Rumours of 30 day Thai visa exempt going to 15 days

[dirtydog]

There are rumours going round that all entries on land borders to Thailand if you don't have a visa and are going for your normal 30 visa exempt stamp they are now only giving 15 days, as far as all the visa run companies in Pattaya go this is not true and they have heard nothing at all about it, a friend went on Monday and got his normal 30 day stamp, they also labelled it as his second one in the 180 day period as is per normal.
I have just spoken to another one of the companies this evening that do daily runs to Cambodia and they haven't heard of this either.

[Chili Pepper]

[melvbot]

Dont they have to change the immigration law to do something like that?

[watterinja]

Given the recent upheavals - with some 350,00 'tourists' backlogged to exit Thailand, & mindful of a possible repeat next year - the Thai authorities have probably decided to play it safe for a while & drop back to 15 days on a temporary basis.

I'm not condoning their actions, or the effect it will have on many of our members, but, I'm sure our own home countries would do something similar under such circumstances. Time to get our visa paperwork in order, methinks.

[Butterfly]

must be a ThaiVisa rumor to push for their website traffic,

They haven't send me their spam newsletter yet, but it should be there any moment now,

thank god, for the Spam box

[dirtydog]

This is the Thai notice from immigration, obviously the 15 days and 30 days allowed for different nationalities makes it extremley complicated to translate accurately. Immigration Bureau

[melvbot]

Given the recent upheavals - with some 350,00 'tourists' backlogged to exit Thailand, & mindful of a possible repeat next year - the Thai authorities have probably decided to play it safe for a while & drop back to 15 days on a temporary basis.

How does cutting the visa to 15 days play it safe?

[EmperorTud]

Dont they have to change the immigration law to do something like that?

Nah, they change countries status on the exempt list all the time.

I thought it was Malaysia that had just halved the visa exempt validity period?

[EmperorTud]

Yep, I was right.

Parliament: 30% of Visa on Arrival holders have overstayed

By LISA GOH


KUALA LUMPUR: Some 30% of the 250,000 Visa on Arrival (VOA) holders have been found to abuse their visas by overstaying.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung (BN - Alor Star) said a total of 251,908 visas were issued from September 2006, when the service was first implemented, up till Sept 30 this year.
“Of that 75,465 holders, or 29.96%, had been found to abuse their visas by overstaying.
“These offenders are citizens of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Hong Kong and Taiwan,” he told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.
He was replying Dr Mohd Hayati Othman (PAS- Pendang)’s question on the total figure of tourists who had been issued VOAs and the number of those who had abused their visas.
Chor said the Government had been slightly lax with the conditions for the VOA when it was first implemented “so that more people could visit Malaysia”.
”But now, due to the abuse and problems, the Government has reviewed and made the conditions more stringent,” he said.
The changes are:
* Reducing the visa validity period from 30 days to 14 days.
* Visa processing fee raised from RM100 to RM330 (USD100).
* All approved VOA holders must have a return air ticket to their home country.
* All VOA applicants must have a sponsor who will guarantee their return to their home country once the 14-day visa expires.
Chor added that Malaysia also no longer issued VOAs to Afghanistan, India and Pakistan nationals, as too many of the their nationals had overstayed.

Parliament: 30% of Visa on Arrival holders have overstayed

[beano]

An attached rumour is the 90 days in 6 months rule is no longer on the books.
I got 30 days at Tachilek on Saturday.

[watterinja]

Given the recent upheavals - with some 350,00 'tourists' backlogged to exit Thailand, & mindful of a possible repeat next year - the Thai authorities have probably decided to play it safe for a while & drop back to 15 days on a temporary basis.

How does cutting the visa to 15 days play it safe?

What I felt is that with a tighter control on the days someone can enter a country, it forces folks to obtain legitimate tourist visas. The authorities then have a more clear idea at any one point in time of the true tourists versus the 'others'.

The 15 day entry would then also up the hassle factor & force many folks to go back home. (Not nice)

If they do tighten their visa requirements, then they probably feel that there is a need to do so. Also remember TiT & things can change with the weather, or tinpot-in-charge.

[dirtydog]

This ruling was I believe supposed to be brought in on the 25th November, whatever the ruling maybe, this stamp is from 2 days ago, ie 1st December, you can also see where he has written it is the second stamp for that period, this is from the Daung, Pong Nam Ron border crossing.

[watterinja]

Probably just another unfounded rumour then. TiT.

