Jump to content

Tourist visa holders denied entry to Thailand and left stranded in Malaysia


Recommended Posts

You just cannot win with some people. Be it the recent clusterf*ck with UK overseas passport renewal procedures or this 'draconian' play on Thai immigration and visas. In both cases when you come across with sound advice based on the prevailing legalities and practicalities that works for you and most others, there's always a noisome and somewhat dim minority that chose to gurn because no, there is no 'silver bullet' solution to their personally wrought non-crisis. I am not sure if this is something that the so-called 'Nanny State' has inculcated in a whole generation of nouveau worldwide workers shirkers and 30-something millionaires where someone desperately needs to be held accountable and responsible... as long as it is not yourself. Maybe they just need mummy to hold your hand while saying, "There, there my dear."

Sometimes One-Size-Fits-All does NOT fit all. That's life.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you saying you are 45 and can't come up with 400,000 thb in the bank? About 13000 usd?

I know many people back home that have never managed to save a dime.

Let alone $13,000.

Most people in the USA are in debt.

In actual fact,

one of my pals (age 44) has been working back home for 2 and 1/2 years while living in a trailer and saving.

Saving, as in no nights out, just work and subsistence living.

He's just arrived back in Thailand with less then $10,000 in his pocket (Ed VISA).

Edited by AnotherOneAmerican
Link to comment
Share on other sites

PS she also has 17 and 24 year old sons.......maybe that will help if I need to adopt to stay

The adoption process is far more difficult than getting a non-imm visa/extensions. It's because of the Hague rules about international adoption.

Its extremely hard and certainly isnt possible for the 24 year old and im not sure but think the cut off is 16 for Canada if they are another nationality so that would mean the 17 year old isnt possible either .

If it were possible everyone would be doing it for adults and countries would be flooded with adoptees.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Must meet the financial requirement

Security deposit of THB 400,000 in a Thai Bank Account for at least 2 months prior to the visa application.

Monthly income of at least THB 40,000. A letter from the foreigner embassy has to be shown to verify this income.

Combination of the Thai bank account and yearly income with the total of 400,000 THB.

Marriage requirements above , do I have to meet all 3 ? my income from Canada is only 20 000 THB

I have enough to make security deposit

I got screwed on my triple entry tourist visa, would of lasted until Oct 16th with 30 day extension, but when at the Malaysian border last week they stamped it 30 days < Aug 8th sad.png

I Don't want to go back to Canada, I'm 45 and was going to do the education visa soon to learn Thai ( which I need to look into still ) then work visa, then retirement.............I have a Thai girlfriend whom I live with and basically support but marriage was not in my radar until all this border crap

PS she also has 17 and 24 year old sons.......maybe that will help if I need to adopt to stay

any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

this is so unfair, im not working illegally, I have income coming from Canada and money in the bank and am supporting a Thai national

any advice on education visa to learn Thai would be helpful too; problem is im in Khanom which is a small town so doesn't have a school to learn Thai, but guess I can do online É

Thank you

Youd need 400k in a bank account for 2 mths to apply for the marriage option... thats all

Get an Ed visa and start on a degree course

Your in a pickle because of the adult kids, the older almost certainly wont be able to return to Canada with you.

You may be able to adopt here i believe the adult cut off point is 21. Best look into it ASAP

If your adamant to stay with your family then you will have to do what you have to do, even if it means leaving for a year or so to accumulate some funds before returning.

Good luck bud

Edited by englishoak
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ JL Crab

I repeat I mean no ill will to anyone. Your response seems to me to show the very fact that you know you may well be next. Perhaps not personally but others in the visa pigeon hole that is currently safe.

Enjoy the life you presently have, I certainly hope you do. I have many friends in similar situations. I would hate to see them split from their families or have their hard earned retirement plans thrown into disarray.

I always thought my future lay in Thailand but unfortunately that was not the case.

