Some tourist visa holders being asked to show 20,000 baht in CASH when entering Thailand

[Thaidream]

I do not think anyone including the Thai Immigration has a true definition of Tourist. For example, a person can purchase an Elite Visa- pay the fee- and be given a Tourist Visa to stay in Thailand for at least 5 years. Do they have to show 20K when entering if they travel?  In addition , someone who enters on 30 day Visa exempt shows 19K Baht can get a 30 day extension. They stay 60 days. No One at Immigration is assuming they have inadequate funds for their stay.

 

When one applies in the US or Europe for a Tourist Visa- most Thai Consulates want to see a bank statement with approximately 700 US Dollars or the equivalent in Euro's.  These 'tourists' have already been vetted- yet they may need to show 20K Baht at entry. They can also get a 30 day extension.  The same rules apply to the METV with a higher threshold of funds and also a statement from an employer. I know of no employer that allows its employees to leave the job for 6 months.

 

The point being that neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that sets the regulations for issuing Thai Visas abroad; The Thai Immigration Department or its officers can adequately define what a tourist is.  The idiosyncrasies in the system are  numerous.  Bottom line:  I would carry the cash and hope  there are not other reasons they want to reject a person. If the real reason is people working illegally- I would think that the Labor Department would be the ones who enforce that. Three different Government ministries and no co-ordination.

[midas]

3 hours ago, AsianAtHeart said:

The money will be especially ephemeral if the individual generously (albeit unwittingly) provides for the needs of the homeless pickpocket who accompanies them on the bus and who especially needs the funds in cash.  Thailand likes to support the local folk any way possible, whether they be rice farmers or beggars or upstanding business owners.

If you are that careless when you carry valuables they will probably also appreciate your passport which you are also required under Thailand law to carry

[baboon]

22 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

I doubt the issue has anything to do with cash at all. They could make the requirement 50 baht BUT the people they are targeting would still be refused entry by another reason.

I think you are dead right. 

[tso310]

I wonder how many Chinese tourists could show 2000 baht when entering Thailand.

[CRUNCHER]

2 minutes ago, AsianAtHeart said:

This might seem easy to say, and perhaps you are just simplistic enough to believe in such a vain pipe dream as you describe.  The facts are often different.  Just as no two humans are alike, no two circumstances are identical either.  There are not enough visa categories to encompass all of the possibilities.  Consider, for a moment, the foreigner living and working in Laos.  He/she has a valid one year work permit/visa to stay in Laos and would like to cross the border regularly to access some much-need supplies that are unavailable or high-priced in Laos.  What visa type should he or she apply for?  Non-immigrant?  Business?  …..tourist visa perhaps?  But it's not really a genuine tourist situation, is it?  So, the system has to be played--and tourist visa it is.  This means heaps of tourist visas in the passport--just the kind that you might assume to be a "red flag."  Of course, if Thailand doesn't want shoppers or their money . . . .

I know a few people who do this (although not Laos).  Because they work in another country there is a limit to the number of visits and the length of such visits.  They are not living in Thailand; they are living elsewhere.  Visa exempt entry is appropriate to their stay.

 

In your scenario their passports would show they spend most of their time in Laos and I would guess details of work permit.

 

People who spend most of their time in Thailand claiming to be tourists are the targets.

[Kerryd]

Actually I think a very large percentage of the "illegal" workers would not be able to show "20k" on demand at all. One reason there are a lot of foreigners (from Western countries) working illegally is that they are skint broke and the small wage they can earn (i.e. as an English teacher) is quickly spent on just trying to get by (and booze). They can't (or won't) go home (for whatever reason) and can't work legally.

 

You know them. You see their stories on ThaiVisa all the time. They usually go by the name of "a friend of mine" or "a guy I know". 

 

Oh and the argument "So it s ok that the locals "live here with little or no money" but foreigner coming on Holiday should show 20 000thb ?! I don't get it..." Obviously you don't get it. There is a difference between "tourists" and "citizens". Seriously, you can't figure that out ? It does not matter what the citizens of this country earn as a wage. It doesn't matter how many of them are living on a few baht a day. They are citizens, not tourists.

 

Thailand had determined the amounts it thinks non-citizens should have in order to stay in their country. Just like they have determined that a single guy on a yearly extension should have 800k (or equivalent) or a married person should have 400k (or equivalent) as they think that is what is needed to live on for a year. It does not matter that many are able to get by on much less. They have decided (no doubt based on surveys of spending habits and the like) that you should be able to prove that amount in order to qualify.
I would say that it is surprising that an ED visa only requires proof of having 20k. Anyone who has that (Visa) should have that amount in their fist ready to show it to the IO without hesitation and be thanking their lucky stars they aren't expected to show a much larger sum, being a year long Visa and all.

