Tourist Visa made Stricker

[Dodger]

Below is a cutn' paste from Thaivisa.com which throws an interesting twist on getting a 60 day Tourist Visa going forward:


FLIGHTS AND HOTEL RESERVATIONS NOW MANDATORY
Stricter requirements for Tourist visa applicants

BANGKOK (thaivisa.com): -- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok has instructed the Thai Embassies and Consulates abroad to be stricter with requirements when applicants are applying for 60-days Tourist visas for Thailand.

The Royal Thai Embassies, Consulates and Consulates-General will from now require a confirmed airline ticket with flight numbers and date of entry/exit, plus confirmed hotel reservations with name and dates of checking in/out.


Quote


Required documents are:
- One completed and signed application form
- One photo (colour, size 4 x 6 cm)
- Passport (valid for no less than 6 months)
- Hotel reservation in Thailand with name and dates of checking in/out
- Airline ticket or confirmation slip with flight number and date of entry/exit

Please note that
Consular officers reserve the rights to ask for additional documents as deemed necessary.
In the absence of a required document, a letter indicating the unavailability of such document must be provided.


A new item is added to the list: If a required document is missing, an explanation letter must be provided.

The new requirements have been confirmed by Thaivisa.com and are in effect immediately.

[Brisboy82]

Such a mismanaged country they drive tourists away then beg them to come back then drive them away again! Our days are numbered.

[piston10]

This concerns me quite a lot because I shall be applying for a 60 day Tourist Visa in the next few days. So I have just spent an hour and a half on the 13-page thread on the matter at Thai Visa. As you'd expect, every opinion on the matter and possible explanation is voiced and it's very boring reading. However, two posters have already checked with consulates in the UK and have been told that there is no change in the application requirements. It is also claimed that the new application rules are only to be found at a Thai consulate site in Pnohm Penh, Cambodia. The guy at Thai Visa who seems to be the visa expert has said that he has arranged to speak to the Thai ministry on Monday or Tuesday to get clarification. I'd say that for the moment it's quite impossible to work out what's going on and best to wait for further reports before panicking.

[cdnmatt]

Why would I want to pay for a flight and hotel reservation, if I don't even know if I'll be allowed in the country yet?

What a stupid regulation.

[Smiles]

. . . . because it's a 'Tourist' visa. Easy to get, they give them out by the zillions.
Piston, have no fear, you've probably got all the documentation they require (according to Dodger's post above) including the booked hotel and flight ticket.

Just another mountain out of a mole hill . . . triggering yet another avalanche of posts from the usual Complication Queens at ThaiVisa, which, as per normal, muddy's the waters all the more.
The Immigration guys at the airport have always had the power to check both your place(s) of residence in Thailand as well as checking to see if you have a return ticket. They hardly ever do, but it's certainly in their list of petty bureaucratic annoyances. Perhaps now they'll never bother as it may well be part of the visa application.
Don't sweat the small stuff.

[MARK]

Why would I want to pay for a flight and hotel reservation, if I don't even know if I'll be allowed in the country yet?

What a stupid regulation.


Just as a matter of point you do not need to book and pay for a flight and hotel reservation you can go to most on line booking services for air services and make a reservation for a ticket and the same for hotels print out the reservations and you have the 2 required papers No consulate expects to see a paid up air ticked and paid room they are also fully aware they may not be issuing the visa they require RESERVATIONS ONLY.

Mark

[Brisboy82]

. . . . because it's a 'Tourist' visa. Easy to get, they give them out by the zillions.
Piston, have no fear, you've probably got all the documentation they require (according to Dodger's post above) including the booked hotel and flight ticket.

Just another mountain out of a mole hill . . . triggering yet another avalanche of posts from the usual Complication Queens at ThaiVisa, which, as per normal, muddy's the waters all the more.
The Immigration guys at the airport have always had the power to check both your place(s) of residence in Thailand as well as checking to see if you have a return ticket. They hardly ever do, but it's certainly in their list of petty bureaucratic annoyances. Perhaps now they'll never bother as it may well be part of the visa application.
Don't sweat the small stuff.
The point is they won't be easy to get anymore. Most of us can't book accommodation before we arrive as we don't know where we are going. Where you stay would depend on where the mood takes you or who you meet. What about when you meet a boy amd o stay with his family? This happens to me quite regularly. There's no pre booking for that.

Most of us are on tourist visas an have no other option.

[Brisboy82]

Why would I want to pay for a flight and hotel reservation, if I don't even know if I'll be allowed in the country yet?

What a stupid regulation.


