No more Thai visa runs: Immigration will not let visa runners return after Aug 12

[Thai at Heart]

How does this effect people coming in and out of the country regularly on business from other ASEAN countries?

Regional managers etc?

[VINCENT2012]

Looks like a lot of foreigners are either leaving or will have to get married, have a child or get a retirement visa.

thats exactly what you said !

i got to that conclusion 6 years ago. ..thats why you cant see a foreign young fellow in thailand living here.

.they only like and want 50 years old people.. .with money of course....otherwise please go back to where you come from!

enough poors in thailand, dont need no more...! please understand us.

well ...............enough thinking................i'll have a beer instead.

chears

[wolf5370]

So what will happen for those arriving by air that are refused? Will the airlines be forced to return them, like those without valid visa or passport validity etc? If so, we could see people being refused at the source airports where they have any previous visa/VOE/etc that could be interpreted as back-to-back by an enthusiastic immigration guy.

This must start to hurt tourism proper, just the risk - I know people that come here a lot, but live at home in the UK, they are retired or have the sort of jobs that allow for that - will airlines start turning away such people at check-in? I really hope it does to be honest - no matter how you feel about "long term tourists" they get nothing from the state and pay to live here - a positive and hardly a problem. Illegal workers are not necessarily recurrent tourists and recurrent tourists are not necessarily illegal workers - want to cut done on illegals? try getting off your rs and checking schools, language schools, hotels, bars and restaurants - get the actual illegals, without causing issues with tourism.

Thailand has so many problems - due to throwing their culture away for profit - look at the news, teenagers shooting each other for asking for girls numbers, teens setting fire to homeless people and laughing, and so on - zero cost tourists taking advantage of tourist visas and even visa-less entry waivers, should be so far down the list you need a shovel to find it.

[oldsailor35]

Looks like a lot of foreigners are either leaving or will have to get married, have a child or get a retirement visa.

Or an over 50's Non Imm 'O' which is what i use

[Gweiloman]

Would like to get some thoughts / opinions about the following.

A friend of mine, ASEAN national, has a regional job, travelling to his company's offices regularly in other Asian countries. He is actually employed out of Hkg (Hkg work permit, contract, ID card etc) but he prefers to stay in Thailand due to the geographical location and much lower cost of living compared to Hkg. He comes to Thailand on visa exempt basis, stays one to two weeks and flies out to another country for 3-5 days, sometimes longer and then comes back to Thailand. He has been doing this for quite a few years and is now a bit concerned that he might be caught up in this crackdown. He's not married, below 50 and does not work in Thailand.

Is he likely to face problems when he arrives to Suvarnabhumi? His company flies him business class so he always goes through the priority lane.

[Thai at Heart]

Wonder what will happen to all those foreigners that are married, have children, but don't have enough money to get a Non-Imm visa based on marriage.

Will Immigration start splitting up families?

I hope so.

These guys should have thought about the correct visa before getting married and having kids.

A little forward planning/saving may have helped them here.

Thanks for your input Mr Perfect!

It's not about being perfect, but a question about being a responsible parent!

After going through the same thing in the UK and my wife being apart from kids for some time, splitting up families is utterly immoral.

[ttthailand]

To all the people on here making negative comments to those who are now facing some major difficulties. I want to see your face when your condo price drops in half and your investment condos sit empty..... Maybe too those owning a house through a company gets it taken away as it is not legal to own... Your time is coming !

I am fine with my visa but feel a little sad for some people. This country provided a loophole and people took advantage ( doing nothing wrong) and after investing money and time here are now left outside the system. It was not really their fault. I think Thailand is doing a very bad service to many people.... Karma will take its revenge on Thailand....

[oldsailor35]

Did anybody read this line in the story: "Visa runners are those who leave Thailand and return immediately for the purpose of extending their stay."

Seems pretty clear to me.

Who can read a Thai Imm Officers mind ! They all seem different to me

[kimamey]

The 64,000 dollar question is:

What is the minimum amount of time a suspected visa-runner should stay out of the kingdom to avoid the dreaded O-I stamp?

