does the 20,000 at entry have to be in baht ?

[Gumballl]

Immigration Officers do not always ask to see 20k baht, or even proof of a return flight. They may ask depending on other circumstances.

As I posted earlier this week (in another thread) my family and I were not asked to show anything. My wife is Thai, and my 2 daughters and myself (from the US) entered on visa waivers. My wife told the IO that we were visiting for 3 weeks, and provided a specific departure date.

In summary, not everyone is asked to show 20k on arrival.

P.S. I did not have 20k on me, so I was fortunate. I did however have more than the minimum requirement of funds in my Thailand-based bank.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[473geo]

There is bureau de change before immigration - use it to change your local currency into Thai baht, the rates are probably better than your origin airport.

Chances are if you fly in from your home country, have a return ticket for your home country, are not looking for any more than 30 days VOA you will not be flagged as suspicious.

Enjoy Thailand.

[Rc2702]

Just in SuvarnabhumI now, breezed through immigration with 4 back to back 60 day visa and my last visa was a 30 day add on and rocked up with new 60 day visa. No questions at all.

 

I reckon maybe it's the older lads getting pulled.

 

Or just down right munters obviously I'm a handsome man.

 

 

[Sheryl]

11 minutes ago, Rc2702 said:

Just in SuvarnabhumI now, breezed through immigration with 4 back to back 60 day visa and my last visa was a 30 day add on and rocked up with new 60 day visa. No questions at all.

 

I reckon maybe it's the older lads getting pulled....

 

 

 

 

 

Actually most of the reports have been from younger people but I don't think age had much to do with it. They all had multiple prior entries into Thailand in the past year, enough to raise suspicion that they were in fact living here rather than just visiting.

[brewsterbudgen]

Just in SuvarnabhumI now, breezed through immigration with 4 back to back 60 day visa and my last visa was a 30 day add on and rocked up with new 60 day visa. No questions at all.
 
I reckon maybe it's the older lads getting pulled.
 
Or just down right munters obviously I'm a handsome man.
 
 

Or it was just a couple of instances that have been blown up into a major problem that doesn't actually exist!

[jeab1980]

On 18/07/2017 at 10:15 AM, BritTim said:

I am not disputing that. I was responding to someone who said immigration could not escort you to an ATM machine because that would involve letting you into the country. It is hard not to conclude that the lack of ATM machines for arriving passengers is a deliberate ploy to give control over withdrawing money to immigration.

No i belive its all to do with security. Passengers who sr5rive have not been screened. Anyone going airside for instance to fill up a machine could easily be passed something to take back through with him as he would most likley just walk passed security as they would have let him in. And even if and its a big if security escorted him its still easily done.

I really wish people would stop.

1. Blowing little incidents out of all proportion

2. Get over the fact there are no ATM's airside in arrivals.

3. Read the rules and as most of you law abiding aliens in Thailand keep saying on here Abide by the rules or face the consequences.

20k bht or equivelent in cash or travelers cheques very simple not at all ambiguous clear and precise.

Edited July 23, 2017 by jeab1980

[BritTim]

37 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

No i belive its all to do with security. Passengers who sr5rive have not been screened. Anyone going airside for instance to fill up a machine could easily be passed something to take back through with him as he would most likley just walk passed security as they would have let him in. And even if and its a big if security escorted him its still easily done.

I really wish people would stop.

1. Blowing little incidents out of all proportion

2. Get over the fact there are no ATM's airside in arrivals.

3. Read the rules and as most of you law abiding aliens in Thailand keep saying on here Abide by the rules or face the consequences.

20k bht or equivelent in cash or travelers cheques very simple not at all ambiguous clear and precise.

I really wish people would stop making specious excuses for preventing travelers, unaware of the need to show cash, the opportunity of doing so. Someone servicing  an ATM machine would (unlike cleaners and those manning the foreign exchange booths near arriving passenger immigration) have no easy way to interact with an arriving passenger undetected (with the extensive surveillance in that area) and receive something smuggled in. Further, should security checks of people going to and from airside really be considered flawed, ensuring those able to interact with passengers about to get on an aircraft could not pass something would appear much more important. Why allow all those shops, restaurants, exchange booths and (yes) ATM machines in the departure area?

