Can it be a problem with entry to Thailand?

[ClearM1nd]

Hi, guys.

 

I have a lot of tourist visas in my passport, and last time when i arrived to DM airport (with a tourist visa 2+1 as well) a officer was interviewing me about what im doing here and staff. He was very unhappy to deal with my another tourist visa. And tell that actually i should get WP or study visa for next time.

A question is if i will make another tourist visa and come back to Thailand by plane, is it possible that they not allowed me in to the country? Or they will allowed me in anyway with a lot questions again? I will very appreciate for yr help. Thanks

 

PS I dont have any Red stamps in my pass, so i guess i will get a T visa without a problem in embassy. 

[ubonjoe]

They cannot deny entry for having to many tourist visa entries. The could deny entry for not having financial proof if you could not show the equivalent of 20k baht in cash it they asked for it.

Whether you will have a problem getting another tourist visa will depend upon where you apply for it.

[thaitero]

Is this how common to be questioned like this when having a valid visa in passport?

 

[Ronuk]

1 minute ago, thaitero said:

Is this how common to be questioned like this when having a valid visa in passport?

 

Depends how often and how many times you have extended or entered the country. 

[elviajero]

• It is highly unlikely that you would be denied entry.
• The worst case would likely be more questioning, but IMO most IO's will just stamp you in without any issue.
• Having 20K and an onward flight would help if you do get questioned.

[thaitero]

Good to know..

I thought they only questioned those with many exempts..

 

Well, I quess i should be prepared for something like this also since i live here Thailand mostly on touristvisas and exempt entrys + extensions to these...

Only 3 year to 50 year mark so let see how it goes..:)

[thaibeachlovers]

If they think you are living in Thailand on tourist visas you have a problem. It is unusual to be a tourist more than 2 or 3 times a year.

 

Remember, having a visa does not mean that you will be allowed to enter. It is up to the immigration officer.

 

Good luck.

[JackThompson]

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If they think you are living in Thailand on tourist visas you have a problem. It is unusual to be a tourist more than 2 or 3 times a year.

 

Remember, having a visa does not mean that you will be allowed to enter. It is up to the immigration officer.

 

Good luck.

 

The problem is those of us with foreign-sourced incomes who are not yet 50.  We are not at all unusual, in this day and age.  I am surprised the IO suggested a 'study' visa, since they tend to give Ed Visa holders, and ex-Ed Visa holders, the 3rd degree.

[jspill]

Renewing your passport can help as they usually just do a visual check of old stamps. New passport, clean slate. 

[Yahooka]

2 hours ago, jspill said:

Renewing your passport can help as they usually just do a visual check of old stamps. New passport, clean slate. 

 

You wish.

[gk10002000]

4 hours ago, JackThompson said:

 

The problem is those of us with foreign-sourced incomes who are not yet 50.  We are not at all unusual, in this day and age.  I am surprised the IO suggested a 'study' visa, since they tend to give Ed Visa holders, and ex-Ed Visa holders, the 3rd degree.

The point is not whether you have enough income or not.  The point is they don't want you living in Thailand using Tourist Visas.  They expect you to get proper visas and extensions related to marriage or other such things.  I agree that there are some people that really are touristing for extended periods of time and have plenty of outside income and would like to spend that time in Thailand.  Unfortunately for them, Thailand is being not smart and basically turning away money.  I wouldn't mind them reviewing people to check on if they are misusing the Tourist Visa process.  But refusing them just because they have lots of tourist visas or lots of consecutive tourist visas is silly. 

[jspill]

1 hour ago, Yahooka said:

You wish.

 

It helped me, I used to get asked questions with all my visas, 30 day stamps and a several years overstay, renewed my passport and now I sail through passport control.

 

Those tourist visa stickers fill up most of a passport pretty quickly anyway. You're allowed to renew your passport at any time, because maybe your facial appearance changed or for other reasons. You don't have to wait for it to be near expiry. 

 

I live in Nana anyway so it's a short walk to the Trendy visa building where UK passports get renewed by mail. Process is fairly straightforward. 

[muzmurray]

16 hours ago, elviajero said:

• It is highly unlikely that you would be denied entry.
• The worst case would likely be more questioning, but IMO most IO's will just stamp you in without any issue.
• Having 20K and an onward flight would help if you do get questioned.

 

The OP is coming in with a visa, absolutely no requirement to have an onward flight to show Immigration.

[ClearM1nd]

Thanks, guys, for answers.

 

Another question: what do u think to which embassy better to go? Penang (through agency, like a last time) or Vientiane? And also, if i will refuse to get a visa (very unlikely) and just flight back to BKK (but having 20K), should be fine? 

 

PS (till June of 2015 i had a WP and after always tourist 2+1 visas, so its more than a year for now)

 i already making a new passport, just need to wait when it will be ready.