Will it be 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, or is it going to be another arbitrary decision based on the whim of each border agent?

Off-topic side note: This past week I have been inundated with requests to teach or tutor English. Requests are coming from all directions. I say no because I am not a qualified English teacher. Are a lot of undocumented English teachers packing up and leaving?

I am curious about this also. When I was a teacher, it was like pulling teeth to get my employer to get me my WP. It eventually got done but sometimes needed to do a I-O.

Schools will now need to be more proactive and only hire those with a degree.

I've been asked to teach English at a small private school although I'm not a teacher. I think the main reason is just to give exposure to native English speech so it's not teaching in the real sense. The main reason for not doing it is the difficulty in getting a work permit for irregular employment. I seem to remember there was a scheme a little while back to use native speakers in schools but it had problems because the rules weren't drawn up until people had already agreed to do this. Some just wanted to help but the rules were too restrictive regarding how many hours were needed Not sure what happened about it.

It does seem as if this might affect a lot of those teaching under these circumstances.

[brewsterbudgen]

A lot of western countries deal with prostitution by targeting the kerb crawlers, maybe this is also a back door way to start dealing with this issue.

Exactly what has that got to do with "this issue"?

[kimamey]

Wonder what will happen to all those foreigners that are married, have children, but don't have enough money to get a Non-Imm visa based on marriage.

Will Immigration start splitting up families?

I hope so.

These guys should have thought about the correct visa before getting married and having kids.

A little forward planning/saving may have helped them here.

Thanks for your input Mr Perfect!

It's not about being perfect, but a question about being a responsible parent!

It is harsh on the kids though.

[Iumentum]

After going through the same thing in the UK and my wife being apart from kids for some time, splitting up families is utterly immoral.

Of course it is immoral to split families, but it's also utterly irresponsible to have family here and not get a proper visa which will secure the stay here. You shouldn't be living in Thailand on tourist visa, specially not with kids. Just because the rules has not been uphold, doesn't make it ok to do so, because the rules have been saying that you can maximum be tourist for 180 days per year, and has been like that a very long time. So those who would get issues because of this crackdown has been irresponsible, and should have had plenty of time to find a proper solution.

[Just1Voice]

Right now there is mass confusion and consternation as to just what the hell is going on, as well as to what's "legal" and what isn't. To me, this was an idea with good intentions, but piss poor application, as no one really knows what's right and what's wrong. Immigration need to come up with clear, concise rules as to what is and isn't allowed, although, this being Thailand, I won't hold my breath for that to happen.

To those who actually abused the system for their own advantage, som nom na. To those who tried to do things right and get caught up in this mess, hopefully you'll be able to straighten things out and get on with your life.

[Iumentum]

It is harsh on the kids though.

It is, but still irresponsible to caught up in this crackdown if you have kids in Thailand as foreigner.

You cannot blame the country to actually finally start to enforce the rules/laws. You can only blame the parent who has got himself in visa trouble by doing continuously border running to be able to stay here, even though the law has been quite clear for a long time, that you can maximum be tourist for 180 days per year.

[ilocos]

Looks like a lot of foreigners are either leaving or will have to get married, have a child or get a retirement visa.

thats exactly what you said !

i got to that conclusion 6 years ago. ..thats why you cant see a foreign young fellow in thailand living hjere.

.they only like and want 50 years old people.. .with money of course....otherwise please go back to where you come from!

enough poors in thailand, dont need no more...! please understand us.

well ...............enough thinking................i'll have a beer instead.

chears

over 50 visa policy means thai husband not jealous of his thai wife having a farang husband. That's what this crackdown is all about 555 Edited July 15, 2014 by ilocos

[oldsailor35]

Wonder what will happen to all those foreigners that are married, have children, but don't have enough money to get a Non-Imm visa based on marriage.

Will Immigration start splitting up families?

No I don't think so.

A one year NON-IMM Multiple entry visa costs only 5000 baht and is valid for a year. A man who is married and or with children should be able to scratch that together. When in a real financial jam the married foreigner can always get a 60 day extension for the low price of 1900 baht.

