Offshore worker denied visa

[mariner16]

As I have posted before I have been spending my leave periods in Thailand from my job offshore for close to five years now and have always entered with a stamp at the airport, never had a problem. Reading some of the comments here makes me wonder why I should even bother to expose myself to all the hassle of applying for a marriage visa or marriage extension.

Actually what advantage or benefit does it give me or does it just, as the post before said, just waste my leave days with a load of paperwork that I don't really need.

I have managed to set myself up with a bank account, medical insurance, car and house are in the wife's name, what else is there that I don't have already that the process is going to give me

Not being sarcastic, I am looking for genuine responses

[bapoboy]

"If Thailand no longer wants money from tourists like me, I can afford to holiday in any country in the world."

"The Filipino lasses can have some of my money instead."

Why is it ALWAYS about the money with you guys? Do you not have any other socially redeeming values? Perhaps that's why Thailand doesn't want you.

What a totally stupid comment. It is all about tourist money Which keeps this country running. Don't believe me? Check it out.

same as europe, if the tax was lower in europe, europe will be same as africa, high tax and vat is the reason why rich countries running in europe.

[Berkshire]

"If Thailand no longer wants money from tourists like me, I can afford to holiday in any country in the world."

"The Filipino lasses can have some of my money instead."

Why is it ALWAYS about the money with you guys? Do you not have any other socially redeeming values? Perhaps that's why Thailand doesn't want you.

ALWAYS about the money? Sanctimony? Sure, some people spend money to live, not just to exist. Spending money to live is especially important to workers whose jobs place them in isolation for long periods of time. Did you read their words? "Afford to holiday," gee, do you think that means he thinks he's on vacation? "Filipino lasses can have some of my money." Well, let's see; what would a farang man on vacation in Southeast Asia do? Leely?

The point is, why do these guys feel a need to even bring up money as they scurry away towards "greener pastures." Are they suggesting that Thailand is going to suffer greatly because they're leaving? Not hardly. For every one that leaves, two or three more replaces them. And this whole visa crackdown has nothing to do with tourists, who are not at all effected. Why some knobs want to even bring up the impact on tourism is beyond me.

And as usual, this guy is claiming to be wealthy. Truth to be told, if one is truly wealthy and is determined to stay in Thailand, he very easily could. So the OP and those like him are rather lacking in credibility when they claim to have this immense wealth.

[Berkshire]

What a totally stupid comment. It is all about tourist money Which keeps this country running. Don't believe me? Check it out.

Immigration has nothing to do with your bank balance. Monks with no money or assets can easily get visas for thailand, however according to the OP highly paid oil workers don't. That's the reality.

Sure there are people that would offer great contributions to Thailand but the way the rules stand at the moment - which seem 50 years out of date - don't provide any kind of visa entitlement for offshore workers on rotation

Good points, TT, which I'm sure has gone right over the ramsfan's head.

[smotherb]

"If Thailand no longer wants money from tourists like me, I can afford to holiday in any country in the world."

"The Filipino lasses can have some of my money instead."

Why is it ALWAYS about the money with you guys? Do you not have any other socially redeeming values? Perhaps that's why Thailand doesn't want you.

ALWAYS about the money? Sanctimony? Sure, some people spend money to live, not just to exist. Spending money to live is especially important to workers whose jobs place them in isolation for long periods of time. Did you read their words? "Afford to holiday," gee, do you think that means he thinks he's on vacation? "Filipino lasses can have some of my money." Well, let's see; what would a farang man on vacation in Southeast Asia do? Leely?

The point is, why do these guys feel a need to even bring up money as they scurry away towards "greener pastures." Are they suggesting that Thailand is going to suffer greatly because they're leaving? Not hardly. For every one that leaves, two or three more replaces them. And this whole visa crackdown has nothing to do with tourists, who are not at all effected. Why some knobs want to even bring up the impact on tourism is beyond me.

And as usual, this guy is claiming to be wealthy. Truth to be told, if one is truly wealthy and is determined to stay in Thailand, he very easily could. So the OP and those like him are rather lacking in credibility when they claim to have this immense wealth.

