Some tourists only allowed to enter Thailand with at least US$700 in cash

[Mid]

Warning to tourists: Carry US$700 in cash to cross Thailand's border

Some tourists only allowed to enter Thailand with at least US$700 in cash
May 07, 2014



Free float of tourism in between the ASEAN group of countries may be on the paper, but only if you can pose for a mug shot showing at least US$700.00 in cash.

Nguyen Manh Hung felt like he was posing for this mugshot when he was forced to stand in front of a webcam, covering half of his face with US$700 worth of banknotes, for immigration officers to take a photo of him at a Thailand – Cambodia check point last week.

The procedure was applicable to all of the members of the Vietnamese caravan team Hung was leading when they attempted to enter Thailand via Cambodia at the Poipet border gate on April 30, he said in a complaint sent to Tuoi Tre.

All of the Vietnamese nationals were asked to prove to immigration officers that they were carrying a sufficient amount of money -- $700 or 20,000 baht -- to get a visa stamped before entering Thailand, according to Hung, chairman of the Saigon Volkswagen Club, a Ho Chi Minh City-based society that gathers lovers of the famed German automobile.

“All of us had to hold the notes in front of our faces to be photographed as if we were criminals who had been caught red-handed,” Hung said, adding that the tourists had to provide cash as no bank cards were accepted.

Unacceptable and offensive

At the time the Saigon Volkswagen Club was undergoing what Hung called “an offensive and unacceptable procedure,” another Vietnamese tourist delegation led by a local travel agency was also waiting for their turn.
“They were asked to show their money as well,” he said.

Vu The Binh, chairman of the Vietnam Society of Travel Agents, said the regulation is unreasonable, as tourists do not necessarily have to carry cash on outbound tours.

“They can use bank cards, which are much safer and more convenient, and it is irrational to ask people to prove how much money they have,” he said.

However, there is a large notice at Poipet customs that states that citizens from certain countries “might be questioned by the officers due to the policy,” according to some Vietnamese travel agencies.

These countries include Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, the Republic of Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.

Illegal immigration prevention?

Vietnamese tourists who have had to provide proof of funds to enter Thailand via the Poipet border gate said they were told by Thai officers that the regulation is intended to limit the number of Vietnamese entering Thailand following a number of illegal entry cases.

Chutathip Chareonlar, director of the HCMC Office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, confirmed to Tuoi Tre that providing proof of funds is obligatory at the Poipet border gate.

It is dictated by the Thailand Immigration Bureau that tourists carry at least $700 or 20,000 baht in cash when they enter Thailand via the Poipet/Aranyaprathet border gate.

This is applicable to all foreign tourist visa holders, not only the Vietnamese tourists, she insisted, adding that it is because there is an increasing number of foreigners who use tourist visas to enter Thailand and illegally stay there to work.

Chareonlar also denied allegations that Vietnamese tourists are discriminated by the rule, saying checks are tightened only because many Vietnamese passport holders have been found working without permits in Thailand after entering the country using tourist visas.

She added immigration officers have the right to take photos of tourists with their money to record the serial numbers of the banknotes, so that the bills will not be used again by other tourists.

eturbonews.com

[VocalNeal]

Unacceptable and offensive?

How do they expect to stay in Thailand as a tourist without money? But if they are getting a 15 day visa then that is 1500 baht a day is that too much? maybe but... If they get a 30 day visa then they only have 750 B a day.

Is that to much or insufficient?

[pseudolus]

How do they expect to stay in Thailand as a tourist without money?

Plastic fantastic would be the logical answer.

[cyrille]

So Neal you are assuming that every tourist who enters the country finances themselves with only cash, and everybody who enters on a 15 or 30 day visa plans to stay for that full amount of time?

And do you really think that taking mugshots of people 'flashing their cash' at immigration based on their nationality is appropriate?

Really?

Maybe you've been in Thailand too long.

[pickel]

How do they expect to stay in Thailand as a tourist without money?

Vu The Binh, chairman of the Vietnam Society of Travel Agents, said the regulation is unreasonable, as tourists do not necessarily have to carry cash on outbound tours. “They can use bank cards, which are much safer and more convenient

.....

[taxexile]

Unacceptable and offensive

thai immigration officers in a nutshell

[david44]

This has long been the law and their is a signat all immigration Offices to tthis effect and at the wall in Mae Sai in English.

The fact that enforcement is arbitrary and racist tells all you need to know about the country you choose to be a tourist ,apart from those in prison nobody has to be in Thailand, If you don't like go somewhere else and stop whingeing.
Penniless backpackers Russian mafias illegal workers why not but let them bung the lads so the unemployable Thai male has enough to show his mia noi ,he knows his tool pales compares to an Irishman or Nigerian so naked cash is all he can flash.

Also need to take a close look at Yanks ,Scots and Welshmen masquerading as English teachers, kiwis impersonating birds and off course cross or modearately upset dressers.

---
Seriously folks this tosh like confiscate drugs/porn/dvds /watches is in the press now and agin to justify them sitting in the aircon all day being sucked off or playing snooker at my driving test office

[Davis Knowlton]

Why did all of those thousands of Indians, without a rupee to their name and coming to stay with the Sukhumvit tailors, get a pass?

