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

[DrTuner]

Only 780 million dollars a year.

Or, in immigration's currency, ~50000 new Thailand Elite card subscribers per year. Nah, why bother.

[sam3384]

Could anyone let me know if this new visa crackdown would affect a tourist such as myself:

I arrive to BKK on August 28, 2014- My Return Flight is on September 27, 2014

On September 2, 2014 I will depart to Malaysia via Don Mueang.

On September 11, 2014 I will arrive to Don Mueang from KL.

On September 15, 2014 I fly to Udon Thani and upon arrival take a minibus to Vientiane (Visa on Arrival).

On September 23, 2014 I arrive to Chiang Mai via slow boat from Laos.

Then on September 27, 2014 I fly back to the US.

Do you think immigration would give me a hard time because I frequently travel into and out of Thailand?

I feel like I shouldn't have any problems but I just want to get someone else's feedback.

[JLCrab]

Hello Christie Paul For arguments sake ... I'm not interested in arguments. I don't make the rules. Go argue with the people who make the rules. Tell them in your humble opinion Thailand on the road to being a wasteland for progress and innovation and all the people that should be encouraged to stay are being encouraged to leave.

BTW Here are some numbers on most recent estimated foreign population in Thailand https://db.tt/pNYj2VGI

Edited July 22, 2014 by JLCrab

[bitcoinman]

prove to immigration you are not working illegaly, you won't have any problem to get your visa.

How :

Show them you way of income

Make a statement letter from a Thai that you are not working

State what you do in Thailand.,

State what you will do when your visa will be expired.

Example: I am staying with my girlfriend, I m not working in Thailand, my income is from my investments In UK, I have enough money and I don't need to work in Thailand, I don't accept illegal job in

Thailand, and I go back to Europe after my visit, if you have any questions, you can contact my friend at (tel. Number)

Or

May friend kirk, want to visit me for 6 months he is not working and he doesn't accept illegal job. He has enough cash for his stay in Thailand, if you have any question, please contact me at (tel number)

Signature: X Y (Thai citizen)

To finish, I did this for years and I have never been questioned.

Join only if asked :

bank statement(Rarely asked)

a return flight ticket (rarely asked)

When you show your nice farang face at the embassy , just say

" hello sir, I have a request for a visa my friend wrote a letter to your attention".

Edited July 23, 2014 by bitcoinman

[LivinLOS]

prove to immigration you are not working illegaly, you won't have any problem to get your visa.

How :

Show them you way of income

Make a statement letter from a Thai that you are not working

State what you do in Thailand.,

State what you will do when your visa will be expired.

Example: I am staying with my girlfriend, I m not working in Thailand, my income is from my investments In UK, I have enough money and I don't need to work in Thailand, I don't accept illegal job in

Thailand, and I go back to Europe after my visit, if you have any questions, you can contact my friend at (tel. Number)

Or

May friend kirk, want to visit me for 6 months he is not working and he doesn't accept illegal job. He has enough cash for his stay in Thailand, if you have any question, please contact me at (tel number)

Signature: X Y (Thai citizen)

To finish, I did this for years and I have never been questioned.

Join only if asked :

bank statement(Rarely asked)

a return flight ticket (rarely asked)

When you show your nice farang face at the embassy , just say

" hello sir, I have a request for a visa my friend wrote a letter to your attention".

Sorry but this is factually not the case on Phuket..

My buddy fits all the criteria.. Works outside of Thailand, decent external income, etc etc etc.. They dont care.. Leave the country and no dont come back on a tourist visa.

[JLCrab]

Signed, X Y Thai citizen (who can't read English)

BTW a few weeks back there was a list of standard answers to give Thai Immigration to 'prove' that you are not working in Thailand on tourist visas when you are working in Thailand on tourist visas.

Edited July 23, 2014 by JLCrab

[Tomtomtom69]

Could anyone let me know if this new visa crackdown would affect a tourist such as myself:

I arrive to BKK on August 28, 2014- My Return Flight is on September 27, 2014

On September 2, 2014 I will depart to Malaysia via Don Mueang.

On September 11, 2014 I will arrive to Don Mueang from KL.

On September 15, 2014 I fly to Udon Thani and upon arrival take a minibus to Vientiane (Visa on Arrival).

On September 23, 2014 I arrive to Chiang Mai via slow boat from Laos.

Then on September 27, 2014 I fly back to the US.

Do you think immigration would give me a hard time because I frequently travel into and out of Thailand?

I feel like I shouldn't have any problems but I just want to get someone else's feedback.

For that kind of itinerary? No, certainly not. Otherwise Thailand might as well prevent all foreigners from entering period and then the TAT could stop advertising Thailand as the "center" or "hub" of the region. That itinerary is what many legitimate tourists do every day. Perhaps you might want to bring a copy of your itinerary and/or flights just in case.