Why do they bring-up money? I thought I made that clear; they are on vacation after working in isolation for weeks or months at a time. They are looking for a place to relax and unwind and buy or do those things they are not allowed to buy or do while on the job. And, money is required to pay for the things that allow them to relax and unwind--drink, food, sex, travel, and accommodation; all have price tags.

"For every one that leaves, two or three more replaces them." Not necessarily, my friend. Especially if the visa hassles, crime, dual pricing, martial law, etc, ad infinitim continues; people will leave and not be replaced, let alone the replacement number be doubled or tripled. However, the fact he has money allows him to afford alternatives--why put up with a pain?

Remember, neither of these men may be grandfathered into Thailand (with children, family, property) as are so many TV posters. I too, have money and live here by choice, but I do not own or have anything in Thailand I could not simply leave here. And, that was planned, for I too will leave is the sh*te outweighs the good.

[chrisinth]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

As I have posted before I have been spending my leave periods in Thailand from my job offshore for close to five years now and have always entered with a stamp at the airport, never had a problem. Reading some of the comments here makes me wonder why I should even bother to expose myself to all the hassle of applying for a marriage visa or marriage extension.

Actually what advantage or benefit does it give me or does it just, as the post before said, just waste my leave days with a load of paperwork that I don't really need.

I have managed to set myself up with a bank account, medical insurance, car and house are in the wife's name, what else is there that I don't have already that the process is going to give me

Not being sarcastic, I am looking for genuine responses

Was just talking to a mate about 2 hours ago about a similar situation. He has been in Thailand for 18 years or so, was working offshore in the GOT for the first 14 years of that. Work permit and extension of stay so no problems. He has moved on and is currently working in Indonesia, 28/28. He comes in on visa exempt even though he is married because his rotation doesn't give him enough time to finish the process for the dependency visa (marriage). That is what he is lead to believe anyway.

Not sure how much he has talked to immigration about this, you would think there would be some leeway given under these circumstances.

[Soutpeel]

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As I have posted before I have been spending my leave periods in Thailand from my job offshore for close to five years now and have always entered with a stamp at the airport, never had a problem. Reading some of the comments here makes me wonder why I should even bother to expose myself to all the hassle of applying for a marriage visa or marriage extension.

Actually what advantage or benefit does it give me or does it just, as the post before said, just waste my leave days with a load of paperwork that I don't really need.

I have managed to set myself up with a bank account, medical insurance, car and house are in the wife's name, what else is there that I don't have already that the process is going to give me

Not being sarcastic, I am looking for genuine responses

Was just talking to a mate about 2 hours ago about a similar situation. He has been in Thailand for 18 years or so, was working offshore in the GOT for the first 14 years of that. Work permit and extension of stay so no problems. He has moved on and is currently working in Indonesia, 28/28. He comes in on visa exempt even though he is married because his rotation doesn't give him enough time to finish the process for the dependency visa (marriage). That is what he is lead to believe anyway.

Not sure how much he has talked to immigration about this, you would think there would be some leeway given under these circumstances.

I know a few guys working in Angola and a few other places on 28/28's and none have "reported" any issues with in's and outs in Thailand on visa waivers, some married, some not

[apalink_thailand]

Thanks. I know Singapore embassy is tough, but I had to come here for other reasons as well. The well known, "rude" lady was not there, but still no luck. This is a very good example of the lack of conformity. I wasted much of my very valuable time to follow the rules, and was to no benifit. My time of work is 10 weeks. One again I will end up trying to do a visa run, as my flights are already booked for my return to work.

I too work offshore and last month, made the move to get the O visa (marriage). I recommend that you go to HK. The Embassy there is very helpful and friendly and they processed the visa within 24 hours. If you PM me, I can send you the details of the fixer I use in BKK to get the next step sorted, which is the 1 year visa. This service cost me 25K (just under) and covered all visa fees, bribes etc and I did not have to go to Immigration office. Its legit, so don't worry about that. If you do it yourself, you will be running about, back and forth to Immigration wasting your precious days off.

