Crossing Border

[tomy]

I got a question i like to ask, if anybody every try this before, just say i exit thailand at the border and not yet enter another country, im in a no-mans land, and i decided not to enter the other ocuntry but instead head straight back to thailand, would i be allow to enter thailand that way, i mean i have not enter another country yet, so there would be no stamp into or exit out of the opposite country, but i do have exit stamp out of thailand, understand what im trying to say here, ok lets hear from all the old timer.

[Pablo H]

yes

[tomy]

yes, mean i did it before or yes it is possible to do it that way.

in legal term is that illegal or legal

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I think the Thai's might think you a bit peculiar Tomy. I wouldn't risk it, if I were you.

[pnustedt]

I leave and re-enter Thailand frequently without passport or visa. At Chong Mek (east of Ubon) you can cross over - there is an interesting market on the Laos side selling Lao silk and all sorts of stuff. You just pay the border guard on the Laos side a few baht!

At Prasat Khao Phra Vihan (s of Kanthralak) you can cross over to Cambodia, same thing, and look around the ruins.

I have also crossed the Mekong to explore Lao villages on the other side, just pay a few baht on the Laos side.

No problem so far. It seems quite relaxed.

[lopburi3]

in legal term is that illegal or legal 

Probably not considered illegal but most immigration officials are not going to issue a new entry without seeing your entry/exit stamps from another country. Remember the immigration officer has last say as to who gets what. Would not be a good idea to get on his bad side.

[tomy]

I think the Thai's might think you a bit peculiar Tomy. I wouldn't risk it, if I were you.

i'll take your word for it

[jayenram]

I leave and re-enter Thailand frequently without passport or visa. At Chong Mek (east of Ubon) you can cross over - there is an interesting market on the Laos side selling Lao silk and all sorts of stuff. You just pay the border guard on the Laos side a few baht!

It's a similar situation at the Chong Chom border crossing into Kampuchea except that the Khmer immigration wish to hold your passport and the cost is more than a "few baht"

[The_Moog]

You want to save yourself the Lao or Cambodian visa fee I think.

Good idea - i've had the same thought myself - as spending more than a moment in Poipet is a moment wasted.

[Axel]

You want to save yourself the Lao or Cambodian visa fee I think.

Sure, to save the US$ 20 or Baht 1000 for a Cambodia - visa would be a valid reason, not to enter another country. I have never crossed by land, howevr, by air

coming into one of the airports, I doubt you have to show a stamp of another country.

How should it be? Vietnam-embassy gave (or still gives, I believe) a choice for single visa, either in your p/port or a seperate sheet. If the latter, you come back and have no VN-chop. I travel to HKG using a local HKG-immigration document, which is stamped there. Again no stamps from Hong Kong in my passport.

Going to Europe, no stamp for EU-passport-holders, going to USA, no stamp for US-passports.

Coming into Thailand overland, could not find any mentioning on the web-sites, Over tto the experts.

[tomy]

its not much about money, i was thinking more like, the headache of doing papper work on the other side of ther border, like you said

as spending more than a moment in Poipet is a moment wasted

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Axel in most Euro countries you can't get a stamp in or out on any western passport. In most Asian one's you cannot but get a stamp.

[Morgan]

Thats the way SOME of the people were picked up by immigration in the last crack down The visa shop had the pasports stamped by thai immigration but did not bother to get the entry/ exit stamps of the other country. Arriving at the airport is a different matter as was said a lot of countrys do not bother to exit stamp.

Morgan

[Axel]

Axel in most Euro countries you can't get a stamp in or out on any western passport. In most Asian one's you cannot but get a stamp.

Yes, Dr. it is a nuisance around here.

32 pages in the PP, no inserts allowed. Bring the new one to immigration office, 3 (three) pages gone to transfer visa and re-entry.

Now the good news, EU rules agreed and I got 48 pages at a bargain of less than Baht 3000.

BTW. If anybody has to pass through Hong Kong often, they have a system called TRAVEL PASS. HKG immigration will only issue, if you had 5 entries during the last 3 months, need a sponsor letter by a local company that you are needed to devlop business, price HK$ 500 for 3 years. No more stamp in your p/port and the good news, special counter for you, get through immi within 1 min., no queuing and top of the system, they smile at you and mumble 'Welcome back, SIR'.

[pnustedt]

they smile at you

Absolutely untrue - don't believe it. Nobody in HK immigration has ever smiled at anyone!

