Tourist visa holders denied entry to Thailand and left stranded in Malaysia

[ColdSingha]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

^I seriously doubt this.

What it will do however is stop these people that have exploited a system that was not strictly enforced as it should have been. I support it 100%. I am glad those multi visa runners were displaced. I doubt they will be let back in from the airport

Either you are a tourist occasionally or you live here with a retirement, Marriage or Work visa.

I expect more borders to follow suit soon.

I hope you are correct - wouldn't fancy being in a tourist related business at the moment. I find it hard to understand why if the so called undesireables were such, how come the Embassy issued them a visa in the first place? The brakes should have been put on right there IMO.

it's probably a logical next step, especially if people start going back to complain and in numbers

Edited July 14, 2014 by ColdSingha

[SaintLouisBlues]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

I don't think so. People visiting here as "real" tourists are unlikely to be affected, particularly as they invariably arrive by air. As clearly stated in the OP, the eight people who were refused entry all had a history of border crossings and numerous Tourist Visas, so the official was clearly following orders not to allow bogus "tourists" into Thailand.

Obviously you don't understand human nature. People read headlines, scan stories and ignore the small print. The overwhelming impression for them will be "Thailand makes it difficult to be a tourist".

[mataleo]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

^I seriously doubt this.

What it will do however is stop these people that have exploited a system that was not strictly enforced as it should have been. I support it 100%. I am glad those multi visa runners were displaced. I doubt they will be let back in from the airport

Either you are a tourist occasionally or you live here with a retirement, Marriage or Work visa.

I expect more borders to follow suit soon.

How about u are rich and young and not married?

What kind of visa please?

[mc1984]

I have stayed in Thailand for 1 and a half years on tourist visas in the past (an indefinite tourist) without working here. I am now on an education visa as I am studying Thai. My girlfriend is pregnant at the moment and I am worried about when my education visa runs out. I make enough money back home to support us but not to qualify for a non O visa. What can I do? I realize they won't have any sympathy for splitting up a young family and I am worried I am going to have to leave my wife and young child here. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

[ldnguy]

i stop being suprised here years ago.... ..buy a legal visa from a THAI consul (WHO HAVE THE POWER TO REFUSE) and then be refused entry at teh border...idiotic to say the least

This doesn't just happen in Thailand. Many people that have visas for countries such as USA and UK are denied entry by immigration. Having a valid visa does not guarantee entry into any country, as it is only immigration that can allow entry. My gf has a 10-year USA visa but was told that she can't just come every year and expect to be let in. They told here that having a valid 10-year visa means they can still refuse here entry when she arrives.

You could have a valid visa by immigration could spot that you are not a genuine tourist. You'd then be refused entry. This is standard procedure in all countries.

Many farangs seem outraged at the situation here, but they never comment on similar situations in their own country. Maybe it's time to open your eyes to what happens back in your home country and stop pretending that these things only happen in Thailand.

If you're not a US citizen, get 90-day entry, leave and then try to go back for another 90 days.Maybe you'll then realize what it's like elsewhere.

Many foreigners are abusing the system, which is why they have clamped down. They were lenient for years, but too many people took advantage. When that happens there will always be a clampdown.

In an ideal world we could travel and live wherever we wanted, just like in the old days. But most people don't want that, so we're stuck with this situation.

[phirho]

How about u are rich and young and not married?

What kind of visa please?

Thailand Elite card

[gamini]

In most countries you are not allowed to stay more than 6 months in any one year. I think that immigration are probably trying to catch up with the rest of the world and get ready for integration with the upcoming South East Asia Union!

Also it could be that immigration are meeting out the same form of treatment a Thai would get if they tried back to back visas in thier countries.

[harrycallahan]

We, as an EX-PAT community have brought some of this on ourselves by not policing our own. If you know someone who is violating the VISA requirements - TURN THEM IN!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we go! Shall we employ special officers charged with weeding out these non-conformists? With their specially coloured and authoritively emblemed shirts...

[ColdSingha]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

^I seriously doubt this.

What it will do however is stop these people that have exploited a system that was not strictly enforced as it should have been. I support it 100%. I am glad those multi visa runners were displaced. I doubt they will be let back in from the airport

Either you are a tourist occasionally or you live here with a retirement, Marriage or Work visa.

I expect more borders to follow suit soon.

How about u are rich and young and not married?

What kind of visa please?

thailand elite visa

[BlackArtemis]

Yaaaayyy.....

More confusion. It does seem the serial abusers were the ones punished though.

It sucks, because I recently moved back to the US and I was hoping to spend my summers in Thailand. This would probably be less than 60 days, but more than 30.

