Tourist Visa application today in Hong Kong - grilled and almost refused

[seancbk]

Hi all,

Thought someone might be interested in my experience today at the Thai consulate in HK.

I applied for a 60 day tourist visa and was grilled about who I work for in HK (I'm a Brit but a permanent HK resident so showed them a HK address and my HK ID card), I was asked why I spend so much time in Thailand.

Eventually the consular officer said they could only give me a single entry and charged my half the regular fee, so I guess when I pick up my passport tomorrow I will have jsut a 30 day visa rather than 60 day.

I've enrolled in a Thai language school but my documents which were sent from BKK got lost and the replacement ones only arrived today, because of the delay I missed the start of the course and 10 lessons so far, so I decided to go for a tourist visa instead and join the next course on Oct 27th... Perhaps I should have just applied for the ED visa instead....

Incidentally my last visa was a 60 day tourist visa issued in Hong Kong, so this one is the second back to back with about 2 weeks between the last one expiring and applying for the new one.

Quick question - Does anyone know if a 30 day Tourist visa can be extended for 30 days in Bangkok the same as a 60 day one?

Thanks, hope this is helpful to someone.

[Ginkas]

A TOURIST Visa gives 60 days on entry and can be extended by thirty days.

VISA EXEMPT gives 30 days on entry, and can now be extended by thirty days.

If you've got a tourist visa you will get 60 days!

[ubonjoe]

There is no 30 day tourist visa.

Transit visas only give a 30 day entry and cannot be extended if that is what you actually got. Did you pay 240 HKD for it.

You should of refused the offer and just used a visa exempt entry. You can extend them now for 30 days.

[paz]

I applied for a 60 day tourist visa and was grilled about who I work for in HK (I'm a Brit but a permanent HK resident so showed them a HK address and my HK ID card), I was asked why I spend so much time in Thailand.

I always think that these are the best occasion for the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction.

BTW you should have got the ED visa. You will not be able to get extensions while on a tourist visa.

Edited September 10, 2014 by paz

[Suradit69]

Eventually the consular officer said they could only give me a single entry and charged my half the regular fee,

Sounds like you applied for a double entry tourist visa and you were given as single entry = 60 days + 30 day extension at Immigrations.

I applied for a 60 day tourist visa and was grilled about who I work for in HK (I'm a Brit but a permanent HK resident so showed them a HK address and my HK ID card), I was asked why I spend so much time in Thailand.

I always think that these are the best occasion for the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction.

BTW you should have got the ED visa. You will not be able to get extensions while on a tourist visa.

"...the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction."

Wonder why it is that foreigners think they're so clever and that they expect Thais to have such a dramatic reaction to childish blather.

From what I've seen Thais can pick out the pompous farangs and love to watch them turn red & sputter after giving them a little aggravation.

[paz]

I applied for a 60 day tourist visa and was grilled about who I work for in HK (I'm a Brit but a permanent HK resident so showed them a HK address and my HK ID card), I was asked why I spend so much time in Thailand.

I always think that these are the best occasion for the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction.

BTW you should have got the ED visa. You will not be able to get extensions while on a tourist visa.

"...the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction."[/size]

Wonder why it is that foreigners think they're so clever and that they expect Thais to have such a dramatic reaction to childish blather.[/size]

You will find that often consulate clerks are not Thai... I said "the country you represent", not "your country".

From what I've seen Thais can pick out the pompous farangs and love to watch them turn red & sputter after giving them a little aggravation.[/size]

Seems like you're coming with some prejudice here... In my experience there is no harm in telling the truth in a nice way.

In any case I will be happy to leave you the last word, that I won't doubt you'll be eager to take.

[Thaiready]

I applied for a 60 day tourist visa and was grilled about who I work for in HK (I'm a Brit but a permanent HK resident so showed them a HK address and my HK ID card), I was asked why I spend so much time in Thailand.

I always think that these are the best occasion for the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction.

BTW you should have got the ED visa. You will not be able to get extensions while on a tourist visa.

