My Thai Girlfriend is Trapped in South America

[CapeThai]

Something doesn't ring right about this post and its authenticity...

Yeah, I was thinking "Smuggler" right away. I mean, who takes their Thai Gf to PERU? HAHA.

Yeah, yeah, Machu Picchu and all that --that's what all the smugglers say.

Maybe she backed out and wanted to go home or maybe her belly is fully of condoms and he's panicking that she's gonna take a dump in the airport terminal.

Sorry OP, that's just how I think

BTW...Is the OP Nigerian? (we've seen this story before)

I was just sitting here thinking the same thing..... Now what better place is there than TV to gather info like this ?? Only a Nigerian thinks like this my dear friends !! He's either a smuggler or a insensitive "Cheap Charlie".

[khunbillmex]

Something doesn't ring right about this post and its authenticity...

There are some flags here re authenticity- and some that make the post possibly believable. A year or almost in Peru - well maybe its possible. My [Thai] wife and I went there from Mexico about 10 years ago and a visa wasn't required for a short stay. Of course OP doesn't say when they traveled -it could have been last week he just says he got the idea about a year ago. AeroMexico routes could have been possible but a One Way? plus AM has no rep in LOS and AM [even in MEX] in general doesn't have a clue on how to write the tkt using YY [any] carrier from BKK to NRT or PVG or CAN then AM the rest of the way [the fares are/were published in the IATA Tariff so an experienced agt in BKK could do it I'm sure - but still the O/W aspect is befuddling]. Then there is the part "luggage checked, boarding pass issued" UGH The airlines are the first line of immigration cops. Thier job is to check Docs at checkin -not at the boarding gate- If the airline fails to do a proper Doc check it is liable for a substantial fine and the repatriation [to point of origin] of the passenger. The Gate agt is not interested in Doc check but only ID check so I can't understand how the GF got turned back.

Routing - possible variation could have caused the problem. It could have been NRT-MEX-LIM on the inbound but the way out could have been LIM-CUN/MEX-NRT and that could have caused a hiccup-like Schenegen rules. Still this should have been caught by the Check In agt.

OP's price limit: is it a tease? If theTGF is "bored and wants to home" does the good Dude keep her [in Peru] if it is too expensive?

TV member efforts/research/etc responses and suggestions have been good and viable but the fishyness of the post to me is paramount.

If you want a clue/answer to what the airlines use to determine necessasry Docs go here http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/ to IATA's Doc site and punch in the details.

[mikiea]

dude you are a piece of work, yes you are. soon she will be someone elses g/ f :-)

[Greg Nixon]

Here is something to explore. Fly to Cuba. Fly to Canada. Fly to Bangkok via Tokyo. The cost of a one way from Canada to Bangkok is about $1100.00. I am unsure about Visa requirements but if she is only passing through Canada ( Calgary or Vancouver) it may be easy. As a Canadian we get Visa on Arrival in Cuba. Cuban flights are generally not expensive. Try a travel agent. They are usually not expensive. Tell them the story. I trust she has a passport. That is a good start.

[Greg Nixon]

A lot of North Americans do not appreciate how difficult it is for Asians to get travel Visas. Proof of a job at home, proof of property. proof of money in the bank - family to go home to are the routine for Asians wanting to travel. They can be denied for almost any reason and that makes it harder the to pass the second application. Unfortunately the

governments around the world are afraid of the Asian hordes. For example, my Canadian daughter thinks that the term Asian is bigoted.

[mercman24]

lots of Thai girls like the excitement, and adventure of a foreign country so dont blame the farang, take the uk for example, i would never ever take a thai girl there, once the "honeymoon" period is over she will get homesick, quite a natural thing,missing her friends, food, etc and the weather in the uk is <deleted> for a start,who want to wake up to frost for 5 months no thanks, lots of them like the idea of "i want to see snow"

[krisb]

Now i feel like a noob. I actually thought that there didn't exist transit visas when flying ?

Add me to your list.

Especially just transiting through airports and not leaving them

Op, great advice here, tried ringing a travel agent?