I am 32 and teach in the US, so retirement is not an option.

Oh well, I have a whole year before I really have to worry about it. I am sure it will change 42 times from now till then.

[BudRight]

i stop being suprised here years ago.... ..buy a legal visa from a THAI consul (WHO HAVE THE POWER TO REFUSE) and then be refused entry at teh border...idiotic to say the least

It's again worth remembering that possession of a visa doesn't guarantee the holder admission to a country, it's the Immigration Officer at the Border that has the final say, this applies to most countries in the World, including the likes of the UK, the Schengen Area and the United States of America.

At US Immigration the entrant in question is passed to a second, higher ranking officer before such a decision is made. It never happens that it is the decision of one person alone.

[gamini]

Refusing entry to all people with tourist visas, how can you obtain a visa and then be denied entry to the country unless you fly into it?

Classic Thailand

How about in your country? do you think a Thai can get back to back visas and stay as long as they like. They probably cant" even get a visa in the first place.

[Lobber]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

WHY ????

[smedly]

Lets be honest about this guys - no more boolshit

There are genuine tourists who will not be affected by any of this, those that come here for an extended holiday once or twice a year possibly over the winter months from say November to January and are issued with a tourist visa, these people should not have a problem

Then there are those that are old enough and want to retire here or those that have wives and or children here and are still working back home (under 50) - there are choices for them to do so without any issues

Then you have the targeted group that don't fall into either of the above, the visa running clan who seem to fall into 3 categories - working illegally - on the run from their own country for various reasons - criminal activity in Thailand - or a mixture of all 3

If you think it's normal in any country going to a border and leaving for an hour or a day every 30 or 60 days then you are delusional - that is not normal anywhere

There are some genuine folks that are under 50 and have the funds to stay here but are going to end up the innocent fallout, their only option is the rather expensive Elite Card

You only have to look at the news stories involving falangs over the last 3 years or so and almost all of them have been on overstay visa expired - the authorities have noticed this too it seems

I honestly believe the next phase of this clampdown (very soon) will be active checking of falangs in locations such as Pattaya and Phuket for their visa status, I really believe this will happen, if you are currently on overstay and don't want to be in a situation were you can't even go outside without the risk of arrest and jail then you need to make a hasty exit ASAP

JMO

[JeffreyWitty]

Wow witty do not also to forget your 500 bhat reward you maybe can get a work permit and employ 4 Thais to rat on the abusers. just put an add in the local paper and your phone will start ringing with whistle blowers.

I can rat some human filth out and get 500 baht also?! Thanks for the tip!

I spend the extra baht on beer and toast to the loser scumbags as they are kicked out the door!

Thailand, like the west - is not open to everyone as a flophouse! There are legit ways to be in country. They can either do the right thing (like many of us) or <deleted>!

Nobody should feel ashamed or bad because they reported (ratted out) someone committing a CRIME.

Edited July 14, 2014 by metisdead
Profane acronym

[moe666]

So this is a taster of what is to come on a national scale in the next month.

This will put the brakes on many Thai girls marrying a farang from a nice western country.

No farang in their right mind would marry a girl within 30 days (or less) of knowing them just to get a non-imm visa.

Although you always get some stupid exceptions.

Maybe they are doing this to force tourists to shore up the struggling Thai Airways by making them fly for entry... who knows.

It may not end there either, if this is xenophobia induced then they are going to look for ways to give the non-imms some of their own problems.

I say we all move out of Thailand for Myanmar.... That'll screw em up

I have been to Myanmar be my guest as you only get 28 days have fun making border runs to Bangkok

[JAFO]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

^I seriously doubt this.

What it will do however is stop these people that have exploited a system that was not strictly enforced as it should have been. I support it 100%. I am glad those multi visa runners were displaced. I doubt they will be let back in from the airport

Either you are a tourist occasionally or you live here with a retirement, Marriage or Work visa.

I expect more borders to follow suit soon.

I hope you are correct - wouldn't fancy being in a tourist related business at the moment. I find it hard to understand why if the so called undesireables were such, how come the Embassy issued them a visa in the first place? The brakes should have been put on right there IMO.

I agree BKKJames, This should have happened a long time back. I guess it boils down to enforcement and now they feel they can do this. IMHO its lonnnnnnng overdue.

[Lobber]

The more i read about the whinging , "overstayer" and their stupid questions on this forum the more i disrepair with human kind.

Bluntly there are some very thick people out there !!!................god help <deleted> pension if i have to rely on them.

[bkkjames]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

WHY ????

As has been pointed out by others - The headline reads "People with TV's Denied Entry". People won't read the details. Just look at it and say, well let's go somewhere else this year. Arrange visas for family, book flights, hotels and hope somebody doesn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed. It doesn't help when there is little clarity either - one off case - all borders, only land? ...

