guess there is quite a confusion at the bkk airport on METV issued in vientiane here what happen to me.

 

i am very long legal resident in Lao ,therefore went to Thailand at least twice a month for many years, maximum stay no more then 15 days maybe twice only, otherwise less then 2 or 3 days.

 

Once they issued the new law i sent our staff at the local consulate and promptly obtained the METV valid six month, it is an old style visa stamp with hand written visa number, dates etc.

crossed by land never had problem, went to bkk with a direct flight to Suvarnabhumi twice, the first time immigration officer asked me where was my visa, i showed him he was surprised to see a old style visa consulted with a colleague next to him,  then with a smile said everything was ok, got a stamp with 60 days which i will never use.

on 20th march i flew in again, young officer, when see my visa start to be suspicious asked me where i got the visa, then showed to his colleague who never seen one similar too, in Thai then they said i was coming to Thailand "boi boi"  and the other colleague was wondering if my visa was fake.

they escorted me at the immigration office, waited over 45 minutes as there were several Chinese before me, at last an old lady officer asked me what was my purpose  to come to Thailand, if i had a return ticket which i have, how much my financial means, i explained to her that i live in Laos and i come for pleasure and business and my maximum stay in Thailand not more then 5 days, given her my name cards to show business ventures and then after a friendly chit chat, she apologized and   stamped my passport, as cherry on top of the cake, she give me 30 days only when with the metv i am entitled  to 60 days, as i already back to day to laos i didn't care and did not want  to waste more time.
Guess immigrations officers at the airport are on witch hunt for foreigners making visa run, however next time i will try not to state my visa on the immigration form and see if they will not notice it and give me a regular 30 days on arrival .. without making me waste time.
 

Edited March 23, 20179 yr by Jerry787
cut too long text

Photo of the visa would help others maybe !

Last time I had one of those was 14 or 15 years ago.

Edited March 23, 20179 yr by overherebc

Here is one done in January.. I think they may of run out of stickers for a few days.

It looks like a Single Entry Visa?

It says Gratis - which means free (In european lanuages)

 

If thats the case, maybe the officer just gave you a 30 days visa exempt, and thats why you only got 30 days.

 

What does your entry stamp say?

 

Does it say พ.30 ? In Visa Type?

If thats the case, they gave you a 30 days visa exempt.

3 minutes ago, somethingnice said:

It looks like a Single Entry Visa?
It says Gratis - which means free (In european lanuages)

If thats the case, maybe the officer just gave you a 30 days visa exempt, and thats why you only got 30 days.

What does your entry stamp say?

Does it say พ.30 ? In Visa Type?
If thats the case, they gave you a 30 days visa exempt.

I think you failed to notice I posted that image not the OP. It was sent to me by email in January by an acquaintance.

It was issued when single entry visas were free.

Just now, ubonjoe said:

I think you failed to notice I posted that image not the OP. It was sent to me by email in January by an acquaintance.

It was issued when single entry visas were free.

Aarh yes, thats correct.

 

Sorry about that.

 

But it could be the case for OP, that he received a visa exempt entry (somehow if they didn't accept the Visa).

Last time I had one of those was back in 2003 ( M ) from Jenny in Cardiff.

13 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Here is one done in January.. I think they may of run out of stickers for a few days.

 

Even though that is a single entry, I suspect the METV would have the 'M' instead of the 'S' in the "Good for" line. And wouldn't have the Gratis stamp.

 

Also assume that the OP has resident status in Laos as it was a multi entry he was issued with and travelling on.

10 minutes ago, chrisinth said:

Even though that is a single entry, I suspect the METV would have the 'M' instead of the 'S' in the "Good for" line. And wouldn't have the Gratis stamp.

 

Also assume that the OP has resident status in Laos as it was a multi entry he was issued with and travelling on.

The OP's visa would have an M and be valid for 6 months with a fee of 5000 baht being shown. I only posted the single entry to show that Vientiane did do some stamps back in January.

Vientiane relaxed the rules a little after the 2 visa exempt entry at land borders rule came into effect. Residency is not required if a person has work permit and/or long term visa for Laos.

8 hours ago, overherebc said:

Last time I had one of those was back in 2003 ( M ) from Jenny in Cardiff.