Would Singapore be a viable option? No visa needed for transiting.

[davidmann]

cheap skate

[DaffyDuck]

Now i feel like a noob. I actually thought that there didn't exist transit visas when flying [emoji19]

Add me to your list.

Especially just transiting through airports and not leaving them

Turns out, it all depends on your passport, and nationality. I have an Austrian passport, and all throughout my childhood, always thought that you didn't need to bother or worry about visas (or what they were) when traveling the world (my family traveled a lot) - on,y later did I learn that this only applied if you were Austrian (or from another neutral and well-loved country, like Switzerland).

That's why I won't be giving up that passport anytime soon.

[Tomtomtom69]

There's multiple ways -- the OP is just looking for someone to share the responsibility of getting his girlfriend home to Thailand when such a trip should have been well planned in advance. I've done the Mexico -- Peru -- NZ -- Thailand thing several times in differing formats. Nothing special or difficult about finding the flights and visa requirements. There's no international transit area in USA airports, so a visa of some kind is needed by every non-USAsian. Find the cheapest flight combo that doesn't go into USA and then look at the visa requirements - if any - and add that. It's not rocket science. I pity the girl who has probably had a bit of an eye-opening experience with the OP which will give her stories to tell all her family and friends for a long time to come. No wonder Farangs get a bad press -- some deserve it, but we all get tarred with the same brush

Well anybody from a developed country that is eligible for the VWP can transit the US easily, but may still require a VWP ESTA before travelling. Of course this doesn't apply to a Thai citizen, who would need to get a special visa from the US embassy or consulate in Thailand (and not elsewhere) just for the purposes of transiting the country.

Consequently, flying through Europe, Australia, New Zealand etc. would be much easier as no transit visa would be required as long as the person doesn't leave the airport transit lounge.

[krisb]

Now i feel like a noob. I actually thought that there didn't exist transit visas when flying [emoji19]

Add me to your list.

Especially just transiting through airports and not leaving them

Turns out, it all depends on your passport, and nationality. I have an Austrian passport, and all throughout my childhood, always thought that you didn't need to bother or worry about visas (or what they were) when traveling the world (my family traveled a lot) - on,y later did I learn that this only applied if you were Austrian (or from another neutral and well-loved country, like Switzerland).

That's why I won't be giving up that passport anytime soon.

So being Austrian or Swiss and so loved you don't need any visa for Thailand ever?

Doubt that.

Like heaps of countries your just not considered high risk.

But you still need visas like everyone.

[MobileContent]

Thank you. This is exactly the sort of idea I was looking for.

Except when I check fares on Qantas, I see that the one way flight will be minimum of 3k... and coming from Peru it will cost almost 500$ more than that to get her to Santiago by a bus and flight combo... A direct flight would be a couple hundred more on top. So all in all this appears to be about a 4k journey.

Let's just imagine that I'm not willing to pay 4k. 2500 is a higher end goal.

Lets assume you joke, I guess. You bring your GF for a trip to the end of the world and now things seems to be stuck on 1500 USD. Just pay the flight and don't be cheap or send her to the nearest Thai embassy and they can fly her back.

[Tomtomtom69]

Now i feel like a noob. I actually thought that there didn't exist transit visas when flying [emoji19]

Add me to your list.

Especially just transiting through airports and not leaving them

Turns out, it all depends on your passport, and nationality. I have an Austrian passport, and all throughout my childhood, always thought that you didn't need to bother or worry about visas (or what they were) when traveling the world (my family traveled a lot) - on,y later did I learn that this only applied if you were Austrian (or from another neutral and well-loved country, like Switzerland).

That's why I won't be giving up that passport anytime soon.

So being Austrian or Swiss and so loved you don't need any visa for Thailand ever?

Doubt that.

Like heaps of countries your just not considered high risk.

But you still need visas like everyone.