Edited July 23, 2017 by BritTim

[jeab1980]

9 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I really wish people would stop making specious excuses for preventing travelers, unaware of the need to show cash, the opportunity of doing so. Someone servicing  an ATM machine would (unlike cleaners and those manning the foreign exchange booths near arriving passenger immigration) have no easy way to interact with an arriving passenger undetected (with the extensive surveillance in that area) and receive something smuggled in. Further, should security checks of people going to and from airside really be considered flawed, ensuring those able to interact with passengers about to get on an aircraft could not pass something would appear much more important. Why allow all those shops, restaurants, exchange booths and (yes) ATM machines in the departure area?

I really wish people would look at things before posting. This is Thailand anyone can become a security gaurd christ my wifes nephew has a security job at a major bank, he has been convicted 3 times of robbery. Anyone air side could easily interact,  CCTV are you kidding me its so easy to mask anything your doing once you know where they are.are you suggesting these mythical ATM be placed away from arriving passengers? 

Any one travwlling to Thailand on holiday would have no problems at Immigration re this blown out of all proportions 20k rule. The ones that will have problems are the serial exempt/S/M Visa users who will know all about the rule. If they dont tough abuse the system take the punishment.

There are no ATM there will probably be no ATM for arriving passengers. So get over it.

Any one selling an air ticket to Thailand should make people aware when booking of immigration rules in Thailand problem solved

[BritTim]

2 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

23 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I really wish people would stop making specious excuses for preventing travelers, unaware of the need to show cash, the opportunity of doing so. Someone servicing  an ATM machine would (unlike cleaners and those manning the foreign exchange booths near arriving passenger immigration) have no easy way to interact with an arriving passenger undetected (with the extensive surveillance in that area) and receive something smuggled in. Further, should security checks of people going to and from airside really be considered flawed, ensuring those able to interact with passengers about to get on an aircraft could not pass something would appear much more important. Why allow all those shops, restaurants, exchange booths and (yes) ATM machines in the departure area?

I really wish people would look at things before posting. This is Thailand anyone can become a security gaurd christ my wifes nephew has a security job at a major bank, he has been convicted 3 times of robbery. Anyone air side could easily interact,  CCTV are you kidding me its so easy to mask anything your doing once you know where they are.are you suggesting these mythical ATM be placed away from arriving passengers? 

Any one travwlling to Thailand on holiday would have no problems at Immigration re this blown out of all proportions 20k rule. The ones that will have problems are the serial exempt/S/M Visa users who will know all about the rule. If they dont tough abuse the system take the punishment.

There are no ATM there will probably be no ATM for arriving passengers. So get over it.

Any one selling an air ticket to Thailand should make people aware when booking of immigration rules in Thailand problem solved

I still do not think you have addressed the question of why arriving passengers are a greater threat than those allowed to get on aircraft. Incompetent security would seem to be a concern either way.

 

That aside, have you ever seen an ATM machine being serviced? 99% of the time, it is done from the rear of the machine. If necessary, it might well even be possible to site a machine in a wall such that the rear of the machine was not airside but the front was.

 

Maybe, you are correct, and only those worthy of suspicion are being targeted. In most cases, that is likely so. However, incompetence in Thailand is not the sole preserve of security guards. I would prefer that officials not be allowed to make up rules as they go along.

[jeab1980]

9 minutes ago, BritTim said:

I still do not think you have addressed the question of why arriving passengers are a greater threat than those allowed to get on aircraft. Incompetent security would seem to be a concern either way.

 

That aside, have you ever seen an ATM machine being serviced? 99% of the time, it is done from the rear of the machine. If necessary, it might well even be possible to site a machine in a wall such that the rear of the machine was not airside but the front was.

 

Maybe, you are correct, and only those worthy of suspicion are being targeted. In most cases, that is likely so. However, incompetence in Thailand is not the sole preserve of security guards. I would prefer that officials not be allowed to make up rules as they go along.

Not in thailand they arent they are serviced and filled at the front of the machines. Take a look next time your wandering round a mall  you will see a security company all the time putting  a new cassette of money in or taking a full cassette out of the pay in machines. All of the machines are in walls but not serviced from rear.

Immigration like it or not on this 20k rule are not making things up it already there some just use it others dont. Only the same as opening a bank account on a TV some will some wont.

 

 

[Rc2702]

3 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Or it was just a couple of instances that have been blown up into a major problem that doesn't actually exist!

