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Extension after warning at BKK immigration


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Hello everyone, 

 

So I arrived at Suvarnabhumi this week and was taken aside by immigration. I'm coming to Thailand for 8 years now without a visa (I'm Dutch), each time staying no more than 60 days with a flight after 30 days to Cambodia. My last visit was the longest (May to Sep. this year), about 4 months with 2 border runs to Myanmar and a 30 days extension at the Chiang Rai immigration office. So when I was taken aside this week (for the first time) they wanted to know what I was doing for so long in Thailand, I honestly told them I love the country, people, weather, food and so on. I think my first mistake was that on the arrival form under lenght of stay I wrote 90 days instead of 30 as I always did. The first officer was very blunt and harsh saying 'you have to go back to your country'. After a while another officer came to talk with me. He said this is not your country, we can only let you stay 30 days if you can show an exit flight within 30 days. So bought a ticket to Cambodia and he gave me the usual 30 day stamp. Obviously a bad start which all in all took more than 3 hours. 

As I see it I'm in the 'system' and when I leave Thailand either on land or via airport I have to go to a Thai embassy for a visa. Is that the case now? 

 

Is there anyway I can extend my stay for this trip? Or am I really obliged to leave after 30 days and stay away for at least 2 months? Am I now flagged? Or is this just a scare tactic. 

 

Any tips or tricks are truly welcome. 

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Usually a 30 day extension is issued without the slightest problem... so long as your 'hotel' has done the TM30! The problem does seem to be with the immigration at the airport being difficult. Yes a TV might help, but most travelers couldn't be bothered. Someone coming to spend 2 winter months here should not hassled. 

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1 minute ago, noone223 said:

Personally, it happened to me too, its humiliating, and a country that treats you this way CLEARLY doesn't need, want nor deserve you and the money you're spending.

Good point. It happened to me too a couple of times and is one of the reasons I have decided to give up my condo here and spend more time in other countries next year. Your loss, Thailand.

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7 minutes ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

You don't need TM30 for a 30 day extension. They don't ask.

They did it to  me last time .Big to do about nothing. The hotel I had moved to did not know what they  were doing - I had to go back and get them to download the form and then fill it out and take it to I/O. 

 

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5 minutes ago, rabang said:

Thailand is so far away for most visitors that a two or three week stay doesn't make sense to me. I know most people can't stay longer than that but personally I find it a really short time. Adjusting after arrival already takes a few days.

I agree but used to know some people that were in love with TH and would work as many hours as they could, not spend anything back home,
to then come for 10 days at the time and enjoy the beer and girls in PTY, for them it was worth it. Those would be flagged by IO's now too I guess. 

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28 minutes ago, rabang said:

Thailand is so far away for most visitors that a two or three week stay doesn't make sense to me. I know most people can't stay longer than that but personally I find it a really short time. Adjusting after arrival already takes a few days.

Most regular working people don't get more than 2-3 weeks of vacation each year, if that. And they spend some of it doing other things. In my entire adult and working life I never traveled longer than 3 weeks. That trip was San Francisco to Spain and back. An equally long distance. And if you are only doing it once in your lifetime then it isn't so bad. Most visitors are coming from closer countries. China, India, Japan, Australia, NZ, etc. 

 

Perusing the posts on TVF you would think everyone has 3-6 months of off time and a bottomless bank account. I can sort of understand why a Thai immigration officer would wonder if you have a job back home.

 

 

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most thai immgration officer are just rude, nothing personal that's kind of the culture in asia any law enforcement officer will take this stance at first just because ... nothing to do with you.

and don't worry about getting flagged, their system isn't that advance. you get flagged if you get something written in red in your passport and even then ...

worst case scenario if you get denied a 30 days stamp, go to Penang and get a 60 days visa for about the same cost as an extension and there is no problem. you only need to show a flight out and 10 days hotel reservation, any refundable flight ticket or hotel booking will do.

also, you are always able to extend your tourist 30 days stamp or 60 days visa for another 30 days for about 2000 THB, you will never have a problem with that.

 

that said, never overstay even by 1 day, that will get you in trouble and flagged forever.

Edited by freeman01
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Wrong in so many ways it's waste of time to correct them all.

Just to pick ONE/2. If denied entry at Thai airport you cannot choose to "just fly to Penang.." You be returned to where you embarked at your cost.

Overstay by ONE day flagged forever.... That takes the cake! Must admit, anyone thinking one day they may wish to purchase elite visa avoid overstay. 

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I didn't mean you could fly to wherever if denied entry at airport, sorry if it looks like it, my bad.

 

flagged forever, sorry about that was half joking on this one, in retrospect it might not be obvious at first ????

I meant it though, do not overstay even by 1 day or they will have an excuse to deny you entry if you come and go very regularly and they will.

 

anything else officer ?

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13 hours ago, cheynewalk said:

I was referring to posters who complain that authorities are clamping down on foreigners and then extrapolating that to explain why less tourists are coming.  The fact is the vast majority of genuine tourists have no problem coming to thailand.

 

The authorities are clamping down on foreigners using visa exempt entries to stay long term in thailand.

Then there are some 'tourists' in this forum who even boast that they can stay 330 days per year on tourist visa. Please click link below.

 

 

 

Edited by EricTh
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2 hours ago, Martyp said:

I totally agree. Many but not most. There were 38 million tourists in 2018. They all aren't working at sea or as consultants on short jobs.

Actually they count each entry while some of us make 5-6 a year already. That aside, the common tourists with the 2-3 weeks a year as you describe have no problems. Amsterdam has like 35 million in that way too, making Thailand not that impressive by numbers as it sounds.

+ as it is all about the money, I am pretty sure the average long stayer outspends most tourists yearly, certainly with the Chinese now dominating in numbers.
Kind of weird to then attack that group of people, longstayers / frequent visitors, as they are the least trouble and easiest ongoing money flow.
Is like you are selling western breakfasts, then kick out your 10 year returning customer to make place for a Chinese.

Edited by tabarin
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2 hours ago, Martyp said:

Most regular working people don't get more than 2-3 weeks of vacation each year, if that.

That sounds a bit backwards and I'm guessing covers the USA.  I think I started on 5 weeks, could earn another week and could buy a week, plus 8 public days, and I think these UK figures are more typical than yours.  Shift work also gave me a 1 week break every 8 weeks without using any annual leave so easy to rack up the visits and fall foul of immigration despite being a genuine tourist here on his legitimate time off from gainful employment.

 

I suspect I'm not the only one.

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