From Thai Visa come notice of another crack down on back to back visas. If one has 90 days worth of visa already they are being denied a stamp and are being told to return to their home country and apply there. Penang is already denying and word has it the other consulates will follow suit.

During a time when the tourist industry is in such trouble, I just don't understand the logic, or lack thereof, of choosing now to put these kinds of crackdowns in place. I can certainly understand why Thailand would want to rid itself of low-life tourists who come here and cause problems, but I can't understand why they would want to make it so difficult for those who legitimately wish to stay longer in the country. Sometimes it seems as if Thailand excels at cutting off its own nose to spite its face.

 

Any fool can see how much trouble the tourist industry is going through. Empty hotels, restaurants, stores, bars, etc. certainly tell the story. Businesses are closing down right and left, some temporarily and some permanently. One of the latest is the Art Caf

I think some clarification is needed. A Tourist Visa is issued outside Thailand and single entry is 2 months. Are you referring to the 30 day on arrival visa?

Are you referring to the 30 day on arrival visa?

 

Whilst I agree wholeheatedly with all GB's comments, it does sound like the complaint on the Thai Visa site is not new but goes back to the regulation which came in some time ago about back-to-back 30 day on arrival visas. After 2 extensions, you have to go out of the country for a while.

 

With visa fees having recently been waived in an effort to lure tourists, if this is a new rule, then the country is once again shooting itself in the foot.

if this is a new rule, then the country is once again shooting itself in the foot.

If Thai consulates are going to start denying visas unless the applicant applies in his home country, then Thailand isn't shooting itself in the foot. Thailand is shooting itself in the head!

 

This is ridiculous. If a person is eligible for a visa, then why should he have to return to his specific home country to apply for one? If he can afford to leave Thailand and go to a neighboring country to apply for a new visa, and then return to Thailand, then obviously he has the means to remain in Thailand and contribute to the economy, not sponge from it.

 

It's all on my "I Don't Get It" list.

My understanding is that a dual 60 day visa is still available. That is 6 full months. Is that now gone as well? Is this just Penang? Other places affected as well?

My understanding is that a dual 60 day visa is still available. That is 6 full months. Is that now gone as well? Is this just Penang? Other places affected as well?

 

The 60 day tourist visas are still available. You get 60 days when you enter Thailand. You can get 30 extra days by going to Immigration office on Suan Phlu Road and paying 1900 baht, bringing the total to 90 days per entry. Depending on which embassy/consulate you apply to, you can get as many as a 3 entry tourist visa, so, staying as long as 9 months.

You get 60 days when you enter Thailand.

This is not correct,unless something has recently changed that I am not aware of.

 

Visa on arrival is for 30 days.

 

Was in Laos renewing my tourist visa double entry 10 days ago the embassy was packed as usual and no trouble with the free issue. I was no 324 at 10am in the morning returned the next day to uplift my passport using the queue ticket not a problem in Vientiane.

A visa is a permission to stay in Thailand for a certain amount of time and is issued by a Thai Consulate or Embassy.

 

Some nationals are allowed to enter Thailand without a visa and will get (depending on their nationality) a visa-exempt of 15 or 30 days.

 

A visa-exempt is NOT a visa.

 

The so-called "crackdown" is not a general crackdown of the Thai Immigration, but again it is a single-handed action of the Consulate in Penang. Obviously they're very bored by all the free issues of the tourist visas and made up the rule of returning to your home country at some point.

 

Just don't panic and find another Thai Consulate nearby. Penang has more of these kind of actions.

Just don't panic and find another Thai Consulate nearby. Penang has more of these kind of actions.

I think you're right. I hear about more problems dealing with the consulate in Penang than anywhere else.

A rather minor point but I'm always a bit puzzled when somebody feels the need to point out that the "30-day" freebie when you show up in LOS is most definitely not a "visa." Besides the fact that a lot of people refer to it that way, I'd note that an online dictionary defines a visa as:

 

An official authorization appended to a passport, permitting entry into and travel within a particular country or region.

 

Since you do get an official authorization stamped into your passport, anybody referring to the "30-day" freebie as a visa is not incorrect.

 

[For those thinking my logic is wacky because the "30-day" freebie is not on a separate piece of paper, I'd point out that neither is my long-term visa as it too is only a stamp in my passport]

We may be splitting airs here, but I have just done my online application to the Department of Homeland Security for the right to enter the USA next month. I have a UK passport and am entitled under US regulations to visa-free entry for a stay of up to 90 days under the visa-waiver programme. However, nationals of all visa-waiver countries now have to get DHS on-line approval a minimum of 72 hours in advance of travel, or your airline will deny you boarding!

 

Complicated though that is, and despite the term "visa waiver", I also get a stamp on arrival, have my photo and my index fingerprints taken. Once in the USA, I am regarded in the same way as someone who has to get a visa in advance. So I look on the term more as "free visa on arrival" rather than "visa free". A key issue is you do not have to pay - not that you can enter without a visa.

So I look on the term more as "free visa on arrival" rather than "visa free".

 

It's approval to be in Thailand for 30 days, you get it when you arrive (can't get it in advance), and it's free - so your term makes perfectly good sense to me. And, yea, we could be splitting hairs a little (but not as much as those who just insist that nobody should ever call it a visa).