It was a blow but not insurmountable. I miss my friends greatly but I will survive and I wish them all the best of luck in this time of uncertainty.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two things:

To the people comparing this to being denied entry into a Western country even with a visa... really? If an immigration officer in Buffalo NY suspects you are entering the country to work illegally, he or she will not tell you to take a bus to Toronto and fly into the country... so yeah, not really a great point.

And about that Thaivisa reporter... hmmmm, I've heard of reporters having anonymous sources, but never a news organization having an anonymous reporter... I don't want to accuse Thaivisa just making things up, so I'll just assume the reporter needs the anonymity due to lack of work permit

It's my uneducated guess that land borders were told to re-route these questionable cases to the airports cause the IO there may be the more expierienced and possibly had extra briefing, especially in Bangkok.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Visa running was also stable for many many years, that is my point. Just because it is stable today is no guarantee it will be so in the future.

I hold no ill wishes to anyone, I would just like some members of TV to come down off their high horses and just be thankful that their circumstances allow them, at present, to live as they choose.

I have been informed by someone who is in a good position to know, that once the visa running crackdown has been implemented the next item on the agenda is a crackdown on foreign nationals bypassing the laws on house ownership by setting up a company, with a Thai national owning 51% of the property, in effect a sleeping partner, with the foreign national owning 49%, a dormant company which has never traded. I know that every few years an announcement has been made regarding a crackdown on this, but nothing ever comes of it. This time it will happen, the new powers that be governing Thailand are fully aware of this loophole being exploited and are preparing to act as we speak. It will have to be shown that the company is a legitimate trading company, and has been fulfilling legal requirements, ie, paying the required amount of tax each year, employing the requisite number of Thai nationals, paying their National Insurance etc, from the time the company was set up. If this cannot be shown it will be bye bye house i'm afraid. I know that many farangs,certainly in the Pattaya area, chose this route to "own" a house, it looks as if they are in for a rude awakening. For the 51% owning Thai nationals, who in the eyes of the law have control over the ownership of the house,even though they have no financial investment in said property, the long game has finally come to fruition. So for any farangs looking to buy that house for Teeruk, hang on a little while, there will soon be a glut of bargains galore.

"If" this turns out to be true, it just adds to a long list of reasons not to try to buy a home. Only can be done in the wife's/girlfriends name. As far as condos go.....I bet a whole lot of people who do not fit in the Married/Retired profile, will be wanting to sell their condos. Looks like a whole bunch of empty apartments will be available, and little in the way of buyers. Rent will be lower, for sure. Possibly, the next thing will be a credit crash....as many low income locals scramble to get easy credit to purchase distress sales.

If it hasn't already been mentioned by the time I post this:

The restriction of "buying a home" is only on the land itself. Land lease and buying the structue is the alternative. Buying a condo was always an option as long as I remember (essentially sharing the land lease).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your a tourist (financially stable and not working in the country) why should it matter how many tourist visas you have? If you have the funds to support yourself and wish to visit a country without being over 50, married to a local, or teaching English then why should it matter?

All these Thai Visa clowns are so quick to judge everyone else when they married a bar girl or borrowed money to put in an account for a retirement visa (ooops - how does it feel to be judged based on a small minority of people?)

First the Cambodians were kicked out - and people blamed the Cambodians for overreacting to rumours

Then the Myanmar refugees were kicked out - and people turned a blind eye to that

Now legit Visa holders are being denied - and they are being blamed for being "multiple tourist visa holders"

Its coming for you next. Let's see how your lovely loyal Thai wife deals with the mutual Thai bank account/ business/ property when your marriage visa renewal is denied. One thing is for sure, the next group in line to be targeted will be too busy pointing fingers at your faults to see it coming for them.

Utter rubbish spoken by the mistaken chap fom Planet X

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So this is a taster of what is to come on a national scale in the next month.

This will put the brakes on many Thai girls marrying a farang from a nice western country.

No farang in their right mind would marry a girl within 30 days (or less) of knowing them just to get a non-imm visa.

Although you always get some stupid exceptions.

Maybe they are doing this to force tourists to shore up the struggling Thai Airways by making them fly for entry... who knows.

