On another thread a poster wrote the following. "i went to my home country at least once a year (usually twice) and got tourist visas there.  a home visit will do alot in terms of 'clearing your record'. I just wanted to see what other people thoughts and/or experiences are on this. I personally have normally had NON B or Non O visas but in the past have had some pretty messy passports with all manner of visas. I like to return home for Christmas every year as I find Thailand pretty boring then and I can catch all the family in one trip in the same place. whenever in the past IO officers have looked through any messy passports they have generally from what I have seen stopped on the page/s that show the return to home country, quickly check current visa if required and stamp. Just wondering if anyone thinks that a regular return to home country is seen as a plus to immo for long term stayers in Thailand, in particular those using multiple types of visas rather than extensions of stay etc

It has been my impression that home visits suggest a continuing connection there that reassures immigration that you have mot relocated permanently to Thailand. However, there was a recent report that suggests this factor may now be less compelling than in the past.

I was speaking to a fella recently who thought that if someone had returned back to his/her home country then it would suggest that person probably wasn't 'wanted' for anything back home to serious also. I thought he was talking <deleted> but that was his take on it

i was 'the poster' the OP referred to.  part of what i'll call the 'home country theory' is the length of stay.  since most of us have to travel quite a distance, we stay for a month +/-.  a one month stay in your home country and returning with an SETV has to look better to an IO than a 3 night stay in HK coming back with an SETV from the consulate in HK.  the more time you spend out of the country, the more unlikely it is that you are working illegally in thailand.

This seems to be a generally accepted wisdom, I've heard this many times over the years. 

Logically, it would make sense that returning to your home country frequently (at least once, if not more than that per year) should make you look more legitimate in the eyes of an IO.  It makes sense, right?  And it's logical, right?  Someone once wrote on here that the Thais and logic aren't always a good marriage.  As such, while it should help I am not convinced that it will.

A baiting inflammatory post has been removed.

22 hours ago, BritTim said:

reassures immigration that you have mot relocated permanently to Thailand

does this insinuate that immigration has a bias against us long-stayers ?

With regard to my home country; the UK, one is never stamped in or out so Thai immigration do not know where I go when I exit Thailand. They only know if I obtain a visa to return to Thailand while at home.

2 minutes ago, SunsetT said:

With regard to my home country; the UK, one is never stamped in or out so Thai immigration do not know where I go when I exit Thailand. They only know if I obtain a visa to return to Thailand while at home.

The Advance Passenger Information System identifies exactly where you came from !  

8 minutes ago, SunsetT said:

With regard to my home country; the UK, one is never stamped in or out so Thai immigration do not know where I go when I exit Thailand. They only know if I obtain a visa to return to Thailand while at home.

Departurecard, when you fill that, there is flight number..

At least in my case it tells to immigration when i fly to my homecountry + of cource when coming back, visas issued at home country etc

Edited July 14, 20178 yr by thaitero

29 minutes ago, thaitero said:

Departurecard, when you fill that, there is flight number..

At least in my case it tells to immigration when i fly to my homecountry + of cource when coming back, visas issued at home country etc

Unless u have a direct flight the flight number will not inform them u r returning home. In 11 years I have never had a direct flight to the UK. I doubt they bother to check this anyway and Im sure I dont always fill this in.

43 minutes ago, perthperson said:

The Advance Passenger Information System identifies exactly where you came from !  

We are discussing where one is going, not where you came from.....

 

.....And I presume u mean in the UK because u must know, Im sure, that in Thailand they use the Retarded Passenger Information system.........

 

.........especially for retards like me.........lol.....555.............!

Edited July 14, 20178 yr by SunsetT

Regarding topic title i think it is obvious that homecountry/europe/usa visits are plus, same as older age, businessclass tickets etc when they make profiling, computer alerts who to check closer. That is pure logic..

11 minutes ago, thaitero said:

Regarding topic title i think it is obvious that homecountry/europe/usa visits are plus, same as older age, businessclass tickets etc when they make profiling, computer alerts who to check closer. That is pure logic..

Sorry but you lost me there.......................

Edited July 14, 20178 yr by SunsetT

Really?

Not that hard to understand

7 hours ago, SunsetT said:

They only know if I obtain a visa to return to Thailand while at home.

getting the visa is key as the whole exercise here is to make sure they know you went home.