What's clear is married people are no longer going to be able to live here using back to back visa except/tourist visa extensions.

No, they need to show 400,000 Bt per annum, or monthly equivalent.

No they do not. Not for the visa itself. At the moment the visa can be obtained in Savanakhet without any financial requirements.

They need the income 40k monthly - or 400k in the bank for the 12 month extension of stay which is completely different from the visa.

The OP makes no mention of Thai immigration refusing in-out entries for people with NON-IMM "O" visas.

Its about time they stopped these stupid and expensive forced border runs for visas such as Non Imm 'O' when a simple visit to the nearest Immigration office would do just as well.

[kimamey]

When it comes down to it Thais don't really like foriegners

Our money is wanted but our persons are not

the thais in my village do

How do you know ?

Maybe the same way you know if people like you.

I'm assuming somebody does like you.

[wilcopops]

The 64,000 dollar question is:

What is the minimum amount of time a suspected visa-runner should stay out of the kingdom to avoid the dreaded O-I stamp?

Will it be 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, or is it going to be another arbitrary decision based on the whim of each border agent?

Off-topic side note: This past week I have been inundated with requests to teach or tutor English. Requests are coming from all directions. I say no because I am not a qualified English teacher. Are a lot of undocumented English teachers packing up and leaving?

I am curious about this also. When I was a teacher, it was like pulling teeth to get my employer to get me my WP. It eventually got done but sometimes needed to do a I-O.

Schools will now need to be more proactive and only hire those with a degree.

I've been asked to teach English at a small private school although I'm not a teacher. I think the main reason is just to give exposure to native English speech so it's not teaching in the real sense. The main reason for not doing it is the difficulty in getting a work permit for irregular employment. I seem to remember there was a scheme a little while back to use native speakers in schools but it had problems because the rules weren't drawn up until people had already agreed to do this. Some just wanted to help but the rules were too restrictive regarding how many hours were needed Not sure what happened about it.

It does seem as if this might affect a lot of those teaching under these circumstances.

the whole teacher visa/permit situation is a croc...just a series of patches on patches that make little or no sense with regards to Thailand's English Language needs.

Any visa situation that doesn't address the needs of the country and visiting foreigners is a system in dire need opt repair....or rather scrapping and starting agin from scratch.....but it needs clear critical thinking......something of a rarity in Thai government.

[wolf5370]

Wonder what will happen to all those foreigners that are married, have children, but don't have enough money to get a Non-Imm visa based on marriage.

Will Immigration start splitting up families?

I hope so.

These guys should have thought about the correct visa before getting married and having kids.

A little forward planning/saving may have helped them here.

Thanks for your input Mr Perfect!

It's not about being perfect, but a question about being a responsible parent!

Like circumstances never change! Stupid comments from cruel and stupid people - how anyone could actually hope (and publically state that fact) that families are torn apart by the state because the family are no longer as wealthy as they once were (ill-health/world wide financial collapse - heard about that?/loss of job/unexpected family costs (sick child etc)/etc) are truly the worse kinds of people - and deserve to live in countries where such things are common place and feel the pain and damage that inflicts!

Edited July 15, 2014 by wolf5370

[JenksB]

For those who consider retirement visa holders to be sexpats (or should I say an extension to O visa based on retirement, wouldn't want to upset the pedantic people who regularly patrol TV for errors in semantics), some of us are actually married to Thai Nationals like myself, I went to CW to get an ext based on marriage, was told by the immigration officer that I would have to come back for interview in one or two months with no guaranties, however she would give me an extension based on retirement even though I qualified for both retirement and marriage, she was trying to be helpful and save me time by not having to travel, so please do not judge everyone by your moral standards, one rotten apple does not a barrel of rotten apples make! Not everyone is a sexpat, not even those who are 60 married to a 20 year old my wife and myself are of compatible age before the insults start flying.

[PattayaPhom]

A lot of western countries deal with prostitution by targeting the kerb crawlers, maybe this is also a back door way to start dealing with this issue.