It may not end there either, if this is xenophobia induced then they are going to look for ways to give the non-imms some of their own problems.

I say we all move out of Thailand for Myanmar.... That'll screw em up :)

Sadly many farang are not in their right mind. Some marry in 10 days. They can be pretty persuasive lol
Link to comment
Share on other sites

... based on the fact that the people involved were just tourists...

... they were just being tourists... went for another 30 days and WHAM - door is closed....

And where do you know that from ?

The OPsaid "All of the foreigners who were denied entry had a previous

history of multiple visa exempt entries or back to back tourist visas",

so clearly they were not "just tourists"...

How do I know? The two I was speaking of are my next door neighbors and friend - and yes they were deemed to have too many Extensions based on an Exemption upon entry. But they are true tourist and had no knowledge that anything they were doing for the 120 days they have been here was done in a wrongful manner - because it wasn't - it was the norm - it was allowed ... No deceit was in play ... they have an air ticket for July 29 to leave Thailand - booked in June. It was totally disregarded by the IO. They were denied and sent to Penang to get a tourist visa ... Which after 2 and 1/2 days they now have and are on their way back to cross the border ... I have my fingers crossed that they will be allowed entry,

Note: The couple has not violated any of Thailand's laws... they have not held jobs, they have done extensive touring in many areas of Thailand ... and they were not planning on staying past about 150 days. Nothing they encountered before led them to believe that is was not possible or that is was wrong to proceed as they did. It was allowed

Did they get back in?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe those that qualify to stay long-term in Thailand by falling neatly into the current pigeonholes come across as smug to some who don't qualify. The point those who don't should take onboard is that the only constant is change and things seldom go back to the way hey were before. For those that do, it is a distinct possibility that today's immigration compliance can be grounds to be 'evicted' tomorrow.

Not that it helps those now stuck on the outside looking in but everyone should have a viable Plan B that does NOT embrace staying in Thailand long-term, regardless of your current status.

Agree on the Plan B, but I believe I can put forward a persuasive case for Pattaya being considered a 'Special Economic Zone' like Hong Kong with certain concessions being made for tourists and locals alike. Push comes to shove, it should be the property of the Disney Corporation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe those that qualify to stay long-term in Thailand by falling neatly into the current pigeonholes come across as smug to some who don't qualify. The point those who don't should take onboard is that the only constant is change and things seldom go back to the way hey were before. For those that do, it is a distinct possibility that today's immigration compliance can be grounds to be 'evicted' tomorrow.

Not that it helps those now stuck on the outside looking in but everyone should have a viable Plan B that does NOT embrace staying in Thailand long-term, regardless of your current status.

Agree on the Plan B, but I believe I can put forward a persuasive case for Pattaya being considered a 'Special Economic Zone' like Hong Kong with certain concessions being made for tourists and locals alike. Push comes to shove, it should be the property of the Disney Corporation.

Pattaya already is a basket case special economic zone isn't it? It must be the mother of all visa-runner hubs already due to the proximity to Cambo.

Come to think of it, there was a huge crash in the visa-running business a few years back when they did some other 'manipulation' of the rules wasn't there? A load of visa run shops with minibuses were shuttered after that. Wasn't it when they reduced the amount of days one could get on a border bounce without a visa?

OMG! The writing was on the wall way, WAY back then. How could we have been so blind (drunk most of the time)?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you saying you are 45 and can't come up with 400,000 thb in the bank? About 13000 usd?

I know many people back home that have never managed to save a dime.

Let alone $13,000.

Most people in the USA are in debt.

In actual fact,

one of my pals (age 44) has been working back home for 2 and 1/2 years while living in a trailer and saving.

Saving, as in no nights out, just work and subsistence living.

He's just arrived back in Thailand with less then $10,000 in his pocket (Ed VISA).