 

[Spaniel]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Its daft really. So now everyone will be carrying 20,000 and of course it proves nothing. When will the thefts start from taxi drivers and others?

 

 

Not everyone.    Only those with 30 day tourist visas and the one that don't look like ligit tourists.     

[AsianAtHeart]

8 minutes ago, CRUNCHER said:

I know a few people who do this (although not Laos).  Because they work in another country there is a limit to the number of visits and the length of such visits.  They are not living in Thailand; they are living elsewhere.  Visa exempt entry is appropriate to their stay.

 

In your scenario their passports would show they spend most of their time in Laos and I would guess details of work permit.

 

People who spend most of their time in Thailand claiming to be tourists are the targets.

I agree with your statement of whom are the targets.  However, those I described are part of the collateral damage.  Only two visa-exempt entries are permitted per year, regardless.  This means living in a neighboring ASEAN country has just become more expensive for people needing to go to or through Thailand for any reason.

[baboon]

5 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

Actually I think a very large percentage of the "illegal" workers would not be able to show "20k" on demand at all. One reason there are a lot of foreigners (from Western countries) working illegally is that they are skint broke and the small wage they can earn (i.e. as an English teacher) is quickly spent on just trying to get by (and booze). They can't (or won't) go home (for whatever reason) and can't work legally.

That being the case, surely they would just be as well off by simply overstaying and taking their chances?

[ttrd]

3 hours ago, JAG said:

" People trying to enter with history of tourist visa entries appear to be the ones under the most amount of scrutiny. ED visa holders also are also the subject of similar scrutiny."

Hardly surprising is it?

That is what Type O and B Non Immigrant visas are for.

Thats right, but on the other hand when you can proof by a recent bank statement and/or log in to your net bank in front of the immigration and proof that you have enough money available in your account  equal to the number of days in the visa you hold should be proof enough.

The "cash" requirement seems to be misunderstood by some less intelligent immigration workers which put a significant amount of people in danger by forcing them to carry an amount equal to the value of 4 months salary....

The requirement is to proof that you have enough money "available" to support yourself during your stay and "available" cash in 2017 doesnt mean banknotes in the pocket....

Edited July 17, 2017 by ttrd

[baboon]

5 minutes ago, AsianAtHeart said:

I agree with your statement of whom are the targets.  However, those I described are part of the collateral damage.  Only two visa-exempt entries are permitted per year, regardless.  This means living in a neighboring ASEAN country has just become more expensive for people needing to go to or through Thailand for any reason.

Just as an aside, I think it should be pointed out that the two visa exempt rule only applies at land crossings unless I am sorely mistaken...

[Cadbury]

12 minutes ago, AsianAtHeart said:

I didn't answer because someone else answered it just a few posts later.  I mistakenly assumed you would read it.  I will again assume you have the ability to go back and do so now.

Nice try at a put down but no cigar. You didn't answer the question about what the lesser amount was for visa-exempt entries (nor did anyone else) simply because you do not know the answer. As usual with your posts you make ridiculous claims out of your blurter without having a clue what you are talking about. I will tell you how much it is based on my personal experience. It is ZERO baht so your ravings about it being a lesser amount than 20,000 baht is pure dribble.

A poor early effort for a Newbie. I only hope you can do better in the future.

[kamahele]

There are such things as debit and credit cards these days..... I understand why Immigration would want to crack down on those who may be using their visas to work illegally but this doesn't seem like a good way to go about it.

[impulse]

1 hour ago, CanInBKK said:

 

ATM machines have a lot of costs involved which in turn requires a high volume of transactions to make feasible (rent paid to AOT would be one of the highest fees). But the key logistic issue is cash replenishment - if these machines were air-side (as needed for this case) then all the cash transport people would need clearance to work the machines. Overall, bigger headache than it's worth for any of the banks to consider installing air-side machines (on the walkway between gate and immigration)

 

They have ATM's every 50 yards in BKK with no fees for locals, including ATM's all over the airport at the same high rent.  International travelers represent one of the only groups likely to be using the ATMs to exchange foreign currency (transactions that actually charge a fee).  I'd expect them to be climbing all over each other to get ATM's in that area- with the goal of being the first one that an arriving tourist sees.  

 

Unless there's some reason other than rent and the cost of access.

