Visa-on-arrival (VOA) regulations being tightened

[BKKSTAN]

The point of most of the posts here, seems to be that some people should get a legal visa. Hey they did

So this change will mean what?

Already, people that have applied for 60 day tourist visa's have been turned down (too many prior) and told to just get an 30 day on entry visa.

So what will be their legal options after Oct 1 If under 50 years of age, only one, Get Married and have 400,000 baht in the bank

When has the Thai government made only one change?

This is the first part of changes to come. So what if: Next will be the increase of married and retirement visa's (Jan 1), married will increase to 800,000 baht, while retirement visa's will increase to 1,500,000 baht

Hope this doesn't effect anyone.

The application process for a tourist visa to Thailand is the easiest visa to obtain.Just like a VOA,if your from a country whose citizens are granted VOA's!

The problem lies in the workings of the bureaucrats of indivdual application points.Unlike most of countrries,Thailand is not a country governed by consistent or constant application of law,especially in relationship to ''nonimportant falangs'',as they know we have very little recourse in dealing with their decisions!

When I decided to move here,the L.A. Consulate office had been very easy to deal with,But the Supervisor that made the final decision on tourist visas was 3 days on the job.He had decided to make all applicants wait 24 hours for approval!This was not the Consulate rule ,but his rule and a change from the past norm.True or not,the very nice lady at the window,inferred that some ''bad'' people had got visas in the past and that her boss wanted to make sure it stopped!

If people are having problems with consulates and immigration offices right now.I would suspect that the Thai employees are not sure what they are supposed to do and they possibly are worried about making a mistake!

I have heard that Hull and Birmingham offices are very accommodating in regards to visas.I have definitely seen visas of people that don't meet the requirements as stated by Immigration.So there are some possibilities for Brits!

This is a country that the laws are bent consistently by corruption.Though,I hope it is not necessary to participate,I definitely would if it was necessary!

Personally,I don't see anything to fear ,in relationship to the ''stuff' going on now.In all the time that I have been here,the police have never checked me to see if I was carrying my passport!Nor have I heard of landlords,guest house operators being arrested for not reporting renting rooms to falangs!When those things start to happen on a regular basis,I will worry a little more.Until then ,everything can be easily dealt with!

[Techland]

Neither can a tourist visa holder register a car or motorcycle in his own name.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/issuesansw ... asp?id=772

[valentine]

Neither can a tourist visa holder register a car or motorcycle in his own name.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/issuesansw ... asp?id=772

Interesting and illustrates perfectly the general confusion relating to what we can and cannot do here.One office, two interpretations. Here in Udon, one office, one reply, no you cannot. A view reinforced by immigrations refusal to issue a letter of address confirmation to anyone holding a tourist visa.
Good fun aye!!!

[jane_doe]

Royal Thai Police
Order No. 608 / 2549
Subject: An authorization for permission to foreigners that are exempted from the Visa requirements to stay temporarily in the Kingdom of Thailand.
----------------------------------

As the Interior Ministerial Regulation has stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the Visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002) and the Ministerial Regulation (Volume 2) B.E. 2546 (2003) dated on 28th March B.E. 2546 (2003) prescribed the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the exception in the Visa requirements pursuant to the Article 12 (1) of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979).

For supporting the approval permission to the foreign nationals who are exempted from Visa requirements when entering to temporarily stay in the Kingdom of Thailand to be in order pursuant to the intention of the Thai Government, under the virtue of the Article 35 of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979) and the Article 11 (4) of Royal Thai Police Act B.E. 2547 (2004), the authorized Immigration Officer shall be lawfully appointed and authorized to permit the foreign nationals who get the exemption of Visa requirements for entering to temporarily stay in the Kingdom of Thailand in accordance with the following types of exemption:

1. Passport holder of the country that has made an agreement with the Thai government, according to the Interior Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the Visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), Article 13 (1), shall be permitted to have the right to stay in Thailand according to the period which is mutually agreed between the government of Thailand and the government of the passport holder.

2. Passport holder from the country which has no Royal Thai Embassy or the Royal Thai Consulate located in that country as the Minister of the Interior has stipulated under the consent of the Cabinet, according to the Interior Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), Article 13 (2), shall be permitted to stay in Thailand not exceeding to 30 days from the arrival date.

3. According the Article 13 (3) of the Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), within six months period, the holder of passport or substitutive documents which issued by any country that is approved by the Minister of the Interior, under the approval of the Cabinet, to enter to temporarily stay in Thailand for tourism purpose, shall be permitted to enter Thailand several times. Each permitted time shall not be exceeding 30 days period, and the total period shall not be exceeding 90 days from the first day that the passport holder arrived in Thailand.

4. According the Article 13 (4) of the Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), the holder of passport or other substitutive documents who enter to temporarily stay in the Kingdom of Thailand for the conference or the international sport contest shall be permitted to stay in the Kingdom not more than 30 days from the day arrived in the Kingdom of Thailand.