It's legit? Leely?

Yup, did it last month. Leely.

[apalink_thailand]

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As I have posted before I have been spending my leave periods in Thailand from my job offshore for close to five years now and have always entered with a stamp at the airport, never had a problem. Reading some of the comments here makes me wonder why I should even bother to expose myself to all the hassle of applying for a marriage visa or marriage extension.

Actually what advantage or benefit does it give me or does it just, as the post before said, just waste my leave days with a load of paperwork that I don't really need.

I have managed to set myself up with a bank account, medical insurance, car and house are in the wife's name, what else is there that I don't have already that the process is going to give me

Not being sarcastic, I am looking for genuine responses

Was just talking to a mate about 2 hours ago about a similar situation. He has been in Thailand for 18 years or so, was working offshore in the GOT for the first 14 years of that. Work permit and extension of stay so no problems. He has moved on and is currently working in Indonesia, 28/28. He comes in on visa exempt even though he is married because his rotation doesn't give him enough time to finish the process for the dependency visa (marriage). That is what he is lead to believe anyway.

Not sure how much he has talked to immigration about this, you would think there would be some leeway given under these circumstances.ed to

Not true. I am on 28/28 and managed to get it sorted before leaving for the next rotation. I went to HK, got the visa (planned all the docs well in advance though), cam back and used a service to get me the one year visa. It was all done with time to spare.

[Jim walker]

Hull in the UK no longer does the Multi O I am just in the process of doing my Multi entry O with London it’s a bit of a tooter with scanning and sending forms and paperwork to London and after about 10 days I got an e-mail saying I had submitted the wrong form one I had downloaded from the Hull website so had to do it all again and only taking Postal Orders [ for sending via postal service had a £12.50 charge for this ] or cash only no cheques or credit card.

[Jim walker]

If you don’t want the hassle of paperwork a Thai Elite card might be the answer to your problems, I will probably go for this option myself one day when I get sick of the paperwork option.

http://www.thailandelite.com/job.php

[mariner16]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

As I have posted before I have been spending my leave periods in Thailand from my job offshore for close to five years now and have always entered with a stamp at the airport, never had a problem. Reading some of the comments here makes me wonder why I should even bother to expose myself to all the hassle of applying for a marriage visa or marriage extension.

Actually what advantage or benefit does it give me or does it just, as the post before said, just waste my leave days with a load of paperwork that I don't really need.

I have managed to set myself up with a bank account, medical insurance, car and house are in the wife's name, what else is there that I don't have already that the process is going to give me

Not being sarcastic, I am looking for genuine responses

Was just talking to a mate about 2 hours ago about a similar situation. He has been in Thailand for 18 years or so, was working offshore in the GOT for the first 14 years of that. Work permit and extension of stay so no problems. He has moved on and is currently working in Indonesia, 28/28. He comes in on visa exempt even though he is married because his rotation doesn't give him enough time to finish the process for the dependency visa (marriage). That is what he is lead to believe anyway.

Not sure how much he has talked to immigration about this, you would think there would be some leeway given under these circumstances.ed to

Not true. I am on 28/28 and managed to get it sorted before leaving for the next rotation. I went to HK, got the visa (planned all the docs well in advance though), cam back and used a service to get me the one year visa. It was all done with time to spare.

Okay, that's good to know, but to repeat myself, what actually did it get you that you didn't have before on 28/28 and four or five 30 day stamps a year in your passport except a load of expense and paperwork.

I am struggling to see any benefit here for offshore workers on rotation

[TuskegeeBen]

As I have posted before I have been spending my leave periods in Thailand from my job offshore for close to five years now and have always entered with a stamp at the airport, never had a problem. Reading some of the comments here makes me wonder why I should even bother to expose myself to all the hassle of applying for a marriage visa or marriage extension.

Actually what advantage or benefit does it give me or does it just, as the post before said, just waste my leave days with a load of paperwork that I don't really need.

