Thailand to fully open e-visa service in 2018: official

[Fookhaht]

11 minutes ago, sangfroid said:

Something has to be done!! Last night at Don Meuang flights arriving around midnight were taking incoming passengers 2 1/2 hours to clear immigration. Total CHAOS

I was impressed with AirAsia's "Fly-Thru" program last week.  

 

If you come from an international destination on AirAsia to Don Meuang, and you plan to fly domestically to another Thailand destination, you are whisked from the normal immigration lines to a special AirAsia immigration desk/room where your immigration entry takes just a few minutes.   We by-passed huge crowds at the normal immigration queues.    

 

Please tell me your 2-1/2 hour experience wasn't on this AirAsia Fly-Thru track!  

[SicTransit]

Yes,but the Indian one is a pain.

It's a breeze compared to the stone age route of going to the nearest embassy and waiting a couple days.

[Lovethailandelite]

4 hours ago, sangfroid said:

Something has to be done!! Last night at Don Meuang flights arriving around midnight were taking incoming passengers 2 1/2 hours to clear immigration. Total CHAOS

According to TVF posters, nobody is coming. I think what they really mean is nobody is coming to sit in bars night and day.
Walk around the bar areas of Pattaya and yes it's pretty quite, in fact it was the quietest Christmas and new year I have seen in the bars for over 30yrs. Get away from the bars and it was plenty busy enough but with couples and family's. The days of the bar era and single mans holiday to Thailand are pretty much over. It's now a completely different type of clientele. And before anybody say's it, the Chinese actually do spend a lot of money here but not in the type of places westerners would frequent. That don't make them bad people.

[JackThompson]

3 hours ago, Lovethailandelite said:

According to TVF posters, nobody is coming. I think what they really mean is nobody is coming to sit in bars night and day.
Walk around the bar areas of Pattaya and yes it's pretty quite, in fact it was the quietest Christmas and new year I have seen in the bars for over 30yrs. Get away from the bars and it was plenty busy enough but with couples and family's. The days of the bar era and single mans holiday to Thailand are pretty much over. It's now a completely different type of clientele. And before anybody say's it, the Chinese actually do spend a lot of money here but not in the type of places westerners would frequent. That don't make them bad people.

Well, which ones?  The ones on package-tours are good for budget-hotels, the tour-bus company, and 7-11, from what I have seen.  I am sure some upper-class ones have plenty to spend. 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9767514/Heirs-of-Communist-Chinas-Eight-Immortals-have-amassed-huge-wealth.html

 

I have seen a lot of family-activity too - mostly Russians, though.  Their men seem to come to Thailand with wives - and even children for the younger couples.  It's charming - reminds me of the USA 50 years ago, back when marriage was considered a long-term contract.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

16 hours ago, LongTimeLurker said:

The Vietnamese government have announced that the e-visa system will commence from 1 Feb 2017.

 

What you did before was not an e-visa.

 

You will get 15 days stamp on arrival with a UK passport.

Thanks for clearing that up. An earlier post said Vietnam was already doing e-visas, but as I pointed out it was just an "approval notice" that got me on the airplane and I had to get a visa when I got there.

[hgma]

i had to go to immigration to do our 90 day report, after countless efforts failed on the highly published ]easy way' on line opportunity......only it never worked in our case!

[BritTim]

You guys are all so cynical! I think there is a very good chance the e-visa system will come (although possibly not as fast as projected) and work well. There are huge opportunities available by creating concessions for issuing of e-visas. I am surprised the authorities did not think of this long ago. The cost of the e-visas would be at a substantial premium to paper visas. Successful applicants for the concessions would compensate those evaluating the bids in a manner customary in countries such as Thailand. Those providing the service would be motivated to do a decent job, as they stand to lose money if visa applications do not go through. Overall, this is a win for all concerned: senior officials, those running the concessions, and even, on balance, some visitors. The only clear drawback is that the visa costs will be higher. There might also be incentives to restrict visa exempt entries to make the concessions more valuable.

[Langsuan Man]

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

You guys are all so cynical! I think there is a very good chance the e-visa system will come (although possibly not as fast as projected) and work well. There are huge opportunities available by creating concessions for issuing of e-visas. I am surprised the authorities did not think of this long ago. The cost of the e-visas would be at a substantial premium to paper visas. Successful applicants for the concessions would compensate those evaluating the bids in a manner customary in countries such as Thailand. Those providing the service would be motivated to do a decent job, as they stand to lose money if visa applications do not go through. Overall, this is a win for all concerned: senior officials, those running the concessions, and even, on balance, some visitors. The only clear drawback is that the visa costs will be higher. There might also be incentives to restrict visa exempt entries to make the concessions more valuable.

You are forgetting the "missed" opportunities for the brown envelopes that would be lost with an e-visa system

 

BTW:  We are so cynical because we are realists

[jonclark]

An E-visa service with full system architecture and functionality created using a knocked off copy of Windows XP straight from Pantip.

 

And an admin password of 12345. - What could go wrong? 

 

Too cynical for a Monday? 

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, Langsuan Man said:

You are forgetting the "missed" opportunities for the brown envelopes that would be lost with an e-visa system

 

BTW:  We are so cynical because we are realists

The brown envelopes you refer to for visas are getting picked up at a relatively low level in the consular service. The officials that get remunerated for creating concessions can be from multiple ministries and reward the top officials who really do not care about the reduced opportunities for lower level corruption. Indeed, the articles that opened this thread hinted at the jockeying going on between ministries for their share of the spoils.