Edited August 7, 2016 by ClearM1nd

[Jedsada3]

20 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

They cannot deny entry for having to many tourist visa entries. The could deny entry for not having financial proof if you could not show the equivalent of 20k baht in cash it they asked for it.

Whether you will have a problem getting another tourist visa will depend upon where you apply for it.

As far as I remember, I read somewhere on the TV forum that the sum of your stays in Thailand (TV and 30 days on arrival) cannot exceed 6 months/year. I might be wrong...

BUT

In 2012, the Thai Embassy in Paris didn't give me a visa because there were no 3 months gone since my leaving of Thailand.

 

Jedsada

[leither69]

My 90 day report is due tomorrow (hua hin), although I arrived back from the UK 10 days ago from a short holiday.  Do I still have to report,  apologies for highjacking post OP

[tonray]

10 minutes ago, leither69 said:

My 90 day report is due tomorrow (hua hin), although I arrived back from the UK 10 days ago from a short holiday.  Do I still have to report,  apologies for highjacking post OP

 

No. It's only due after 90 consecutive days in country.

[MyFriend You]

"a officer was interviewing me about what im doing here and staff"   I think with so many t-visa's he thinks you are working in Thailand, if they suspect you are running a business, they can refuse you entry, and tell you to get a Work Permit first, or reduce your length of stay to say two weeks.   The onus is on the applicant to prove they are indeed a tourist.   Nationality and country or origin plays a big part as well, and Yes, they can discriminate, it's their country.

Edited August 8, 2016 by TunnelRat69

[muzmurray]

40 minutes ago, Jedsada3 said:

As far as I remember, I read somewhere on the TV forum that the sum of your stays in Thailand (TV and 30 days on arrival) cannot exceed 6 months/year. I might be wrong...

BUT

In 2012, the Thai Embassy in Paris didn't give me a visa because there were no 3 months gone since my leaving of Thailand.

 

Jedsada

 

You are incorrect, that rule was rescinded many many years ago.

[thaitero]

18 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If they think you are living in Thailand on tourist visas you have a problem. It is unusual to be a tourist more than 2 or 3 times a year.

 

Remember, having a visa does not mean that you will be allowed to enter. It is up to the immigration officer.

 

Good luck.

Yes, i agree, I am not typical tourist..

But only thing what matters, is what thaiofficials think..

 

Still, while i have 3 more years to go, i am not too worried about this.

[BlindMagician]

Just follow the rules. If you have a valid vis, there should be no problem, even after having to answer a few questions.

 

They have the right to ask.

 

If you are legit, then nothing to fear.

 

Maybe sneak in a few compliments, like you love Thailand, it's people, culture, food, and especially is historic and glorious path taken by its magnificent leader....you get the picture?

[elviajero]

6 hours ago, leither69 said:

My 90 day report is due tomorrow (hua hin), although I arrived back from the UK 10 days ago from a short holiday.  Do I still have to report,  apologies for highjacking post OP

You don't need to report as the count reset when you arrived back in the country. The next report is due 90 days from the day you entered. The day you entered is counted as day 1.

[ubonjoe]

6 hours ago, Jedsada3 said:

As far as I remember, I read somewhere on the TV forum that the sum of your stays in Thailand (TV and 30 days on arrival) cannot exceed 6 months/year. I might be wrong...

BUT

In 2012, the Thai Embassy in Paris didn't give me a visa because there were no 3 months gone since my leaving of Thailand.

 

Jedsada

The is no 6 month limit. Just rumors and misinformation.

Paris makes up their own rules.

[chaawlepcha]

It seems to me that OP's case is the second example which I noticed so far.  This example, IMHO, supports a hypothesis, in that a visitor gets a flag (not a kind of alert) if he or she tries to enter after doing more than 4 back-to-back extensions of tourist visa (TV) entries.  

 

It seems that at this moment not every officer is interested in this kind of flag. In OP's case, an additional fact (changing from B visa entry into several TV entries) seems to raise another flag.

 

270 days have passed after the introduction of METV.  Now all tourist visa entries are based on either SETV or METV.  The situation might further change if the 1st anniversary comes.

[CantSpell]

I actually also remember this announcement about the 6 months on ThaiVisa about 4-5 years ago.

Has it not been implemented?

 

Important information to me: as I may have a problem soon with my wife (non Thai) and my daughter soon.

 

I have been using a paper from my Embassy (not marital certificate but similar) stating we have been leaving together "as husband and wife" for the last 10 years without any problem to get non-o for my wife and for my daughter.

Not valid anymore this year after the "good guys in, bad guys out" crack down.

 

Will need about 9 to 12 months to sort out wedding certificate (don't ask: dixit from embassy: too many countries involved..)

So question: if I make a tourist Visa + extension (3 months) outside of the country for both wife and daughter and rinse and repeat 3-4 times, until wedding certificate is sorted out, is that allowed or not??

Also is there any other options?