[Mab]

Same happened in Uganda when Idi Amin Dada took the power in 1962. As far as I remember it started with tourist visas then continued cancellation of all working visas followed by mass deportations. Suvarnabhumi airport is almost empty like abandoned haunted ruin and although I respect the rules but I don't think they are doing a favour to economy. I started to believe that government has discovered rich oil reserves to depend on,otherwise no explanation.

[kennypowers]

The fact that those denied entry were told they could fly into Thailand instead suggests there's a monetary angle here. I guess the initiative is to fill Thai and Bangkok Airways flights.

Makes you start wondering about the link between certain people and certain airlines, doesn't it. Conspiracy theory? Perhaps.

[Jools]

Amazing Thailand. "We desperately need tourism to shore up our flagging economy, so we are going to anger and humiliate tourists in order to keep them coming." Makes perfect Thai sense. This is a country that needs lessons in basic economics, preferably taught by NON-Thai instructors. A storm of fecal proportions is on the way.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Jools

[MrWorldwide]

i stop being suprised here years ago.... ..buy a legal visa from a THAI consul (WHO HAVE THE POWER TO REFUSE) and then be refused entry at teh border...idiotic to say the least

It's not 'idiotic' if they are still honoring said visa at the airport. How many times do we have to go over this ?

- that particular division is clearly being used - or volunteering itself - as a beta test site for the August crackdown

- there have been very few reports of anyone being denied entry with a valid visa at any of the airports and when it has happened it was because of past overstay problems

- no-one here denies that it's an over-reaction, but they clearly want to deter visa runners from using land borders

- the Consulates issue an invitation to stay in Thailand - AFAIK the IOs at the airports are continuing to honor that invitation but the IOs at the land borders are using their discretionary powers to deny anyone entry that they consider a 'non tourist',

We can rant and rave about the inequity of it, but this would seem to be the reality - go to a land border (particularly in the South) and you can expect to be given a hard time. Am I incorrect in saying that there are 3 or 4 existing threads detailing issues down south and on the Burma side of Thailand ? I accept that the people who were caught up in this may not read ThaiVisa, but many of us have been thrashing this out for over a week. If we remove the finger-pointing from the debate it becomes blindingly simple - Thailand wants to see genuine tourists arriving via something other than a muddy land border in the middle of nowhere. Backpackers and other serious travellers will undoubtedly be horrified, but these folk seem to be a whole lot more adaptable than the cadre of visa runners this crackdown is clearly aimed at. Peace out,

[BudRight]

When this started, many people thought that it would only affect those using ('abusing') entry stamps.

It can safely be said that everything is on the table now.

[hobz]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

WHY ????

Could easily hit innocent genuine tourists, and they may start crying in the summer news dry newspapers of their home countries,,

[Mooner]

So what if im under 50 but have the 800,000 or more in my bank account but I will be discriminated against because of my age.

Tourist visas are my only option right?

[JAFO]

As the news of this spreads, more and more people will likely put of trips here as the confusion reigns.

^I seriously doubt this.

What it will do however is stop these people that have exploited a system that was not strictly enforced as it should have been. I support it 100%. I am glad those multi visa runners were displaced. I doubt they will be let back in from the airport

Either you are a tourist occasionally or you live here with a retirement, Marriage or Work visa.

I expect more borders to follow suit soon.

How about u are rich and young and not married?

What kind of visa please?

Cool thing, It doesn't matter, stand in line like the rest of us. There are no special Platinum Visa's. Besides if you are rich and young why would you be here?

[gamini]

"You are a tourist for 30 days, not more."

they mean business now, i hope it doesn't spread to the northern and eastern borders

Then a "60 Day Tourist Visa" is no longer issued? I would imagine that a more efficient way to limit "tourists" to 30 days, is to have all Thai Consulates/Embassies NOT issue any more 60 day tourist visas and let the ones already issued expire naturally!

my Thai wife could only get one month visa to Europe after filling in a lot of forms and producing evidence of funds and accomodation. Why should it be any different here?

[CNXBKKMAN]

Do you think the Sugai Golok border point is more strict due to the insurgency down there. Who wants to go to Naratiwat? Its dangerous. Is it the same at Sadao, Padang Besar?

[belg]

NON-Immigrant visas , the next target in the crazy sceme

so you there at a checkpoint with a valid 60 day tourist visa, gotten from an embassy , totally worthless to cross over the boarder and ordered to take a bus and fly into the country

has someone lost their minds ?

28 million tourists they want next year right, or should they send them the money & stay home instead ?