[Tomtomtom69]

Problem is not tourist visa being abused,it's working visa being so ridiculously difficult to get.

I believe this wording was carefully chosen to frighten everyone and portrait immigration as slamming a fist on the table of abuse.

However the people having to leave the country every 3 months spending a large part of their own salary to just stay in the country are not the abusers.

Working visas are expensive and difficult to obtain, as if only some type of "elite" foreigners should be working here. This is very far from true, as any developing country,Thailand is in bad needs of skills,which its own deficient educational system cannot provide.

It's just another crowd pleasing nationalist act.

I disagree about the working visas being difficult to get. Not at all - if a company is willing and able to hire you (well as long as you aren't proposing to work in a restricted profession or as a manual laborer unless you're from Laos, Cambodia or Myanmar) then you'll get the visa and work permit. I've never heard of a foreigner having difficulty getting a work visa after being offered a great job - doesn't happen and certainly never happened to me.

Getting a job offer in the first place is what's difficult as a foreigner. Being unemployed for months on end is normal for many foreigners looking for work in Thailand, except those with years of experience in their industry who are highly skilled. It's also said that legitimate English teachers shouldn't have any great difficulty obtaining work, or getting visas provided the school etc. that hired them is legitimate and is able to hire a foreigner.

I got a job in a week.

It took THREE MONTHS to get the work permit and visa and it was expensive.

I did not like the company, straight away, but stuck with it for 3 months, because it was complicated to get another job/ an other work visa/work permit/ etc

My stay in THL was now completely linked to my job, It took another MONTH to change visa, plus having to leave the country, to get rid of these chains.

NEVER AGAIN.

The global job market is a fast moving environment and the visa system is totally inadequate and obsolete.

It sounds like you were already in Thailand when you got your new job.

However, you do not state what industry or the size of the company.

For me, initially got a job offer from a headhunter in mid July. Wasn't sure if I should take it, especially not really being my industry but OK I decided to give it a shot. So I emailed the headhunter around 2 weeks later so early August I think. He said that the Company then said they didn't know when they'll be ready to hire anyone, but he'll keep me updated. I then thought to myself, OK well there's another job that I'm not going to get, what a waste of time yet again. But I was wrong. I was in China during this whole time (having left Thailand just 4 days after receiving the offer) and only returned at the very end of August. Was very surprised when in the second half of August I was contacted again to ask for an interview! So in early September I went for one, then one week later another one. I actually had to delay my return home to Australia for a holiday due to this second interview. I then told the company that irrespective of the outcome I need to travel to Australia now so please let me know your decision via email or phone me in Australia.

A couple more weeks passed and then in late September/early October the headhunter called again to ask about the arrangements for the work visa/work permit, including the passport I will be using. I tried to insist on using my Swiss passport due to regular travel to Laos (not related to that job, but another consulting gig and a private business since Swiss don't need Lao entry visas for stays of less than 15 days) but for some reason the headhunter insisted on my Aussie passport. Now I know why - due to the Thai-Australian FTA, Aussies can more easily use the One Stop service center for their work permit and visa needs and my company was also eligible.

There was not enough time for me to apply for my visa in Australia so the company asked me to go to Singapore, not offering to pay for any expenses. I refused and told them I'm heading to Yangon so please write me a letter for Yangon and I'll apply there. It doesn't matter that they didn't pay me my expenses for going there as I was heading to Myanmar on a business trip anyway so the only out of pocket expense for me was the US$80 application fee. My visa was approved despite not yet having applied for a WP and only in early December were they ready to convert my initial non-B into an extension, some 6 weeks after my re-entry into Thailand. The conversion (including multi re-entry permit) took about 3-4 hours to be completed at the One Stop center while I went out for lunch. Note that I entered Thailand on the non-B obtained in Yangon overland via Mae Sot as we had travelled to Yangon overland not via plane, not that that makes a difference, but anyway, I digress.

So yeah I guess you could say it took my company a while too, but in my case I was already working/doing business/travelling during this whole time, not merely trying to stay in Thailand during the processing of my work permit. But yeah, it did take them up to 2.5 months for everything though I made it clear that I had business to attend to in China so not sure if that was the cause of everything taking so long or it was bound to take that long anyway.

[sam3384]

Could anyone let me know if this new visa crackdown would affect a tourist such as myself:

I arrive to BKK on August 28, 2014- My Return Flight is on September 27, 2014

On September 2, 2014 I will depart to Malaysia via Don Mueang.

On September 11, 2014 I will arrive to Don Mueang from KL.

On September 15, 2014 I fly to Udon Thani and upon arrival take a minibus to Vientiane (Visa on Arrival).

On September 23, 2014 I arrive to Chiang Mai via slow boat from Laos.

