Just fly and you will be fine.

 

7 hours ago, Lovethailandelite said:

There are other options. If the other options don't suit, then there is one more and final option and that's to stay in a country where it does suit...such as the UK with there open border policy.....Hold on a minute though, there has just been a referendum there and won on an immigration issue to stop exactly what your looking to happen here. It's all getting a little fickle isn't it?

So you suggest I join the "if you don't like it go home" brigade, just because I'm not a fan of some of Thailands immigation policies.

Just take a look at the amount of likes I have received in this topic. What does that tell you?

Seems that they only want people who can afford Thailand Elite visas, or who work here, or who are married / retired and meet all the ever changing requirements.
 
Rich guys in, poor guys out" seems to be the reasoning behind all the recent policy changes .....

Why would any country want "poor" tourists or "poor" immigrants?

23 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Your last sentence, a correct visa should give you the automatic right to enter any country provided there is no suspicion of criminality involved. If any immigration officer wants to stop you entering a country, he/she should have a reason and not on any whim.

 

A visa never gives an automatic right to enter any country, Thailand is not unique in this, it is always the decision of the IO. Most immigration departments/officers will give a reason if they refuse entry.

 

Involvement in criminality is a reason for refusing entry, there are many others. 

 

A visa is is just an easy way to see that the holder has fulfilled a set of requirements and every IO will consider it in their decision to permit or refuse entry. 

OP, you been unlucky, that s all. Last time I was in savanakhet and they told me last visa for me.
Now I m in Vientiane and tomorrow I pick up the visa. One day they say ok, one day they say not ok.
Officer had a bad day and wanted to feel useful to Thailand. Sometimes they pick a guy and make you life like hell and whatever you say or do, they will win. Try to enter at another border and avoid savanakhet for a while.

Can you blame anybody not posting here there experience when the OP has had some of the responses he did, basically calling him a liar and scaremonger? This forum doesn't get anywhere the information it could have because of the way people are treated and attempted to be belittled. Don't think for one nano second that because it's not reported here, it isn't happening.

Belittling people is also assuming that "quality tourists don't stay in 700 baht hotels. "
Belittling and insulting. So how about thinking about what you post yourself before advising others ?
Just a thought.


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I think if you had told them you are planning to marry this month They may have let you in Don't know for sure but it seems logical

 

If you had too many stamps in your passport that would be a reason

 

Good luck 

6 hours ago, dbrenn said:

Seems that they only want people who can afford Thailand Elite visas, or who work here, or who are married / retired and meet all the ever changing requirements.

Rich guys in, poor guys out" seems to be the reasoning behind all the recent policy changes .....

The Elite folks are putting significant-money in some special-pockets to get a pass, - that's all that is - and why it is not priced to the market.  It is certainly in their interest to limit Tourist-Visa use.  You see this phenomenon in every nation - people who support immigration-policies that make a few rich, but make all other citizens poorer.   Each person driven away with these policies costs one or more Thai families an income based on the loss of foreign-sourced capital-spending into local markets. 

 

The "poor guys out" was my impression for awhile, and that may be a factor, but now they are giving "free visas" to only certain countries - essentially recruiting tourists for whom 1000 Baht is a significant portion of their vacation-budget.  Those are the folks staying in the budget-hotels - or getting package-deals for slightly nicer ones, so that the cost is still in the budget-range.   So is the policy "poor Western folks out," then?  But poor people cannot afford to travel regularly for Tourist-Visas, so I'm not sure "poor" is really a factor, at this point.

1 hour ago, swissmaninthailand said:

OP, you been unlucky, that s all. Last time I was in savanakhet and they told me last visa for me.
Now I m in Vientiane and tomorrow I pick up the visa. One day they say ok, one day they say not ok.
Officer had a bad day and wanted to feel useful to Thailand. Sometimes they pick a guy and make you life like hell and whatever you say or do, they will win. Try to enter at another border and avoid savanakhet for a while.

Did you got an warning stamp in Savannakhet? Would be nice if you could update tomorrow after you crossed the broder. Good luck.

Speaking of Savannakhet...if my bus is scheduled to arrive in Mukdahan at 8.55 will that leave me enough time to be at the consult by 11.00am?? Which I believe is last orders there?

11 minutes ago, Pat in Pattaya said:

Speaking of Savannakhet...if my bus is scheduled to arrive in Mukdahan at 8.55 will that leave me enough time to be at the consult by 11.00am?? Which I believe is last orders there?

Yes, should be enough time. If i remember correct, every 30 Minutes departs a bus from Mukdahan to Vientiane. If you are lucky, You will be able to take the 9:00 bus. 50 Baht for the bus ticket. From the bus station Savannakhet it's only a 5-10 minute ride to the consulate.

 

The bus which crosses the friendship bridge might not wait for you or other foreigners. You can wait for the next bus, or (what I did) hire a taxi. I paid 100 Baht for that ride. Good luck.