 

as far as the form with the flight number entry, i always put in both flights (like you, i've not had a nonstop home in 5+ years).  i doubt it does any good, as you noted, i think you can leave it blank. 

 

6 hours ago, SunsetT said:

We are discussing where one is going, not where you came from.....

this got me a laughing a bit.  i think we are trying to prove to immigration that we are 'coming from' our home country but of course we have to 'go there' first.  we may be talking about both !!

 

11 hours ago, YetAnother said:

does this insinuate that immigration has a bias against us long-stayers ?

Some IOs are extremely suspicious of those living permanently in Thailand on tourist entries, yes, especially if you are well under retirement age, and spend all your time at a specific popular dive destination.

this is from the OP of the 'entry denied bangkok airport':

 

I'm the OP of this thread and would like to share the end of the story and give some more details. 
-
The final report by the officer says: 
I had to many entries and long time I didn't went back to my home country and that raises speculation of working in Thailand. 

19 minutes ago, buick said:

this is from the OP of the 'entry denied bangkok airport':

 

I'm the OP of this thread and would like to share the end of the story and give some more details. 
-
The final report by the officer says: 
I had to many entries and long time I didn't went back to my home country and that raises speculation of working in Thailand. 

Does this actually mean you didn't go back to your home country or does it mean you have not stayed outside Thailand for longer than XX amount of days in the last XX period ? 

 

As someone else stated most people don't get stamped in and out if their home country and often do stop overs.

On 13/07/2017 at 1:13 PM, BritTim said:

It has been my impression that home visits suggest a continuing connection there that reassures immigration that you have mot relocated permanently to Thailand. However, there was a recent report that suggests this factor may now be less compelling than in the past.

For the simple and obvious reason that in many countries you wont get a stamp from your home country. In my case I was always going straight back to work in Geneva and drive back to France in the evening. I think that to be the case in all Schengen countries. So Thai immigration didn't have any way of knowing whether I had gon back home or not.

9 hours ago, Momofarang said:

For the simple and obvious reason that in many countries you wont get a stamp from your home country. In my case I was always going straight back to work in Geneva and drive back to France in the evening. I think that to be the case in all Schengen countries. So Thai immigration didn't have any way of knowing whether I had gon back home or not.

Usually, they know. All inbound and outbound international flights you make using Thai airports are recorded. There can be rare cases like yours where you use land travel for part of the journey, but this is not typical.

If a new Thailand visa is obtained in the home country it will be clear, place of issuance is stamped prominently on the visa. 

Consulate in Singapore didn't care I was recently in the EU for three solid months and choose to not give me a SETV. Invoked the rule about 180days (which is obsolete)

Just now, JayBird said:

Consulate in Singapore didn't care I was recently in the EU for three solid months and choose to not give me a SETV. Invoked the rule about 180days (which is obsolete)

You should of written their rule. There has never been a 180 day rule.

I nearly got refused entry before and the supervisor in charge of immigration at the airport told me I should go back to my country at some point. 

He told me if I never go back they think I might have done something illegal and I am a fugitive. His words.

18 hours ago, ashnad836 said:

Does this actually mean you didn't go back to your home country or does it mean you have not stayed outside Thailand for longer than XX amount of days in the last XX period ? 

 

As someone else stated most people don't get stamped in and out if their home country and often do stop overs.

 

i quoted someone else so i can't say for sure the context of his conversation with the IO. 

 

today there is a report (on this site) of someone being denied entry and he came from his home country (i'm not sure how long he was out of thailand).  but he was denied entry and it appears it was due to too many visa exempt entries.  he didn't get a tourist visa while at home.

 

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

You should of written their rule. There has never been a 180 day rule.

I believe the was a rule a few years ago about maximum of 90 days in 180 days. I think they removed that limitation when they removed the triple entry visas.

i was denied an SETV at the thai consulate in hong kong due to that 'rule'.  not sure if it was a real one or not.  that was long time ago, 6 or 7 years i think.  since then the HK consulate has been reported to be more friendly.  i wonder if the consulate in singapore has remained unfriendly. 

22 minutes ago, JayBird said:

I believe the was a rule a few years ago about maximum of 90 days in 180 days. I think they removed that limitation when they removed the triple entry visas.

My understanding is that rule only ever applied to visa-exempt entries, never to visas.

 

I think the issue was more that you applied in Singapore.