Penang B Visa

[stuandjulie]

Quick warning.

 

My partner is in Penang renewing her B Visa.

All paperwork ok, however it seems the applications are being processed by an Army General at the moment who randomly rejects requests for no reason (just a few, presuming to show how good a job he is doing)

Seems if it happens to you then you have to return to LOS, fly back with the same papers (presuming you have it all correct) then it will be granted.

She is waiting to see what whether she is one of the lucky or unlucky ones tomorrow.

TIT

[foxontherun]

I can confirm this. I was just in Penang to get a tourist visa. I went through an agent, and she told me about applications being randomly rejected. She even showed me a business visa application that had been turned down by the consulate that day. The person in charge had claimed that the paperwork was a copy rather than the original papers, but that clearly wasn't the case. The official stamp on it was in a different ink, and the letterhead had raised printing. I even had to pay a [cough] extra administrative fee [cough] to get my tourist visa, because I'd had 3 others over the past year (only one from Penang, last April); this had never been an issue before. Penang used to be one of the easiest places to go for a visa, but that's clearly not the case right now.

[JackThompson]

1 minute ago, foxontherun said:

I can confirm this. I was just in Penang to get a tourist visa. I went through an agent, and she told me about applications being randomly rejected. ... I even had to pay a [cough] extra administrative fee [cough] to get my tourist visa, because I'd had 3 others over the past year (only one from Penang, last April); this had never been an issue before. Penang used to be one of the easiest places to go for a visa, but that's clearly not the case right now.

Could you let us know how much tea-money the new "official" at the consulate requires to approve Tourist Visas, when you only have one other in your passport from Penang?

 

Also, was proof of a flight and/or 20K Baht mentioned/required, or on offer in place of tea-money?

[Rhys]

better to ask the college students who work there

 

 

Edited February 2, 2017 by ubonjoe
off topic comment removed

[foxontherun]

Quote

Could you let us know how much tea-money the new "official" at the consulate requires to approve Tourist Visas, when you only have one other in your passport from Penang?

 

Also, was proof of a flight and/or 20K Baht mentioned/required, or on offer in place of tea-money?

 

The agent told me that I had 2 options. The first one was to go to the consulate myself and submit to a personal interview, after which they would decide whether to issue me a tourist visa. She said that they would probably want to see financial statements, but I don't remember whether she mentioned proof of travel. This wouldn't have cost me anything (no visa fee, agent fee, or tea money), but sounded iffy to me. I knew they'd been randomly refusing people. Plus, I'm not very conservative-looking, and was worried that might work against me.

 

The second option was to pay her the usual RM40 (~316 baht) agent fee, plus an additional RM300 (~2373 baht), and she would submit the application for me. No proof of travel or finance required, and the RM300 would be returned to me if the visa was not successfully obtained. I chose this option, as it sounded like the safer bet, and I didn't want the whole trip to have been a waste. I did get the visa.

 

A couple of notes: She said that I could get further tourist visas in Penang, as long as I was willing to pay that "special" fee again. I asked her about getting a new passport. She said I'd be fine if I did that, and they wouldn't check my history beyond what was in my passport. She also suggested that I pay the fee in Thai baht, as it worked out to be slightly cheaper than paying in ringgit, but it wasn't a large difference (I can't remember the exact figure I was quoted in baht).

 

 

Edited February 2, 2017 by foxontherun
typo