 

[JayBird]

*technically* you should not be denied entry if you are within the established rules.  I don't know where you are from, but let's presume its G7.  You can come and go as often as you like so long as you stay less than 30 days each time (the 'guaranteed' Visa on Arrival').  This is negotiated at a political level, and an immigration officer can not deny this on a whim.

 

That being said, I'm sure there are many small details and caveats on reasons they can legitimately deny it (you show up with no funds, you appeared hostile, they have suspicion you are there for illegitimate reasons, you were caught with illegal goods, etc.)  And if they want, they can find something to pin on you (not unique to Thailand, *ANY* country can do this).

 

In your situation, he's looking at your passport and is saying to himself:

This guy is not here as a tourist.

What's he really doing here?  Working illegally?  Maybe if I make it clear a bit we suspect him a little, he might re-think things.

 

To be fair... if you *are* in Thailand A LOT on just a tourist visa, it's really hard to justify that you are JUST a tourist.  Twist things around: If A Thai citizen was spending 9, 12 months a year in the US, they would suspect him of not just being a tourist

 

 

[JackThompson]

8 hours ago, chaawlepcha said:

...270 days have passed after the introduction of METV.  Now all tourist visa entries are based on either SETV or METV.  The situation might further change if the 1st anniversary comes.

I have considered going to Australia to get the METV, but not sure if it would make a difference what kind of "TV" I have, "SE" or "ME" variety, if there is some hidden rule on "TV" type entries that can monkey-wrench my world at the border.  Maybe "METV" skips some rule(s), but who knows?  Even multi-O and multi-B persons seem to be under scrutiny.

 

I am certain I am not the only person wishing I knew what the secret rules are, so I could make plans in order to fully comply with them.

[JayBird]

18 hours ago, JackThompson said:

I have considered going to Australia to get the METV, but not sure if it would make a difference what kind of "TV" I have, "SE" or "ME" variety, if there is some hidden rule on "TV" type entries that can monkey-wrench my world at the border.  Maybe "METV" skips some rule(s), but who knows?  Even multi-O and multi-B persons seem to be under scrutiny.

 

I am certain I am not the only person wishing I knew what the secret rules are, so I could make plans in order to fully comply with them.

 

I think the simplest way to look at is to try and understand their intent and reasoning (despite the lettering of the law).  Note, I'm not talking about what the law or wording says you CAN do.  I'm now talking about what I believe they *WANT* you to do despite there being ways around it.

 

They want you to have the right visa for the purpose of your stay.

 

If you intend to stay here 365 days/year, then TV, SE, and METV are not the right visa for that.

 

For purposes of stay for that long they would probably prefer you to have an ED Visa (and go to a legitimate school), a Retirement Visa (and be old enough), or a PE Visa (which I suspect will cause 0 problems on in/out).

 

Now, if you only spend 6 or 8 or so months a year in Thailand, then they probably do not scrutinize you nearly as much.

 

[JackThompson]

5 hours ago, JayBird said:

I think the simplest way to look at is to try and understand their intent and reasoning (despite the lettering of the law).  Note, I'm not talking about what the law or wording says you CAN do.  I'm now talking about what I believe they *WANT* you to do despite there being ways around it.

 

They want you to have the right visa for the purpose of your stay.   If you intend to stay here 365 days/year, then TV, SE, and METV are not the right visa for that.

 

For purposes of stay for that long they would probably prefer you to have an ED Visa (and go to a legitimate school), a Retirement Visa (and be old enough), or a PE Visa (which I suspect will cause 0 problems on in/out).

 

They seem pretty harsh on ed-visa holders - perhaps the most scrutiny of all options excepting in/out Visa Exempts.  If the TE is not a prudent choice for me financially, and only a couple years until the big '50', in any case.

 

You didn't mention marriage, but being on 'perpetual probation', no matter how many years you are married and living here, with no guarantee the rules will not change in the future, makes that a strange option, to me, in the context of a lifetime commitment. 

 

There is also the 'B' visa, but if I wanted to work full-time, I could make more elsewhere, get permanent residency is a few years easily, etc. 

 

5 hours ago, JayBird said:

Now, if you only spend 6 or 8 or so months a year in Thailand, then they probably do not scrutinize you nearly as much.

 

I agree it must be something like that - but is it 6 mo, or 8 mo, or some other number?  That is what I would really like to know - how much time-in and time-out are "hassle free" ?? 

[ubonjoe]

6 hours ago, JackThompson said:

You didn't mention marriage, but being on 'perpetual probation', no matter how many years you are married and living here, with no guarantee the rules will not change in the future, makes that a strange option, to me, in the context of a lifetime commitment. 

 

I don't understand what you mean by probation. 

I just completed my 9th application for an extension based upon marriage and there has been no change in  the requirements.

The financial requirements to get one has not changed in at least 13 years.

Since getting my first extension I have seen the rules change for other types of extensions (working, teaching, education and volunteer work for example).