Just as a matter of point you do not need to book and pay for a flight and hotel reservation you can go to most on line booking services for air services and make a reservation for a ticket and the same for hotels print out the reservations and you have the 2 required papers No consulate expects to see a paid up air ticked and paid room they are also fully aware they may not be issuing the visa they require RESERVATIONS ONLY.

Mark
It doesn't just say reserved it specifically says 'confirmed flight' which means already paid and usually no refunds!

It's been a very long time since I've known of any visitors "reserving"a flight - as this option usually is available only on full price or well-advanced tickets.

All the reasonably-priced tickets tend to be on the basis of "no refunds, no changes, no cancellations" - and most people I ask seem to use this type of ticket if they are paying for it themselves (rather than Company) or are not filthy rich (unlike all SGT members obviously).

Fortunately, with my private jet, this is not an issue for me personally.

:occasion9:

[latintopxxx]

you need a visa to enter Thailand????????????????? They just stamp my passport with a visa upon arrival when I arrive......what passports do YOU PEOPLE hold.....north korean??burmese....I gotta find me a classier forum..

[pong]

realaxxxx people, even latino-reeeeleeeeeeekkkkkkssssssssss
1.TV is well known as the best scaremongering site among all Thai-related sites.
READ please: this program will-if it will- only strat of in neighbouring ASEAN countries.
Why? I will not explain-ever heard of those visa-runners? And that Thailand thinks they are just 1 pain in the a..
2.this very same topic (by now I have-after some days absence-read 5 or 6 thai-related travel and ditto fora) pops up everywhere-and all with only this same source Strangely it does not apear on other Thai fora (incl very well mananged and knowledgeable in my own language and country here).
3. once again for those so unable to remember the rules:
on entry and IF you hold an ticket OUT in 30 days-you get (as favored nation-applies only to those, this list was recently extended with f.e. Poland and CZech rep.) you get a visa-exempt permit=stamp to stay up to 30 days. You can repeat this as many times as you want, but entry overland only grants you 15 days. There are no reports nor have I ever encountered that THAI immigration wants to see ''tickets'' (in fact a ticket cannot be seen anymore-it is electronic and thus only view-able on airline screens) but more and more are airlines that you use to fly INTO Thailand checking this. It will always happen when leaving OZ or NZ
If you preplan and are sure you want to stay longer-or if you fear the whitches that act as check-in girls in most airports: you have to contact a Thai embassy or consul before and get a 60-day tourist visa (or whatever other type you fancy and can access to)- consuls are often much more lax in applying these rules.
In short: as for now this tightened rule applies to the embassies in KUL, VTE and PnPn-read where i started with.
And stop screaming and shouting before you have learnt all and read carefully. I know this is not an easy thing to do among most forareaders.

[christianpfc]

They just stamp my passport with a visa upon arrival when I arrive.
Same for me (German passport). Actually it's visa exemption for people from most developed countries. However it's only for 30 days and you need a return ticket.

The conditions described in the original post are a bit scary. I usually arrive with hotel reservation for the first days and I see where fate takes me. Once I even stayed with a friend for the first days. The requirement of a return ticket is even worse, as they don't accept tickets from other countries or any proof of leaving Thailand by land. So if you plan to travel around South-East-Asia, you will have to come back to Thailand for your return flight.

They make it really difficult for people to come and spend money in Thailand!

(Edit: I wrote this before pong posted. To apply this rule only to neighbouring countries of Thailand makes a tiny little bit of sense. But I think even people who live on Thailand on tourist visa bring money into the country, so why do they want to kick them out?)

They just stamp my passport with a visa upon arrival when I arrive.
Same for me (German passport). Actually it's visa exemption for people from most developed countries. However it's only for 30 days and you need a return ticket.

The conditions described in the original post are a bit scary. I usually arrive with hotel reservation for the first days and I see where fate takes me. Once I even stayed with a friend for the first days. The requirement of a return ticket is even worse, as they don't accept tickets from other countries or any proof of leaving Thailand by land. So if you plan to travel around South-East-Asia, you will have to come back to Thailand for your return flight.

They make it really difficult for people to come and spend money in Thailand!

(Edit: I wrote this before pong posted. To apply this rule only to neighbouring countries of Thailand makes a tiny little bit of sense. But I think even people who live on Thailand on tourist visa bring money into the country, so why do they want to kick them out?)


Hi,

Because they have this crazy idea that everyone doing visa runs are working without permits. I can just picture a load of 60 year old Foreigners pole dancing in thongs cheating the Thais out of their wages!

In Laos the 30 day visa can be reapplied for ad infinitum. In Cambodia a one year business visa mulitple entry is in the region of $275 USD. AND They are happy you are there spending money in their Countries.