Then on September 27, 2014 I fly back to the US.

Do you think immigration would give me a hard time because I frequently travel into and out of Thailand?

I feel like I shouldn't have any problems but I just want to get someone else's feedback.

For that kind of itinerary? No, certainly not. Otherwise Thailand might as well prevent all foreigners from entering period and then the TAT could stop advertising Thailand as the "center" or "hub" of the region. That itinerary is what many legitimate tourists do every day. Perhaps you might want to bring a copy of your itinerary and/or flights just in case.

I appreciate the feedback. Thanks

[wattaman]

"They come here to work as tour guides, waiters, waitresses, etc," he said, pointing out that these visa-runners are often based in tourist centres such as Phuket and Songkhla.

If Thais could speak English there won't be any need for foreigners doing these jobs, I suppose.

[wattaman]

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

I smell another kin of business opportunity here

[Pattaya46]

"They come here to work as tour guides, waiters, waitresses, etc," he said,

pointing out that these visa-runners are often based in tourist centres such as Phuket and Songkhla.

If Thais could speak English there won't be any need for foreigners doing these jobs, I suppose.

Except that languages concerned are mostly Chinese, Korean and Russian...

Thai have put heir priority on Chinese language for a few years already.

English speaking tourists are not the majority.

So easy solution: learn to speak Thai... or Chinese

[larsjohnsson]

prove to immigration you are not working illegaly, you won't have any problem to get your visa.

How :

Show them you way of income

Make a statement letter from a Thai that you are not working

State what you do in Thailand.,

State what you will do when your visa will be expired.

Example: I am staying with my girlfriend, I m not working in Thailand, my income is from my investments In UK, I have enough money and I don't need to work in Thailand, I don't accept illegal job in

Thailand, and I go back to Europe after my visit, if you have any questions, you can contact my friend at (tel. Number)

Or

May friend kirk, want to visit me for 6 months he is not working and he doesn't accept illegal job. He has enough cash for his stay in Thailand, if you have any question, please contact me at (tel number)

Signature: X Y (Thai citizen)

To finish, I did this for years and I have never been questioned.

Join only if asked :

bank statement(Rarely asked)

a return flight ticket (rarely asked)

When you show your nice farang face at the embassy , just say

" hello sir, I have a request for a visa my friend wrote a letter to your attention".

Sorry but this is factually not the case on Phuket..

My buddy fits all the criteria.. Works outside of Thailand, decent external income, etc etc etc.. They dont care.. Leave the country and no dont come back on a tourist visa.

He fits all the criteria for NOT being able to live in Thailand.

[Kitsune]

Except that languages concerned are mostly Chinese, Korean and Russian...

Thai have put heir priority on Chinese language for a few years already.

English speaking tourists are not the majority.

So easy solution: learn to speak Thai... or Chinese

Yes every tourist coming for a two weeks hols in THL should be fully proficient in Thai Language.

No need to teach English/Chinese to the Thai, they don't need it, and don't want to learn.

So out they go

[hawker9000]

No need to teach English/Chinese to the Thai, they don't need it, and don't want to learn.

I "like" this kind of defamatory comment about Thai people...

Most of time authors are American people, even though most Americans can't speak any foreign language...

There are probably millions of Thai people who speak very decent English or Chinese language.

...equaled only by gratuitous defamatory comments about Americans... So I guess you find yourself in good company. Congratulations.

Oh, I forgot.

[scotsdude]

I do 4 weeks on and 4 weeks off working offshore in Scotland and been flying back to Thailand every leave for the past 4 and a half years since my daughter was born... I only stay 24 - 25 days at a time of my leave in Thailand therefore I don't require a visa I just get the normal 28 day stamp everytime I enter the country... Will I be affected by this new ruling? And if so will having a biological child born in Thailand help my case any if there were to be problems?

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[metisdead]

Off topic statistical analysis posts have been removed.

[Pattaya46]

Off topic statistical analysis posts have been removed.

Ooops. Sorry. I am certainly the source of the "off topic" here.

For me "most" means "the majority of" or "more than half of",

not "nearly all" as some people seem to understand it...

Maybe not a bad idea to make some cleaning on the no-visa relative part in mast 2 pages

Sorry Mods.

Edited July 27, 2014 by Pattaya46

[LivinLOS]

Sorry but this is factually not the case on Phuket..

My buddy fits all the criteria.. Works outside of Thailand, decent external income, etc etc etc.. They dont care.. Leave the country and no dont come back on a tourist visa.

He fits all the criteria for NOT being able to live in Thailand.

How is his situation any different from the 1000s of other offshore workers, earning money outside Thailand bringing it in simply to spend and relax ??

[thaibeachlovers]

Sorry but this is factually not the case on Phuket..