[Redline]

3 hours ago, Maejo Man said:

On a shopping trip to Tatchilek about 3 years ago, the person in front of me when re entering Thailand was asked to show 20 K and he could not, so was whisked off to the back of immigration. There is nothing new in this law, it's just being rather strongly applied of late.

No intelligent tourist would carry that much cash.  Showing you have it in your bank should suffice

[ravip]

20K Baht is only about 594 USD which I don't think is an astronomical amount to have in your pocket. Yes, a credit card is useful, but how would you prove to the immigration officer at the counter that you have sufficient credit therein or for that matter the card is really working?

 

This applies not only to TH but internationally. 

 

Edit:  being asked to show 20,000 baht in CASH when entering Thailand - where is the problem here, REALLY?

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by ravip

[baboon]

3 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Nice try at a put down but no cigar. You didn't answer the question about what the lesser amount was for visa-exempt entries (nor did anyone else) simply because you do not know the answer. As usual with your posts you make ridiculous claims out of your blurter without having a clue what you are talking about. I will tell you how much it is based on my personal experience. It is ZERO baht so your ravings about it being a lesser amount than 20,000 baht is pure dribble.

A poor early effort for a Newbie. I only hope you can do better in the future.

I am pretty sure that arrivals on visa exempts are supposed to show 10,000 Baht if asked, but am quite willing to stand corrected.

[xtrnuno41]

Hey, not so incredible to believe. I think they just follow western countries and make the same annoying rules.

 

When my Thai gf came to me, she was questionend for many things and costed much time.

She had the visa to come in with ALL THE DEMANDS of the western countries.

Never the less when she arrived, immigration here asked her many things and she even is a Thai officer, a laborinspector !! 

 

For a simple tourist visa in Europe, she needs to show how much on the bank, in and out ticket, health insurance for at least 2 million bath,

letter for showing she is working and have income and she need to go back for her work, passport and ofcourse money. She even had to ask the top of government if she could leave the country !!

That is only just to get the visa ! Then arriving and then it is checked again !! How annoying that is !!

 

Every month now there are 85000 "refugees" entering EU with no visa at all, no money , no work, no passport, no healthinsurance.

Also inThailand, they have many many from Minyamar and other countries coming in with nothing, seems to be ok

 

Now tourists annoyed ? Cmon we have to thank EU and USA for it. THey just do the same thing. 

They demand Thailand make rules about anything (interfering with Thai situations), otherwise Thailand is punished !!

SO the Thai added some rules themselves in the same way as western countries did and do.

Eat it ! 

 

[Bangkok Barry]

4 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Shouldn't be showing proof of funds when applying for the actual visa be enough? Instead of cluttering up immigration queues with baffled tourists wondering why they should have 20k in cash on them.

 

Every time me and my missus fly back to England, they never ask her to show them cash. That's because that's ridiculous, she's already shown her money when applying for the visa, and this is 2017 where people use debit and credit cards and don't usually carry round large amounts of loseable cash. 

Too sensible, and we are dealing with Thailand here where logic doesn't apply.

[JRUSA]

I arrived April 30th.. I received a 60 day tourist visa before I left Manila. When applying I had to provide a proof of income, I used my printed bank statement. When I arrived at immigration in BKK they didn't ask for any proof or to see any cash. I will clarify a few things. I'm 66 retired, first trip to Thailand, and only had a Vietnamese visa and my Thai visa in my brand new passport. So that could have been why I wasn't asked..

[ravip]

3 minutes ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Hey, not so incredible to believe. I think they just follow western countries and make the same annoying rules.

 

When my Thai gf came to me, she was questionend for many things and costed much time.

She had the visa to come in with ALL THE DEMANDS of the western countries.

Never the less when she arrived, immigration here asked her many things and she even is a Thai officer, a laborinspector !! 

 

For a simple tourist visa in Europe, she needs to show how much on the bank, in and out ticket, health insurance for at least 2 million bath,

letter for showing she is working and have income and she need to go back for her work, passport and ofcourse money. She even had to ask the top of government if she could leave the country !!

That is only just to get the visa ! Then arriving and then it is checked again !! How annoying that is !!

 

Every month now there are 85000 "refugees" entering EU with no visa at all, no money , no work, no passport, no healthinsurance.

Also inThailand, they have many many from Minyamar and other countries coming in with nothing, seems to be ok

 

Now tourists annoyed ? Cmon we have to thank EU and USA for it. THey just do the same thing. 

They demand Thailand make rules about anything (interfering with Thai situations), otherwise Thailand is punished !!

SO the Thai added some rules themselves in the same way as western countries did and do.

Eat it ! 

 

Well said!!!

Very True, Thai immigration is paradise compared to their counter parts in the UK & USA.

