"Get a Thai Visa Next Time"

[elviajero]

The fact that Thailand doesn't have a visa for job hunting tells us everything.

The fact that you don't need a specific visa for job hunting in Thailand is more telling. It's also in line with most other countries requirments.

What?! They ALL must hate us, no?

There is a list of specific reasons for issuing a visa and 'job hunting' isn't included. That tells me that they don't want people coming here looking for work.

[IMA_FARANG]

I just returned from Ho Chi Minh city......and it was in exactly he opposite situation..

This was my first visa exempt entry ever.

I do have a number of tourist visas however.\ from various locations in South East Asia and a number of Thai consulates

I flew in to swampy, and not a comment was made about my lack of a visa for this entry.

Not a comment was made to me just a stamp for a 30 day visa exempt stay.

I was prepared for questions and explanations required.

But nothing happened.

This was my first ever visa exempt entry.....and it was a non-event.

[wobalt]

The fact that Thailand doesn't have a visa for job hunting tells us everything.

The fact that you don't need a specific visa for job hunting in Thailand is more telling. It's also in line with most other countries requirments.

What?! They ALL must hate us, no?

There is a list of specific reasons for issuing a visa and 'job hunting' isn't included. That tells me that they don't want people coming here looking for work.

Not quite sure about this. I was instructed by Immigration to apply for a Tourist visa and to indicate job hunting as reason. I asked them about it and the answer was : Thais follow their own definitions and are flexible in interpretations in contrast to us Westerners. The Tourist Visa is a short term visa for holiday purposes, but would include business tourism aka job hunting as well.

[NanLaew]

The fact that Thailand doesn't have a visa for job hunting tells us everything.

The fact that you don't need a specific visa for job hunting in Thailand is more telling. It's also in line with most other countries requirments.

What?! They ALL must hate us, no?

There is a list of specific reasons for issuing a visa and 'job hunting' isn't included. That tells me that they don't want people coming here looking for work.

But there's probably not a single country in the world that has a job-hunting specific visa.

When are you leaving BTW?

[elviajero]

The fact that Thailand doesn't have a visa for job hunting tells us everything.

The fact that you don't need a specific visa for job hunting in Thailand is more telling. It's also in line with most other countries requirments.

What?! They ALL must hate us, no?

There is a list of specific reasons for issuing a visa and 'job hunting' isn't included. That tells me that they don't want people coming here looking for work.

But there's probably not a single country in the world that has a job-hunting specific visa.

When are you leaving BTW?

You're probably right.

[bkkcanuck8]

The problem with grey areas is that they may very well be enforced differently by different officers -- same with another grey area "Digital Nomads". It is the same in both cases - it may not be enforced by officers (some will even go on the record as such), but I still would not mention anything about it on entry because one time you could get an officer letting you in... and another time you don't.

The arguments about which visa to get are the same.... there is no exact visa for "Digital Nomad" so which visa would you get.... you cannot exactly get a letter from a company because you are not dealing with a company in Thailand (at least not yet) - as such people will use whatever visa that they can get and mention nothing of it on entry because any reference to work (or applying for work) may be enforced differently by those processing your entry than the officer making statements publicly in Chiang Mai that it is not considered work in Thailand.

Siam Legal seems to indicated that the proper legal interpretation is that with regards to "Non-Immigrant B Visa to Thailand" as they state "Foreigners applying for a job or opening a business will require a Thai business visa".... and that would be their legal advice. The reality though might differ in practice, but telling you that could be coming too close to being a co-conspirator type situation... so they would likely not lest the how it is enforced changes.... and then they would be putting the firm in legal jeopardy since the law has not changed, but the enforcement changed.

[ev1lchris]

Prior to this event I had two visa exempt entries. I usually do get the proper visa. It was surprising that they stopped me.

[mgjackson69]

from OP:

He wrote "Get a Thai Visa Next Time" and had me initial next to it in my passport.

That would make me a bit uneasy. It's very close to defacing your passport for the user to write on any visa/entry page, isn't it?

I had a friend denied entry to Japan because he drew a grid of lines on a page to guide Immigrations Officers to stamp appropriately so he could get more stamps per page. Drawing the lines voided his passport, according to them. How would they deem using your passport pages as a note pad?

Immigration officers can make notations in a passport as part of their duties...my passports contain various examples of this.

