"Entry denied because you come too often" - what's the deal?

[lemonwaterjoe 12]

Hi everybody,

 

With some confusion I'm reading more and more comments and see more and more threads coming up from people that do enter Thailand several times per year on Visa Exemption (= allowed to stay up to 30 days for most countries) mentioning that...

 

- they got refused to enter and sent back

or

- got any stamps/comments/marks under their stamp that their next entry will most likely be dienied because "you come too often without proper visa"

or

- are questioned in a "private room" and let in "1 last time" being told next time they have to come with a proper visa.

 

I don't know what exactly the deal is or if I'm just a super lucky guy but in my passport I have over 20 (!) pages with stamps from Suvarnabhumi airport officers showing my "record" of the past 5-6 years: I never ever had or applied for a Visa, I always present my passport at immigration at Suvarnabhumi airport and get a stamp (Visa Exemption) that allows me to stay up to 30 days. I never ever was questioned about my strange looking passport with tons of stamps and even more the huge entry list the computer must show the officer that checks/scans my passport. I come to Thailand by plane 7-9 times every year and stay between 12-20 days per trip. Never longer (maybe one time 2 or 3 years ago I did stay 25 days) because I need to take care of my business in Europe as well and that for can't afford to stay 4+ weeks.

 

Just wondering if anyone got an idea why I never faced any issues why other members here do have so many problems while having far less stamps/entries than me over the past months/years?

 

Cheers,

lemonwaterjoe

Edited February 13 by lemonwaterjoe

[KittenKong 13,984]

9 minutes ago, lemonwaterjoe said:

Just wondering if anyone got an idea why I never faced any issues why other members here do have so many problems while having far less stamps/entries than me over the past months/years?

It seems to me that they are more interested in people who repeatedly stay for the full 30 or 60 days than those who come and go very often but only spend a week or two here. The latter are more likely to be real tourists and less likely to be working here.

[swissie 3,933]

Same here.
It's always at the discretion of the individual Immi-Officer. Extremely sexy men like me always choose a Immi-Booth where a female Immi-Officer is on duty. Surely, the OP is also an extremely sexy man and applies the same strategy but is too shy to mention it.
Again, it's at the discretion of the Immi-Officer. Appearing unshaven, unwashed with flip-flops and wearing a T-shirt that says "Long live Thaksin" will not go unnoticed by any Immi-Officer.

[lemonwaterjoe 12]

32 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

It seems to me that they are more interested in people who repeatedly stay for the full 30 or 60 days than those who come and go very often but only spend a week or two here. The latter are more likely to be real tourists and less likely to be working here.

 

This is what I was thinking but I read over the past weeks that this also happens to people that were out of the country for months when returning.

 

2 minutes ago, swissie said:

Again, it's at the discretion of the Immi-Officer. Appearing unshaven, unwashed with flip-flops and wearing a T-shirt that says "Long live Thaksin" will not go unnoticed by any Immi-Officer.

 

Several members that had such issues while (trying to) enter(ing) Thailand confirmed they were smartly dressed. So I don't think that this is the reason in these cases.

 

[Santzes 1]

Got links to the refused cases you're referring to?

[lemonwaterjoe 12]

8 minutes ago, Santzes said:

Got links to the refused cases you're referring to? 

 

Just read through this forum, tons of topics. You can also search for terms like "denied" or "refused" and several topics will come up.

[elviajero 6,007]

1 hour ago, lemonwaterjoe said:

Just wondering if anyone got an idea why I never faced any issues why other members here do have so many problems while having far less stamps/entries than me over the past months/years?

The answer is ....

1 hour ago, lemonwaterjoe said:

I come to Thailand by plane 7-9 times every year and stay between 12-20 days per trip. Never longer (maybe one time 2 or 3 years ago I did stay 25 days)

 

Immigration are not really interested in the number of entries. They are stopping people trying to live in the country as a tourist.

[Kadilo 4,422]

There is no pattern it’s pure random. 

Myself and a friend have been coming for years roughly over the same period and both 2-3 weeks at a time. 

2 years ago I was asked at the airport why I visited so often and next time I came I should get a tourist visa which I did and now have a retirement visa.  

My mate two years on is still on visa exempt and a passport full of stamps. 

[AlexRich 6,499]

"entry denied because you come to often"

 

... said the bargirl to the farang!

 

 

[yogi100 1,448]

I have a METV (multiple entry tourist visa) which allows you to visit for up to 90 days at a time providing you have proof that you receive a state pension.

 

I visit maybe three times a year for 80 odd days each time and then go back home for two or three months.

 

I'm just waiting for them to put the kibosh on that.

[Destiny1990 3,167]

Hey lemonwater joe if u would care about the environment then try consider to fly less and stay longer on each trip..

And if u worry ur stamps get a new fresh passport 

[Christophers200 146]

Millions of tourists arrive each year and experience no problems -- REAL tourists who enjoy a 2-3 week holiday before returning home. 

[BritTim 6,383]

It is partly luck, and partly the fact that your visa exempt entries are for relatively short periods and never back-to-back.

[Nyezhov 6,339]

Its real easy.

 

Multiple stamps in and out  arent a problem if you are a middle aged, well dressed American.

 

 

 

[JackThompson 5,159]

9 hours ago, lemonwaterjoe said:

stay between 12-20 days per trip. Never longer

That's why you haven't had problems - less than a month each time.  They think by your shorter stays you are not "putting down roots", and becoming a "threat" of becoming a permanent fixture.

 

8 hours ago, lemonwaterjoe said:

This is what I was thinking but I read over the past weeks that this also happens to people that were out of the country for months when returning.

Yes, but those were "snowbirds" - so stayed 5 months or so - usually via two closely spaced visits.  Others were longer-stayers in years past (one had Non-O-married in his past).  Anyone staying for months takes the risk (from immigration's perspective) of developing relationships with Thais, so seen as a particularly dangerous threat of "sticking around." 

 

Anyone recall the USSR days, when Western visitors were each followed around by a "minder" - who would not permit them to have more than very-brief conversations with the locals?  Of course it is no where near that bad, now - but it's the same sort of mentality at work.