Popular Post MrWorldwide Posted November 16, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted November 16, 2014 Plane from Tokyo arrived at around 16:00 and I expected that it would be busy, but my heart sank when I saw how packed the arrivals hall was - almost all adults and the vast majority in the 'Foreigner' queues. Having read reports of passports being scrutinised for long periods and people being asked why they have 'too many stamps', I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly my line was moving. At least that was the case in my queue. i mentioned my re-entry permit, he nodded and my stamp reads 30 Sept 2015 as it should - very happy. Hopefully they've been told it's time to put away the rulebook and get people through the gates so they can start spending money in Thailand - I initially supported the stated aims of the crackdown but the implementation seems to have left a lot to be desired. In any case, a much better result yesterday than expected - full marks to the people cracking the whip. For the doomsayers who maintain that Thailand's tourism industry is on it's knees, that definitely wasnt the impression I got yesterday. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joepattaya1961 Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 "For the doomsayers who maintain that Thailand's tourism industry is on it's knees, that definitely wasnt the impression I got yesterday. " unless 90% of the people in the ques made their way to DMK for a connecting flight to Cambodia, Myanmar or any other AirAsia destination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpuumike Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Always a sad cynic around on TVF. I had the same excellent experience couple of weeks back. Immigration queue backed up to the ramp but through in less than 15 minutes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satcommlee Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 I also had a great experience... I queued up and the guy stamped me in... fantastic, cant fault them! Er! What exactly was you expecting? It's probably less than 1% of arrivals that are trying to take the P##S 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post paz Posted November 16, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted November 16, 2014 (edited) Plane from Tokyo arrived at around 16:00 and I expected that it would be busy, but my heart sank when I saw how packed the arrivals hall was There are two arrival halls in BKK. Often one is less busy than the other so you can use the one with less people. Edited November 16, 2014 by paz 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWorldwide Posted November 17, 2014 Author Share Posted November 17, 2014 I also had a great experience... I queued up and the guy stamped me in... fantastic, cant fault them! Er! What exactly was you expecting? It's probably less than 1% of arrivals that are trying to take the P##S If you go back through the Visa forum, its not hard to find reports of people being interrogated at Swampy re the number of 30-day stamps and Tourist visas in their passport. Hopefully Immigration and their overlords in the provisional govt now feel that the crackdown has achieved it's objectives, but that's a topic for another thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawker9000 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 (edited) Plane from Tokyo arrived at around 16:00 and I expected that it would be busy, but my heart sank when I saw how packed the arrivals hall was There are two arrival halls in BKK. Often one is less busy than the other so you can use the one with less people. Three actually (tho' it's not called out on the diagram). I routinely keep walking by the 1st two and make my way to the furthest one. 'Never have to wait behind more than one person, and frequently not even that. 'Course once through you then have to walk all the way back to what will likely be the baggage carousel where your stuff is, but I don't consider that any problem. Edited November 17, 2014 by hawker9000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technologybytes Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 To be fair, in all the years I have been coming in and out of Thailand I have never had to wait very long at Swampy. Maybe I have just been lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacky54 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 came back through there 10 days ago and no lines at all, who cares anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiesilver Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 i was there yesterday and it was packed but the lines moved fast and 15 or 20 mins later i was through.Also just like to add they were not asking for any onward journey tickets and stamping 30 day tourist visas with a smile! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
how241 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 To be fair, in all the years I have been coming in and out of Thailand I have never had to wait very long at Swampy. Maybe I have just been lucky.+1...In my 8 trips, the service has always been good and the wait times were never very long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKKSnowBird Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Came through DM recently. My passport is full of stamps and visas. She said sorry i can only give you 30 days this time which is all i needed. All my out and ins were of no concern. I think many who have problems look like a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawker9000 Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Actually, a full arrival hall is no real indicator of a successful tourist season. The fact that Bangkok Suv. is a hub airport, plus the fact that long haul operators do their best to carry at capacity, means that 2 or 3 or 4 cattle cars arriving at nearly the same time - as they will at peak times - are more than enough to fill an arrival hall to overflowing. I agree that most of the time IOs are reasonably efficient. I've seen some taking their time going through some passports (particularly PRC, tho' I haven't a clue why that might be), but others seem to go just about as fast as their point & click and rubber stamping will allow. If you have your arrival card filled out correctly & completely & inserted in your passport where your visa is (or where you want your visa-exempt stamp), stand on the marks, and in general present yourself politely & respectfully, you're probably not going to experience any undue delay. Tourism definitely off at the moment... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWorldwide Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 came back through there 10 days ago and no lines at all, who cares anyway. I care - I want to get thru Immigration, pick up my luggage and get the hell out of the airport ASAP - it was my assumption that pretty much everyone else felt the same way but clearly your mileage is different. The prospect of standing in a queue while the people in front of me all have their passports studied in minute detail doesnt appeal one iota. As I said before I could see the reasoning behind the crackdown but many of the reports here seem to indicate that the implementation was flawed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve187 Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 I think a lot of the hold ups are caused by people failing to fill out the arrival card correctly, i think there should be a pre-check before joining the main queue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bim Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 (edited) If you travel with your thai wife or GF you can use the Thai passport window. Ive been doing this for 8 years and never had a problem. Last time I arrived two backpackers followed me and where told to use the foreigner one. Always smaller queues at the Thai windows. Edited November 18, 2014 by bim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jan2557 Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Came through DM recently. My passport is full of stamps and visas. She said sorry i can only give you 30 days this time which is all i needed. All my out and ins were of no concern. I think many who have problems look like a problem. "She said sorry i can only give you 30 days this time" -- So, did you have a visa which should have given you 60(+) days but she only gave you the 30 day visa exemption stamp?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jan2557 Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 I also had a great experience... I queued up and the guy stamped me in... fantastic, cant fault them! Er! What exactly was you expecting? It's probably less than 1% of arrivals that are trying to take the P##S If you go back through the Visa forum, its not hard to find reports of people being interrogated at Swampy re the number of 30-day stamps and Tourist visas in their passport. Hopefully Immigration and their overlords in the provisional govt now feel that the crackdown has achieved it's objectives, but that's a topic for another thread. "Hopefully Immigration and their overlords in the provisional govt now feel that the crackdown has achieved it's objectives" -- hopefully, as I'll be reentering the country through DMK next week with quite a few previous visas in my passport; but it's tough to know what's really going on. Immigration's actions seem to vary somewhat arbitrarily, and I regard reports on TVF as being anecdotal but not necessarily reflecting the overall picture of foreigners' current experiences in Thailand. Do you really think that things have changed for the better? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKKSnowBird Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Came through DM recently. My passport is full of stamps and visas. She said sorry i can only give you 30 days this time which is all i needed. All my out and ins were of no concern. I think many who have problems look like a problem. "She said sorry i can only give you 30 days this time" -- So, did you have a visa which should have given you 60(+) days but she only gave you the 30 day visa exemption stamp?? I had no visa so 30 is all i wanted and got. I was going back to the US. It was just obvious that I had been coming in and out a lot so not a real tourist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawker9000 Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 I think a lot of the hold ups are caused by people failing to fill out the arrival card correctly, i think there should be a pre-check before joining the main queue. I don't always encounter them, but sometimes there are attendants just at the entrance to the arrival hall intercepting everyone and doing exactly that. 'Makes sense to me, too. 'Don't know why they don't do it more consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWorldwide Posted November 18, 2014 Author Share Posted November 18, 2014 I also had a great experience... I queued up and the guy stamped me in... fantastic, cant fault them! Er! What exactly was you expecting? It's probably less than 1% of arrivals that are trying to take the P##S If you go back through the Visa forum, its not hard to find reports of people being interrogated at Swampy re the number of 30-day stamps and Tourist visas in their passport. Hopefully Immigration and their overlords in the provisional govt now feel that the crackdown has achieved it's objectives, but that's a topic for another thread. "Hopefully Immigration and their overlords in the provisional govt now feel that the crackdown has achieved it's objectives" -- hopefully, as I'll be reentering the country through DMK next week with quite a few previous visas in my passport; but it's tough to know what's really going on. Immigration's actions seem to vary somewhat arbitrarily, and I regard reports on TVF as being anecdotal but not necessarily reflecting the overall picture of foreigners' current experiences in Thailand. Do you really think that things have changed for the better? As I said, this was my experience on a single afternoon at one of Thailand's airports - I simply wanted to share it because many of the threads here are started by people who've had problems. I understand their ire as nothing would be more tedious after a long-haul flight than to be put through the wringer about the stamps in my passport. - the prospect of being bounced just boggles my mind. Whether the crackdown was 'for the better' is a question I'll leave for others - the focus seems to have moved from 30-day exemptions to the Ed visa. I met a guy last night who has lived in Pattaya for 2 years on an Ed visa - if they hand out certificates based on time spent in the bars he'll probably graduate summa cum laude, but if they interview him in Thai I think he's in trouble. Again, I can see why the Thais thought it was time to start enforcing their own rules, but I'm not the poor sod who'll be called in for an interview. 800k and over 50 is a much easier pill to swallow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacky54 Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 I think a lot of the hold ups are caused by people failing to fill out the arrival card correctly, i think there should be a pre-check before joining the main queue. That's just what they do now, when was the last time you came through? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooloomooloo Posted November 18, 2014 Share Posted November 18, 2014 Actually, a full arrival hall is no real indicator of a successful tourist season... Tourism definitely off at the moment... My wife and I arrived at Swampy on Sunday, 16 November at 1600h and I've never seen the queues for the taxis on the ground floor so long. I reckon at least an hour and half wait to get to the front [straight up to departures and through the turnstiles soon sorted that out]. The foreign queue at immigration looked at least an hour's wait too [ten minutes through Thai passport, though]. The entire airport (arrivals and departures) was heaving, like I've never seen. I'd say tourism was definitely on the up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inbangkok Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 Wow... Just wow..... So people are starting threads praising immigration for doing THEIR JOB and stamping people through in a reasonable amount of time...... Also, the numbers don't lie.... The number of foreigners coming to Thailand are indeed slumping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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