That is quite different than your friend drawing grid lines on the visa pages.

[new2here]

from OP:

He wrote "Get a Thai Visa Next Time" and had me initial next to it in my passport.

That would make me a bit uneasy. It's very close to defacing your passport for the user to write on any visa/entry page, isn't it?

I had a friend denied entry to Japan because he drew a grid of lines on a page to guide Immigrations Officers to stamp appropriately so he could get more stamps per page. Drawing the lines voided his passport, according to them. How would they deem using your passport pages as a note pad?

For most countries the law is such that so long as the person who stamps, marks, places suckers, staples, etc a passport is an authorized official of that country to do so and acting in an official capacity, then the act is lawful. Sounds as if that standard was met here .

For the person who drew lines in the passport - even if that was for a legitimate purpose - that sounds like something that falls outside of this standard.

[johnatong]

from OP:

He wrote "Get a Thai Visa Next Time" and had me initial next to it in my passport.

That would make me a bit uneasy. It's very close to defacing your passport for the user to write on any visa/entry page, isn't it?

I had a friend denied entry to Japan because he drew a grid of lines on a page to guide Immigrations Officers to stamp appropriately so he could get more stamps per page. Drawing the lines voided his passport, according to them. How would they deem using your passport pages as a note pad?

For most countries the law is such that so long as the person who stamps, marks, places suckers, staples, etc a passport is an authorized official of that country to do so and acting in an official capacity, then the act is lawful. Sounds as if that standard was met here .

For the person who drew lines in the passport - even if that was for a legitimate purpose - that sounds like something that falls outside of this standard.

"For the person who drew lines in the passport - even if that was for a legitimate purpose "

The lines drawn were not "legitimate" and amounted to the deliberate defacement of a passport.

Many IOs from any country would reject such a passport.

[new2here]

I agree - my use of word "legitimate" probably should have been "good idea" - but in the end, it's not permitted and as you note, could be construed as defacing or unapproved alterations, and that could adversely impact it's acceptance or legitimacy.

[LukKrueng]

I only had a couple max. I wonder what his deal was?

Just an immigration officer not doing their job correctly. Their should only question people if they get an alert that a person has more than 6 visa exempt entries.

immigration officers job is to screen people coming into the country. Even people with visa can be rejected of the officer think they should not enter. That's the way it is in any country, not just in Thailand

[LivinLOS]

from OP:

He wrote "Get a Thai Visa Next Time" and had me initial next to it in my passport.

That would make me a bit uneasy. It's very close to defacing your passport for the user to write on any visa/entry page, isn't it?

I had a friend denied entry to Japan because he drew a grid of lines on a page to guide Immigrations Officers to stamp appropriately so he could get more stamps per page. Drawing the lines voided his passport, according to them. How would they deem using your passport pages as a note pad?

For most countries the law is such that so long as the person who stamps, marks, places suckers, staples, etc a passport is an authorized official of that country to do so and acting in an official capacity, then the act is lawful. Sounds as if that standard was met here .

For the person who drew lines in the passport - even if that was for a legitimate purpose - that sounds like something that falls outside of this standard.

"For the person who drew lines in the passport - even if that was for a legitimate purpose "

The lines drawn were not "legitimate" and amounted to the deliberate defacement of a passport.

Many IOs from any country would reject such a passport.

WOW I did that in my old passport (it really works !!) and never had an issue and didnt even know it presented a defacement issue..

I have yet to do it to my new one, and probably wont now.

[yellowboat]

I actually think that technically the immigration officer is correct. If you are going to tell them that you are coming here to "look for work" then you would need a Non-Immigrant B Visa (Business). It is no different than someone coming here for the purpose of conducting business (looking for business) .... It is all about how it is interpreted, but looking for work... really is not tourism - it is a grey area (IMHO).

Do you have a suggestion on how he would get a non-b visa prior to arriving here? Those are not easy to get.

Even people with a job offer often have to arrive here on visa exempt or tourist visa because they could not get one before traveling.

Joe, your words of wisdom are soothing to the soul, but when you are faced with the menace that isThai immigration, what do you do ? We are looking to have immigration attorneys on stand by, so when we arrive and are hassled, we make a call and hand over the phone.

What can you do when confronted by the all powerful, unquestionable immigration officer ?