[mustafa goze]

Many were born here.

[Davis Knowlton]

^Certainly not the hundreds clogging up the immigration lines at the airport every time you enter or depart.

[mustafa goze]

Indians were in the LOS before the Laos/Khmeres even unpacked.

I know numerousl second generation Thai-Indains who speak four languages
and attended the best schools. Ever see a homeless or even poor Sikh?
Me either.

[david44]

New Regime has cunning plan

Foreign devils only allowed to leave Thailand with 700 satang (A quarter $ to ring a friend)

Fleeced to meet you, my wife hd the shirt off my back, when it was returned ironed I knew I had met the right one.
She is constantly buying me little gifts,clean sox,shampoo,deodarant,soap I see a pattern emerging

[Phuketrichard]

That sign has NOTHING to do with the 20,000 baht rule;
its always been on the books that tourists using visa exempt entry need show they have 20,000 baht to be allowed in.

The VISA EXEMPTION RULE allows tourists from 48* countries to enter without a visa. They are granted a stay of maximum 30 days but only if entering Thailand via an international airport. However, persons, entering through a land border checkpoint from neighboring countries will be granted a maximum stay of 15 days.
Under the new provisions of the VISA EXEMPTION RULE effective December 6, 2008, passport holders of 48* countries are entitled to enter Thailand under this rule provided that they meet the following criteria:

1. The visit is strictly for tourism purposes.
2. They must have a confirmed return ticket to show that they are flying out of Thailand within 30 or 15 days of entry, as appropriate. Open tickets do not qualify. Travelling overland out of Thailand by train, bus, etc to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia (including en route to Singapore), Myanmar, etc is not accepted as proof of exiting Thailand. You may be asked to show your flight ticket on entering Thailand. If you do not possess a flight ticket to show you will be exiting Thailand within 30 or 15 days of entry you will be most likely to be refused entry.
3. It will also be necessary to prove that you have funds of at least 20,000 THB per person during your stay in Thailand.

[Mid]

Thailand to scrap offensive tourist rule after Vietnamese outcry
Saturday, May 10, 2014


A signboard at the Aranyapathet border gate between Thailand and Cambodia

Thai immigration authorities will stop a discriminative practice that requires tourists from a number of countries, including Vietnam, to present cash and pose for an offensive photo before allowing them to enter the country from Cambodia.

According to the Vietnamese foreign ministry, the decision was made after Vietnamese tourists complained that they were discriminated against by Thai immigrant officers at the Aranyapathet Border Gate between Cambodia and Thailand.

The Vietnamese embassy in Thailand on Thursday worked with the Immigration Office of Sakaeo Province, which manages the border gate, to clarify the claim.

Thai authorities admitted that some of the staff at Aranyapathet Border Gate were impolite, and a signboard which listed a number of countries, including Vietnam, whose citizens may be questioned before entering Thailand is offensive.

The office said it will order the border gate to stop asking tourists to present cash and pose for a photo; instead, tourists are allowed to present credit cards. The signboard will be removed.

Local media early this week reported that many Vietnamese tourists said they were maltreated by Thai customs officers when entering that country through the Poipet or Aranyapathet border gate connecting Thailand and Cambodia.

They said Thai officers asked them to present return tickets, hotel booking confirmation, and 20,000 baths or US$700 in cash and pose with the required cash for a photo when they enter Thailand by land.

Vietnamese travel representatives have quoted Thai customs officers as saying that the regulation came into place because many Vietnamese entered Thailand as tourists to commit crimes and work illegally.

However, disgruntled Vietnamese tourists decried the rule as “offensive” and “discriminating”.

Many Vietnamese people, tour operators and tourism experts threatened to boycott Thai tours if the practice were still in place.

Vietnamese citizens can travel to Thailand without visas and remain there for 30 days when entering by air and 15 days by land.

It is estimated that some 500,000 Vietnamese people travel to Thailand every year.

thanhniennews.com

[Seekingasylum]

Contrary to the perceived image much projected by SE Asians, and particularly Thai, I find them on the whole to be as subtle and deft as a fart in a space suit.

Essentially, they are all coons and should therefore be regarded as the peasant morons most generally transpire to be.

[Kurgen]

at least they know which tourists to turn over for cash now.

[taxexile]

Thai immigration authorities will stop a discriminative practice that requires tourists from a number of countries, including Vietnam, to present cash and pose for an offensive photo before allowing them to enter the country from Cambodia.

this would be laughable if it werent true,

thai immigration are law unto themselves, and this offensive sign and the way that the policy is implemented by the immigration officers at that border are symptomatic of the egotistic, controlling, beholden to nobody, bullying nature of this class of thai civil servant when "welcoming" guests of a different race or nationality into their country.

they are a disgrace to their country, their position and themselves.

[mustafa goze]

^ agreed. simply another shakedown.

[Drainpipe]

Essentially, they are all coons

Your attitude towards the population of the country you choose to reside in does indicate a certain lack of class and intelligence on your part