Tv In Singapore Report - Feb 2012

[BringMeSunshine]

I (a UK citizen) got a Thai TR in Singapore the other day.

Short version:

- Flight ticket was not essential (despite what it says on the website)

- No requirement for hotel bookings etc.

- Got a lecture about 'the 90 days in six months' rule and was told that I wouldn't be granted another TR from Singapore after this one (but I didn't get a red stamp).

- - - -

Long Version:

Most info is on the website http://www.thaiembas...ar-visa-matters, so this is mostly about the variations from that and my direct experiences.

I'm not a serial TR'er, but I've got three TRs in my (UK) passport from the last 18 months- a double from London, a single from KL and a single from Vientianne, none of them back-to-back. I have one extension and no exemptions. In the last 6 months, I have spent 87 days in Thailand.

I've been out of the Kingdom for a few months and will be returning soon. I was passing through Singapore, so thought I'd give them a try.

The TR requirements listed on the website are :

1. One completed and signed visa application form

2. One recent passport-sized photograph (3.5 x 4.5cm)

3. Passport (valid for no less than 6 months)

4. Airline ticket or confirmation slip with flight number and date of entry/exit

5. Evidence of adequate finance ($1000 per person and $2000 per family)

6. Visa of a third country in a passport or travel document

re #4 - Well I didn't have an air ticket (I'll be bussing it up from Singapore through Malaysia), but I though I'd have a punt anyway

re #5 - presumably Singapore dollars, I took a printout of an internet bank statement

re #6 - I don't really understand what this is. I had an entry stamp into Singapore if that's what it means. I have plenty of other used visa of other countries if that is what it means.

- - -

The embassy is pretty central, about 300m West of Orchard MRT (use exit A) (370 Orchard Road).

Submit applications from 0915-1130 Monday-Friday

You need some kind of secondary ID to leave at the front gate in exchange for a vistors permit. I used an international Drivers Licence. The lovely old security geezer looked bemused, but accepted it.

There's a tent off to the right with blank application forms; pens; and glue to stick your photo onto the application form. No signs of scissors.

Enter the main building to submit your form. There's no ticketing system, just a long winding velvet-roped queue to join. Near the start of the queue there is a maitre d' lady who seems to be on-hand to ask general questions of. There were lots of people trying to talk to her and tensions were running pretty high - it seems like her main function is to tick people off and turn them away for not having the right supporting documents; but it didn't seem to be mandatory to talk to her, so I shuffled past and joined the queue for the main windows. It only took about 10 minutes of queueing. As I neared the front of the queue, maitre d' lady had run out of things to do and came along the queue checking paperwork. She didn't want my photocopy of the datapage from my passport; was bemused about the fact that I had brought a printout of a bank statement and then started on about my not having a ticket:

Her: How can you not have ticket? (notably: 'ticket', not 'air-ticket')

Me: I am not flying, I will travel by bus from Malaysia

Her: So where is your bus ticket ?

Me: I don't have one yet, I will buy it in Kuala Lumpur

She wasn't happy about this, and penned a cross on the front of my application form (and I think expected me to leave), but by this time I was at the front of the queue, so she decided to defer to the people behind the main window (who seem to have more authority) and let me try my luck there.

At the window, repeat the confusion about my supplying proof of funds; repeat the conversation about the bus ticket.

Once they had flipped through my passport, I received a little lecture, something like "despite the fact that you have sufficient funds, the requirement is that you can only spend 90 days in any six months in the Kingdom and this rule is taken very seriously now. This is the last visa you will get from here". I offered to add a note to the form about my lack of ticket, but was told that this was not required.

I had been planning on asking for a double-entry, but the point seemed moot at this stage.

Visa fee is 50 SGD (single entry).

- - -

Collection is next day afternoon 1400-1500 hrs. Flash your receipt instead of leaving ID to get in the front gate. Pretty straightforward.

Received a standard single-entry tourist visa. No red stamps about it being the last one or anything.

------------------------------

So, in conclusion, probably not much good for you back-to-back ers. But OK for overland-ing backpackers who aren't going to KL or Penang, Singapore is an option.

HTH

Edited February 10, 2012 by BringMeSunshine

[Soutpeel]

• you can only spend 90 days in any six months in the Kingdom and this rule is taken very seriously now
  

There is no such rule, this was stopped a long time ago..

[BringMeSunshine]

I know, but it was said to me my an official at a Thai Embassy two days ago, so I'm reporting the fact here.

[Maestro]

It looks to me like they are trying to discourage tourist visa applications from persons who are not resident in Singapore.