[PeCeDe]

2 minutes ago, ravip said:

20K Baht is only about 594 USD which I don't think is an astronomical amount to have in your pocket. Yes, a credit card is useful, but how would you prove to the immigration officer at the counter that you have sufficient credit therein or for that matter the card is really working?

 

This applies not only to TH but internationally. 

 

I remember years ago in New York City, the locals almost always kept $500 in an ankle money holder, in order to comply with any Mugger, the hope was that it was sufficient funds to dissuade said mugger from shooting you... Might be a good practice here anyway regardless of reason.

[kkerry]

38 minutes ago, spiritr7 said:

There are many ATM air side and at Duty Free shopping Bangkok.

 

 

Airside for departures and airside for arrivals... not the same thing.

 

A few posters have said they have looked recently and were unable to find a normal everyday ATM before immigration, for arriving international passengers.

With all the people reading this topic surely someone will be able to post a photo of such an ATM if it exists.

 

It's been a few years since I regularly traveled to Indonesia but in Jakarta there were often tourists at immigration without a visa. I have seen airport staff escort them to the ATMs the other side of immigration so they could withdraw some cash and return and pay for their visa.

[milesinnz]

Someone should send these details to the Sun newspaper in the Uk, and there must be some equivalent ones in other countries whose holiday makers come to Thailand as tourists. At some stage people will get the message that tourists are not welcome unless you have cash falling out of your pockets, and they would be better looking for more welcoming destinations... whatever happened to the ideas of a cashless society...  ?

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by milesinnz

[scubascuba3]

Not everyone.    Only those with 30 day tourist visas and the one that don't look like ligit tourists.     

You mean visa exempts rather than 30 day tourist visas i guess. One of the guys who was denied entry had a mixture of METV, SETV and visa exempts

[balo]

I will continue to travel in and out of Thaland without much cash in my pocket , as I have been doing for 20 years.  But I'm on a a different visa and we are not a target for immigration . 

So don't worry , be happy . Bring your credit cards, debit cards , bank books etc. 

 

 

[kkerry]

3 hours ago, impulse said:

 

I don't know anyone that loaded that doesn't carry emergency cash.  That AMEX card can take days and days to get replaced in the boondocks, effectively ruining a holiday.

 

Unless, of course, their pilot or their man servant carries the emergency funds.

 

 

AMEX are very quick to replace cards. In Bangkok I had my card replaced in twenty minutes from the time I walked in the door of their office near Ari BTS.

 

Upcountry and I believe you would have a new card in your hand within 48 hours at most, provided you could satisfy them of who you are. 

[scubascuba3]

No intelligent tourist would carry that much cash.  Showing you have it in your bank should suffice

But having the attitude to not carrying 20,000 baht equiv and being declined entry is that intelligent?

[CanInBKK]

24 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

They have ATM's every 50 yards in BKK with no fees for locals, including ATM's all over the airport at the same high rent.  International travelers represent one of the only groups likely to be using the ATMs to exchange foreign currency (transactions that actually charge a fee).  I'd expect them to be climbing all over each other to get ATM's in that area- with the goal of being the first one that an arriving tourist sees.  

 

Unless there's some reason other than rent and the cost of access.

 

If I understand you correctly you mean when a KBank card holder inserts their card into an SCB machine to withdraw cash, the first 4 or 5 transactions will show "fee: 0 Baht". In this case the user simply doesn't see the fees as the issuing bank (KBank in this example) pays the fee to the acquiring bank (SCB in this example) transparently without the user seeing this bank to bank transaction. The fee the issuing bank pays to acquiring bank is small, on the order of 10 baht per transaction but the sheer volume is enough to pay for the rent and utilities of the ATM.  Unfortunately the demand for ATMs of disembarking passengers into customs and immigration at airports is minuscule.

 

In the case of a same-bank transactions (i.e. SCB card in an SCB machine), SCB doesn't get any fees but they view having the machine there as a service to their deposit customers - something totally out of scope when considering "tourists passing through the air-side on the way to immigration".

 

Having the machines on the departure side is another story given the demand is high and not to mention the gouging done by the exchange rate!

Edited July 17, 2017 by CanInBKK
Added info

[impulse]

1 minute ago, kkerry said:

 

AMEX are very quick to replace cards. In Bangkok I had my card replaced in twenty minutes from the time I walked in the door of their office near Ari BTS.

 

Upcountry and I believe you would have a new card in your hand within 48 hours at most, provided you could satisfy them of who you are. 

 

48 hours is a long time to go with no funds on holiday.  I'd get hungry after 3 or 4...