Yeah I'm sailing down brewster avenue with this one completely blown out of proportion and very likely a load of stinking BS

[ChomDo]

I've never been asked to show any cash upon arrival and I fly in and out of Thailand every 2-3 months with new TR visa or exempt. Also I've never seen anyone having to show cash at the airport's immigration counter. I guess it's good to have it just in case then, but I've never had a load of cash on me before when I enter Thailand. I wonder would they really refuse entry if you can't show 20,000 b? Then what, would they put you on a flight back to wherever you came from?   

[jeab1980]

10 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

I've never been asked to show any cash upon arrival and I fly in and out of Thailand every 2-3 months with new TR visa or exempt. Also I've never seen anyone having to show cash at the airport's immigration counter. I guess it's good to have it just in case then, but I've never had a load of cash on me before when I enter Thailand. I wonder would they really refuse entry if you can't show 20,000 b? Then what, would they put you on a flight back to wherever you came from?   

Its more an excuse for the serial only leave thailand for a couple of days to a week and reappear. Living here in reality on a mixture of visa's and visa exempts if truth be told.  They then can refuse you entry as has happend now to a couple of people one reported he flew to neighboring country and re entered over land and one who flew back to tbe states after getting his mates to help him buy airfare. In your case it would be obvious you are going home or another country. But one never knows i presume (mother of all thats wrong in this world presumption) you have a perfectly good reason to be in and out so often.

 

Edited July 23, 2017 by jeab1980

[Peterw42]

If I was a Thai immigration officer on the look out for people working illegally, I would look for the following things.

 

A history of back to back exempt or tourist visa's (issued in a neighboring country).

 

A history of back to back departures to and arrivals from a neighboring country.

 

A person arriving with no checked in luggage. (left 2 days ago with just a backpack)

 

A tourist with a Thai bank account, Thai license, blue book etc.

 

A tourist with a Thai bank account that shows sufficient funds but also shows "Thai" deposits (work).

 

None of the above are strictly illegal or grounds for not allowing entry, but in combination tag you as possibly working. After that they just look for a valid reason to deny entry, no onward travel, no 20k etc.

[Rc2702]

44 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

If I was a Thai immigration officer on the look out for people working illegally, I would look for the following things.

 

A history of back to back exempt or tourist visa's (issued in a neighboring country).

 

A history of back to back departures to and arrivals from a neighboring country.

 

A person arriving with no checked in luggage. (left 2 days ago with just a backpack)

 

A tourist with a Thai bank account, Thai license, blue book etc.

 

A tourist with a Thai bank account that shows sufficient funds but also shows "Thai" deposits (work).

 

None of the above are strictly illegal or grounds for not allowing entry, but in combination tag you as possibly working. After that they just look for a valid reason to deny entry, no onward travel, no 20k etc.

Sounds like a good block chain to be fair.

 

 

[ChomDo]

2 hours ago, jeab1980 said:

Its more an excuse for the serial only leave thailand for a couple of days to a week and reappear. Living here in reality on a mixture of visa's and visa exempts if truth be told.  They then can refuse you entry as has happend now to a couple of people one reported he flew to neighboring country and re entered over land and one who flew back to tbe states after getting his mates to help him buy airfare. In your case it would be obvious you are going home or another country. But one never knows i presume (mother of all thats wrong in this world presumption) you have a perfectly good reason to be in and out so often.

 

Ok in that case I guess I'll keep the 20k with me from now on. I guess them asking to see cash is still extremely rare but yes I'd rather not take any risks with the immigration. I actually don't have any perfectly good official reason to be in and out so often. The only reason is that I'm forced to do so because they don't have any visa types available for "digital nomads". I have two passports and I return to my home country for one month a year so I guess that might be why I'm not getting questioned. The only time I've been harassed by immigration officials was when I had a ED visa for a language school.  

[JackThompson]

3 hours ago, ChomDo said:

I've never been asked to show any cash upon arrival and I fly in and out of Thailand every 2-3 months with new TR visa or exempt. Also I've never seen anyone having to show cash at the airport's immigration counter. I guess it's good to have it just in case then, but I've never had a load of cash on me before when I enter Thailand. I wonder would they really refuse entry if you can't show 20,000 b? Then what, would they put you on a flight back to wherever you came from?   

Yes and Yes.  Only one case I read from years back, was a person "refused-entry" (not deported, which is something else) not permitted to return to Hong Kong, and instead sent back to his passport-country.  In all the other cases, they were sent back to their last point of origin. 

