Jump to content


Andaman Club Pier Ranong Asked for Tea Money having NonO Multi


Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

 

I just wanted to share the experience I just had to prepare any other fellow travelers. This morning I went to the Andaman club pier to catch the first boat to do a visa run. I have been doing the Ranong visa run for the past 5 years without incident. I have a Multi Non O family visa. The guy told me that I cannot do visa run anymore because I do too much I think. It was a bit hard to understand his english but it seems like he was making excuses. Another american on some other type of visa had no issue at the same time while my guy was explaining that I could not do a visa run. He stated its the law for many years, blah blah blah... as I have been doing this for 5 years this just seemed strange. But the girl in the black tshirt which I think is his assistant pulled me a side and not directly but pretty much told me to put money in my passport as he would accept this time. I was shocked but she said " up to you" as to how much to put in. I just put in 1,000thb and went on my way because I made a whole trip to travel with family and my stamp expired the following day.

 

I dont know if anyone has had any similar experiences lately or if I was singled out for this because I was early and they thought a lone foreigner at the time was easy to extort but I just wanted to warn you all that this did just happen at this point so be aware. 

 

Also, if any of you have any advice for the future as this is the first time I had ever been in a position to give tea money. Do I have my wife report this? Anything I should do or just move along. I know this is Thailand and I know this stuff happens but this extortion is so dirty especially since I had a proper family visa.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you put 1,000 baht in your passport, they will remember you, and you are a marked man, and expected to be similarly generous in the future. If you had stood your ground they would have backed down, but it might have taken an hour or more and been rather stressful. 100 baht would have avoided the hassle and made you less of a future target.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An immigration officer has no authority to stop a foreigner from leaving Thailand and refuse him the departure stamp in his passport unless he has a valid reason to arrest the foreigner. In your case, a call to the immigration hotline 1178 would have got him sorted out.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I know 1,000 would be too high but like I mentioned it was the first time in 5 years this has happened so I really had no idea. But thanks for the advice on a MUCH lower amount. I thought 100 would be offensive but I know that I can go much lower in the future. Not sure if I will be marked as you say for the future because I will have to go Laos next time in 5months, so I figure I wouldnt be back to Ranong Immigration for 8-10mo so im sure its fine and its a 1-off time thing but at least I have the info for next time.

 

Also thanks for the #1178 immigration hotline. I will definitely give a call next time if that happens. I really had no idea who I could call about the situation but I will keep it handy for next time. Yeah it seemed really bizarre why I couldn't leave.

Thanks guys for the backup advice for the future. Thats why I try to help out posting my experiences so at least you know that there is a guy there doing this and you guys offer some advice. Nice that we all help each other in a place that tries to take advantage of us at every moment possible.

Cheers!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As you describe it, I can well believe she was sincere in what she was telling you. That said, I will be very surprised if this affects all land borders comes January 1st with no prior announcement. I do believe this could apply to all border posts between Thailand and Myanmar. They have a nasty habit of introducing changes without prior warning. It is a great shame that we do not know who sent this document outlining new rules.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A good point, I could have interpreted any land border to mean all, when in fact she could have meant only Burma. Although, she qualified in the discussion, that if i didn't want to convert to 90 day reporting, i would have to 'use an airport' for the next time.

 

I wonder what the actual implications would be if they stopped out-in border runs? Seasonal workers whose employers might not have the ability to offer the paperwork for a one year 90 day local reporting would be effected, that's easily fixed by reducing the requirements for that or abolishing that all together and allow everyone to do 90 day reporting. We have to show money and other docs anyway to get the visa, so i cant imagine its that much of an upheaval to convert to 90 day reporting for most? can see the advantages to them, centralized reporting, higher degree of vetting, less room for corruption etc. By the way, the document was from the Thailand Immigration Commissioner, or his/her office, she pointed that out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, gravity101 said:

A good point, I could have interpreted any land border to mean all, when in fact she could have meant only Burma. Although, she qualified in the discussion, that if i didn't want to convert to 90 day reporting, i would have to 'use an airport' for the next time.

 

I wonder what the actual implications would be if they stopped out-in border runs? Seasonal workers whose employers might not have the ability to offer the paperwork for a one year 90 day local reporting would be effected, that's easily fixed by reducing the requirements for that or abolishing that all together and allow everyone to do 90 day reporting. We have to show money and other docs anyway to get the visa, so i cant imagine its that much of an upheaval to convert to 90 day reporting for most? can see the advantages to them, centralized reporting, higher degree of vetting, less room for corruption etc. By the way, the document was from the Thailand Immigration Commissioner, or his/her office, she pointed that out.

 

There is a separate commissioner for each police region, as I recall, so this may be a new regional policy. I believe a new national policy would likely come from the Minster or Director General. Not sure, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I had my friend and 2 or 3 of his family members cross the Andaman Club border on appx 24th or so Dec 2016.  He had non-o multiple, his family had VE entries from an airport.   He reported no problems or strange comments from Thai immigration for any of them.  (USA passports, drove themselves)

 

edit.  I just remembered I also had 2 people do Andaman runs in the first week of Jan, 2017.  One from Singapore and the other from some EU country.   Also no problems (went with visa run tour).

 

But earlier (around Nov, 2016; perhaps the time of this OP), there was another friend who was attempted his 2nd Visa Exempt entry back to back from Andaman Club.  He got a short lecture on the need to go to laos to get a visa.  And put a couple of white looking notes in his passport in before being stamped out.

 

The only problem I've ever heard of people actually being denied exit was during the VE crackdown back in Mar/May 2014.  It was anyone over 3 back-to-back and then it went down to any VEs were turned away at one point.  It just so happen I was 'between visas' and I was going to just do what everyone else was doing at the time; ended up just running to Penang. But it just suddenly went back to normal like a few weeks later.  

 

Especially if you do the run from FAME or Farang Bar in Chumphon, you will hear about any problems of people doing the run from staff there.  A good idea is to check with a border run company and see if there have been any recent problems.

 

I'm not saying it could never happen.  But I never seem to have an issue.  I usually go with a tour, but I intend to do it myself next time so I have more time to chillax at the buffet.

Edited by 4evermaat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.