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  1. #1
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    Tourist Visas denied to some

    Just want you guys to know that I was just in Savanakhet to get another 3 month tourist visa and while there, there were three of us who were denied the tourist visas and there may have been even more people denied. We all had done them many times before without problems. I guess something changed a few days ago which caused the problem.

    There may be some sort of limit now on how many you can get in a row or maybe an old rule they are now enforcing again. In any case, two of us got NON-O 3-month visas based on having paperwork with us showing we had family and kids. I was just lucky to have copies of my daughter's birth certificate and my wife and daughters' passport copies as well as the tabien baan copies. They gave me the Non-O on that. A French guy there got the same based on family connections; I guess after getting them faxed to him or somehow proving his relationship. The third guy was planning to get his Thai girlfriend to help him somehow by signing form they had. He didn't have any other paperwork with him but claimed he had a house in Ban Saray. I guess that's on the seashore somewhere.

    There was another person there who already had done two tourist visas but was able to get one more without a problem. Not sure if there ever was a limit on tourist visas. I chatted with a tuk tuk driver and he said that it was also getting a bit harder for Lao people to do visas to Thailand. Not too sure about that situation. I'm guessing this all has to do with the recent problems with the Penang consolate and the European consolate visas being stoeln. Just a guess but who knows what's up.

    Anyways, I just figured I'd let you know about this. You should bring a copy of a marriage certificate and any other paperwork showing family connections that might help you out, should you run into a problem. If I didn't happen to bring the extra stuff I would have had to waste another day there at least to get something faxed to me. The NON-O visa costs 2,000 baht and you get the full three months stamped on the visa at the border unlike the tourist visa which only gives you the first two months and the third month at an immigration office.

    It wasn't that clear to me what they wanted exactly so if anyone has any updates on recent tourist visa requirements or news related to this post it here or a link.

  2. #2
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    Albert Shagnastier's Avatar
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    1 door closes another 1 opens - always the way here.

  3. #3
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    We were lucky. Not sure how many times you can do a 3 month NON-O. It might be a problem for those without family.

  4. #4
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    Think you lost me somewhere, did mine 6 weeks ago, wife, kids Multly O spouse, think tourist is 60 days. Did you use the form fillers across the road. they fill in what's needed and there seems to be no questions after.

    Sometimes there is miss communication and people get visas that they were not applying for. Jim

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat prawnograph's Avatar
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    Tourist Visas - Vientiane 28 May 2013
    I returned from Vientiane in last week of May this year
    There was some ranting and raging in the queue at the re-entry into Thailand when the visa run company man handed out the passports he'd collected from the Consulate
    Some had their Double-Entry Tourist Visa that they had all applied for (four minivans full)
    Some had a Single-Entry TV (not the Double they wanted, and a 1000 baht refund) and a note 'don't apply here again'
    And two got no Tourist Visa at all - may have been warned before for too many consecutive Tourist Visas, they had spent their 8000 baht for a visa run from Pattaya and all they got was a stamp for 15 day permission to stay

  6. #6
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    It wasn't about the forms. It was going to be my fifth tourist visa so that might have been it. The other guys who got rejected seemed to have been doing this a long time without problems. As I said I suspect the crackdown is related to the problems with missing visas.



    Ah, I think I just solved it. So many important stories never get posted here on TD.



    August 28, 2013

    Another 500 visas missing, from consulate in Suvanakhetaos | Bangkok Post: breakingnews

    The Foreign Ministry has found another 500 visa stamps missing, this time from its consulate-general office in Savannakhet, Laos.

    Deputy permanent secretary for foreign affairs Nutthavudh Photisaro said the Immigration Bureau earlier found two visa stamps illegally issued by the consulate-general office in Savannakhet.

    A subsequent examination of visa stamps earmarked for this consulate back to 2008 revealed that a total of 500 stickers were missing, including the two detected by the Immigration Bureau.

    The ministry had informed the Immigration Bureau office at Suvarnabhumi Airport to cancel visa numbers A8486001 to A8486500.

    He said more investigation is needed into whether local employees or ministry officials are responsible for the disappearance. The initial assumption is that local officials are to blame, he added.