[Patexpat]

But I think even people who live on Thailand on tourist visa bring money into the country, so why do they want to kick them out?)

With respect to this and Kevin's last post, the truth is that many foreigners DO stay here and work illegally. I can think of a good half dozen doing this in competition to some of the services I provide, but without any of the overheads - work permits, taxes, staff wages, offices etc etc. The number of times my company has had to sort out messes caused by this type of black employment who when they get bored or fed up simply pack up and leave their customers in a mess ....

[rincondog]

Come to Phuket, as long as you don't look suspicious, you will be welcome, even under the stricter rules. LOL
http://phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2011/article10881.html

[Smiles]

you need a visa to enter Thailand????????????????? They just stamp my passport with a visa upon arrival when I arrive......what passports do YOU PEOPLE hold.....north korean??burmese....I gotta find me a classier forum..
The topic is regarding the 60-day Tourist Visa.
If you're coming into Thailand for up to 30 days you're correct ... no visa needed (as long as your home country is on the list of those to which it applies). Want to stay longer? You'll need a 60-Day tourist visa before entering the country.
For a classier forum, you'll have to become a classier Member. And good luck with that one!

[thonglor55]

What a pack of drama queens. When dealing with bureaucracies all you need is the right pieces of paper and they're happy. It doesn't have to represent the facts. Get a copy of what an airline e-ticket looks like, change the dates, flight numbers etc. and your name and you're home free. The consulate isn't going to phone up the airline and check! The same with a hotel booking. Make a one-night booking on Agoda or somewhere and again, just change the dates and the document they will email you, print it out and you're done. Bureaucracies don't check these things, they just want the paperwork so that if their superiors query anything, they can show they had all the right papers.

IMHO it is much ado about nothing. When Thaivisa came up with their original posting, they had a link to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) web page -- having visited MFA's pages on tourist visas couple of days previously, the page did not look quite the same. The URL did show it was an MFA page, but it looked different. In the upper right there was a link to "home" - I went there and they had a nice picture of the Embassy in Pnom Penh and a link to a map for the Embassy. I just now went to the MFA webpage re Tourist Visas, it says (as it did when I previously checked it):


2. TOURIST VISA
1. REQUIREMENT
This type of visa is issued to applicants who wish to enter the Kingdom for tourism purposes .

2. DOCUMENTS REQUIRED

- Passport or travel document with validity not less than 6 months
- Visa application form completely filled out
- Recent( 4 x 6 cm.) photograph of the applicant
- Evidence of travel from Thailand (air ticket paid in full)
- Evidence of adequate finance (20,000 Baht per person and 40,000 Baht per family)
- Consular officers reserve the rights to request additional documents as deemed necessary
http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2482.php?id=2489

If you go to the Thai Embassy in Cambodia, you will get the page with the picture of the Embassy - Clicking on Visa Service, you get the following (which was the link from the Thaivisa posting as support for their posting that you needed hotel info and flight info - this page shows http://www.mfa.go.th/web/2501.php?&id=2815


Required documents are:

One completed and signed application form
One photo (colour, size 4 x 6 cm)
Citizens of following countries are required to provide 5 photos and 5 copies of application form
* Citizens of Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Democratic People Republic of Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria and Yemen
Passport (valid for no less than 6 months)
Copy of ID card
Copy of residence certificate (Carnet de Residence/ Family Record Book)


6.1 Company employee must prepare company work certificate (Business card is not acceptable)

6.2 Self-employed applicant must prepare business registration/license (original)

6.3 Student must prepare guarantee letter from university or student card

(Copy of parentтАЩs ID card and proof of parentтАЩs profession)

6.4 Pensioner must prepare bank statement or pension fund

Hotel reservation in Thailand with name and dates of checking in/out
Airline ticket or confirmation slip with flight number and date of entry/exit

Passport holders of Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Palestinian State are requested to file for application in person at the Royal Thai Embassy. In certain case, a certificate of no criminal record is required.

Please note that
Consular officers reserve the rights to ask for additional documents as deemed necessary.
In the absence of a required document, a letter indicating the unavailability of such document must be provided. I added the red color to the text quoted.

So, it appears that Thaivisa has done it yet again -it was a posting on Thaivisa not too long ago that had everyone in a panic that Thai Immigration was going to start asking for proof of income to back up the letter from your Embassy - this turned out to not be true, they were the only source of the information - later postings from people renewing their one year extensions said they were not asked to provide any documents to back up their embassy letter. These posting on Thaivisa as well as many other message boards that had repeated the Thaivisa posting did not confirm that that was the case (I myself renewed after that posting using the Embassy letter and was asked for nothing more than the letter - this was in Pattaya).