5. According the Article 13 (5) of the Ministerial Regulation which stipulated the criterions, practices and conditions regarding the verification, exception and the changes in the visa requirements B.E. 2545 (2002) dated on 16th August B.E. 2545 (2002), the holder of passport or other substitutive documents of the country that is the member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and holds the APEC businessman passport who enters to temporarily stay in the Kingdom of Thailand for business purpose shall be permitted to stay in the Kingdom not more than 90 days from the day arrived in the Kingdom of Thailand.

6. This Order shall be supersede to all other rules, regulations and orders that are conflicted with this Order.


This Order shall be in full force commencing from this 1st day of October 2006

Order dated on 8th September 2006



Signed Signature

(Police General ---------)

Royal Thai Police Commandant

[kevh]

Does anyone know of foriegner who is on a tourist visa and has a pickup in his own name?

I think the guy in the phuket gazette who says you can is wrong.

He is correct about the other paperwork that you need, but the valid visa that he reffers to cannot be a tourist visa.

If anyone has done it please speak up.

When i came to udon 2/3 years ago i spoke to many falang from all over the world and they did not even know that you could have a car in your own name at all, tourist or not.

There was a big argument about it, as i said that you could register a car in your own name if you had a non immigrant visa, ofcourse all the thai wives around the table that night had been telling their husbands for years that the pickup had to be in a thai citizens name.

So when i produced the registration document showing my name, it did not go down very well with the thai wives.

Strange place the land of smiles, even when you feel relaxed, don't relax too much.

[arjay]

I guess in the real world, sometimes these various officials sometimes get things wrong. One individual may interpret the odd thing wrongly. I am sure like us, they sometimes misunderstand things and make mistakes!

When I bought a car, they were quite happy to put it in my name, as I had a work permit, (and I got it on credit - with a Thai guarantor). Though they never asked to see the work permit! They took the odd photocopy of my passport, but I am sure wouldn't have understood what sort of visa I had from that.

I am sure it would suit many wives that a vehicle has to be in their name.

[wokkawombat]

The guy in the Phuket Gazette states a tourist car own a car in his own name. He is correct but ommitted the fact that the tourist has to have a Non Immigrant Visa.

[BKKSTAN]

It could have changed,I don't know!But ,when I was on a Tourist visa,I tried to buy a car.The dealership were really disappointed to find out that I only had a tourist visa.They could not sell it to me.''Don't you have a Thai friend,you can put in their name!'' ''SURE,bye''

[BobHelm]

Ah, Stan, and you are so trusting too!!!

[BKKSTAN]

Ah, Stan, and you are so trusting too!!!

Lessons in trust are definitely memorable

[tomcat57]

Hi y'all,

Just been talking with an old freind of mine, he says the capital for retirement visas has been upped to 1,500,000 baht. Can anyone confirm this? ...visa's up for renewal soon and I'm starting to panik...

thanks in advance...


Tom

[Paul]

First I have heard of it - be careful of second hand information. From where did he 'hear' this ?

[arjay]

This quote from Khaosanroad.com summarising a meeting with Immigration officials at the Sabah cafe maybe useful - it summarises new VOA changes and the reasoning behind them:

Thailand's New Immigration Regulations

New Thailand Visa Regulations Become Clearer

On Saturday night Sabah Cafe & Cinema had a semi-formal visit from Immigration Police Major Suppachai Paladech, Inspector of the Immigration Detention Centre and Secretary to the Commissioner of Immigration; technically the second in command at Immigration. The intended purpose of the visit was to clear up some rumors and ally fears that many long term 'tourist' are having regarding the implementation of updated immigration regulations on the 1st October 2006.

To avoid confusion and in the interest of clarity, questions and answers were discussed by a few before the process was repeated with an adjudicator and Police Major Suppachai Paladech addressing an audience.

Questions and Answers:

Question: It is obvious that the present border runners will change into visa runners to other countries. What are the Department of Immigrations thoughts on this?

Police Major Suppachai: From October 1st you can travel to the border and re-enter 3 times using the system of waiver of a visa. After that, if you get a single entry tourist visa from abroad you can stay here for 60 days, after that you can get a visa extension for 30 days, so it is already 6 months. Each time you leave the country you can come back with the visa extension again, so the tourist visa intervenes.

Question: So if we buy a tourist visa and extend it for 1 month can we leave buy another tourist visa and back, can we continue to do that?

Police Major Suppachai: Yes, you can do that. We don't want some people staying on visa extensions for ever. Some people stay for 10 years. The main thing at the moment is that now people that come to Thailand for 10 years are not getting screened. With the tourist visa the police now have a chance to check the people that are not on the blacklist. That is the main thing of this new law.

Question: When does the new rule effecting 90-day maximum wavered visas come into affect?

Police Major Suppachai: It means that the person who has been staying on visa extensions for years, you can depart. If your visa ends on the 30 September, you leave the country and come back on the 30th September, you still can use that 3 times. There was misinformation on the Internet, it doesn't count by stamps, it counts by days. This is very important, it counts by days not stamps. Yeah counts by days.