I have managed to set myself up with a bank account, medical insurance, car and house are in the wife's name, what else is there that I don't have already that the process is going to give me

Not being sarcastic, I am looking for genuine responses

I sincerely hope, that it all works out to your benefit, in The Long Run of your Thailand experience.

[Docno]

"I am on my way to Thailand to get married to my Thai fiance." then "If Thailand no longer wants money from tourists like me" "I can afford to holiday in any country in the world."

You see yourself as a 'tourist' and say that you will simply holiday elsewhere, but yet you're going to Thailand to marry a Thai lady. I'm missing something...

[metisdead]

An inflammatory troll post has been removed.

[LazaTron]

10 Visa runs in a year! Sounds like you spent most of the year in Thailand which doesn't leave much time for work does it? Perhaps the Consulate staff were on to something!!

I rechecked, actual 10 entries, 4 visa runs in 2 years. I still get paid while off work anyway.

[kruangfaifar]

Fair enough but why not come on a visa waiver in that case

Sent from my GT-I9190 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Mattd]

Guys,

As an update for those that work offshore and reside in Thailand, the company (Thai) that I work for carries out a lot of it's activities offshore of Thailand itself, where the crew (marine and project) stamp out, join the vessel, then after their stint offshore return back to Thailand via a crew boat (usually).

We were starting to see several issues in Songkhla, so one of our Thai staff met with the immigration there yesterday to try to clarify exactly how they are interpreting the rules and this is the answer that they gave to him, I assume that this would be applied to any offshore worker regardless of their work location.

Anybody entering Thailand on a 30 day visa waiver must not stay in Thailand longer than a total of 90 days in any given 365 day period.

The passport must not have more than 6 x 30 day entry stamps, where the period within Thailand exceeds 10 days for each entry, this again, is in any given 365 day period.

They did not clarify if the above would apply to those actually holding a tourist visa, but we suspect that is does.

Their advice was for any crew residing in Thailand to obtain a multiple entry non immigrant visa and the type applied for to depend on the individuals circumstances and entitlement.

Of course, this is the view of the immigration in Songkhla and may well not be the view of each area / port of entry in to Thailand.

Hope this helps a bit.

[davidst01]

go to the thai consualte in bali. they are very friendly. Sorry to hear about your low monthly income levels. you must be doing it hard in life. cheers

[inbangkok]

Guys,

As an update for those that work offshore and reside in Thailand, the company (Thai) that I work for carries out a lot of it's activities offshore of Thailand itself, where the crew (marine and project) stamp out, join the vessel, then after their stint offshore return back to Thailand via a crew boat (usually).

We were starting to see several issues in Songkhla, so one of our Thai staff met with the immigration there yesterday to try to clarify exactly how they are interpreting the rules and this is the answer that they gave to him, I assume that this would be applied to any offshore worker regardless of their work location.

Anybody entering Thailand on a 30 day visa waiver must not stay in Thailand longer than a total of 90 days in any given 365 day period.

The passport must not have more than 6 x 30 day entry stamps, where the period within Thailand exceeds 10 days for each entry, this again, is in any given 365 day period.

They did not clarify if the above would apply to those actually holding a tourist visa, but we suspect that is does.

Their advice was for any crew residing in Thailand to obtain a multiple entry non immigrant visa and the type applied for to depend on the individuals circumstances and entitlement.

Of course, this is the view of the immigration in Songkhla and may well not be the view of each area / port of entry in to Thailand.

Hope this helps a bit.

Some of the more seasoned members here have repeatedly posted that the "90 day limit in a year on Visa waivers" does not exist anymore. In other words, there is no limit to visa exempt entries in a year period.

Edited September 6, 2014 by inbangkok

[RichardThailand]

I work offshore. And I had been living in Thailand for 9 years. I was refused entry 2 Months ago, so I got a flight to the Philippines. I love it there, and I WILL NOT be returning to Thailand. The Filipino lasses can have some of my money instead. And they can all speak good English. No such issues with Visas, and Beaches there would knock spots on anything Thailand has to offer. So its a no brainer and win win, me,.. And, lose lose for Thailand...... Simple eh ?