    The report of visa stickers missing from the consulate in Laos follows the admission last Wednesday that 300 visa stamps were missing from Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and many had been used to enter or leave Thailand.

    Then another 2,000 visa stamps were found to have disappeared from a mail pouch sent to the Thai embassy in The Hague, in the Netherlands. The airline responsible for carrying the pouch has agreed to pay 26,000 baht, the value of the visas, as compensation.

    The ministry expects to launch its electronic visa system in October 2014, on which an image of each applicant will be shown, to help reduce illegal use of Thai visas.






    Meanwhile, there were these,too...


    2,000 missing visas issued to The Hague embassy cancelled | Bangkok Post: news



    Visas reportedly sold to criminals, terrorists | Bangkok Post: news

  7. #7
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    It will be interesting to see which will be easier. Getting a visa to the US for my wife since she is the mother of our son, or me getting a visa in Thailand since I am the father and she is a Thai national.

    My take on this is that any visa is getting harder to obtain if you do not have a Thai wife or family. It is up to the immigration officer to determine if you are abusing the meaning of a tourist visa or not. If you have several in your passport, your chances become less and less to obtain another one.

    Did the immigration officer ask why you did not apply for a married visa or a retirement visa?
    Last edited by rickschoppers; 04-09-2013 at 10:15 AM.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post
    It will be interesting to see which will be easier. Getting a visa to the US for my wife since she is the mother of our son, or me getting a visa in Thailand since I am the father and she is a Thai national.
    If you have Thai family (wife and/or child) are in the US and use the Houston or Coral Gables consulate it's a piece of cake to get the Non-Immi O that is good for 15 months if you plan it right.

    As to the tourist visa to the US for your wife, an immi lawyer friend in NY told me that having a child with US citizenship can work against them. The process for Thais getting visas to visit the US seems a bit, shall we say, capricious, unless they have significant assets in Thailand that guarantee (which of course they don't) that the Thai will leave the Big Rock Candy Mountain and return to Thailand. Absolutely everyone wants to live in the paradise that is the US, dontcha know.
    “You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think.” Dorothy Parker

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by youneverknow View Post
    We were lucky. Not sure how many times you can do a 3 month NON-O. It might be a problem for those without family.
    Why not get a retirement visa? You only have to be 50.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post
    It will be interesting to see which will be easier. Getting a visa to the US for my wife since she is the mother of our son, or me getting a visa in Thailand since I am the father and she is a Thai national.

    My take on this is that any visa is getting harder to obtain if you do not have a Thai wife or family. It is up to the immigration officer to determine if you are abusing the meaning of a tourist visa or not. If you have several in your passport, your chances become less and less to obtain another one.

    Did the immigration officer ask why you did not apply for a married visa or a retirement visa?
    Actually, that's funny because before I crossed into Laos the border guy checking me out of LOS said I should look into that. Anyways, the Non-O is the visa for those who have family connections I guess. At least, that's what they gave it to me for after I couldn't get the tourist visa.

    At this point, a marriage visa seems the thing to do. Someday I would like to do that but I haven't really looked into it. I don't have money in the bank either so that probably would an issue. For now it's not on the agenda as I will be working soon enough so the next visa should be based on work.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by robuzo View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by rickschoppers View Post
    It will be interesting to see which will be easier. Getting a visa to the US for my wife since she is the mother of our son, or me getting a visa in Thailand since I am the father and she is a Thai national.
    If you have Thai family (wife and/or child) are in the US and use the Houston or Coral Gables consulate it's a piece of cake to get the Non-Immi O that is good for 15 months if you plan it right.

    As to the tourist visa to the US for your wife, an immi lawyer friend in NY told me that having a child with US citizenship can work against them. The process for Thais getting visas to visit the US seems a bit, shall we say, capricious, unless they have significant assets in Thailand that guarantee (which of course they don't) that the Thai will leave the Big Rock Candy Mountain and return to Thailand. Absolutely everyone wants to live in the paradise that is the US, dontcha know.
    The US does seem to be just as flip floppy at times with visas. It's too bad they choose money over people. Two kinds of people have money, the hardworking successful folks and the corrupt bastards. Both are welcome into the US. For the family-is-everything talk the politicians spout they don't do enough to make it easy for families to move to the US. Money obviously is much more important than the value of family to America.

