Hi All,

I am sure it has been discussed before, but this new format confuses me.

Visa needed or not?

Thanks (we are travelling next weekend btw)

Not

Let's try this over in the Visa forum

Topic Moved

Even after being moved - still NOT

None required, I went last January.

Thai citizens get a 30 day visa-free period. More than 30 days, a visitor's visa is required.

http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_4.htm

Thanks everyone, I knew I could rely on you guys

There have been some reports of Thai women getting a hard time at Hong Kong Immigration, even when travelling with partners. Whilst we have never had a problem, or even personally observed it, we have friends that have been refused entry and returned to Thailand.

I would advise that your girlfriend/wife we aware of where you are staying and the duration of your trip.

I have known both young Thai women and men to be refused entry on arrival if they don't look "right". It is the discretion of the immigration officer. Same thing applies in Singapore, and just about anywhere for that matter.

If the OP provides documented proof including return air tickets and hotel reservations and gives these to his female partner when she passes through Immigration, there sohould be little problem. I've also seen problems at Immigration in Hong Kong and Singapore and having lived in HK for some years where my then partner was subject to excessive scrutiny by Immigration - they're just doing their job as far as I'm concerned and want to know that the female is not going to work on the island and is not involved in people trafficking.

I would also suggest you approach the immigration counter together as a couple (whether married or not). It lets them know immediately that she is traveling with someody. First impressions kind of thing.

I took my wife twice with no hassles.

I suppose rudeness may depend on the HK Immigration officer that you encounter. My experience from a couple of months back was traveling to HK with a female Thai business associate. She is mid-30s and was dressed in a business suit for the meeting to which we were headed, and having been educated in the UK she speaks perfect English. We approached immigration separately, at counters next to one another. After I was stamped, they were still talking and I stepped over to see what was happening. The immigration officer looked at me and curtly asked "is this girl staying with you?". "This girl"? I thought. I told him 'no, we are on a day trip to a meeting', to which he asked me "are you sure'? "Let me see both of your return tickets", he said. Finally he stamped her passport, but I thought his demeanor was disrespectful and demeaning, all apparently based on the fact that my associate was Thai and female.

Immigration has got to be one of the hardest jobs ever, trying to figure out who's lying and who's telling the truth is just a nightmare, especially in a place like Hong Kong which serves as a magnet for everyone in the region who wants to make money and is full of ex-pats all holidaying their Thai and Filipina tilacs, not easy to get it right everytime.

Immigration has got to be one of the hardest jobs ever, trying to figure out who's lying and who's telling the truth is just a nightmare, especially in a place like Hong Kong which serves as a magnet for everyone in the region who wants to make money and is full of ex-pats all holidaying their Thai and Filipina tilacs, not easy to get it right everytime.

Yes, I do agree, but they should remain polite and professional, however difficult, referring to 'bubba's' travelling companion as "this girl", in her presence, is unprofessional, and very rude. We had a similar experience returning to the UK from a side trip to Paris, the IO was giving my girlfriend a hard time, and she was getting flustered. I stepped forward to help, and he referred to her as "this girl" I was pretty upset but I kept my cool and just returned the words "this girl"? in a questionable tone, she was then cleared.

We recently had a holiday in Macau and we were doing a one day trip to Hong Kong, my girlfriend had a brand new passport with her old one containing her previous, considerable, travel history, including numerous trips to Hong Kong, the UK and Europe, she took her old passport with her just in case they were concerned in Macau or Hong Kong, she went through Immigration on her own, and wasn't questioned at all.