Exactly what has that got to do with "this issue"?

Lets not deny the fact that many of those on constant tourist or other scrutinised visas are here because they enjoy the entertainment zones on a regular basis. That therefor wll have a knock on effect on that particular illegal proffession

[wolf5370]

For those who consider retirement visa holders to be sexpats (or should I say an extension to O visa based on retirement, wouldn't want to upset the pedantic people who regularly patrol TV for errors in semantics), some of us are actually married to Thai Nationals like myself, I went to CW to get an ext based on marriage, was told by the immigration officer that I would have to come back for interview in one or two months with no guaranties, however she would give me an extension based on retirement even though I qualified for both retirement and marriage, she was trying to be helpful and save me time by not having to travel, so please do not judge everyone by your moral standards, one rotten apple does not a barrel of rotten apples make! Not everyone is a sexpat, not even those who are 60 married to a 20 year old my wife and myself are of compatible age before the insults start flying.

She was trying to ensure you fit into the harder requirements of a retiree than a marriage extension (like having twice the bank balance) - if you had the money, could take a few photos and a marriage cert, then you would have got the marriage extension.

[englishoak]

You get a double or multiple entry and leave to come right back in its a NO GO as THAT IS BACK TO BACK that means your holiday winters are out and your condo is only useable for 30 days and NOT that lovely multiple entry visa you were issued back home...

You understand that ALL multiple entry visas if used back to back either by land or an airport can now be refused and very possibly will be ... with all your stuff stuck in Thailand and poss your air ticket home or route out of swampy too

If you take extended hols here, say retired and have a condo your now stuffed if you have a family you spend time with for any more than 30 days your stuffed unless you leave and go tour around another country while out here... yea great use of the time when your here to spend your winters or dont get to see family every year so do a 6 weeker or more. How about your family coming to spend the winter with you or a few months on a multiple entry which btw is LEGAL and carries no info on back to back ? they are also stuffed now... think about it you people who think its so great they "enforcing things" they really are messing this one up. ... or maybe you dont have any family who want to spend more than 30 days with you..

Parties over unless your on a work visa or retirement or a married visa...an ED or a package or 30 day max stay... anything else and your winging it.... ive sent this thread and another to all people I know... I suggest you do the same before some get badly caught out and maybe worse, stranded at some border.

Edited July 15, 2014 by englishoak

[wolf5370]

A lot of western countries deal with prostitution by targeting the kerb crawlers, maybe this is also a back door way to start dealing with this issue.

Exactly what has that got to do with "this issue"?

Lets not deny the fact that many of those on constant tourist or other scrutinised visas are here because they enjoy the entertainment zones on a regular basis. That therefor wll have a knock on effect on that particular illegal proffession

Thereby brining lots of money into the country - want to cut down on prostitution in tourist areas, then it would hardly be difficult.

[Iumentum]

It's not about being perfect, but a question about being a responsible parent!

Like circumstances never change! Stupid comments from cruel and stupid people - how anyone could actually hope (and publically state that fact) that families are torn apart by the state because the family are no longer as wealthy as they once were (ill-health/world wide financial collapse - heard about that?/loss of job/unexpected family costs (sick child etc)/etc) are truly the worse kinds of people - and deserve to live in countries where such things are common place and feel the pain and damage that inflicts!

I do NOT support his statement about hoping that families will be split apart over this.

Yes everything costs money, but getting a proper visa is actually a lot less expensive that making border runs as tourist. No matter what, then it is irresponsible to to get caught up in this crackdown as foreign parent in Thailand. Of course it's not good for anyone that families will split, specially not the kids, but it doesn't make the actions less irresponsible.

The same counts for those who had their illegal business taken down, it's not an excuse that they lose their living and that they have done it for several years. What they have done is illegal, and the fact that they have been doing it for years only makes the case worse.

[oldsailor35]

Wonder what will happen to all those foreigners that are married, have children, but don't have enough money to get a Non-Imm visa based on marriage.

Will Immigration start splitting up families?

I hope so.

These guys should have thought about the correct visa before getting married and having kids.