 

Therefore, if one has a history of longer-stays here - even if your last long-stay was 6+ months ago - and you are entering on a TR or ED or Exempt - I would recommend NOT flying in, but if you do fly in, make sure you make a pit-stop somewhere like Kuala Lumpur, first - so that would be your "send back to" point.

 

2 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

A tourist with a Thai bank account that shows sufficient funds but also shows "Thai" deposits (work).

This is a sensible rule.  How about: "If you have spent more than X time here in the past Y time, and are entering on the following visa types (list here), you may be asked to show the origin of the funds you have used to stay here via bank-statements, plus an ATM statement, available at the machine just before the immigration booths (to be installed), matching the account-statement.  Even if the current-balance isn't available from the ATM for some reason (mine always is, from multiple accounts), it would show proof the person could access the account referenced in the statement.

[ChomDo]

23 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Therefore, if one has a history of longer-stays here - even if your last long-stay was 6+ months ago - and you are entering on a TR or ED or Exempt - I would recommend NOT flying in, but if you do fly in, make sure you make a pit-stop somewhere like Kuala Lumpur, first - so that would be your "send back to" point.

Isn't this a bit over the top now. I think it would be safe to say this topic with all the worrying has gone way out of proportion. I mean we can all carry the 20k with us just in case but hardly I should have to worry about flying from Europe directly to Thailand just in case they decided to deport me? You mean people like me who stay here with TR's, exempts or ED's should arrive by land or via KL etc just to avoid trouble. I would think some real criminals would only have do that. I still wonder about all this fuss surrounding this topic. I've been living here for 10 years with all kinds of visas (3 year ED for MBA degree, 2 year ED for language school + loads of TR's) and countless exempts and never had any problems at all. It must be quite obvious to the immigration officials that I'm not just on a holiday for all these years but they don't seem to care too much. I do avoid too short visa runs though so maybe it shows them that I can't be working in a company.    

[JackThompson]

55 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

Isn't this a bit over the top now. I think it would be safe to say this topic with all the worrying has gone way out of proportion. I mean we can all carry the 20k with us just in case but hardly I should have to worry about flying from Europe directly to Thailand just in case they decided to deport me? You mean people like me who stay here with TR's, exempts or ED's should arrive by land or via KL etc just to avoid trouble. I would think some real criminals would only have do that. I still wonder about all this fuss surrounding this topic. I've been living here for 10 years with all kinds of visas (3 year ED for MBA degree, 2 year ED for language school + loads of TR's) and countless exempts and never had any problems at all. It must be quite obvious to the immigration officials that I'm not just on a holiday for all these years but they don't seem to care too much. I do avoid too short visa runs though so maybe it shows them that I can't be working in a company.    

I agree that denying entry to people based on non-defined, abritrary rules makes law-abiding people have to act 'evasively' - in ways similar to criminals - to avoid groups of authorities whose behavior is not in accordance with defined laws/rules. 

 

I am glad you haven't had any problems.  It appears to be a "numbers game" with low odds of being denied-entry - even for those with longer past stays on ED, TR, Exempt.  Past is not necessarily prologue - polices can change, and without notice.  We have only 'victim reports' to make a rough estimate of current-policy.  What I suggest, is what I would advise a friend to do, but its your call whether to play the odds at airports.

[Cletus]

2 hours ago, ChomDo said:

Isn't this a bit over the top now. I think it would be safe to say this topic with all the worrying has gone way out of proportion. I mean we can all carry the 20k with us just in case but hardly I should have to worry about flying from Europe directly to Thailand just in case they decided to deport me? You mean people like me who stay here with TR's, exempts or ED's should arrive by land or via KL etc just to avoid trouble. I would think some real criminals would only have do that. I still wonder about all this fuss surrounding this topic. I've been living here for 10 years with all kinds of visas (3 year ED for MBA degree, 2 year ED for language school + loads of TR's) and countless exempts and never had any problems at all. It must be quite obvious to the immigration officials that I'm not just on a holiday for all these years but they don't seem to care too much. I do avoid too short visa runs though so maybe it shows them that I can't be working in a company.    

I agree with you.

I think we don't know all the story behind the last 3 people who were denied entry, am quite sure they're hiding something they did in the past, so they were denied, but this is not going to happen to everybody.

I'm quite sure that there must be something "bad" in your "curricula" to be denied by Immigration if you're holding a valid visa, because it can be a big problem (for the IO who denied) if your embassy is going to ask for  the reasons of denial and they are not solid ones.

justmy2cents

[jeab1980]

1 minute ago, Cletus said:

I agree with you.

