Visa run to Cambodia DENIED. VISA exemption back into Thailand DENIED. Was told I'm not a tourist!

[Mamachigawa]

3 minutes ago, TedG said:

Has it always been this way?  I was there three times last year. 

Dozen  visa exempt yearly was no problem at all. Maybe 8 or nine year ago. Don't remember.

[JohnnyCanuck]

Has anyone else seen this post on thaiembassy.com and can confirm it as valid? Where it appears to say ( it is not at all clear to me, however it is dated today) that land entries get 2 visa exempts per year, entries by aircraft get 6. 

[JohnnyCanuck]

Sorry , I forgot to paste the link.

https://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand-visa/thailand-visa-latest-update

[MrStretch]

11 hours ago, JohnnyCanuck said:

Has anyone else seen this post on thaiembassy.com and can confirm it as valid? Where it appears to say ( it is not at all clear to me, however it is dated today) that land entries get 2 visa exempts per year, entries by aircraft get 6. 

I'd take that with a grain of salt, my northern friend.  Thaiembassy.com, while often very informative isn't an official organ of the government.

I checked the Thai embassy in Washington, D.C. and the Thai consulate in LA, and they both have the same information: "Entering the Kingdom through air land/sea/air border checkpoints under Tourist Visa Exemption Scheme is permitted only twice in a calendar year, except nationals of Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and Singapore who may enter Thailand through such checkpoints more than twice in a calendar year"

There is no information on limits on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, but then I didn't expect there to be.

[rattlesnake]

On 3/31/2024 at 8:54 AM, MrStretch said:

Nah.  Faz was always pretty spot on.  The STV was a "Special Tourist Visa" that was designed to encourage long stays after traveling began again in the Covid era.  It ended in Sept 2022.

The OP, whose intention was to spend a year in Thailand on a tourist visa was whistling in the wind.

My home is in Hat Yai, and for several years I worked in northern Malaysia and would come home quite often on visa exemptions.  I flew in once, because I was at a meeting in KL, and the immi officer denied my entry, saying "We don't want people like you.  Get out."  There were no flights out that night, which I pointed out to her.  I put her on the phone with my Thai wife, who explained the situation.  I was still forced to buy a ticket, then and there, for a flight out the next day. 

Ticked me off something fierce.

Even the time I got my Non Imm O (spouse) visa in Penang, my wife and I were stopped at the border in Padang Besar and the Immi officer gave us the hardest f**ing time, even though all of our paperwork was in perfect order.  My wife had to call our daughter to scan some documents for him, all the while he kept hinting that it would be so much easier to, ahem, ahem, ahem...

Don't gamble.  Just do it right and not worry about being turned away or taken for a bribe ride.

I have been here for 15 years and in situations like this, bribing makes things so, so much more simple. This is a corrupt country and our Western principles don't apply here at all, whether we like it or not.

Out of curiosity, do you know how much he was asking for?

[Dezmo]