[ubonjoe]

I only had a couple max. I wonder what his deal was?

Just an immigration officer not doing their job correctly. Their should only question people if they get an alert that a person has more than 6 visa exempt entries.

immigration officers job is to screen people coming into the country. Even people with visa can be rejected of the officer think they should not enter. That's the way it is in any country, not just in Thailand

Correct but they must have a valid reason to deny entry under the laws or regulations of any country. They cannot just say no and deny you entry.

[gandalf12]

Just see how difficult it is getting a Thai visa if you work in Alberta (Canada). The Embassy is on the other side of the country. Toronto or Ottawa not sure but if you only have a 2 week leave period from your job half of that is gone before you get out of Canada

[Suradit69]

The fact that Thailand doesn't have a visa for job hunting tells us everything.

The fact that you don't need a specific visa for job hunting in Thailand is more telling. It's also in line with most other countries requirments.

What?! They ALL must hate us, no?

There is a list of specific reasons for issuing a visa and 'job hunting' isn't included. That tells me that they don't want people coming here looking for work.

Not quite sure about this. I was instructed by Immigration to apply for a Tourist visa and to indicate job hunting as reason. I asked them about it and the answer was : Thais follow their own definitions and are flexible in interpretations in contrast to us Westerners. The Tourist Visa is a short term visa for holiday purposes, but would include business tourism aka job hunting as well.

"Thais follow their own definitions and are flexible in interpretations in contrast to us Westerners. "

What utter nonsense especially when followed by your decidedly flexible interpretation: "include business tourism aka job hunting as well."

Every immigrations officer in the world has the authority and responsibility to use his/her discretion. That's part of the job description.

[bkkcanuck8]

Just see how difficult it is getting a Thai visa if you work in Alberta (Canada). The Embassy is on the other side of the country. Toronto or Ottawa not sure but if you only have a 2 week leave period from your job half of that is gone before you get out of Canada

Your letting your hangups get in the way of actually searching for consulates that they have in Canada...

Royal Thai Consulate in Edmonton

Suite 202, 10544 -114 Street,

Edmonton, Alberta T5H 3J7

Tel. (780) 439-3576

Fax. (780) 452-1610

E-mail: [email protected]

In addition to Vancouver, Toronto, Quebec and of course the embassy on Ottawa.

Edited April 22, 2016 by bkkcanuck8

[wobalt]

The fact that Thailand doesn't have a visa for job hunting tells us everything.

The fact that you don't need a specific visa for job hunting in Thailand is more telling. It's also in line with most other countries requirments.

What?! They ALL must hate us, no?

There is a list of specific reasons for issuing a visa and 'job hunting' isn't included. That tells me that they don't want people coming here looking for work.

Not quite sure about this. I was instructed by Immigration to apply for a Tourist visa and to indicate job hunting as reason. I asked them about it and the answer was : Thais follow their own definitions and are flexible in interpretations in contrast to us Westerners. The Tourist Visa is a short term visa for holiday purposes, but would include business tourism aka job hunting as well.

"Thais follow their own definitions and are flexible in interpretations in contrast to us Westerners. "

What utter nonsense especially when followed by your decidedly flexible interpretation: "include business tourism aka job hunting as well."

Every immigrations officer in the world has the authority and responsibility to use his/her discretion. That's part of the job description.

This was the comment made by the immigration on this topic, not my interpretation

[ubonjoe]

Some off topic and inflammatory posts have been removed along with one that contained quotes taken out of context.

[wpcoe]

from OP:

He wrote "Get a Thai Visa Next Time" and had me initial next to it in my passport.

That would make me a bit uneasy. It's very close to defacing your passport for the user to write on any visa/entry page, isn't it?

I had a friend denied entry to Japan because he drew a grid of lines on a page to guide Immigrations Officers to stamp appropriately so he could get more stamps per page. Drawing the lines voided his passport, according to them. How would they deem using your passport pages as a note pad?

For most countries the law is such that so long as the person who stamps, marks, places suckers, staples, etc a passport is an authorized official of that country to do so and acting in an official capacity, then the act is lawful. Sounds as if that standard was met here .

For the person who drew lines in the passport - even if that was for a legitimate purpose - that sounds like something that falls outside of this standard.