2 minutes ago, alocacoc said:

Yes, should be enough time. If i remember correct, every 30 Minutes departs a bus from Mukdahan to Vientiane. If you are lucky, You will be able to take the 9:00 bus. 50 Baht for the bus ticket. From the bus station Savannakhet it's only a 5-10 minute ride to the consulate.

 

The bus which crosses the friendship bridge might not wait for you or other foreigners. You can wait for the next bus, or (what I did) hire a taxi. I paid 100 Baht for that ride. Good luck.

OK, CHEERS.

Speaking of Savannakhet...if my bus is scheduled to arrive in Mukdahan at 8.55 will that leave me enough time to be at the consult by 11.00am?? Which I believe is last orders there?

Its a bit tight try to get a earlier bus

Print out your loas visa form before you go and fill it out to save time. Also once you have your visa for loas you don't have to wait in line with all the Asian people, who don't need a visa, just walk straight pass that line and show the imaragtion guy your passport. Then forget the bus and get a taxi to the Embassy.

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10 hours ago, jacko45k said:

If you can afford to live in Thailand and not work, go for another Visa type, an Elite perhaps.

because it involves paying a " premium "  which isn't worth it. There is nothing so special about Thailand that it's worth paying upfront to an organisation that has gone broke once before.

for example the coastal resort of Nha Trang in Vietnam in many ways is even much nicer and much less polluted than Pattaya .In fact   I would strongly recommend that anyone on this forum who feel they have reached the end of their Thai tourist Visa's and are forced to make the choice between returning to their home country or buying an Elite visa before doing so should firstly book a brief trip to Nha Trang (or any of the other beautiful coastal resorts in Vietnam) and see what I mean. And after speaking to many expats already living there, they told me Vietnam has no objection to perpetual tourists-no immigration officers saying you have too many tourist visa's in your passport.

yes they expect you to do the Visa runs when the time is up but it's a completely different attitude by the Vietnamese immigration authorities to what people are now encountering in Thailand.

On 3/4/2017 at 11:02 PM, lkv said:

Positive attitude. That's what I like. Pretty sure mine's gonna work out just fine as well :)

They always do until they don't. ;-)

4 hours ago, Pat in Pattaya said:

Speaking of Savannakhet...if my bus is scheduled to arrive in Mukdahan at 8.55 will that leave me enough time to be at the consult by 11.00am?? Which I believe is last orders there?

IMHO, that is cutting things very fine unless willing to pay for a very expensive taxi to expedite crossing the bridge. If you end up on a 9:30 bus out of Mukdahan, you then

• get to the bridge and stamp out of Thailand;
• wait for the bus to cross the bridge, and then cross to the Lao side;
• queue for Lao visa on arrival;
• queue to stamp into Laos (it is possible you will get the stamp along with your Lao visa, but you should not rely on that);
• get a taxi from the border to the consulate (if tight on time, do not even think of waiting for the bus to the bus station, and then heading back to the consulate).

On the average, the above will take an hour, and could certainly take longer. If coming from Bangkok, there are lots of buses that arrive around 6:00 to 7:00 am. Take one of those.

1 hour ago, dcnx said:

They always do until they don't. ;-)

When that happens we study viable alternatives. So far just came back from ChaengWatthana, got an extension, business as usual.

On 3/6/2017 at 6:10 PM, BritTim said:

IMHO, that is cutting things very fine unless willing to pay for a very expensive taxi to expedite crossing the bridge. If you end up on a 9:30 bus out of Mukdahan, you then

• get to the bridge and stamp out of Thailand;
• wait for the bus to cross the bridge, and then cross to the Lao side;
• queue for Lao visa on arrival;
• queue to stamp into Laos (it is possible you will get the stamp along with your Lao visa, but you should not rely on that);
• get a taxi from the border to the consulate (if tight on time, do not even think of waiting for the bus to the bus station, and then heading back to the consulate).

On the average, the above will take an hour, and could certainly take longer. If coming from Bangkok, there are lots of buses that arrive around 6:00 to 7:00 am. Take one of those.

Appreciate the post. Like you say will take approx and hour so that would still leave an hour spare for any other delays.

4 minutes ago, Pat in Pattaya said:

Appreciate the post. Like you say will take approx and hour so that would still leave an hour spare for any other delays.

I guess you are a gambler. The odds are in your favor, but I would guess you will be unlucky about 20% of the time. Good luck!

9 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I guess you are a gambler. The odds are in your favor, but I would guess you will be unlucky about 20% of the time. Good luck!

Yes I suppose I am, but also factoring in that the worse thing that can happen is I spend another night in Savannakhet..

 

Oh, hang on...

On 3/5/2017 at 11:21 AM, Lovethailandelite said:

Because there other options for long stayers of all ages, nobody is discriminated against. Immigration rules by the way, not mine.

Please specify some practical and reasonable "other options" for long stayers under fifty. 

Yes I suppose I am, but also factoring in that the worse thing that can happen is I spend another night in Savannakhet..
 
Oh, hang on...

Well you will be ok because if you like gambling and are stuck you can always go to the casino lol

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