I've read it's 30% of US adults have a negative net worth, however 60% of households would have a difficult time coming up with 2000 usd (which isn't enough for a root canal/crown in most of the US). Your friend can have a fun year, then go back home broke....or face the immigration gauntlet, which is targeting people, just like him. I was chatting with a cousin, and she told me that her and her husband wanted to move to a place like Thailand...it was "their dream"....but she is still paying student loans from a shitty school, from 12 years ago, her husband has an ex w/ four kids, she has never owned one CD, let alone a share of stock.....It's all about choices.....you have to be accountable for them. I spent a couple of years driving a school bus.......a few of the drivers were bona-fide millionaires, a few were so poor that they slept in a Public Storage rental. Some would talk about the new tattoo they were going to get on payday; while others would talk about what stocks to buy. Student loans, ex wives, and other debt seem to be the big wealth killers. Those that bought cheap, crappy townhouses in high wage areas saw their assets appreciate ten-fold. Those who simply "rented" always had a pay increase, greeted with a rent increase.....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love the self righteous holders of various 'legal' visas slagging of other members or folk because of the way they perceive themselves to be in the right and others to be in the wrong.

I lived in Thailand for 16 years and was a member of all 3 of the perceived groups.

I was a tourist for 3 years, only 35 but had a very large amount of cash from a redundancy and a house sale. There was no visa to cover that situation, so I was a border runner.

Later I worked legally for 11 years with WP and Visa extensions on a non imm B. I didn't exit Thailand for 11 years.

I changed teaching positions to find that the rules had changed and my WP and visa extensions had been covered by the so called grandfather rule, but on changing jobs I could no longer get a work permit.

I became a visa runner again hoping for a relaxing of the rules, unfortunately this did not happen in time and I was finally refused a tourist visa at Vientiane.

I decided this was the final push for me and returned to the UK.after 16 years total in Thailand.

A word of warning to those of you who are on visas today, just because you fulfil the visa rules today that does not mean that will be the case in the future and you could be left having to return home.

So a little bit less of the attitude of, 'Why don't people follow the EASY rules' and just be thankful that you are still allowed to stay.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

From what you've seen in your 16 years, are marriage and retirement visas the only ones that have remained somewhat stable? (Aside from a work permit, of course.)

fozzy, why were you denied a work permit after 11 years? Sounds a bit fishy to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you saying you are 45 and can't come up with 400,000 thb in the bank? About 13000 usd?

I know many people back home that have never managed to save a dime.

Let alone $13,000.

Most people in the USA are in debt.

In actual fact,

one of my pals (age 44) has been working back home for 2 and 1/2 years while living in a trailer and saving.

Saving, as in no nights out, just work and subsistence living.

He's just arrived back in Thailand with less then $10,000 in his pocket (Ed VISA).

I've read it's 30% of US adults have a negative net worth, however 60% of households would have a difficult time coming up with 2000 usd (which isn't enough for a root canal/crown in most of the US). Your friend can have a fun year, then go back home broke....or face the immigration gauntlet, which is targeting people, just like him. I was chatting with a cousin, and she told me that her and her husband wanted to move to a place like Thailand...it was "their dream"....but she is still paying student loans from a shitty school, from 12 years ago, her husband has an ex w/ four kids, she has never owned one CD, let alone a share of stock.....It's all about choices.....you have to be accountable for them. I spent a couple of years driving a school bus.......a few of the drivers were bona-fide millionaires, a few were so poor that they slept in a Public Storage rental. Some would talk about the new tattoo they were going to get on payday; while others would talk about what stocks to buy. Student loans, ex wives, and other debt seem to be the big wealth killers. Those that bought cheap, crappy townhouses in high wage areas saw their assets appreciate ten-fold. Those who simply "rented" always had a pay increase, greeted with a rent increase.....

Net worth and debt don't necessarily have anything to do with it. You can owe 2mill on a mortgage, but have 1mill in the bank, and you can meet the thai immigration requirement. They just want to see the bank statement; not a certified audit of your overall financial condition. But I agree, it's about choices. 400K THB in the bank really isn't all that much for thai authorities to be expecting in order to permit this kind of entry. I wouldn't be surprised if the number weren't raised in the near future, as a matter of fact (and if it were, it STILL wouldn't be an indicator of net worth).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.





×
×
  • Create New...