"For the person who drew lines in the passport - even if that was for a legitimate purpose "

The lines drawn were not "legitimate" and amounted to the deliberate defacement of a passport.

Many IOs from any country would reject such a passport.

My concern is not with what the Immigrations Officer wrote, it's that the passport holder then signed the page. As I said, I think it's close to being unacceptable, not black and white, and would make me very uncomfortable to be "asked" to sign a page in my passport.

[ThailandNo1]

I have a friend who is married to a Thai. He works overseas and returns to Thailand on a regular basis using VE entries. He can never stay longer than 28 days.

This man was challenged only once by an IO. He explained his situation provided evidence of being employed abroad and demonstrated access to adequate finances.

He continues to use VE entries and has never been challenged again.

Anecdotal - yes - but also true !

Correct me if I am wrong but would n't denying your friend entry to visit his Thai wife be against international law as it would be denying him his right to visit his wife?

[elviajero]

I have a friend who is married to a Thai. He works overseas and returns to Thailand on a regular basis using VE entries. He can never stay longer than 28 days.

This man was challenged only once by an IO. He explained his situation provided evidence of being employed abroad and demonstrated access to adequate finances.

He continues to use VE entries and has never been challenged again.

Anecdotal - yes - but also true !

Correct me if I am wrong but would n't denying your friend entry to visit his Thai wife be against international law as it would be denying him his right to visit his wife?

There is no "right to visit his wife". In order to visit his wife he would need to meet the immigration entry requirements, and if he can't he can legally be refused entry.

[NanLaew]

I have a friend who is married to a Thai. He works overseas and returns to Thailand on a regular basis using VE entries. He can never stay longer than 28 days.

This man was challenged only once by an IO. He explained his situation provided evidence of being employed abroad and demonstrated access to adequate finances.

He continues to use VE entries and has never been challenged again.

Anecdotal - yes - but also true !

Correct me if I am wrong but would n't denying your friend entry to visit his Thai wife be against international law as it would be denying him his right to visit his wife?

There is no "right to visit his wife". In order to visit his wife he would need to meet the immigration entry requirements, and if he can't he can legally be refused entry.

If there was, Thailand would be chock full of blokes getting free passes to visit their teeluks wives and no need for any Non-B visas at all.

[alofthailand]

I have been in and out of the country over thirty times on rotational leaves etc. I now have a retirement extension and multi re-entry visa. However, the immigration/passport guy took ages to process me last night when I returned from a holiday in vietna - As though he could not find my visa. Anyway after 15 minutes with no explanation he stamped me through.

But I have a question. I got my extension of stay based on retirement in January- it last till 2017. But my first 90 day reporting date is 29th May. My question is do I still have to report on the 29th May? Or has my 12 day holiday outside of the country changed the date by 12 days. My other question is - what documents do I need to take for my first 90 day report? After which I hope to do it automatically or online. Any advice would be appreciated

Edited April 22, 2016 by alofthailand

[ubonjoe]

I have been in and out of the country over thirty times on rotational leaves etc. I now have a retirement extension and multi re-entry visa. However, the immigration/passport guy took ages to process me last night when I returned from a holiday in vietna - As though he could not find my visa. Anyway after 15 minutes with no explanation he stamped me through.

But I have a question. I got my extension of stay based on retirement in January- it last till 2017. But my first 90 day reporting date is 29th May. My question is do I still have to report on the 29th May? Or has my 12 day holiday outside of the country changed the date by 12 days. My other question is - what documents do I need to take for my first 90 day report? After which I hope to do it automatically or online. Any advice would be appreciated

Your report of staying longer than 90 days in the country will be due 90 days from the date you entered the country after your trip including that date in the count.

You should only need a completed TM47 form and your passport to do your first 90 day report.

[stoicccc]

somewhat related...pretty basic question but wanted to make sure and not **** anything up:

I have 3 tourist visas in a row from

1. Vientiane

2. my own country

3. Savannakhet

I have last one expiring next week but I'm a but I'm a bit tight on time and wouldnt want to get a visa this time. So my idea is the get the visa exempt stamp next week, extend it 30 days and then go get another SETV from Laos/Vietnam...after which I will get a new passport from my own country and METV most likely.

Do you see a problem getting the visa exempt once between multiple tourist visas?

