I was refused a new Thai tourist visa, and a stamp—proof of residence and income—stamped on my passport.

My Australian passport has 6 previous tourist visas over the past 2 years, with a few months in neighbouring countries.

My question is, what are my options?

 

a. The embassy guy told me that whether I could get a visa on arrival was up to the “police” on the border.

  Any thoughts on my chances? Anyway I could improve the odds?

 

b. A friendly agent across the road from the embassy told me that for 5000b he can talk to his “friend” in the embassy and get me a tourist visa. My main concern is, reliability?   Any thoughts on this option?

I don’t need to stay in Thailand, but I do need to return once to tidy up some business and get my stuff.  30 days on arrival is sufficient. Any help appreciated.

Your experience was a bit surprising. Where were all of your previous tourist visas from?

I would expect a visa exempt entry to be no problem. If you try entering from Vientiane at Nong Khai and happen to be refused entry (unlikely) the denial will be unofficial, so you could then try re-entering by flying from Vientiane to Bangkok.

20 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Your experience was a bit surprising. Where were all of your previous tourist visas from?

I would expect a visa exempt entry to be no problem. If you try entering from Vientiane at Nong Khai and happen to be refused entry (unlikely) the denial will be unofficial, so you could then try re-entering by flying from Vientiane to Bangkok.

My previous visas were all from Penang (what can I say, I like Indian).

Is that a factor?

Fly from Vientiane to Bangkok and get 30 days Visa Exempt Entry (I think ozzies get 30 days but not 100pc). Probably cheaper as Thai AirAsia now flies to Vientiane (according to the net).

2 minutes ago, rak sa_ngop said:

Fly from Vientiane to Bangkok and get 30 days Visa Exempt Entry (I think ozzies get 30 days but not 100pc). Probably cheaper as Thai AirAsia now flies to Vientiane (according to the net).

I could, but would prefer to go directly to Nong Khai. Got to see someone. ...

13 minutes ago, Ianatlarge said:

My previous visas were all from Penang (what can I say, I like Indian).

Is that a factor?

They only usually refuse Tourist Visas, or give warnings firstly after you have received three TVs from the same Embassy .

   And they usually issue the Visa and then give you a red stamp warning .

Maybe the Embassy made a mistake and thought that all your previous Visas came from their Embassy , or this could be a new policy

   

3 hours ago, Ianatlarge said:

My previous visas were all from Penang (what can I say, I like Indian).

Is that a factor?

Racism is sometimes a factor. I cannot say if it was it your case. They also tend to be more suspicious of younger travelers, suspecting them more easily of illegal working. Was there anything at all in your passport that could have raised doubts in their mind?

1 minute ago, BritTim said:

Racism is sometimes a factor. I cannot say if it was it your case. They also tend to be more suspicious of younger travelers, suspecting them more easily of illegal working. Was there anything at all in your passport that could have raised doubts in their mind?

Nothing. I have spent the past 5 years meandering around Asia, but nothing untoward.

On 4/10/2017 at 11:59 AM, Ianatlarge said:

I was refused a new Thai tourist visa, and a stamp—proof of residence and income—stamped on my passport.

To be clear - they accepted your application, then applied this stamp to your passport and refused the visa?  Or, you had this stamp already from Penang, and Vientiane denied based on that stamp?

 

Also, did you try providing "Proof of Residence and Income" - similar to what is required in Savanahket (though Savanahket also requires proof of transit out of Thailand within 90 days).