You sound like a person who has just arrived in the Philippines. Yes there are a lot of good things about the country but speaking from the experience of more than a couple of thousand days spent living there (not in the red light areas) I would suggest you take great care. There are very many things that are better in Thailand which are not obvious to a person who just arrived in PI or even to a person who has been there for many years. You oversimplify when you say "win win" for you. If it were so good there then why is it that almost every guy I met during my time there no longer lives in the country.

Edited September 6, 2014 by RichardThailand

[smotherb]

Thanks. I know Singapore embassy is tough, but I had to come here for other reasons as well. The well known, "rude" lady was not there, but still no luck. This is a very good example of the lack of conformity. I wasted much of my very valuable time to follow the rules, and was to no benifit. My time of work is 10 weeks. One again I will end up trying to do a visa run, as my flights are already booked for my return to work.

I too work offshore and last month, made the move to get the O visa (marriage). I recommend that you go to HK. The Embassy there is very helpful and friendly and they processed the visa within 24 hours. If you PM me, I can send you the details of the fixer I use in BKK to get the next step sorted, which is the 1 year visa. This service cost me 25K (just under) and covered all visa fees, bribes etc and I did not have to go to Immigration office. Its legit, so don't worry about that. If you do it yourself, you will be running about, back and forth to Immigration wasting your precious days off.

It's legit? Leely?

Yup, did it last month. Leely.

Just because you did it does not make it legit.

[khunerik]

Thanks. I know Singapore embassy is tough, but I had to come here for other reasons as well. The well known, "rude" lady was not there, but still no luck. This is a very good example of the lack of conformity. I wasted much of my very valuable time to follow the rules, and was to no benifit. My time of work is 10 weeks. One again I will end up trying to do a visa run, as my flights are already booked for my return to work.

I too work offshore and last month, made the move to get the O visa (marriage). I recommend that you go to HK. The Embassy there is very helpful and friendly and they processed the visa within 24 hours. If you PM me, I can send you the details of the fixer I use in BKK to get the next step sorted, which is the 1 year visa. This service cost me 25K (just under) and covered all visa fees, bribes etc and I did not have to go to Immigration office. Its legit, so don't worry about that. If you do it yourself, you will be running about, back and forth to Immigration wasting your precious days off.

You paid 25k including all the bribes to get a legit visa

Edited September 7, 2014 by khunerik

[khunerik]

10 Visa runs in a year! Sounds like you spent most of the year in Thailand which doesn't leave much time for work does it? Perhaps the Consulate staff were on to something!!

Seems like you don't know what an offshore worker is. Some are on 14/14 rotation meaning 26 entries to Thailand per year.

In theory, you're right. But remember that he told us he had been visiting 10 other countries around the World also. In N America and Europé. So I can't see any 26 trips to Thailand then.........

[paz]

10 Visa runs in a year! Sounds like you spent most of the year in Thailand which doesn't leave much time for work does it? Perhaps the Consulate staff were on to something!!

Seems like you don't know what an offshore worker is. Some are on 14/14 rotation meaning 26 entries to Thailand per year.

In theory, you're right. But remember that he told us he had been visiting 10 other countries around the World also. In N America and Europé. So I can't see any 26 trips to Thailand then.........

14/14 rotation is actually 13 entries a year, I was wrong on the math. However the simple point here is that Singapore generally not a good place for visa, that was well known before.

[Namplik]

Guys,

As an update for those that work offshore and reside in Thailand, the company (Thai) that I work for carries out a lot of it's activities offshore of Thailand itself, where the crew (marine and project) stamp out, join the vessel, then after their stint offshore return back to Thailand via a crew boat (usually).

We were starting to see several issues in Songkhla, so one of our Thai staff met with the immigration there yesterday to try to clarify exactly how they are interpreting the rules and this is the answer that they gave to him, I assume that this would be applied to any offshore worker regardless of their work location.

Anybody entering Thailand on a 30 day visa waiver must not stay in Thailand longer than a total of 90 days in any given 365 day period.