[elviajero]

somewhat related...pretty basic question but wanted to make sure and not **** anything up:

I have 3 tourist visas in a row from

1. Vientiane

2. my own country

3. Savannakhet

I have last one expiring next week but I'm a but I'm a bit tight on time and wouldnt want to get a visa this time. So my idea is the get the visa exempt stamp next week, extend it 30 days and then go get another SETV from Laos/Vietnam...after which I will get a new passport from my own country and METV most likely.

Do you see a problem getting the visa exempt once between multiple tourist visas?

Should be no problem.

[Mudcrab]

The fact that Thailand doesn't have a visa for job hunting tells us everything.

The fact that you don't need a specific visa for job hunting in Thailand is more telling. It's also in line with most other countries requirments.

What?! They ALL must hate us, no?

There is a list of specific reasons for issuing a visa and 'job hunting' isn't included. That tells me that they don't want people coming here looking for work.

Hard to imagine any country welcoming the unemployed and potentially unemployable

[melcoe]

Hi folks

I am the Australian mother of a Thai/Aussie child who only has an Australian passport (as her father and I never married).

I was stopped for over an hour at Phuket immigration earlier this month, and was threatened with being refused entry to Thailand because I had been "too many times in the past year".

Previously, I have always had a Non immigrant Type 0 visa (as the mother of a Thai child) and would get one each year with multiple entries. But as we no longer live in Thailand and only come back for my daughter to visit her Thai family during Aussie school holidays, I believed it was no longer necessary as we never stay longer than 21 days in a row.

However, they pulled me up due to having entered Thailand on a 30-day visa free agreement more than six times in a year (from the date of entry I was explained, not a calendar or financial year). None of these occasions were back-to-back, and I had obviously been 'home' in Australia for more time of the year in question than i had been in Thailand... to the tune of about 8 months overall in Australia, and 4 months overall in Thailand, with the blocks in Thailand never longer than 3 weeks at a time.

The timing between visits back to Phuket ranged from one week (when we popped over to Hong Kong for a holiday during an overall 4 week holiday from oz, with the other three weeks spent in Thailand), up to 2 months when returning from Australia, so clearly, we are not visa runners.

Not once did we overstay our visa (and nor have I in the ten years i've been living or coming to Thailand), and whenever I have needed to stay longer than 30 days in the past, (for example, when my daughter was previously attending school in Thailand) I have done so under the Type 0 non-immigrant banner, with a 12 month multi entry visa, or occasionally the 60 day tourist visa.

After much arguing and continued refusal of entry, they finally let me (and my daughter) in, on the proviso I once more start resuming the annual Type 0 visa with multi entries.

I get the whole stopping of back to back visa runs and so on, but i've never done one!!! It seems ridiculous that now we are no longer living in Thailand we must still get the visa as if we are, despite the fact we are clearly entering as tourists who are on holidays!!!!

The only reason they let me in after threatening to return us to Australia on the next flight out, is because I showed them my return ticket which proved our current stay was only set to be 15 days in total.

Here's a big tip for everyone... don't question the immigration dudes at Phuket, don't speak unless answering a specific question, nod your head, smile a lot, and just say yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir. Because I questioned why I needed the type 0 visa when in this instance I clearly am covered by the 30 day visa free entry rules, and because I had had a shit day and was emotionally wrought (ie dared to cry) they walked off and made me and my 8yo daughter wait for two full planes of people to be processed before they would even talk to me.

So lesson learned, and despite it being an expensive pain in the arse to get the type 0 visa (the nearest embassy to me in Aust is 500km away, and my 2020 expiring passport is running out of pages so I will no doubt have to get a new passport first before they can take up yet another whole page with the visa sticker, with the passport and visa to cost more than $600 AUD) I will suck it up and do it, cause next time I enter my name is gonna flash up in big red lights with sirens going off cause I dared asked for explanations etc.

I guess it comes down to how badly you want to keep entering Thailand... for me it's a no-brainer. I'm never going to be the kind of parent who stops their kid from seeing the other, so choice is made for us. For the rest of you, always try to remember it is a privilege for us to be in Thailand, not a right.

My daughter's Thai family certainly don't have the same rights when it comes to visiting Australia. Entry for a Thai person to Australia.. without a 70 page visa application with supporting documents/evidence and/or lots of money in the bank? Fat chance!!!! And a free visa??? unheard of!!!!