Tourist Visas

[athousand]

There are many people here 'living' or 'staying' on Tourist Visas.

There is a philosophical debate about whether this is right or legal or within the spirit of this visa. There are many people here who feel secure in their visas - whether because they have paid for an Elite visa, or who happen to be over 50 years old, and qualify for retirement visas etc.

Could we have a thread for the former only? In other words - a thread for people who are here, for whatever reason, legally on tourist visas and now confused by recent developments, -without having to trawl through the comments of the latter, telling us how we are are 'abusing the system' etc.

(It may be the case that many people are in Thailand on a Tourist Visa and are working illegally. I am guessing that there are also some who are here on other visas doing the same.)

If we discount those of retirement age - that leaves a number of people here who earn their money abroad, are aged under 50 and who don't want to marry their girlfriend right now, for whatever reason, the least of which being a visa.

Last weekend there was a panic situation - three or four posts - along with some ancillary posts - all giving the impression that now, if you arrive with too many tourist visas in your passport, you may get turned away (or worse, locked up for days in a cell).

It certainly freaked me out!

I have been following the forum hourly - and after the peak panic it now seems like nothing happened- maybe one or two people forgot to bring cash with them?

So - has there been a change in attitude towards those with multiple back to back tourist visas or not?

Perhaps we could have a thread that is purely informative - without any opinion about whether we are 'tourists' etc etc?

My own experience is this - I have been here on tourist visas for 3.5 years. I got an METV when it first became available. I got my second METV in December - the helpful and friendly consul in Wales gave me my second - I could not show him 5,000 for six months - but could show him 60,000 which was just put in my account for the purpose of the uk settlement visa me and my ms will apply for in May.

However - even though I had been back to the uk for two weeks every 10 weeks for 6 months or so - I got a grilling at swampy inDec, and was very relieved to get through.

Anyway - that's my info.

I'm hoping to build up a thread just of information for people in our sutuation. Ie - how many tourist visas, experiences at borders etc- so we can build up a better overall picture than the one we got last weekend.

It does seem like the tourist visa , even though there are no limits legally, is now subject to suspicion by some Immigration Officers. That at least, seems like a new development.

Perhaps those of us here on tourist cisas could uae this thread to share our experiences- and that might help us build a picture of what is going on?

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[bamukloy]

You say you got "grilled"..can you give more detail please.

Where did they take you?

What was said?

Was it busy with many people lined up?

What time of day was it?

 

I am very suprised as everytime i go through lately the lineup has been horrendous and i have never noticed anyone taken away.

I have been through many times on exempt and METV, the last being 1 month ago and never a word spoken by the officers

[texanaust]

Yes, if you received a grilling, it would be important to know more details of your experience.  I have not had any problems (yet) going through with my farang family.  Most of the time we use the priority lanes and perhaps they are less likely to 'harass' people who may (or may not) be perceived as hi-so.  

 

I have no idea whether or not the priority lane would make a difference, it is just an educated guess given how the Thai system operates.

[notmyself]

17 years on tourist visas and have written extensively on it. Click on my avatar and read my posting history if you have a week or so to spare though there are some things I do not share because in doing so I would be making a rod for my own back. Good luck with the thread in any case.

[athousand]

You say you got "grilled"..can you give more detail please.
Where did they take you?
What was said?
Was it busy with many people lined up?
What time of day was it?
 
I am very suprised as everytime i go through lately the lineup has been horrendous and i have never noticed anyone taken away.
I have been through many times on exempt and METV, the last being 1 month ago and never a word spoken by the officers

Fair point - I wasn't specific and I was asking for specifics.

'Grilled' was not specific.

I arrived at around 3 pm. I waited around twenty minutes in the queue.

The immigration officer spent a couple of minutes looking through my passport. He asked me what I was doing here. I started exlaining and he called over the peron from the next desk over. She smiled and didn't seem too interested and he then waved me through. I agree - not a 'grilling' but it was still the first time I'd been questioned. M


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[athousand]

The point being - -I had a valid visa - an METV - that has fairly strict requirements - and I was wearing smart clothes, smiling politely, on a flight from the UK, having been out of the country for a couple of weeks, and it still raised some questions


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[BritTim]

An informative thread would, indeed, be very desirable. However, I believe only subjective impressions are possible, unless an immigration official wishes to tell us the confidential guidelines they have been given.

 

My own subjective impression is that officials have been given ambiguous instructions like "look for people who are clearly not casual visitors, but living and working here illegally". Some officials regard this as impossible to judge, and will only look for clear red flags. Some will go through the motions of asking you what you are doing and, if they have a supervisor who has been asking them to refer people they are suspicious of, passing people on to the supervisor (especially for visa exempt entry after a computer notification of many previous). Most officials really just want an easy life. Unless someone is on their backs, they would prefer just to let most people through.

 

Bottom line: people living here on tourist entries need to have a backup plan because, although unlikely, entering anywhere at the wrong time with the wrong official just might see you targeted. At the current time, most will still slip through OK.

[buick]

i've been staying 8-9 months a year, for 10 years, using visa exempt and tourist visas (all from my home country, USA).  got pulled aside (went to an office area for a chat) about 5 years ago and they said i needed to use more tourist visas and less visa exempt entries.  i'm not sure if that 'chat' got me a green light in the computer or not.  i haven't had any problems since.  i retired at 40 and am now 50.  i mention age as that may be a reason for getting stopped (not sure though).  i make a point to stay in my home country at least 2 straight months each year.  i usually make two trips and the second trip will only be one month.  in 2015 i did 4 straight months so that probably helped my 'record'.

[IMA_FARANG]

I am on a 30 day extension from my original free  60 day Single Entry Tourist visa currently which I obtained on 7 March from CW in Bangkok.

I received my SETV from Hong Kong Thai consulate on 31 December 2016

So it is possible, as I did it.

I am currently here on that extension until 30 March 2017.

 

[at15]

I was locked down in a cell when denied entry at DMK after coming with my third tourist visa.  Was taken aside for 3 hours interviewed/waiting around. Asked if i was working here etc. Said i was not, i am a tourist. Asked why i was in the country ~250 days out of a year on tourist visas (as well as visa exempt), saying i spend too much time in the country >180 days out of the year. Had to exit to another country that flew with air asia. So i left and came back a month later using that third tourist visa successfully. My most recent tourist visa i was denied in vientiane so i came in on a visa exempt entry. 

Edited March 9, 2017 by at15

[bamukloy]

5 hours ago, athousand said:

Fair point - I wasn't specific and I was asking for specifics.

'Grilled' was not specific.

I arrived at around 3 pm. I waited around twenty minutes in the queue.

The immigration officer spent a couple of minutes looking through my passport. He asked me what I was doing here. I started exlaining and he called over the peron from the next desk over. She smiled and didn't seem too interested and he then waved me through. I agree - not a 'grilling' but it was still the first time I'd been questioned. M


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Thankyou. That doesnt really sound like a grilling compared to the poster a15 talks about though, maybe just curiousity

 

They probably ask the question at random times to different folk, to see if they will slip up and answer 'teaching English' if the traveller is tired or answers out of habit.

 

I do suspect many are more likely to ask the question based on what country you come from, looks, skin colour or whatever predjudice the individual IO might have.

 

Who knows though, these cases where guys claim they have obtained a valid visa to use and are still getting refused entry 

I think there must be more to the story, or something in their history, or some other reason imms is rejecting them

 

As they normally give you a red stamp /warning first,

 I will believe it when someone posts an unused visa stamp and a rejection stamp/notice

Until then i lean towards trolling otherwise known as BS