The passport must not have more than 6 x 30 day entry stamps, where the period within Thailand exceeds 10 days for each entry, this again, is in any given 365 day period.

They did not clarify if the above would apply to those actually holding a tourist visa, but we suspect that is does.

Their advice was for any crew residing in Thailand to obtain a multiple entry non immigrant visa and the type applied for to depend on the individuals circumstances and entitlement.

Of course, this is the view of the immigration in Songkhla and may well not be the view of each area / port of entry in to Thailand.

Hope this helps a bit.

Songkhla immigration interpret the rules in a strange way.....There are no limitation on the number of entries pr year or maximum days within a year.

[Soutpeel]

Guys,

As an update for those that work offshore and reside in Thailand, the company (Thai) that I work for carries out a lot of it's activities offshore of Thailand itself, where the crew (marine and project) stamp out, join the vessel, then after their stint offshore return back to Thailand via a crew boat (usually).

We were starting to see several issues in Songkhla, so one of our Thai staff met with the immigration there yesterday to try to clarify exactly how they are interpreting the rules and this is the answer that they gave to him, I assume that this would be applied to any offshore worker regardless of their work location.

Anybody entering Thailand on a 30 day visa waiver must not stay in Thailand longer than a total of 90 days in any given 365 day period.

The passport must not have more than 6 x 30 day entry stamps, where the period within Thailand exceeds 10 days for each entry, this again, is in any given 365 day period.

They did not clarify if the above would apply to those actually holding a tourist visa, but we suspect that is does.

Their advice was for any crew residing in Thailand to obtain a multiple entry non immigrant visa and the type applied for to depend on the individuals circumstances and entitlement.

Of course, this is the view of the immigration in Songkhla and may well not be the view of each area / port of entry in to Thailand.

Hope this helps a bit.

Songkhla immigration interpret the rules in a strange way.....There are no limitation on the number of entries pr year or maximum days within a year.

Songkla immigration can interperet the rules anyway they like, as there are special immigration laws applicable to what Mattd is talking about in his example in Songkla province and getting on and off on a vessel in SKL which is involved in the Thai offshore sector ..

push too hard questioning what they want, and they are within their rights will make crews get Non-imm B visa's before they let them on a boat going offshore....

[LazaTron]

What a totally stupid comment. It is all about tourist money Which keeps this country running. Don't believe me? Check it out.

Immigration has nothing to do with your bank balance. Monks with no money or assets can easily get visas for thailand, however according to the OP highly paid oil workers don't. That's the reality.

Sure there are people that would offer great contributions to Thailand but the way the rules stand at the moment - which seem 50 years out of date - don't provide any kind of visa entitlement for offshore workers on rotation

It is about tourist working illegally. My finances prove I do not need to work here while visiting, nothing more.

[LazaTron]

Thailand would love your money, although it really is a drop in a large Ocean.

If you do go ahead and get married you would have more options.

I am sure your Thai fiancé would prefer you to come to Thailand,

There are of course many places with beaches to holiday, if I had pots of money I would like to live in the Caribbean.

Nearby Malaysia (Penang), Indonesian Bali, Vietnam.

Let us hope there are no problems with the Visa waiver entry.

I've been to most of the Caribbean, north, central, and south America, Europe, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Pacific, and I return to Thailand for each of my holidays, as I would like to retire here, once I am 50. My visits have been primarily to help me confirm the decision for a choice for retirement. It's not a simple decision. So far, I do wish to retire here.

I really am a tourist, I rent cars/bikes, stay at hotels, go on tours, travel around, shop. I do believe this helps Thailand. I also believe I should have been given a tourist visa to do these things, that's what it's for. I don't understand how or why any other visa would be required. I really wish the visa on arrival was 90 days. This would eliminate visa runs for the majority of legitimate tourists.

[LazaTron]

Fair enough but why not come on a visa waiver in that case

Sent from my GT-I9190 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I'm now on/off 10 weeks/10 weeks. Changed jobs 3 times in 2 years, different schedules.