"...the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction."[/size]

Wonder why it is that foreigners think they're so clever and that they expect Thais to have such a dramatic reaction to childish blather.[/size]

You will find that often consulate clerks are not Thai... I said "the country you represent", not "your country".

From what I've seen Thais can pick out the pompous farangs and love to watch them turn red & sputter after giving them a little aggravation.[/size]

Seems like you're coming with some prejudice here... In my experience there is no harm in telling the truth in a nice way.

In any case I will be happy to leave you the last word, that I won't doubt you'll be eager to take.

I think you shut him up......555

[matseng]

From what I've seen Thais can pick out the pompous farangs and love to watch them turn red & sputter after giving them a little aggravation.[/size]

Seems like you're coming with some prejudice here... In my experience there is no harm in telling the truth in a nice way.

In any case I will be happy to leave you the last word, that I won't doubt you'll be eager to take.

The truth? For many people it seems to be "Cheap beer and young hookers" - I don't think that it would be especially appreciated by the embassy staff. :-)

[paz]

The truth? For many people it seems to be "Cheap beer and young hookers" - I don't think that it would be especially appreciated by the embassy staff. :-)

Seems like you want to impose of your own judgement equations. Nice, respectful words are just that, then if you want to translated these to sin, that is in your mind only.

[seancbk]

A TOURIST Visa gives 60 days on entry and can be extended by thirty days.

VISA EXEMPT gives 30 days on entry, and can now be extended by thirty days.

If you've got a tourist visa you will get 60 days!

Hi Ginkas, I'm not sure yet what they are giving me, I was told by the consulate that a 60 day visa was HK$600, then after being grilled I was told they would give me a 30 day visa and I was charged HK$300 for it.... I'll see what they give me and report back.

Thank you for commenting.

[seancbk]

There is no 30 day tourist visa.

Transit visas only give a 30 day entry and cannot be extended if that is what you actually got. Did you pay 240 HKD for it.

You should of refused the offer and just used a visa exempt entry. You can extend them now for 30 days.

Hi UbonJoe, I have 7 back to back visa exempts prior to my last 60 day tourist visa.... I was under the impression that any further visa exempts would get me into trouble.

[seancbk]

Eventually the consular officer said they could only give me a single entry and charged my half the regular fee,

Sounds like you applied for a double entry tourist visa and you were given as single entry = 60 days + 30 day extension at Immigrations.

I put on the form that I wanted a single entry and my trip was for 30 days.

I'll post a picture and further report tomorrow.

[seancbk]

The truth? For many people it seems to be "Cheap beer and young hookers" - I don't think that it would be especially appreciated by the embassy staff. :-)

Seems like you want to impose of your own judgement equations. Nice, respectful words are just that, then if you want to translated these to sin, that is in your mind only.

For what it is worth, the staff at the consulate were very helpful. I showed them my ED visa documents, explained that because of the delay getting those documents I had missed the first 10 hours of lessons therefore I wanted to re-enter on a tourist visa to change my course dates.

The issue was that my 1 year old passport has a 90 day Non B, 7 x 30 day visa exempts and a 60 day tourist visa (issued in HK last trip).....

As far as I could tell (with my admittedly limited Thai) all the staff are Thais. I was asked if I speak Thai and I said "Kor Tord Khrap, I am about to start lessons" That was when the consular official said he'd give me 30 days...

Being polite doesn't hurt and usually help.

Thanks all for your comments.

[BudRight]

Eventually the consular officer said they could only give me a single entry and charged my half the regular fee,

Sounds like you applied for a double entry tourist visa and you were given as single entry = 60 days + 30 day extension at Immigrations.

I applied for a 60 day tourist visa and was grilled about who I work for in HK (I'm a Brit but a permanent HK resident so showed them a HK address and my HK ID card), I was asked why I spend so much time in Thailand.

I always think that these are the best occasion for the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction.

BTW you should have got the ED visa. You will not be able to get extensions while on a tourist visa.

"...the proper answer: "The country that you represent is beautiful, and its people is wonderful. I just love to spend my time there, fortunately I'm able to afford it". Big smile and watch the reaction."