A little forward planning/saving may have helped them here.

You hope that families are split up??

You are a dreadful person.

What about the kids losing their father.... their fault as well eh????

Your bitterness is unique and I m glad I don't think I have had to suffer meeting someone with your thought process.

Maybe one day we will see you back on here whining because your own category is being rinsed by the xenophobic Thai immigration.

My personal opinion is live and let live, these people are seldom terrible people whom probably do no harm to anyone, and you wish them a downfall??

More like Thailand needs rid of people like YOU!!!!

AGREE 100%!!!!!! Too many nasty people on here think they are so special. That is why I said just wait til they start changing the retirement visa rules.

IMO, they would love to get rid of that 800K rule and require the Elite card. Think it will never happen? JUST WAIT! Thailand has a reputation for dirty old single men to retire. It seems they are cleaning up their image.

How many western countries have a retirement option for such a little amount?

"Dirty old single men" in most cases its more of a financial decision rather than a figment of your "Young he-man" imagination. As a septuagenarian, i strongly resent being called a "Dirty old single man" sonny !

[wolf5370]

You get a double or multiple entry and leave to come right back in its a NO GO as THAT IS BACK TO BACK that means your holiday winters are out and your condo is only useable for 30 days and NOT that lovely multiple entry visa you were issued back home...

You understand that ALL multiple entry visas if used back to back either by land or an airport can now be refused and very possibly will be ... with all your stuff stuck in Thailand and poss your air ticket home or route out of swampy too

If you take extended hols here, say retired and have a condo your now stuffed if you have a family you spend time with for any more than 30 days your stuffed unless you leave and go tour around another country while out here... yea great use of the time when your here to spend your winters or dont get to see family every year so do a 6 weeker or more. How about your family coming to spend the winter with you or a few months ? they are also stuffed now... think about it you people who think its so great they "enforcing things" they really are messing this one up. ... or maybe you dont have any family who want to spend more than 30 days with you..

Parties over unless your on a work visa or retirement or a married visa...an ED or a package or 30 day max stay... anything else and your winging it.... ive sent this thread and another to all people I know... I suggest you do the same before some get badly caught out and maybe worse, stranded at some border.

That's marriage/retirement extensions - multi-visas based on those reasons are just as vulnerable to back-to-back 90 day visa runs. ED Visas are going to be the next target, just watch.

[AYJAYDEE]

You get a double or multiple entry and leave to come right back in its a NO GO as THAT IS BACK TO BACK that means your holiday winters are out and your condo is only useable for 30 days and NOT that lovely multiple entry visa you were issued back home...

You understand that ALL multiple entry visas if used back to back either by land or an airport can now be refused and very possibly will be ... with all your stuff stuck in Thailand and poss your air ticket home or route out of swampy too

If you take extended hols here, say retired and have a condo your now stuffed if you have a family you spend time with for any more than 30 days your stuffed unless you leave and go tour around another country while out here... yea great use of the time when your here to spend your winters or dont get to see family every year so do a 6 weeker or more. How about your family coming to spend the winter with you or a few months ? they are also stuffed now... think about it you people who think its so great they "enforcing things" they really are messing this one up. ... or maybe you dont have any family who want to spend more than 30 days with you..

Parties over unless your on a work visa or retirement or a married visa...an ED or a package or 30 day max stay... anything else and your winging it.... ive sent this thread and another to all people I know... I suggest you do the same before some get badly caught out and maybe worse, stranded at some border.

back to back visas means more than one visa. a double or triple entry TV is ONE VISA

[oldsailor35]

"condos will be selling for peanuts soon"

How many condos are owned by tourist visa runners? Zero.

I am not a visa runner anymore and i was thinking to buy something here in Thailand. Not anymore ... too much uncertainty here ... ok if you follow the rules then you are ok but what if they are changing the rules during the game?

I almost regret that i've burned my bridges to the country i was born coincidally but thinking again, nah that country is even worse then Thailand ...

British i presume !

[ColdSingha]

kind of ironic all the posters wishing harm on those wishing harm