Spoke with a Brit friend last night.  He had to come through the Malaysian border into Thailand the day before.  He said the lines there were horrendous.  Apparently (in his view) there were mostly Thais.   That sounded odd to me, because one would think Thai Imm would make things less-than-horrible for fellow Thais coming back to their own country.  Anyhow, he said after a few hours standing in line, people in the back started freaking out and pressing toward the only two kiosks handling the traffic.  He's a foot taller than most, and (when in Rome.....) he also pushed his way forward.  Maybe he also played rugby as a boy, I don't know.  He was also suffering food poisoning, but that's another story - but it exasperated his bum trip coming across the border.

 

                      When is Thailand going to improve things, from awful to bad?   I've got another friend coming to Thailand for his first time, next month.  He already booked a flight to arrive at Suwanbum, before I could advise him to get a flight to arrive in Chiang Mai, closer to my home - and much quicker exit time from airport.  So, I told him to expect about 2 hrs in line at Swampy.  It may be as little as 1 hr or as long as 5.  Who knows?

 

In sharp contrast:  I went to visit Austria a few years ago with an American passport.  I went through Imm so fast, I barely broke stride.  The stamp in my passport was about as big as a 1 baht coin.  Easy peasy.   Why is Thailand still in the stone age re; Imm problems?

Because nobody wants to chase chunky Austrian girls ?

I'm coming in via Malaysia soon. What time of day did these queues occur do you know?

48 minutes ago, RickG16 said:

I'm coming in via Malaysia soon. What time of day did these queues occur do you know?

no, sorry, don't know.

Which border crossing (there are quite a few in the South), time of day and day this occurred are important details. Many locals cross the border early morning and late afternoon for work related reasons. Also, beginning and end of weekends/holidays see a spike in numbers.

I don't know details. I just related what my pal related to me.  One thing for sure, he was v. exasperated and bummed out.

 

If Thai Imm had a halfway intelligent boss, he would go out and/or garner info on all the border crossings into Thailand, including airports - and start to get things working.  Concurrently, he would get info on in-country Imm offices, and streamline their operations. More than a few times, I've heard how Chiang Mai Imm office is seriously backed-up and inefficient.  There are certainly other offices which could be improved.  He could also look closely at Thai embassies and consulates.  Same for procedures.  As is, it's not working.

 

I know how bureaucracy works (and doesn't work) in Thailand.  Bureaucrats' main aim is to do as little as possible, and still get their weekly paychecks.  I've seen it on many levels.

 

 

22 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

I know how bureaucracy works (and doesn't work) in Thailand.  Bureaucrats' main aim is to do as little as possible, and still get their weekly paychecks.  I've seen it on many levels.

 

 

Welcome to Thailand - where people's favourite activity is sleeping, and problems are always blamed on others. As long as the hordes of tourists are coming, there won't be any change. Only when it gets that bad that tourists stay away, then something might happen. Until then, expect to see it getting much worse, not better...

12 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

Welcome to Thailand - where people's favourite activity is sleeping, and problems are always blamed on others. As long as the hordes of tourists are coming, there won't be any change. Only when it gets that bad that tourists stay away, then something might happen. Until then, expect to see it getting much worse, not better...

Strange comment seeing as in response to the issues at the Airport they have just opened up 8 more Immigration counters

 

I doubt that there were many actual tourists crossing at the OP's friends border, from what he said it was Thais

 

Are you just a serial Thai basher?

Was he coming through the border near Penang (as opposed to the east coast)?  A lot of lads from Malaysia and even Singapore do road trips to that border area for a little recreational bonking.  Might have something to do with the Chinese holiday.

 

 

4 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

He could also look closely at Thai embassies and consulates.

 

Different department. Embassies and Consulates belong to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

6 hours ago, darrendsd said:

I doubt that there were many actual tourists crossing at the OP's friends border, from what he said it was Thais.

And the Thais were, what, all of them people with dual citizenship? I am sure, that, at Bangkok's airports now, standing in the immigration queue only takes 5-10 minutes, just like in other Asian countries...

Sounds like Sadao crossing; notoriously bad for queues and disdain for the travelers using it.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

I came through Swampy on Wednesday night and it was fine, perhaps immigration officials have been moved to the airports from the land crossings. I did deliberately choose the main airport over DMG due to the reports of immigration queues and crowding.

 

 

Edited August 25, 20178 yr by jacko45k

Perhaps Imm officials need to go back to basics. What do they really need to know about people who enter:

>>>  full name, nationality, passport#

>>>  if they have visa, is it bona fide?

>>>  are they criminals and/or wanted for breaking the law?

 

Not much more than that.  They don't need to know gender, where they plan to stay (it's easy to lie about that, anyway), or how they entered (that's inferred by the port of entry).  

 

Best of all would be a plastic ID card and/or swipe strip on their passport - which I believe already exists in some countries, probably Europe.

 

I go back and forth between Thailand and Burma with a 'multi-entry.'  One of the most noticeable differences is how personable/friendly Burmese officials are, and how impersonal/cold Thai officials are.  Night and day.   Thai officials don't even want to be seen.  They position kiosk windows so that the tourist can only see the crotch area of the official, and the official can only see the belt buckle (crotch area and stomach) of the tourist.  

No complaints regarding Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday, stepped off plane 11.01am, through to Immigration, at 11.26am was leaving airport in a taxi. The ASEAN passport-only queues also being used for all tourists.

10 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

I don't know details. I just related what my pal related to me.  One thing for sure, he was v. exasperated and bummed out.