My buddy fits all the criteria.. Works outside of Thailand, decent external income, etc etc etc.. They dont care.. Leave the country and no dont come back on a tourist visa.

He fits all the criteria for NOT being able to live in Thailand.

How is his situation any different from the 1000s of other offshore workers, earning money outside Thailand bringing it in simply to spend and relax ??

It's not, but they didn't think about the unintended consequences of this poorly thought out scheme to stop people working without documentation. Probably lose face if they admit it, so we have to put up or leave.

[bitcoinman]

Ahah stopping people to work illegally is like if you say to a guy he has to stop to feed his family. It has never worked like that , they tried in the banana Republic of USA by building gates and ir cctv, did it stop them? No. Instead it increases the tax.

Edited July 27, 2014 by bitcoinman

[ilocos]

a visa is far less hassle, i dont understand his thinking. 90 days with extension, no border run. incredible!

incredible is what you saying

that was absolutely normal until 1 or 2 months ago

most of the tourists dont go on thaivisa,they buy the last edition of lonely planet and leave

nope, what is normal is a visa for an intended 3 month stay

most mister normals use Thailand as a hub, land in Thailand, hop over to Myanmar, hop back into Thailand, cross over to Cambodia, hop back into Thailand then cross into Laos then hop back into Thailand for Suvarnibhumi departure. This is now impossible that Thailand is now the hub of denied entries. Absolutely ridiculous. 40 years of hard work promoting Thailand as a travel hub ruined. I feel sorry for the recently unemployed due to this lunacy making Thailand the hub of denied tourist arrivals.

[moto77]

Except that languages concerned are mostly Chinese, Korean and Russian...

Thai have put heir priority on Chinese language for a few years already.

English speaking tourists are not the majority.

So easy solution: learn to speak Thai... or Chinese

Actually, English speaking tourists ARE the vast majority and will be for years to come.

You are talking about first language speakers. Here is the list of foreign arrivals and their likelihood of speaking either ENGLISH or CHINESE as a FIRST/SECOND language.

1. China 2,278,493 CHINESE/ENGLISH (ha!)

2. Malaysia 1,336,412 MALAY/ENGLISH

3. Russia 910,560 RUSSIAN/ENGLISH

4. Japan 731,241 JAPANESE/ENGLISH

5. South Korea 607,604 KOREAN/ENGLISH

6. India 535,732 HINDI/ENGLISH

7. UK 441,084 ENGLISH/?

8. Singapore 435,433 ENGLISH/CHINESE

9. Australia 417,523 ENGLISH/?

10. US 410,415 ENGLISH/SPANISH

Edited July 28, 2014 by moto77

[moto77]

deleted

Edited July 28, 2014 by moto77

[Maestro]

Removed some off-topic posts and replies to them.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[StefanBBK]

Just levy a tax for every day one spends here. I.e.100 baht a day.

[Pattaya46]

// foreign arrivals and their likelihood of speaking either ENGLISH or CHINESE as a FIRST/SECOND language.

1. China 2,278,493 CHINESE/ENGLISH (ha!)

3. Russia 910,560 RUSSIAN/ENGLISH

...

Don't know where you got that, but no way you can convince anyone living in Thailand

that the majority of Chinese or Russian tourists are able to speak English!

Maybe they are supposed officially to learn English in their country, I don't know,

but for most of them the result is nil!

[bitcoinman]

I never met a Russian guy speaking English. Most speak no English at all.

In fact they try to talk in Russian to a thai employee at Tesco! Even me, I didn't understand anything when I was standing next.

And the funny thing they insist to talk in Russian like if we all suppose to know Russian. I have nothing against Russian, I love tall Russian ladies of course, but my god, the world don't speak Russian or will not learn Russian just for them to get an easy life.

Learn English for Pete suck!

Edited August 9, 2014 by bitcoinman

[Jay Sata]

I do 4 weeks on and 4 weeks off working offshore in Scotland and been flying back to Thailand every leave for the past 4 and a half years since my daughter was born... I only stay 24 - 25 days at a time of my leave in Thailand therefore I don't require a visa I just get the normal 28 day stamp everytime I enter the country... Will I be affected by this new ruling? And if so will having a biological child born in Thailand help my case any if there were to be problems?

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I cannot see any. You stay offshore unlike the visa runners who have been stamping in and out in the same day.

As a matter of personal interest you must route through Amsterdam?

Who do you fly with and what are the best deals?

I guess it is either KLM or China/Eva?

Edited August 9, 2014 by Jay Sata

[Stargeezr]

No more in and out for Thailand, I sure hope this only applies to Visa runs!

My vacations happen only every 2 years, and I do want a bit of spice in my life.

If I have a bit more money and if I can just get my wife to retire, maybe we

would spend a 4 or 5 month break in LOS. Hopefully by then, all this visa stuff works itself out.

Stargrazer