No he doesn't. At least not for short term travel. Austrians get 30 days visa-free on arrival in Thailand and for many, many other countries it's the same thing. Visa free access for so and so many days or months. Of course it's even better than when he was a child, because nowadays he can live in any Schengen country and live indefinitely and only an ID card is required for entry and to stay there, not even a passport! Or the UK or Ireland just requires a passport but indefinite residence is also possible. So that covers about 30 odd countries.

For another 130-140, either visa free access or a visa on-arrival is all that's needed.

So I'm afraid he's right. Of course if he chooses to live abroad, then apart from the Schengen/EU zone, he will most likely require some sort of visa. But that's different to staying somewhere temporarily and then leaving again after a short period of time. His point was about travelling abroad and he was pretty much on the money when he said "no visas required for Austrians".

[Tomtomtom69]

Thank you. This is exactly the sort of idea I was looking for.

Except when I check fares on Qantas, I see that the one way flight will be minimum of 3k... and coming from Peru it will cost almost 500$ more than that to get her to Santiago by a bus and flight combo... A direct flight would be a couple hundred more on top. So all in all this appears to be about a 4k journey.

Let's just imagine that I'm not willing to pay 4k. 2500 is a higher end goal.

Lets assume you joke, I guess. You bring your GF for a trip to the end of the world and now things seems to be stuck on 1500 USD. Just pay the flight and don't be cheap or send her to the nearest Thai embassy and they can fly her back.

I agree with you on that one. Eventually the gf would be on overstay in whatever country she's in (probably she already is) and the fines for that may be much higher than the paltry 500 Baht per day, max. 20000 Baht levied for overstayers in Thailand.

So OP fork out the money for a Qantas flight although if you're really pinching pennies maybe other airlines are a bit cheaper (the ones that fly via Europe for example). Flying via Mexico and Japan is probably not the best option as it involves more changes of flights, more time and may even be more expensive and as far as the transit visa option is concerned I dunno either - Mexico should be OK for visa-free transit for Thais.

[Tomtomtom69]

Thank you. This is exactly the sort of idea I was looking for.

Except when I check fares on Qantas, I see that the one way flight will be minimum of 3k... and coming from Peru it will cost almost 500$ more than that to get her to Santiago by a bus and flight combo... A direct flight would be a couple hundred more on top. So all in all this appears to be about a 4k journey.

Let's just imagine that I'm not willing to pay 4k. 2500 is a higher end goal.

Lets assume you joke, I guess. You bring your GF for a trip to the end of the world and now things seems to be stuck on 1500 USD. Just pay the flight and don't be cheap or send her to the nearest Thai embassy and they can fly her back.

I doubt the Thai embassy would be willing or able to fund Thai national's flight expenses back home - the best they could do would be to telephone friends and relatives to wire money over. But it would be a lot easier for the BF to fund her trip back and pay any possible overstay fines if she has overstayed in Peru.

[Tomtomtom69]

If you had just paid up the extra $500 she would of been home by now. Just goes to show how much you care about here. Poor girl on the other side of the world with no Som Tam. Shame on you.

And probably an overstay if she's been in South America for a year now. Thais get 90 days in Peru and that's it.

[Tomtomtom69]

A lot of North Americans do not appreciate how difficult it is for Asians to get travel Visas. Proof of a job at home, proof of property. proof of money in the bank - family to go home to are the routine for Asians wanting to travel. They can be denied for almost any reason and that makes it harder the to pass the second application. Unfortunately the

governments around the world are afraid of the Asian hordes. For example, my Canadian daughter thinks that the term Asian is bigoted.

Well you better teach her that the term "farang" is also bigoted then. Because unless used out of context, the term Asian is perfectly OK.

[krisb]

Now i feel like a noob. I actually thought that there didn't exist transit visas when flying [emoji19]

Add me to your list.

Especially just transiting through airports and not leaving them

Turns out, it all depends on your passport, and nationality. I have an Austrian passport, and all throughout my childhood, always thought that you didn't need to bother or worry about visas (or what they were) when traveling the world (my family traveled a lot) - on,y later did I learn that this only applied if you were Austrian (or from another neutral and well-loved country, like Switzerland).

That's why I won't be giving up that passport anytime soon.