  12. #12
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    There is always a limit...

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by youneverknow
    I don't have money in the bank either so that probably would an issue.
    You don't need any money in the bank to get a Non-Imm O based on marriage.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by youneverknow
    I don't have money in the bank either so that probably would an issue.
    You don't need any money in the bank to get a Non-Imm O based on marriage.
    You mean just for three months? Can I extend the Non-O they gave me at the local immigration office for a year then?

  15. #15
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    am i right in thinking that your marriage cert and a copy of your wife cert, plus the other documents are all that are needed for a non o? i only say this as i phoned to make an appointment at the thai consulate in cardiff which are known for being user friendly,and they wanted a translation of the marriage certificates as well which i was unaware of. they said that they make an exception this time but get it translated when i get back to thailand.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog
    You don't need any money in the bank to get a Non-Imm O based on marriage
    Hmmm. I've had non-Os and work permits for the last 8 years, but when I go back it'd be nice to get more than a 1 month tourist stamp. A 3 month non-O based on marriage would be good - could you add a bit more detail please, Marmite; I is quite dense...
    Cycling should be banned!!!

  17. #17
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    ^ Not sure about getting non-O out of country, but on a 30 day visit, you can easily get a 60 day extension based on family. Costs 1900 and a day fart arsing around in immigration.

  18. #18
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    ^ thank you, 999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

    I love going to the Bkk immigration centre!

    Sooner or later, I might have to sort out a longterm marriage visa...

  19. #19
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    I got it down at CM immigration. You go about 1/2 hour before they open and wait in line with the other dreary looking falangs. An hour later you should have your ticket. The family extension requires an interview so it's a long wait.

    So just bust out and come back 5 minutes before lunch is finished. If your number was already called and you weren't there, you go to the front of the queue. At least at CM immigration.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by youneverknow View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by youneverknow
    I don't have money in the bank either so that probably would an issue.
    You don't need any money in the bank to get a Non-Imm O based on marriage.
    You mean just for three months? Can I extend the Non-O they gave me at the local immigration office for a year then?
    A multiple entry 1 year non-imm O. You have to do a border run every 90 days but it means you can actually get 15 months out of it if you're not an idiot.

    You do not visit immigration in your province as you do if you have an extension to your permission to stay based upon showing funds in the bank exceeding 400k or can prove a monthly income of over 45k (if I remember correctly) a month.

    Despite it being written a hundred bloody times a visa is not the same as your permission to stay.

  21. #21
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    Thanks Marmite. I see. So it's just an O with multiple entry. The max period would be 3 months before a border crossing. I guess you would have to buy a Lao or Cambodian visa at the border every three months as well. Out and in but no paperwork on the Thai side when you come back in.

  22. #22
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    ^
    Or you can go to Mae Sot or Mae Sai and just get exit and entry stamps.

    Cambo and Laos you need visas which with stamps takes one and a half pages each trip.
    OK for the ocassional border run but too many crossings can quickly fill up your passport.

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by 9999 View Post
    I got it down at CM immigration. You go about 1/2 hour before they open and wait in line with the other dreary looking falangs. An hour later you should have your ticket. The family extension requires an interview so it's a long wait.

    So just bust out and come back 5 minutes before lunch is finished. If your number was already called and you weren't there, you go to the front of the queue. At least at CM immigration.
    Do that in Pattaya and they'd shoot you! The other dreary looking F'rangs, that is!

  24. #24
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    Live on Multi O spouse visas, 5.000 baht a year, $30 US Lao visa every 3 months, easy and simple except for the Lao visa taking a page each time.

    Plenty of other options if the show money is there, but I'm married with kids, so am not allowed to have my own money. Jim

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog
    A multiple entry 1 year non-imm O. You have to do a border run every 90 days but it means you can actually get 15 months out of it if you're not an idiot.
    Marmite i believe there a need for a bank funs for the milty entry, 100.000 i think
    correct me if i am wrong

    Quote Originally Posted by jamescollister
    Live on Multi O spouse visas, 5.000 baht a year, $30 US Lao visa every 3 months, easy and simple except for the Lao visa taking a page each time.
    do you needed funds for the last run?

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