Wonder why it is that foreigners think they're so clever and that they expect Thais to have such a dramatic reaction to childish blather.

From what I've seen Thais can pick out the pompous farangs and love to watch them turn red & sputter after giving them a little aggravation.

These must be the same psychic Thais who screen visa applications at the US Embassy.

Edited September 10, 2014 by BudRight

[edwarda909]

if i am reading the posts correctly, Ginkas opinion is a person can come in on a 30 day visa exempt and get a 30 day extension, and ubonjoe seems to indicate no extension can be acquired. If there are 2 differing opinions, which one is true?

[paz]

if i am reading the posts correctly, Ginkas opinion is a person can come in on a 30 day visa exempt and get a 30 day extension, and ubonjoe seems to indicate no extension can be acquired. If there are 2 differing opinions, which one is true?

Ubonjoe suggested the possibility that OP was being issued a transit visa, that is very uncommon, and cannot be extended. But since OP paid a fee corresponding to a single entry tourist visa, that is what he should be getting.

Either type is of course different from visa exempt.

[Maestro]

It is silly of consular staff to use terms like "60-day visa" and "30-visa", unless, of course, if the applicant uses these terms and the consular staff makes an effort to adapt to the applicants terminology so that he will understand the explanations better.

[NativeSon360]

If you live in HK, then it's a safe bet that you speak (@ least survival) Chinese? If that is the case, then I suggest that you not bother learning to speak Thai. With the coming event of A.S.E.A.N. next year, Chinese & English are the only two languages needed for non-Thai people. Within the next 5-years, Thai citizens (especially in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the resort locations, will be running around like headless chickens, trying to figure out the reason why all the customer service industry jobs, are being given, only to people who can speak "clear & discernible" Chinese or English. You have been advised.

[seancbk]

If you live in HK, then it's a safe bet that you speak (@ least survival) Chinese? If that is the case, then I suggest that you not bother learning to speak Thai. With the coming event of A.S.E.A.N. next year, Chinese & English are the only two languages needed for non-Thai people. Within the next 5-years, Thai citizens (especially in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the resort locations, will be running around like headless chickens, trying to figure out the reason why all the customer service industry jobs, are being given, only to people who can speak "clear & discernible" Chinese or English. You have been advised.

I lived in HK for 35 years from when I was 6 years old.

I don't speak any Cantonese or Mandarin because when I was at school the International Schools had not started making Chinese language part of the curriculum and HK was a British colony.

After 6 years in Bangkok I know a few basic bits of Thai, but not enough to really make any difference.

[seancbk]

if i am reading the posts correctly, Ginkas opinion is a person can come in on a 30 day visa exempt and get a 30 day extension, and ubonjoe seems to indicate no extension can be acquired. If there are 2 differing opinions, which one is true?

Ubonjoe suggested the possibility that OP was being issued a transit visa, that is very uncommon, and cannot be extended. But since OP paid a fee corresponding to a single entry tourist visa, that is what he should be getting.

Either type is of course different from visa exempt.

Sorry I wasn't able to get back and report on the outcome of my visa until now, you are correct I was issued a single entry Tourist Visa (which was what I wanted).

I enquired at the information desk when I picked up the form as to what the fee was and I was told HK$600.

I had applied and been given a single entry tourist visa in HK 90 days earlier, but couldn't remember how much I'd paid..... for all I knew it was $600 last time....

After being grilled about where I live and who I work for etc I was told that I had to pay HK$300. As I was under the impression that the 60 day visa I wanted was $600 I figured I was being 'sold' a 30 day visa.... I wasn't aware that there is no such thing as a 30 day visa....

Anyway, it turned out that I was given a regular single entry visa which I entered DM on this morning.

For the record I was just stamped in again, no questions, no need to show 20,000 baht (good job as I only had 600 THB on me).

[scavenger]

The tourist visa at the Hong Kong Consulate is HK$300 per entry. HK$600 is therefore the cost for a double-entry tourist visa.