I got 2 single entry non-o visas from the honorary consulate in Houston in 2006 and 2007 that were stamps.

Thailand, the hub of visa complications. 

52 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

Thailand, the hub of visa complications. 

While there may be the occasional glitch, most of the visa complications exist solely in the mind of the visa holders or applicants for extensions of stay.

18 hours ago, Jerry787 said:

as cherry on top of the cake, she give me 30 days only when with the metv i am entitled  to 60 days,

 

Not "entitled" to 60 days, you may be granted a permission of stay "up to" 60 days.

28 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

While there may be the occasional glitch, most of the visa complications exist solely in the mind of the visa holders or applicants for extensions of stay.

Maybe, but never had visa or immigration issues in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Hong Kong or Taiwan.   Thailand, had problems a few times after the junta usurped power, never before though. 

1 hour ago, Suradit69 said:

While there may be the occasional glitch, most of the visa complications exist solely in the mind of the visa holders or applicants for extensions of stay.

I have to wonder if ubonjoe sees it this way. Why does he stay so busy if it is all so transparent and stable? I'm always impressed by his deep knowledge of requirements and following these posts has increased my own understanding of the topic. Whereas your own role appears to be that of a champion apologist for all things difficult in LOS.

21 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Here is one done in January.. I think they may of run out of stickers for a few days.

yes the same, but mine its a multiple entry valid 6 monhts

4 hours ago, captnhoy said:

I have to wonder if ubonjoe sees it this way. Why does he stay so busy if it is all so transparent and stable? I'm always impressed by his deep knowledge of requirements and following these posts has increased my own understanding of the topic. Whereas your own role appears to be that of a champion apologist for all things difficult in LOS.

UJ helps those who cant seem to help themselves. Its not all that confusing if you do a litle research and read your passport.  The same questions get asked every single day because people dont apply the knowledge and refuse by any and all means to use proper terminolgy. If people had brain cancer they would get all the facts straight but its not so no one really cares to pay attention.  The constant excuse by the unconcearned is "you're splitting hairs".  Next thing you know they overstayed, got a visa rejection, got blacklisted etc. Then suddenly its not splitting hairs and they're begging UJ for advise. 

49 minutes ago, ThaiWai said:

UJ helps those who cant seem to help themselves. Its not all that confusing if you do a litle research and read your passport.  The same questions get asked every single day because people dont apply the knowledge and refuse by any and all means to use proper terminolgy. If people had brain cancer they would get all the facts straight but its not so no one really cares to pay attention.  The constant excuse by the unconcearned is "you're splitting hairs".  Next thing you know they overstayed, got a visa rejection, got blacklisted etc. Then suddenly its not splitting hairs and they're begging UJ for advise. 

 

Just to throw in an excuse for some of the guys who ask on here about visa/extension problems.

In a lot of cases it's because they are given wrong info by companies, lawyers and agents whose knowledge on said is on a par with my budgie.

If your company, lawyer or agent doesn't know the difference you can end in trouble that is no fault of your own and it's an easy guess who ends up with the sh-tty end of the stick.

20 minutes ago, overherebc said:

 

Just to throw in an excuse for some of the guys who ask on here about visa/extension problems.

In a lot of cases it's because they are given wrong info by companies, lawyers and agents whose knowledge on said is on a par with my budgie.

If your company, lawyer or agent doesn't know the difference you can end in trouble that is no fault of your own and it's an easy guess who ends up with the sh-tty end of the stick.

I actually think one of the most understandable reasons people go wrong is when they ask their local Thai consulate about immigration rules, and assume they are being given correct information. As a general rule, the Thai consulates only know about the rules surrounding the visas they are empowered to issue, but people assume they know about all immigration matters. Of course, it does not help when the consulates' websites back them up in providing incorrect information.

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

I actually think one of the most understandable reasons people go wrong is when they ask their local Thai consulate about immigration rules, and assume they are being given correct information. As a general rule, the Thai consulates only know about the rules surrounding the visas they are empowered to issue, but people assume they know about all immigration matters. Of course, it does not help when the consulates' websites back them up in providing incorrect information.

Yep, thing is you have to be in Thailand for a long time to really get a handle on all of it.

??