[Axel]

Absolutely untrue - don't believe it. Nobody in HK immigration has ever smiled at anyone!

Here is the secret, they are ordered to smile:

HK$ 500 for 3 years

[pnustedt]

No Axel - Cantonese people look like that when they break wind!

[PK2]

I always understood if you had an exit stamp from Thailand you had to enter another country first before coming back to Thailand. So at the Laos and Cambodian land crossings you?ve got to pay the fee for the other country or just do as earlier poster mentioned and not get any exit stamp from Thailand. Going to an airport like Singapore, Penang or Vientenne (not sure about this last one) and staying in the departure lounge there and returning is probably going to go by unnoticed.

Cheers,

[Guest IT Manager]

Not true. If you are unlucky enough to be australian and lucky enough to live in LoS, you don't get entry or exit stamp for the great south land and John Howard, you know, dubya's new lapdog.

[Axel]

No Axel - Cantonese people look like that when they break wind!

Maua naah!

All my friends in Hong Kong love the territory. Only to be sure 90% got a Canadian PP. The rest, well, guess?

US-green card.

My son was born (bored? my English is lousy) in Hong Kong. He is still not angry with me that I did not apply the HKG-belongership passport for him.

[francois]

well, happens to me one time

I was living in Esarn (close to Yasothon),went down to poipet to re-stamp ...

and I thought about the last time I went there ...

I thought, I did not have a Cambodia's visa yet

so, I thought, let's give it a try, I stamped out ... walk a few steps, smoked a cigarette and then walked back to Thai immigration in-office

the officer looked at my passport and stamped it back-in for another 3 months

I feard problems at don muang when I had to go to france for a while ...

I went, and came back ... no problem at all, did they noticed it?

I don't think so

IT, I'll show my passport, you'll see it's true

but it was in poipet

might be also, that I was lucky on that shot

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Not true. If you are unlucky enough to be australian and lucky enough to live in LoS, you don't get entry or exit stamp for the great south land and John Howard, you know, dubya's new lapdog.

American's, Brit's and many other western citizens get no stamps in and out of their own countries, and in Europe, they don't stamp many arrival and departures of western pax either. In Asia, they chop 'em all.

[fox]

Hi tomy,

Your Quote : in legal term is that illegal or legal.

Lets assume you do that from the other way round.

From the Malaysian side of the border. You will be surprised.

The immigration, the police and the customs and other law enforement units

will have a field day talking to you. What happens next ? You would'nt want to know.

I hope that answers your question. Best regards to you.

[PK2]

Not true.

The original post was about a no mans land visit rather than a visit to ones homeland where entry chops are not used also. You still need to enter another country before extending your stay in Thailand on another trip. The only exception I see to this is if you just fly to a foreign airport and catch the next flight back without going through immigration controls in the foreign country.

[Axel]

The issue is somewhere in a grey area. A country allows you to come here for a specific reason and to leavee the country within a specified time.

I don't think to walk out and come back was anticipated by the lawmakers.

Coming back by air from your home country without a chop was just an example, immigration accepts that there is none. Returning from a country a few hundred meteres away and the immigrant officer knows you should have been there...

Well it really depends what the guy's mood is. Correct is, the officer at the border point decides to let you in or not. (Within the rules obtained from MFA and Imm. h/office)

My proposal, when you have to go, go, take wife, g/f or whoever along and come back 1 day or 2 later after your mini-holiday.

BTW, just a thought. Buy a ticket, go through BKK-airport, contact the ground-staff before boarding and tell them, you changed your mind, go back to Thailand, get your chop and a refund of your ticket.

[parryhandy]

Cant be done at the friendship bridge because i asked the guy at immigration.I basically thought im stamped out of Thailand why cant i walk across the road and come back in save going over the bridge.Asked the Thai immigration and received a very curt NO.

[tomy]

All done, anybody wanna hear the story, I travel with class

[francois]

Asked the Thai immigration and received a very curt NO.

I guess they just want to see you going take the bus

well, as I understand the thing now, because clearly explained.

you just have to stamp out of Thailand, no-one ask you to go to another country,

you have to go out, so this means that you need to stamp out, and re-stamp in then.

so, staying in the small no-man's land for a minute a come back is ok.

you don't need to spend your money to buy a visa either for Cambodia or laos.

Laos, as I understood, you stamp out, take the bus, don't stamp in on the other side, and come back, then stamp-in back, in this way this should work.

it work in poipet for me, so next time, I''ll try it in Mae Say and I'll tell you