you say. The majority of the people on back to back 'tourist' visas and on 'visa runs' are not 'real' tourists as such. However I disagree that the tourists consider they are 'welcomed', if they want to vist Thailand too often. Friends of mine travelling around the world came here for 2 weeks, then went to China, then came back for 2 weeks. They were going to come back again for 2 weeks, but could not understand the 'confusing' rules about the visa requirements. I tried to explain the difference between border entry via land entry and entry via the airport, 'Visa On Arrival (VOA) versus Visa Exempt... etc... They said they thought when they had come before that they could stay 30 days even they they had entered via a land border - they had to do this as their Ais Asia ticket was useless - Suwanaboom Airport was shut because of the protests!

I said I thought since then the rules had changed... from 30 to 15 days.

Even though I was talking to them over the phone I could 'feel' they were losing the will to live about the rules!!! They went to South Africa instead.

Edited July 23, 2009 by dsfbrit

[bigbadbobbolton]

Every consulate makes own rules.

In Penang three years ago you got the Tourist visa stamp but also "never apply in Penang again".

There's to many "tourists" working in south of Thailand illegally.

They make problems for genuine tourist.

LOS will now be known as LOC, "Land Of Cannot".

But given the restrictions imposed in most of our "home" countries towards foreigners maybe we shouldn't complain too much? For example a young woman applying from Eastern Europe or Asia to visit Canada? They are told to forget it don't even bother applying. We should be thankful that we are not faced with the same attitudes as back home?

[thaibkk]

a riddle ...

what is bang bang bang bang bang ?

thai people keeping shooting in their own foot to kill their economy over and over again

world wide crisis but thailand keeps up their promise to destroy the big tourist economy

way to go, LOS

[DurianIslandKoThurian]

Tourism being killed? ...

But by enlarge, they are few in number. I feel sorry for them, but the vast majority of visa runners are not in that group. They are working. Illegally.

The correct english is : But by and large.

Not "But by enlarge".

-WordWhiz

[GeeBee3]

the idea is "if you got enough money to get your sorry ass out of thailand and back to farand land then you can come back and get a new visa. get new farang cash and come back and spend it."

If you check the official Thai immigration site you will see that what is happening in Penang with regard to tourist visas is simply following the stated immigration policy. This policy limits the number of days you may stay within a 180 day period. It is no different to most other countries. TF

//Edit: The information in this post is wrong. -- Maestro

Edited July 24, 2009 by Maestro
Added edit note - Maestro

[TaoNow]

You posters who criticize Thai visa policies because you say it will hurt tourism: why do you care so much? Do you love Thailand so much that you cannot bear to see the government make (what you think is) a mistake?

I worked inside a Thai government ministry in Bangkok for over a decade, and I saw first-hand how policies and high-level decisions were made. Let me say this: there was always - ALWAYS -- a rational basis for the policy decision (even though one might not like it).

So relax and accept that fact that you don't understand the basis for the policy, and the authorities don't care if you do or not.

[Absingjul]

Let's hope they never find out about the visa pricing in Bhutan... 7,000 baht/day visas would ensure only quality tourists apply.

[mrbp]

Most of the English teachers out here do not have degrees so they are unable to get work permits. They are living and working illegally on Thai wages so no healthy Western bank balance to smooth the way.

Without the illegal teachers the government schools would have hardly any native speaking English teachers. Most people with degrees work in private language schools or they go to Japan or Korea. Thai government school pay is small and the kids unruly so it's rare that the highly qualified end up working in them. The system needs budget farang teachers and plenty of them.

Are they bad apples who should be weeded out and admonished by you wealthy business owners and loaded VIP retirement visa crew?

I understand Thailand's policies and disagree with those that bang on as if Thailand was being draconian when they know that a Thai can't visit most farang countries without jumping through firey hoops and proving they are rich.

It's you wealthy expats who talk about those who can't win the day with bundles of cash as if they where scrounging scum who are truly out of order. It's such pomposity.

"well I've got the cash to do what I want, if you haven't then your a loser who deserves to be got rid of"

Having no money doesn't automatically make you a scrounger milking the system and having bundles of cash to fly home to get your visa doesn't automatically make you a desirable and respectful farang.

[frenchFARANGbkk]

simple answer to al ur problems,,,go live in cambodia

Better overstay in Thailand until they catch me!

The problem with Cambodia is that it's full of Cambodian, same problem as France, that would be nice without all these French !

:-)

[dasy]

I can confirm Penang makes up rules by the minute was denied Non B for a reason only in Penang. Got my money back though.

David

[thaibkk]

what most people forget... when thai are complaining they cannot visit US / EUROPE / AUSTRALIA...

the minimun full time wage in an average European country = +- 50.000 baht...

so one farang, when working, earns 50.000 baht

the minimum wage in Thailand is 0 - 6000 baht.... go to MK restaurant, I was shocked :

looking for waitress at : 34 baht per hour salary !!!

x 8 hours = 272 baht per day x 22 working days = 5984 baht !

so Thai people who complain they cannot get visa, because they either do not have money and want to go to 1st world country to work illegal or some pattaya hooker that wants to go overthere for a nicer life, get divorced when the time is right (get papers to stay indefinetly) and get half of what the love sick puppy had before...

so any farang tourist, per definition will have at least 8x more income from his farang country...

if they like to stay here a few months, legal or illegal, spend all their money or lose it in their 49% owned OWN company that went bankrupt, why not ?

i remember a saying : don't bite the hand that feeds you....

apparently, this does not apply in this Land of ...

[animatic]

Don't know where home is,

but Brisbane is easy as pie last I used it.

20 minutes flat, no issues.

[animatic]

simple answer to al ur problems,,,go live in cambodia

Better overstay in Thailand until they catch me!

The problem with Cambodia is that it's full of Cambodian, same problem as France, that would be nice without all these French !

:-)

I have found that you only need to TRY and speak french and the French will warm up quick.

It also helps to be a foodie.

[Mario2008]

looking through reports, I belive to understand that a "consulat" is not actually working for that government, but, inderpendant. Is this correct?

You have to make a distinction bewteen a consul and a honorary consul. A consul is a goverment official and gets his normal civil servants pay. A honorary consul doesn't even have to be a national of the country he represents, he is not a civil servant and doesn't recieve a salary. Instead a honorary consul recieves an income from the visas he issues. That is why a honorary consul is normaly more flexible than a consul or embassy.

[barry]

ITS HARD TO IMAGINE ANY OTHER COUNTRY

THAT NEEDS TOURISTS SO MUCH

BEHAVING IN SUCH A SELF-DESTRUCTIVE MANNER