I think we don't know all the story behind the last 3 people who were denied entry, am quite sure they're hiding something they did in the past, so they were denied, but this is not going to happen to everybody.

I'm quite sure that there must be something "bad" in your "curricula" to be denied by Immigration if you're holding a valid visa, because it can be a big problem (for the IO who denied) if your embassy is going to ask for  the reasons of denial and they are not solid ones.

justmy2cents

If you think your embassy is going to care think again

[Cletus]

11 minutes ago, jeab1980 said:

If you think your embassy is going to care think again

Maybe. Maybe not.

After all I pay taxes in my country of residence -)

But, what if...?

The IO doesn't know my embassy won't care, does he?

Do you really think that Thailand is in the position of not giving a sh+t to deny entry to a "good guy" holding a valid visa (especially if G7)?

[jeab1980]

9 minutes ago, Cletus said:

Maybe. Maybe not.

After all I pay taxes in my country of residence -)

But, what if...?

The IO doesn't know my embassy won't care, does he?

Do you really think that Thailand is in the position of not giving a sh+t to deny entry to a "good guy" holding a valid visa (especially if G7)?

If the G7 or any body doesnt have the 20k they could and probablywill be denied entry as per Thailands rules if you think just beacuse they are from a G7 country there somehow imune dream on. An American was denied entry for "not having sufficient funds" now back in the states.

[waxon]

On 7/17/2017 at 7:56 AM, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

I believe this is rubbish. Please provide a link.

Obviously not a frequent traveler through BKK or not observant.

 

The USD/Euro ATMs are located in the duty-free shopping area on FL4 after passing through immigration. Obviously, if you are arriving at BKK, you can take the escalator/elevator from FL2 to FL4 before passing through immigration.

 

A prior poster provided a link. The pictures show the bank kiosks located near the check-in area (prior to departure immigration). This map (sorry for the poor quality) shows ATMs which can be accessed by arriving passengers prior to going through immigration.

 

 

[BritTim]

7 hours ago, waxon said:

Obviously not a frequent traveler through BKK or not observant.

 

The USD/Euro ATMs are located in the duty-free shopping area on FL4 after passing through immigration. Obviously, if you are arriving at BKK, you can take the escalator/elevator from FL2 to FL4 before passing through immigration.

 

A prior poster provided a link. The pictures show the bank kiosks located near the check-in area (prior to departure immigration). This map (sorry for the poor quality) shows ATMs which can be accessed by arriving passengers prior to going through immigration.

 

 

At one time, arriving passengers (if they knew how) could access that area. You are now prevented from doing so unless you are a transit passenger, and pass through the appropriate security checks. Arriving and departing passengers are carefully separated from each other. If you somehow arrive in the departure section airside, and want to enter Thailand from there, special arrangements are now necessary.

[JepSoDii]

On 7/17/2017 at 10:27 PM, ubonjoe said:

I don't think a person with a Thai Elite PE visa would be asked to show it.

I don't think so either, but but there's nothing to prevent an immigration clerk from doing so.

[007 RED]

10 hours ago, waxon said:

Obviously not a frequent traveler through BKK or not observant.

 

The USD/Euro ATMs are located in the duty-free shopping area on FL4 after passing through immigration. Obviously, if you are arriving at BKK, you can take the escalator/elevator from FL2 to FL4 before passing through immigration.

 

A prior poster provided a link. The pictures show the bank kiosks located near the check-in area (prior to departure immigration). This map (sorry for the poor quality) shows ATMs which can be accessed by arriving passengers prior to going through immigration.

 

 

 

I agree with BritTim comments above…. If your arriving at BKK on an international flight, and want to enter Thailand at BKK, there is no way that you will gain access to the ATMs in the departure area unless you are transferring to another international or certain domestic flights.

If you want to enter either the international or domestic departure areas from the international arrivals area at BKK you need to show your onward ticket/ boarding pass at the entrance to the transit area.  Without an onward ticket/boarding pass you will not be allowed entry.

Sorry to say, but using your own words... "Obviously not a frequent traveler through BKK or not observant".

 

[Mattd]

Yes, I suggest that the 'frequent & observant' poster has a look next time that he is in BKK airport, as it is quite a few years since you have been able to access departures from arrivals and vice versa, the escalators do not even exist between floors 2 & 3 now.