Question: This is going to effect the airlines. How is Immigration going to handle this? How does an airline know when a passenger comes to their stamp quota? The airline is responsible for their passenger?


Police Major Suppachai: Your question is a very good question. OK we know that from the first of October it counts from 90 days and the problems will come back. Many people will be stopped at the border, right. So within 90 days we will try to do something. Because we are thinking about the electronic visas. We will use that kind of visa where the airline will have to submit the name of the person to our office before to issue the ticket, similar system to the US. It needs at least 1 year.

We don't want people using that kind of system (visa waiver) to stay in our country forever, we have to use the tourist visa to intervene in that system to screen them, to screen the people who are staying in our country.

Question: We have heard that there will be a 3 month visa you can buy here in Bangkok. Is this a new rule, if so when is it in place, is it already in existence, can you explain?

Police Major Suppachai: It is not a new visa, it is a new regulation for foreigners who don't have a visa, but visa extension, it means you can apply for a non immigration type B and O at the Immigration Bureau.

Question: In Thailand right?

Police Major Suppachai: Yes. But it means that you have to have at least 3 weeks, I mean visa. It means when you come in right, you have 4 weeks. In the first week you have to contact immigration, in Bangkok in Suan Phlu and submit the papers that you want to change your visa. You have to have a visa. Before we could change the category of visa from tourist to non-immigrant, but this time we can issue the visa as well.

A summary of points that were discussed in more detail:
The reason for the new regulations are twofold:

1. Try to eliminate known foreign criminals from entering Thailand. It is desired by the authorities that those staying longer term in Thailand should be screened through a more thorough computer system available at Embassies, Consulates and Immigration offices. Hence the reasoning of forcing people into applying for longer stays after a maximum of 90 days by obtaining 3 consecutive free 30 day waivers of a visa at entry points. Border crossing checkpoints are currently limited to screening out undesirables on the 'Blacklist' and high profile undesirables.

2. Persuade foreigners that are on the incorrect visas or stamps to correct their paperwork in line with the law. By making the trip to an Embassy, Consulate or Immigration office necessary within 90 days from 1st October 2006, it is hoped that foreigners who are disrespecting Thai law rectify the situation by applying for the correct visa. To aid this, Non immigrant B and O visas will be issued inside Thailand at the Immigration Office in Bangkok. IMPORTANTLY, to apply you have to have at least 3 weeks remaining on your current stamp and obviously the correct paperwork. The visa needed to apply is yet to be clarified.

The Department of Immigration controls borders and The Department of Foreign Affairs controls Consulates and Embassies. There has been no official orders to tighten controls on issuing visas abroad. It is at the discretion of the issuing officer. It is business as usual. There is and never was a guarantee that you would be issued a single, double, etc visa. At borders the 90 day max of 'waivers of a visa' will be enforced once your 90 days FROM 1st October have been utilized within the period of 180 days.

Days in country are counted and NOT number of stamps. There is an issue here with airlines and the Department of Immigration understands this. It is their wish that a system similar to something like the US where passenger list are checked electronically before departure will be installed in the future to eliminate problems. This may take some time.

The Department of Immigration understands that their will be problems with the new regulations and will review as necessary

[Dakoda]

Hi y'all,

Just been talking with an old freind of mine, he says the capital for retirement visas has been upped to 1,500,000 baht. Can anyone confirm this? ...visa's up for renewal soon and I'm starting to panik...

thanks in advance...


Tom

He must have been mis reading this site and my what if post


thanks arjay. Think I will need to read a few times, but maybe, just maybe good news! Was hoping with change of government, something nice would happen on that front

[Bump]

Notice from US Embassy today

Attention American Citizens:


"{The Thai Immigration Bureau recently announced a change in Visa Regulations that is scheduled to go into effect on October 1, 2006. This change will affect citizens of 39 countries, including American citizens, who are exempt from obtaining a Thai visa prior to entering Thailand. Effective October 1, 2006, American citizens who enter Thailand without a visa will be allowed to stay in Thailand for 30 days per visit as before. However, the total duration of stay in Thailand for American citizens who enter Thailand without a visa cannot exceed 90 days in any six-month period, counting from the date of first entry.

American citizens who wish to remain in Thailand for longer than 90 days during any six-month period will be required to obtain a valid Thai visa from a Thai Embassy or Consulate that is authorized to issue visas. The U.S. Embassy advises all American citizens who wish to obtain a Thai visa to contact the Thai Immigration Bureau for exact visa requirements and regulations. Persons who do not comply with the new visa regulations risk being denied reentry to Thailand at the border.

The U.S. Embassy has been attempting to seek clarifications and additional information from the Thai Immigration Bureau regarding the change in visa regulations. To date the Embassy has been unable to determine whether American citizens who have been in Thailand for 90 days or longer without a visa before October 1, 2006 will be considered to have reached their 90-day limit on October 1, 2006, or whether the 90 days will start from the first time the American citizen crosses the border into Thailand after the new regulation goes into effect. When/if the Embassy receives a definitive answer to this question we will post that information on the Embassy