Successful single entry non-B in Yangon

[Tomtomtom69]

Sorry for posting this so late but I thought it might be useful for anyone applying for a Thai visa in Yangon, particularly a single entry 90 day non-B.

Back in October last year I travelled overland from Bangkok to Yangon via the then newly opened Mae Sot/Myawady crossing, over the Dawna range to Hpa-an and then to Yangon.

After waking up at 5.30am and trying to depart for Yangon at 6am, we only managed to get going at 6.30am with our car and driver...hopefully managing to reach the Thai embassy on Pyay road before they close for lunch at 11.30am, since they normally only accept applications in the morning. Since Hpa-an is 287km from Yangon and normally takes 4.5-5 hours by car we were definitely pushing it, but unfortunately despite our best efforts and due to the driver getting lost near Yangon trying to find a shortcut (this was around the time of the Yangon Traders Hotel bombing incident) we lost some time and thus only made it to the embassy around 12pm.

Obviously the embassy was closed then so after going for lunch (BTW there is a Black Canyon restaurant around the corner and a very good moneychanger right behind the entrance to the consular section that changes 9 currencies, in addition to USD, EUR and SGD, also THB, AUD, GBP, CNY, MYR and JPY all at good exchange rates), we headed back to the embassy around 1pm, which is when the consular section should have re-opened. Instead, it didn't re-open until 1.30pm but by the time the doors opened it was actually 1.45pm and all the Burmese and a couple of foreigners going in to pick up their visas (afternoons are pickup times) had to wait quite a while in the heat as I did...it seemed that there was definitely some confusion about opening hours as their opening hours listed did not correspond with the actual opening hours.

On going in, I came with a whole book of documents that my company sent me, including the usual business registration, list of shareholders, power of attorney and copy of ID of all directors and persons authorized to act in their stead, a letter printed in English requesting that the Embassy in Yangon process my request for a single entry non-B etc. Originally, my company asked me to apply in Singapore since they are known not to ask for WP3 work permit applications. However, I refused on the basis that I have no good reason to go to Singapore, am already going to Myanmar anyway on a business trip and because my company unfortunately did not offer to pay for any visa or travel related expenses, so I wouldn't incur any unexpected expenses whether I got my visa or not.

I apologized to the clerk for only being able to make it in the afternoon, but hoped they would accept my application at that time anyway. I came in on a Monday and was planning on leaving Yangon on Wednesday. Only problem was that Wednesday would be a public holiday so they would have to accept my application then and hand it back the next day with my visa in order for this plan to work.

I came in with all the required documents but no WP3 application. Afterwards, the clerk (a very friendly trilingual Burmese woman who speaks Burmese, English and Thai fluently; I spoke to her in Thai) went to the back to speak with the visa issuing officer, she came back to tell me my documents were OK despite having no WP3 form - she would also accept my application in the afternoon and process the visa overnight as I told her I couldn't hang around until Thursday because we had already booked accommodation in Mawlamyine for Wednesday night and one person in my travelling party was leaving on a flight from Bangkok on the upcoming Saturday morning and we still needed to get back to Bangkok overland (plus we had some meetings in the places we visited in between). The clerk accepted this explanation and I was then asked to make a photocopy of my passport front page and Burmese visa, which I promptly did at the moneychanger next door. Upon returning, my application was handed over and I was asked to pay US$80 in US currency (which I had to exchange with my friend as I didn't have enough USD on me; for all other expenses in Myanmar including hotels I paid only in Kyat). Note that if you don't have any US currency for the visa the moneychanger next door will happily sell you some.

Next day in the afternoon I got my visa with a red stamp indicating that next time i should have a WP3 application form submitted for them, but out I went with my visa and upon arrival in Mae Sot on Friday of that week I was stamped in for 90 days after which I immediately requested a multiple re-entry permit for 3800 at Mae Sot immigration.

6 weeks later I got my work permit processed at one stop along with my visa extension - all done!

Anyway, if you are polite and it's your first time applying for a non-B in Yangon, and you don't have your WP3 work permit application form it seems you can still apply. Of course, it's best if you can get it done before going out for the non-B, but if you really can't, Yangon seems to be quite flexible about it.

[marcusd]

Thank you. This will be beneficial for me and many others too i would think.

Burma opening up more and more