Double Entry Tourist Visa

[Chan mai roo crap]

My Girl friend (Filipina) arrived here on a 30 VOA, then she went to Laos with an agency who said they will get her a double entry visa, however they only gave her a single 2 month visa. The agency say they have no idea why she was only issued a single entry visa. She has never been to Thailand before.

We went to Cambodia yesterday and she got the usual 15 day VOA.

What are her options now? Is she eligible to get a double entry tourist visa? there are no red stamps in her passport. We are in a serious relationship and I want her to stay as long as possible.

I am thinking of enrolling her in a course that will allow her to get a student's visa.....any suggestions would be welcome......maybe Thai cookery or a baking course.

Thanks to all who read this

[Mario2008]

She can apply for a new double entry tourist visa. Might be better to apply in vientianne.

Any course will do for an ED-visa, as long as it is recognized. But make sure the school has experience in helping the students getting extensions of stay. She will get 90 days at a time and will need to submit proof from the school that she is studying at least 4 hours a week on averege.

[lopburi3]

Vientiane will view any attempt by a Philippine passport holder to obtain visa as for work and likely refuse after several are made from reports I have read. They are not treated as other nationalities with easy access to two entry visas in Vientiane. But as most things the luck of the draw may be more important than any rule when speaking of the numbers of people being processed there.

[tropo]

Vientiane will view any attempt by a Philippine passport holder to obtain visa as for work and likely refuse after several are made from reports I have read. They are not treated as other nationalities with easy access to two entry visas in Vientiane. But as most things the luck of the draw may be more important than any rule when speaking of the numbers of people being processed there.

It's hard to know what's going on. The agencies who transport Filipinos to the Vientiane Consulate should know what they are doing so I'd be pretty sure that they would have applied for a double entry tourist visa. They take a lot of Filinos there every week.

My Filipino GF had no problems getting a double entry tourist visa in a new passport in December last year in Vientiane, but that's a long time ago in this business that changes rapidly. We did use an agent though, but their benefits are debatable because even with an agent she was refused a visa in October last year with too many tourist visas already in her passport.

It would seem that the OP doesn't know about 30 day visa extensions on tourist visas which can be easily obtained from the Immigration Offices in Thailand.

Perhaps a visit to the Thai Consulate in Phnom Penh maybe worth a try.

Either way, tourist visas will only provide a temporary solution.

[visarunner]

with a new Passport and no previous Tourist Visa she should have been able to get a Double Entry Tourist Visa in Vientiane/Laos.

Some agency take people to Savannasakhet/Laos , but over there they get only Single Entry Tourist Visas.

Or she or the agency did not fill out the paper correctly.

After the 60days are over she could go again to Vientiane/Laos to try to get another visa.

Some agencies also take people to Phnom Penh/Cambodia .

If you need contact details please feel free to PM me.

[visarunner]

We did use an agent though, but their benefits are debatable because even with an agent she was refused a visa in October last year with too many tourist visas already in her passport.

based on my experience all the agencies arrange all the bookings(hotel/transport/meals,etc) in order to ease the pressure for the applicatants, however they have NO influence of what is going on in the Embassies.

No one can guarantee that a Visa is being issued.

However you did correctly and got your GF a new passport.

[tropo]

We did use an agent though, but their benefits are debatable because even with an agent she was refused a visa in October last year with too many tourist visas already in her passport.

based on my experience all the agencies arrange all the bookings(hotel/transport/meals,etc) in order to ease the pressure for the applicatants, however they have NO influence of what is going on in the Embassies.

No one can guarantee that a Visa is being issued.

However you did correctly and got your GF a new passport.

I was refering to an agent who has contacts in the Consulate rather than a visa run agency who gets the people there.

I sometimes wonder if some of these visa run companies go for single entry tourist visas to increase the frequency of their business. They fill out the forms. How easy would it be for them to mark the form "one entry" and just tell the applicant: "sorry, they only gave one entry".

The OP also seemed oblivious to the availability of a 30 day extension at Immigration.

How would anyone know about the availability of double entry tourist visas or extensions unless they've read about them on here or someone has been kind enough to explain it to them?

[Chan mai roo crap]

We did use an agent though, but their benefits are debatable because even with an agent she was refused a visa in October last year with too many tourist visas already in her passport.

based on my experience all the agencies arrange all the bookings(hotel/transport/meals,etc) in order to ease the pressure for the applicatants, however they have NO influence of what is going on in the Embassies.

No one can guarantee that a Visa is being issued.

However you did correctly and got your GF a new passport.

I was refering to an agent who has contacts in the Consulate rather than a visa run agency who gets the people there.

I sometimes wonder if some of these visa run companies go for single entry tourist visas to increase the frequency of their business. They fill out the forms. How easy would it be for them to mark the form "one entry" and just tell the applicant: "sorry, they only gave one entry".

The OP also seemed oblivious to the availability of a 30 day extension at Immigration.

How would anyone know about the availability of double entry tourist visas or extensions unless they've read about them on here or someone has been kind enough to explain it to them?

Thanks to those who read and commented on my post. Yes, you were correct, I did not know about the 30 day extension that was available.

As to whether the agency were less than honest and only applied for a single entry one can only wonder. They stand to get more border runs that way and is just business to them. I guess nobody can screw a Filipino better than another Filipino....amI being cynical here?

If any people out there know of any worthwhile courses that she could attend in order to get an education visa, I would love to hear from you, (not a Thai language course).

In the meantime, we might take a short vacation to Laos and try for a double entry again without using an agency. I quite like the food there.

[visarunner]

Visa Run agencies are well aware that they can only survive if they can get repeat business.

Deliberate asking for Single Entry Visa will put them out of business.