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Vietnamese may have to obtain visas to enter Thailand

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webfact Grand Master Member

webfact

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Vietnamese may have to obtain visas to enter Thailand

vietnamese-immigrants.jpg

BANGKOK: -- Vietnamese citizens may be required to obtain visas to enter Thailand after new rules aimed at cracking down on illegal migrants came into effect on Tuesday.

According to a bilateral agreement between the Vietnamese and Thai governments, Vietnamese passport holders can stay in Thailand for 30 days without visas if they enter by air and 15 days if they enter by land.

But under new regulations issued by the Thai Immigration Bureau, if Vietnamese citizens who frequently enter Thailand fail to prove that they're visiting Thailand for travel purposes, they will have to apply for visas.

For Vietnamese citizens who successfully prove that they're entering Thailand for travel purposes, Thai authorities will decide the length of their stay based on their travel itinerary, instead of offering them a blanket 30 day exemption.

With the new regulations, Thai authorities recommended that foreign tourists prepare papers such as return air tickets and room booking confirmations just in case Thai customs officers required them to show.

Thailand issued the new regulations to crack down on tourists using the ''visa run'' tactic to leave and re-enter Thailand on the same day in order to extend their stays or even work, according to the Bangkok Post.

A ''visa run'' is used by foreigners to activate an additional entry of their tourist visas, or simply obtain another 15-30 days of visa-free waiver status. Commercial services shuttle foreigners to a border checkpoint where they walk over, then return only minutes later to get a new passport stamp.

How long they can stay depends on the agreements Thailand has with each neighboring country.

In northeastern Thailand, most visa runners are those from Vietnam, South Korea and Russia, the Bangkok Post reported.

Last year 2,812 Vietnamese people were arrested in Thailand, including some 803 people who were found working without permits, according to Thai statistics.

It is estimated that some 500,000 Vietnamese people travel to Thailand every year.

thanhniennews

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-- Samui Times 2014-08-14

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ubonjoe Legendary Member

ubonjoe

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And very soon there will be nobody coming to the kingdom with all these crackdowns !

This is the same tightening of the visa exempt rules and nothing new. There has only been one crackdown and that is on those that are abusing visa exempt entries.

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96tehtarp Gold Member

96tehtarp

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And very soon there will be nobody coming to the kingdom with all these crackdowns !

 

This is the same tightening of the visa exempt rules and nothing new. There has only been one crackdown and that is on those that are abusing visa exempt entries.

 

True. This is the same crackdown and nothing new. I have met quite a few Vietnamese doing the back to back in/out border runs to extend their stay in Thailand.

 

Hopefully the extra scrutiny given to visa-exempt entries will mean it's not necessary for Vietnamese to lose their visa exempt status. Loss of visa-exempt status would be reciprocal. 

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jacko45k Star Member

jacko45k

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ASEAN is beginning to look like a farce at least from the thai side


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

ASEAN has nothing ot do with this. There is no ASEAN agreement for visas or entries.

 

 

I am glad you set me straight on that. I was under the impression that Asean meant the free movement of people and workers between all the member states....... no visas and unrestricted entries.
 

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samran Star Member

samran

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"In northeastern Thailand, most visa runners are those from Vietnam, South Korea and Russia, the Bangkok Post reported."
 
This must anger all the farang visa runners, thinking that all the new enforcement was strictly about them!

Some genius will be along shortly convinced this is just another sign of anti-farang sentiment in Thailand.
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ubonjoe Legendary Member

ubonjoe

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ASEAN is beginning to look like a farce at least from the thai side


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

ASEAN has nothing ot do with this. There is no ASEAN agreement for visas or entries.

 

 

I am glad you set me straight on that. I was under the impression that Asean meant the free movement of people and workers between all the member states....... no visas and unrestricted entries.
 

 

It is the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) that stars and there is no freedom of movement as part of the agreement.

Many people get this wrong because they equate it to the EEC which it is nothing like.

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IMA_FARANG Ruby Member

IMA_FARANG

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rolleyes.gif  Under the previous rules there was no need for a RETURN ticket, just an OUT OF COUNTRY ticket.

Now that might have been a return ticket but the rules only stated an out-of-county exit ticket.

Maybe they still do, maybe the OP got it wrong or missed the distinction between a return ticket and an out-of-country ticket for valid tourists?

Or maybe a translation problem in the original post?

I guess we will see soon enough.

.

 

 

 

 

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Sydebolle Platinum Member

Sydebolle

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ASEAN is the governing body over AEC2015 - where this subject falls into. The 500'000 Vietnamese are the understatement of the century. Whoever crossed the Friendship Bridge 1 between Nongkhai and Thanalaeng can confirm the permanent queues of young Asian men without luggage, a green passport and the arrival/departure cards in their hand. I cross there regularly and all those Vietnamese are definite visa runners.
Given the ongoing personnel shortage in Thailand they find jobs, work hard and get their friends across too. Lets wait and see what happens in 16 months and 17 days from now. That's when AEC2015 kicks in. Most likely nothing will happen on D-day but in 5 to 10 years from now Thais will dam the fact, that they've been selling their votes for money and now are getting overrun by more dedicated, more educated and more willing neighbours seeking work. 
The writing is on the wall ............ 

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ATF Platinum Member

ATF

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ASEAN's main purpose at the moment is to create a free trade zone between member countries.

 

Although labour restrictions will be relaxed there will not be a free movement of labour without documentation. At least for now.

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attrayant Gold Member

attrayant

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Nobody uses printed tickets any more. What are you supposed to show, the email that Air Asia sent you? I have a friend in Vietnam who visits 3 or 4 times a year, and stays with me so he has no hotel information or itinerary to show. I hope that won't be considered too frequently.
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biggles45 Silver Member

biggles45

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Posted (edited)
"Although labour restrictions will be relaxed there will not be a free movement of labour without documentation. At least for now."

Thailand announced quite a while ago that after Dec 2015 employment for between ASEAN members would be restricted to 7 professional categories. engineering, nursing, physician, dental, architecture, surveying and accounting. The agreements between the 10 Asean member countries mean licensed and recognised professionals in these fields can move to other Asean countries to practice, but they are still subject to pass that countrys licensing test. Edited by biggles45
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georgeubon Apprentice Member

georgeubon

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In whatever country, if there is no real rules and orders, people of that country will behave badly. Therefore, they are not welcome by others free world country is understandable. Imagine if the American did not withdraw from the war it started. Vietnam cities would have metro running everywhere and superhighways. See vietnamese in America for example, they came with empty hand and now there is even a brigadier general of the US army. And soon will have a rear admiral too. In just 40 years, vietnamese in america many are successful , polite.  and live similar lifestyle as people in Thailand. Thailand deep down really feel sympathy for the majority of the poor people of its neighbor.

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Lee4Life Advanced Member

Lee4Life

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   It will be interesting to see how, or if, this affects the Vietnamese crossing the border at Nongkhai.

 

   There are lots of Vietnamese living and working in the Vientiane area of Laos, many of them are doing border runs across the friendship bridge to Thailand and back into Laos. Many days the border buses are full of them. A few weeks ago I was in line behind a young Vietnamese woman and overheard the Thai Immigration Officer asking her why she was entering Thailand. She did not seem to understand Thai and he asked her several times. She finally uttered a single word, " Jang", which means "stamp". The officer shook his head but stamped her passport and let her through.

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