Almost denied at Suvarnabhumi airport

[Farangland]

Hi there,

 

This is my story I will like to share.

After 2 and a half months in my country and 33 hours flight, have arrived to Thailand.

When passing immigration, officer has called a superior and they took me apart to a desk.

While getting to the desk high ranked officer asked me to call some thai national I know. Luckily I could reach landlady.

Officer has asked me for proof of funds. I have shown usd 700 and 5 credit cards.

He said that was not enough for my two month stay, so I replied I didnt want to carry more due to pickpockets and robbery back in my country, so I could go and withdraw more from ATM. He didn´t allow me to do so.

He has spoken with landlady two times for fifteen minutes. She supported me saying I don´t work here -true-, that my money comes from my country -true-, and I base in Thailand to travel around SEAsia - true-.

Im a legal tourist, never had an issue with immigration, always followed rules. Never overstayed.

Many years since I first came to Th and I´ve been doing this for long.

Officer said that I have stayed six months last year in Thailand, and cash was not enough. Those were reasons given.

He threaten me sending back home.

Didn´t want to argue. Led him calm down as he was quite arrogant and rude.

Finally upon landlady´s translation, she told me to "help" him.

Needed to go to the toilet, my passport was thicker and I was let get in.

Mixed feelings caught me. I love this country, but they are ruining it. Not helping even locals with this policies. I can see less and less tourists.

My exempt visa entry is for three months.

Now thinking going to Malaysia. My return ticket is to KL. And using Malaysia as my travel hub, even I love Thailand.

Don´t deserve being threatened, being treated as a criminal, I just come and spend my money as a tourist.

Thought about making a complaint with my embassy, writting this to media back in my country. Then changed my mind just for local citizens they do their living from tourist, as me.

 

Im feeling sad. Really.

 

 

[La Migra]

5 minutes ago, Farangland said:

Finally upon landlady´s translation, she told me to "help" him.

Needed to go to the toilet, my passport was thicker and I was let get in

So you paid a bribe to a government official?

[timendres]

8 minutes ago, La Migra said:

So you paid a bribe to a government official?

No. He helped an IO with his decision by making his passport more acceptable. ????

[bigginhill]

Were you told how much thicker to make it? 

Whats the going "measurement"?

 

[AlexRich]

“my passport was thicker”.

 

No idea what you are talking about? No point in posting about your experiences and then talking in riddles. Does that mean you gave him some money? 

 

 

 

[holy cow cm]

Well can't use the word donation, so help him is a lot better as it helps 2 people. The stories are really starting to come in now. Doesn't look like the Land of Smiles anymore as seems to be becoming the Land of Frowns. Such a shame. 
 

[Martyp]

First of all you have a long history of travel here so you should carry the 20,000 baht so that is not an issue. I'm sure you can find a way to carry it on your person safely. 

 

Second, it looks bad to say you are a tourist but you are renting a place to stay and have a landlady who knows all about you. It makes you look like you are living here rather than being a tourist. 

[yogi100]

My friend had a similar experience when he arrived in the LOS a few weeks ago. He was detained at the airport and interrogated in an office for 40 minutes.

 

He's retired and has regular holidays in Pattaya. The incident has made him look at Thailand in a completely different light. He stays in the Metropole Hotel in Pattaya and is not slow when it comes to spending his money.

 

The female IO suspected and accused him of working in the LOS. She was very rude and aggressive the whole time  before slamming his passport on the desk and telling him with a snarl to 'Go'. 

[Caldera]

Well if they make this "You help me - I help you" a consistent service, I'm sure there will be takers. I wouldn't be worried about their reputation, if I were them, most foreigners consider them corrupt pigs anyway.

[Tanoshi]

6 minutes ago, Martyp said:

First of all you have a long history of travel here so you should carry the 20,000 baht so that is not an issue.

He showed 700 USD, which is more than 20,000 BHT.

[White Christmas13]

5 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

He showed 700 USD, which is more than 20,000 BHT.

I thought 20.000 is for a family 10.000 is for a single person

[gk10002000]

12 minutes ago, Martyp said:

First of all you have a long history of travel here so you should carry the 20,000 baht so that is not an issue. I'm sure you can find a way to carry it on your person safely. 

 

Second, it looks bad to say you are a tourist but you are renting a place to stay and have a landlady who knows all about you. It makes you look like you are living here rather than being a tourist. 

yeah, the story even at face value is suspicious.  Granted I wish a tourist were allowed to come and go as many times as they want, may find it cost effective to just keep renting the same place on a long term lease.  Monthly or yearly leases really drop the price of a condo rental.  But Thailand currently and for several years now does not like multiple multiple come and gos on Visa exempts, or such things

[Tanoshi]

8 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

I thought 20.000 is for a family 10.000 is for a single person

10,000 for VE entry.

20,000 for TV entry.

[Danielsiam]

https://www.nacc.go.th/main.php?filename=index_en

 

What they're for ?

[White Christmas13]

8 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

10,000 for VE entry.

20,000 for TV entry.