So being Austrian or Swiss and so loved you don't need any visa for Thailand ever?

Doubt that.

Like heaps of countries your just not considered high risk.

But you still need visas like everyone.

No he doesn't. At least not for short term travel. Austrians get 30 days visa-free on arrival in Thailand and for many, many other countries it's the same thing. Visa free access for so and so many days or months. Of course it's even better than when he was a child, because nowadays he can live in any Schengen country and live indefinitely and only an ID card is required for entry and to stay there, not even a passport! Or the UK or Ireland just requires a passport but indefinite residence is also possible. So that covers about 30 odd countries.

For another 130-140, either visa free access or a visa on-arrival is all that's needed.

So I'm afraid he's right. Of course if he chooses to live abroad, then apart from the Schengen/EU zone, he will most likely require some sort of visa. But that's different to staying somewhere temporarily and then leaving again after a short period of time. His point was about travelling abroad and he was pretty much on the money when he said "no visas required for Austrians".

Thats cool about the schengen/eu bit. Never knew that.

30 days in Thailand without a visa is stock standard for lots of countries.

Anyway sorry for ot.

[OPG]

OK this is what you do...

My wife who is Thai and of course myself were in Panama as I concluded some business. Before flying back home to Thailand, I decided to take a vacation into South America as it will just be way too long of a journey to do it another time and since we were so close, it would be a benefit. We flew from Panama to Argentina and then eventually to Brazil...keep in mind that these two countries don't require a Thai to have a visa to enter.

Now...your GF is in Peru, which is at the top of South America...so you need to find a link of countries that a Thai citizen does not require a entry visa and plan out the itinerary. I can tell you that on our return home...we flew from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Madrid, Spain where we then made a connection out of Spain, but to London. In Madrid, there was an issue because my wife did not have a visa to enter so we could not pass through customs to get to our next flight...I thought...oh my GOD, but nothing to worry about...all passengers who do not have a visa to enter a European Union Country such as Spain, must wait for a bus at a gate in the terminal. The bus will take you from where you landed to your connecting gate without going through customs. That's it and you wait and board your connecting flight.

Options:

Peru to Rio or Sao Paolo, Brazil...preferably Sao Paolo, Brazil. Brazil has direct flights to Portugal and I believe Spain as well. They should do the exact same thing that my wife and I went through upon arrival. Then Spain or Portugal to Bangkok.

Peru to Costa Rica as I don't believe a Thai is required to have a visa... Costa Rica to Spain and Bangkok

Find a list of the countries she doesn't need a visa for and work from there, but remember to buy your ticket all the way through to Bangkok...don't buy a ticket on one airline from point a to point b and then another airline from point c to point d. If an airline sells you an airplane ticket all the way through and you board that flight and arrive at the destination that you must connect, it is for a reason...you will make the connection even if you must pass through customs, but in another manner...by bus like we did.

On your current ticket...it is refundable 100% as the airline should have known better than to sell a ticket to a Thai national with no visa to enter a country they were stopping at.

I hope this helps...

[OPG]

Mexican consulate, get her a transit or tourist visa for Mexico, book her back on the same flight. This isn't rocket science.

Can't...she must do that in her home country, which defeats the purpose since she can't get back to her home country to do so. I've put out my response just above which will work 100%.

[ohhhthailand]

Appreciate some of the great ideas in this thread. Big thanks to OPG, faranginafrica, and many others.

There is no rush for her to go back... She just misses mom and som tam... We are exploring all the options now, different dates etc... so thanks for providing some new routes to explore.

[DaffyDuck]

So being Austrian or Swiss and so loved you don't need any visa for Thailand ever?

Doubt that.

Like heaps of countries your just not considered high risk.

But you still need visas like everyone.

You do not appear to understand what 'visa exception' means, do you?

No, I (as well as other passport holders) are eligible for visa exception upon entering Thailand. By very definition, this means we do not need to acquire a visa beforehand, nor are we given one upon entry. 'Admission' is not a 'visa'.

Edited December 16, 2014 by DaffyDuck