 

If Thai Imm had a halfway intelligent boss, he would go out and/or garner info on all the border crossings into Thailand, including airports - and start to get things working.  Concurrently, he would get info on in-country Imm offices, and streamline their operations. More than a few times, I've heard how Chiang Mai Imm office is seriously backed-up and inefficient.  There are certainly other offices which could be improved.  He could also look closely at Thai embassies and consulates.  Same for procedures.  As is, it's not working.

 

I know how bureaucracy works (and doesn't work) in Thailand.  Bureaucrats' main aim is to do as little as possible, and still get their weekly paychecks.  I've seen it on many levels.

 

 

Get things working?? In Thailand??

11 hours ago, darrendsd said:

Are you just a serial Thai basher?

This.

14 hours ago, tonray said:

Because nobody wants to chase chunky Austrian girls ?

Lol, funny, but what has that to do with long Immigration lines and small Immigration stamps? 

 

By the way 

Thailand is more then 6 times bigger then Austria and has 8 times more inhabitants

BUT

Thailand with 32,5 Million Tourist arrivals has only a small lead to Austrias 27 Million if you compare the enourmous size differences

 

So from me - the right card for you 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings

Edited August 25, 20178 yr by ALFREDO

I flew into Don Muang a week ago, every immigration booth was manned and the long lines of arrivals were moving fast. I was stamped in within 10 minutes. I departed from Don Muang two weeks earlier and that was super fast, when I entered the departure area I joined a line that had only one person waiting, so I was finished and past immigration within a minute. So it certainly seems that many immigration officials have been moved from other areas to the Bangkok airports.

15 hours ago, tonray said:

Because nobody wants to chase chunky Austrian girls ?

 

If I laughed at this am I bad person?

Just now, fondue zoo said:

 

If I laughed at this am I bad person?

Terrible person for sure....go to your neighborhood temple, and give 20 baht and light some incense and all will be OK

 

To be honest I thought the topic title was possibly a euphemism for what I suffered from the first month I arrived here. 

Unlike Indiana Jones I did not "choose wisely" when selecting the street-side soup bowl I ate from the first week.

 

I was actually surprised because I had always read the opposite would happen.. hot-dog water syndrome.

Cross at one of the 2 Satun border, one with boat Kuala Perlis to Satin, the other through Perlis National park-beautiful ride:You will probably be the only one crossing.

1 hour ago, ALFREDO said:

Lol, funny, but what has that to do with long Immigration lines and small Immigration stamps? 

 

By the way 

Thailand is more then 6 times bigger then Austria and has 8 times more inhabitants

BUT

Thailand with 32,5 Million Tourist arrivals has only a small lead to Austrias 27 Million if you compare the enourmous size differences

 

So from me - the right card for you 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings

And how many of those tourists enter Austria via the roads without any checks?

16 hours ago, tonray said:

Because nobody wants to chase chunky Austrian girls ?

Must be at least as chunky as your brains.    Have another smoke.

 

16 hours ago, tonray said:

Because nobody wants to chase chunky Austrian girls ?

 

2 hours ago, ALFREDO said:

Thailand is more then 6 times bigger then Austria and has 8 times more inhabitants

BUT

Thailand with 32,5 Million Tourist arrivals has only a small lead to Austrias 27 Million if you compare the enourmous size differences

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings

 

4 minutes ago, stevenl said:

And how many of those tourists enter Austria via the roads without any checks?

 

Sorry - -stevenl- you missed - that is about that line from -tonray- 

"Because nobody wants to chase chunky Austrian girls ?"

 

Which suggests, that Austria has no real Tourist numbers! 

 

 

All depends on the time of day, and which day you pick, crossing from Malaysia. As pointed out in an earlier post morning and evening there's quite a lot of locals from eitherside going backwards and forwards for work and trade. Weekends there are many Malaysians and Singaporeans travelling up to Thailand for the weekend. Best time to cross is mid-morning or mid-afternoon in mid-week. Always difficult to say who the travellers are, Malaysians, Thais, Singaporeans and Indonesians all look very similar.

 

Doesn't help that they're updating the Thai side of the border at Sadao with new facilities for coach and minibus passengers, at the moment it's a bit of a mess, or more of a mess than usual. It's most likely that's the crossing the OP's friend was using.

 

End of this month will be a good time to avoid the Malaysian border crossings as it's Malaysia Independence Day on Thursday 31st August and then Friday 1st September is Hari Raya Haji, so a long weekend.

OP,

 

there are at least 3 border crossing Malaysia-Thailand that I'm aware  of. 

You don't name which one you are referring to, so you don't even know what you're talking about.

Based on something you have no knowledge, you start bashing on Thailand, showing the typical colonialist mentality of someone who wants to set his own rules in a foreign country.

It's really that simple, just avoid Thailand as a tourism destination, or stop complaining and take it as it is.

There're things I don't like in this country, but I don't go on a public forum and start severe criticism based on my western country supposed superiority.

Anyway, there's many people like you in Thailand, so that may comfort you.

1 hour ago, Cletus said:

OP,

 

there are at least 3 border crossing Malaysia-Thailand that I'm aware  of. 

You don't name which one you are referring to, so you don't even know what you're talking about.

Based on something you have no knowledge, you start bashing on Thailand, showing the typical colonialist mentality of someone who wants to set his own rules in a foreign country.

It's really that simple, just avoid Thailand as a tourism destination, or stop complaining and take it as it is.

There're things I don't like in this country, but I don't go on a public forum and start severe criticism based on my western country supposed superiority.

Anyway, there's many people like you in Thailand, so that may comfort you.

So in stead of bashing Thailand you choose bashing another forum member.

Vietnam and Laos put a giant sticker covering the whole page.  Really chews up the passport.