So if I come for a 2 weeks holiday I need to carry 20.000 in cash

[Tanoshi]

8 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

So if I come for a 2 weeks holiday I need to carry 20.000 in cash

It depends if you enter VE, which allows a 30 day entry, or a TV, which allows a 60 day entry.

[White Christmas13]

7 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

It depends if you enter VE, which allows a 30 day entry, or a TV, which allows a 60 day entry.

I guess I enter on visa exempt which I have done before and yes I only come for 2 weeks again

[donnacha]

@Farangland Thanks for sharing your experience here.

I think the phrase "make the passport thicker" is beautiful and exactly echoes the culture around this stuff.

It would be very helpful if you could indicate how much thicker - did you have to give him the entire $700?

[Tayaout]

59 minutes ago, Caldera said:

Well if they make this "You help me - I help you" a consistent service, I'm sure there will be takers. I wouldn't be worried about their reputation, if I were them, most foreigners consider them corrupt pigs anyway.

I won't give details but they do offer "worry free" entry at some BKK airport now. It's disgusting but not surprising. 

[donnacha]

3 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

I won't give details but they do offer "worry free" entry at some BKK airport now.

It would actually be directly useful to members of this forum if someone could hint at what the going rate is.

I understand the instinct to be coy but, if you are already stating that it is happening, it is not any more risky to give a ballpark idea of what they are asking for.

In another current thread, a guy who is essentially broke is talking about borrowing money to buy an Elite visa because he can't think of any other way to stay in Thailand. If there is some reliable way to just slip someone some money on a trip-by-trip basis, well, that would probably be a lot better for him.

[lkv]

9 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

No I did no looking or reading further into it,

Scaremonging, generating views for ad purposes, government propaganda, agents, paid visa options promoters. I could give you so many possible scenarios. I can assure you there is "pollution".

Edited August 31, 2019 by lkv

[bigginhill]

15 minutes ago, donnacha said:

@Farangland Thanks for sharing your experience here.

I think the phrase "make the passport thicker" is beautiful and exactly echoes the culture around this stuff.

It would be very helpful if you could indicate how much thicker - did you have to give him the entire $700?

Exactly what I asked. 

Was he told how thick to make it? What dimensions did it have when it got accepted? 

What are the going " measurements"?

[Tayaout]

It's 3500 if you know who to ask. 

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, Farangland said:

Led him calm down as he was quite arrogant and rude.

Welcome to Thailand! They hate you and only want your money.

[donnacha]

2 minutes ago, bigginhill said:

What are the going " measurements"?

This is my main problem with bribery. Once you get over your natural Western dislike of the concept, and come to see that it is often the quickest way to solve a problem, it is so damn hard to know how much you should be paying.

I remember an American Walking Street bar owner (Martin Moore at the FLB bar) once told me that the biggest problem new farang bar owners had was figuring out which cop they should be paying off - if you starting paying the wrong cop, you couldn't just stop when you finally figured out who the right cop was, you would end up having to keep paying both ????

In the case of airports, I presume there is some system whereby you text your io contact with your flight details and he turns up to escort you through and collect a set amount of money. Would I be wildly off if I guessed that the amount would be roughly in the region of $100 / €100 / 3,000 THB?

If you are simply dealing with whichever random io gets you, well, presumably they are looking greedily at your 20,000 THB, in that situation would you have to just hand it all to them?

 

[donnacha]

7 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

It's 3500 if you know who to ask. 

Terrific, thank you.

@Farangland Was your donation roughly in the same ballpark?

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by donnacha

[White Christmas13]

7 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Welcome to Thailand! They hate you and only want your money.

I do not agree with you I lived in Thailand for many years and yes I lost every thing I had but me and

my Thai wife went back to OZ and she has been looking after me ever since

 

[lkv]

4 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Would I be wildly off if I guessed that the amount would be roughly in the region of $100 / €100 / 3,000 THB?

One report I read in the past that I believe in, mentioned 100 USD, I think he was Asian.

 

Another guy on METV got away with 1,000 baht at Phuket, posted it on Facebook (Thai Visa Advice), but got deleted quickly by the mods. But that was last year I think.

 

I assume that your estimation is accurate.

Edited August 31, 2019 by lkv

[holy cow cm]

12 minutes ago, madmen said:

Just quoting stats. So many trolls reporting IO screaming.
.. You go we not want you here..what total complete nonsense!

Personalities or appearances can maybe rub an IO the wrong way. And from my observations, in those immigration lines there are a lot having one or both characteristics that can bother the overworked IO, which could possibly then nurture contempt, which then could rub off on one or more undeserving of the bash. For me, I find their job as having to deal with all sorts of type of travelers not fun. I probably would get perturbed a lot. I would gather out of 100 people, I might be annoyed 10 times. In renewals and other things like 90 day check in, I have cringed hearing some foreigners speak out, and then actually smiled when the IO got a little hot under their collar. So it is not hard for m to believe. 

[SpanishExpat]

90% of the IO Are happy to get bribed. The problems at the airports are the cameras. That’s why I so much better to be a regular cop in Thailand than an IO. I know more or less what normal IO’s at the airports get as salary. So their direct  supervisors one level above are still below 40k Baht/month. 500-1000Baht should be enough.