I, for one, hope it remains as it was - 30 days. It's a real hassle having to skip out if one of my business trips into Thailand runs over 15 days - or pay a hefty extension fee.

[ChiangMai noon]

robbed from thaivisa.

I looked at the new immigration rule on exempt entry at it reads as follows:

"A person holding a passport or other paper instead of a passport that has a citizenship that the Minister of State decreed in agreement with the Board of Ministers to let come into the Kingdom for a temporary period in order to tour according to the law and ordinances methodology and conditions of examination as "exempt" and to change the type of examination giving a stamp (year of) 2545 (day of) 16 of August (year of) 2545 Article 13)3) gives permission to enter the Kingom many times with a permision to stay in the Kingdom each time not more than 30 days counting from the day of entry into the Kingdom except that for an entry into the Kingdom by way of entry from a neighboring country the permission granted to stay in the Kingdom each time will not exceed 15 day counting from the day of entry into the Kingdom."

So it seems that if you are eligible for a 30-day exempt entry, you will only get it if you enter from a "non-neighboring country". If entering from a neighboring country you will only get a 15 day exempt entry.

One other thing, the 90 day total allowed in six months has been dropped from the new ruling as it is currently posted. So it (hopefully) seems that particular rule is gone.

[Mid]

so 30 days at the airport and 15 by land border .

[dirtydog]

^^What was the last spoof one thaivisa did in conjunction with sunbelt? I forgot.

[EmperorTud]

Why are they messing with the visa exempt limits now when their main airport has just been closed for a week?

It's absurd, thoughtless and so typically Thai.

Their tourist industry, infected as it already is, will rot, fall off and die.

[watterinja]

I was across on Saturday 29th November & was given 30-day on entry - from a neighbouring country.

I only needed the one day, but was given 30.

[Thetyim]

Their tourist industry, infected as it already is, will rot, fall off and die.

No it won't
Anyone coming for a holiday longer than 15 days can get a visa.
It is not difficult.

It will predominantly only affect border runners not tourists

[bkkandrew]

^^^It is rather academic for the Thai authorities to argue the toss over how many days one can stay when for over a week noone has been able to arrive or depart.

But as Tud says, typically Thai.

[EmperorTud]

Anyone coming for a holiday longer than 15 days can get a visa.

Not from Cambodia they can't, Embassy there won't issue tourist visas.

It will predominantly only affect border runners not tourists

But it will affect tourists, just as the other regulations have affected tourists, those travelling overland especially.

[Thetyim]

^
I presume you mean for non-Cambo nationals.

So that will only affect foreigners living in Cambo that want to holiday in Thailand for over 15 days.
Do you know if that is a lot of people ?

[EmperorTud]

So that will only affect foreigners living in Cambo that want to holiday in Thailand for over 15 days.

There are thousands of non-Cambodian nationals that cross from Cambodia into Thailand by land borders on a daily basis for the purposes of tourism.

No idea why you think a foreigner has to be living in Cambodia to holiday in Thailand by arriving overland?

Indeed one of the attractions of this region is the excitement and ease of overland travel around and through South East Asian countries.

I've spoken to many tourists who were travelling overland around Asia when they introduced the limit of three thirty day stamps and none were impressed by the rule and as a result Thailand saw less revenue as they stayed and spent in other countries as a result. No doubt this new regulation thought up by another Thai with helium instead of a brain will have much the same effect.

But it's already evident to me where this is headed as the bars and businesses are springing up everywhere in Phnom Penh, where I was last week, while everywhere in Thailand feels as if it has had a stiff kick in the baws.

One of the major 5 star hotels in Bangkok announced to BBC today that it had an occupancy rate in single figures.

[Thetyim]

No idea why you think a foreigner has to be living in Cambodia to holiday in Thailand by arriving overland?

If they live in their homeland then they can get a tourist visa before they leave
It will only affect those that live in Cambo
Sure it will piss some people off and mean you have to plan everything before you leave
I am questioning that it will only affect a low number

[EmperorTud]

If they live in their homeland then they can get a tourist visa before they leave

Which restricts them on their travels.

One of the great things that backpackers enjoy is the on again, off again of spontaneous travel.

Making these people plan visas in advance and have them wasting money, hours and possibly days in Embassies and Consulates isn't conducive to enticing tourists.

It will only affect those that live in Cambo

No it won't, as explained earlier it will affect many of the thousands of overland tourists who enter Thailand every day.

I am questioning that it will only affect a low number

To put it in perspective, more tourists travel back to Thailand overland than fly from Cambodia.