Conflicting talk on arrival card

[YetAnother]

it has been a Long Time since i used the arrival/departure card so i cannot recall the answers to the questions my friends ask;

they tell me the current card (the arrival portion) asks for a thai address and a thai phone number;

they are puzzled as they know neither on the spot;

their idea is to 'grab a hotel' of which they know not yet

there is also talk that that address cannot be a guesthouse or hotel which i find remarkably foolish

 

would someone please enlighten me on this ?

TIA

[Jdietz]

Address can be a hotel or guesthouse no problem

Grab one off the internet before you enter, and use that as address and phone number.

Later decide if you actually want to stay there or change your mind.

The actual place you are staying needs to report you within 24 hours anyway.

 

[ubonjoe]

It can be the address of a hotel, guest house and etc but it has to be a complete address. The officer on entry may ask for a phone number as well.

Not that hard to find an address for a hotel.

[Los Luver]

I never write the address. I do write only the hotel name and the city. that's all. no phone number.

Only once i was asked to write the phone number. I did write my number from home.

[ubonjoe]

Just now, Los Luver said:

I never write the address. I do write only the hotel name and the city. that's all

There have been reports of immigration on arrival wanting the address also.

[YetAnother]

hmm; thank you all for your answers;

does seem however that newbie travelers to thai wont know this until having to fill out the cards on the plane on just before airport immigr

[Jdietz]

Newbie travelers have everything booked in advance.

 

[Suradit69]

15 hours ago, YetAnother said:

their idea is to 'grab a hotel' of which they know not yet

Tell your friends it's a good idea to have some idea where they might stay before arriving in Thailand. Wandering the streets of Bangkok, or wherever they end up, looking for a hotel is probably not a good plan. If they took the trouble to worry about what questions they were going to be asked on an arrival card, apparently before arriving, a few minutes spent on the Internet picking a few likely places to stay when they first arrive would be time well spent. 

[Goethe]

I have seen people turned away at Suvarnabhumi for not having an address on the Arrival Card.

[Suradit69]

1 hour ago, Goethe said:

I have seen people turned away at Suvarnabhumi for not having an address on the Arrival Card.

Were you leaning over their shoulders listening to the conversations they had with the immigration officer?  Normally they frown on such intimate proximity while processing someone.

 

 

 

[elgordo38]

16 hours ago, YetAnother said:

hmm; thank you all for your answers;

does seem however that newbie travelers to thai wont know this until having to fill out the cards on the plane on just before airport immigr

Welcome to Thailand

[Andrew Dwyer]

Last time I entered Thailand ( 21/02/17 ) the guy at the next desk was asked "what address "

he replied " don't have one, gonna find a hotel "

The IO said " you need an address "

He shrugged his shoulders and said " Hilton ? "

IO said "okay " and filled the landing card for him.

My point being: you probably will be asked for an address and not all IO's will be as friendly as this one !

As UbonJoe said " not that hard to find an address for a hotel "

 

Good advice.

 

 

[WhizBang]

16 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

Were you leaning over their shoulders listening to the conversations they had with the immigration officer?  Normally they frown on such intimate proximity while processing someone.

 

 

 

 

A few years ago I witnessed a scruffy backpacker get hauled away when he flat out refused (in raised voice) to provide an address.  I was in line 2 lanes over.  I just shook my head and thought to myself, stupid a$$hole, you never want to pi$$ off immigration officers, foreign or domestic.

[evadgib]

2 hours ago, Goethe said:

I have seen people turned away at Suvarnabhumi for not having an address on the Arrival Card.

Which presumably resulted in nothing more than a pen and/or a new TM6 and going to the back of the queue.

[Tony125]

18 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

It can be the address of a hotel, guest house and etc but it has to be a complete address. The officer on entry may ask for a phone number as well.

Not that hard to find an address for a hotel.

My friends have been coming over and usually put staying with friend in BKK now they have to give address and phone, even had an IO call me to give correct address ater a friend gave him my phone number. He would not have been allowed in without the info.

[thecyclist]

Immigration getting more and more particular and stringent about filling in a real address and phone number.At the border/airport when entering less so than at immigration offices when extending:Last time at Chaeng Wattana she even went on Google maps to check the address I had filled in.If you forget to give a room number or phone number, they will ask for it.

[fordguy61mi]

I made 5 trips last year and only put the name of the hotel and the city and was never asked for the address of the hotel. But after reading some of the comments here I will put the address on the card as well the next time I arrive so as not to have a concern about it.

[hawker9000]

9 hours ago, Suradit69 said:

Tell your friends it's a good idea to have some idea where they might stay before arriving in Thailand. Wandering the streets of Bangkok, or wherever they end up, looking for a hotel is probably not a good plan. If they took the trouble to worry about what questions they were going to be asked on an arrival card, apparently before arriving, a few minutes spent on the Internet picking a few likely places to stay when they first arrive would be time well spent. 

"Wandering the streets of Bangkok, or wherever they end up, looking for a hotel is probably not a good plan."

 

Maybe not, but I'm not sure this isn't exactly what much of the backpacker crowd does...  It's not an unreasonable thing to have on the arrival card, but I doubt it's all that uncommon to just fill in crap there.  I actually don't remember a space for a phone no., although once a couple of years back an attendant in the arrivals hall who was checking cards did pen it in for me to provide.

[rickudon]

Certainly the telephone number is a new thing, I'm sure it wasn't there last year. I do remember before i got married i just used to put 'hotel in Udon' on the card. As said by some, a bit pointless as just because you put an address and telephone number, doesn't mean you will actually go there .....

 

Certainly i do not remember any travel site warning you about what you need to fill in on the TM6.  You do feel that Thailand is slowly but surely tightening that noose around your neck 1 mm at a time! There hasn't been one year in the last 10 when something hasn't become harder, either on Visas, extensions or addresses. But i guess compared to the problems for visitors to the UK (unless from EU) it is still a walk in the park, at least for most of us.