Hi,

Thaivisa is in the business of visas as the name suggests. Maybe they consider it their duty to protect their business and have you all in a panic rushing for them to ' assist you in your visa quests? '

just a thought.................................... :laughing3:...........and as always no offence intended! .. :laughing3:

[Beachlover]

Yes, the article is referring to the longer tourist visas, which you have to apply for. Not the 30-day ones people who hold a favourable passport get on arrival.

Without commenting on the change at a functional level, I think getting tougher with the longer tourist visas is good as there are lots of people abusing it. They should increase the financial and income requirements for longer-term visas like retirement etc.

Yes, the article is referring to the longer tourist visas, which you have to apply for. Not the 30-day ones people who hold a favourable passport get on arrival.

Without commenting on the change at a functional level, I think getting tougher with the longer tourist visas is good as there are lots of people abusing it. They should increase the financial and income requirements for longer-term visas like retirement etc.


Disagree Beachy,

If a Foreigner can support themselves without being a burden or nuisance on Thailand, Lao or anywhere else, they should be allowed to retire here if they wish without constantly changing the rules and regulations.

A lot of these guys contribute to the economy buying cars, bikes, phones, food, rents, condo purchases. etc

The place isn't Monte Carlo for God's sake, it's Pattaya, Bangkok, Chiang Mai. It was only last year they were doing free visas to get the bloody tourists back after they were held up to shame in the eyes of the World with airport blockades and murders on our TV screens. You can't have it all ways but they certainly try to.

I feel on this occasion you are just trying to say (because you have a good standard of living luckily for you), others that can't meet that criteria should be excluded.

I find that grossly unfair on guys who have worked hard and honestly their whole lives being penalised for not being rich enough.

[thonglor55]

Yes, the article is referring to the longer tourist visas, which you have to apply for. Not the 30-day ones people who hold a favourable passport get on arrival.Another post illustrating Beachlover's profound ignorance. What he, as (I presume) an Australian passport holder gets is a "visa waiver" ie. he doesn't get a visa at all, he gets permission to enter the country and the requirement to have any type of visa is "waived". He - like many others - confuse the Arrival signs at the airport that say "Visa on Arrival" & "Immigration" as being the same thing, failing to see that immediately before Immigration there's a special booth called "Visa on Arrival" for those passport holders who arrive without a visa and don't have a passport from a visa waiver country; they apply for a visa when they arrive. Once they have gone through that process they then proceed to Immigration. For them it is a two-step process; for the Beachlovers of this world the first step is by-passed since they don't need a visa - the requirement is waived.

[Beachlover]

Disagree Beachy
I really agree the constant changing of rules and regulations in immigration is very non-constructive and unhelpful. It causes uncertainty, which decreases appeal.

I agree it's easier to say what I said from my perspective. I accept that I might have a different bias if I was borderline and wanting to live there.

I also agree people who can support themselves without being a burden or having a overly negative effect on the society/economy should be allowed to retire or settle there without jumping through too many hoops.

But for some reason, Thailand attracts a lot of very undesirable and f***ed up foreigners, to put it simply. Like it or not, this has a negative effect on the country, society and image as a whole.

I think it's possible to embrace the influx of expats and their money, while applying some selectivity to filter out the ones who won't add value and may be a burdan to the country. Obviously, I haven't studied the issue so I'm not going to dictate how this should be done at a functional level... but stuff that should be considered are things like tightening loophole visas like educational and tourist, financial and income requirements, mandatory minimum level of medical cover (or adequate funds to self insure), criminal record and more. It's not good to have too many borderline people moving to Thailand.

Thinking these things through (and not changing it on whim) would be good for Thailand...

[thonglor55]

Thinking these things through (and not changing it on whim) would be good for Thailand...That would certainly be a novel experience for Thailand.

[Dboy]

I found this bit in the Phuket article interesting:


тАЬWe will check your travel history in your passport, then let you go. Thailand tourist visas are for tourists to come and enjoy holidays in our kingdom,тАЭ he said.

I had wondered if foreign immigraion checkpoints did this. MANY times I have come through immigration in the US and have had my passport stamps STUDIED..not just casually browsed..but STUDIED. I've even been questioned on OLD stamps from years ago. US immigration has been particularly interested in my Eastern European stamps...no idea why. They've never questioned my 1-year Thai visa stamps at all. Am sending off for a new passport on Monday, and will be very happy to have a nice, clean, new one:-)

Dboy