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#1
18-11-2006, 09:30
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Tourist visa's getting harder to get...
Warning-60 Visa Not Available In Myanmar Now - Thailand Forum
This is exactly what they assured everyone would not be happening with the problems based around 30 day visa's being withdrawn.. It was repeated over and over that tourist visa's would not be withdrawn and that the only push was to get people off the 30 day stamps and make them get tourist visa's which would be easy to get. The under 50's not working group has a legitimate worry.. They dont honour what they commit to.
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Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich. 
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#2
18-11-2006, 10:39
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After reading that entire thread consisting of over 70 post (in about 24 hours), I am not sure what to think. Obviously if the issuing of tourist visa is reduced to an extend where one cannot make a 12 months cycle a lot of tourists "living" in Thailand need to reassess their situation. It seems to me that the thread exclusively dealt with visa's 60 days and more and applicable 30 day extensions. It is not clear to me if this (as of yet) has affected the 30 day tourist visa issued upon arrival. 2nd, will people with two passports be able to obtain alternating visas in each of the pass ports. One thing that has puzzled me ever since I heard the term "visa-run", was that it by nature is a way to circumvent the rules (whether tolerated or not), hence one should not assume that they have the right to continuously get visa renewals. On the other hand if an individual has no other way of staying in Thailand, I do not blame them for practicing such techniques. I will be interesting to follow this situation, and hopefully it will not have too much of an adverse effect on those who have "settled" in Thailand as permanent tourists.
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#3
18-11-2006, 10:52
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Well what effects the 30 day tourists has already started as of Oct 1.. That says its a max of 3 in a 6 month window.. At the time immigration went to great pains to explain there would be no problem to go to local consulates in the region and simply get tourist visa's instead..
The fact is there is no legal avenue open to an under 50, not working, not married to a Thai, person to get a visa for long stay.. Until they make something to accodate this massive expat group then there will always be the workarounds and tricks. Most of us dont understand why they dont just set a system and charge for it.. Everything is accomplished the same way but they get revenue..
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#4
18-11-2006, 11:02
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3 x 60day visas extended 30days and 3 x 30day on arrival stamps should be the way to do it then? Means going out 6 times a year.
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#5
18-11-2006, 12:38
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But the point is they are now not giving 60 day tourist visa's to people who have many Thai stamps.. Exactly what they said would be no problem and was not what they were doing when the 30 days were getting phased out..
The 'yoo stay Thailand too mutt' argument.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#6
18-11-2006, 13:56
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It looks as though the under-50, independently wealthy types aren't wanted. The official reason: that is the demographic for foreign baddies so it's a tool for immigration to get rid of them.
However, on the ground, immigration police are taking their rules very literally, and the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater. Or perhaps the official reason is just sugar-coating the issue, and they really do want to get rid of non-working foreigners. If so, the retirees will be next. "Thailand is for Thais" We'll see how much they like it when we leave it to them.
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#7
18-11-2006, 22:39
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But the point is they are now not giving 60 day tourist visa's to people who have many Thai stamps..
So is it clear yet exactly how many we can have before they refuse a visa? My passport has pages full of Thai stamps and I've just got another 60day visa. Are they supposed to count stamps from October 1st and disregard any before that? Will there come a time next year when I go to Malaysia and they say I can't have one and I'm stuck there for 3 months?
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#8
18-11-2006, 23:10
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Maybe someday they'll lay down a specific rule across all Thai embassies, then publish it on a website in English, but don't hold your breath. It sounds like someone gave a typically vague order like, "Hey, let's be more strict on these multiple tourist visa guys." And the individual embassies are following through on it, each in their own inimitable ways. Purely by coincidence, my passport with a four-year potpourri of SE Asian visas expired in October. So I had to get a new one (with a new passport number). Only my latest marriage visa stamps were transferred into it, so to the eyes of a bored immigration official, my slate is clean. LOS, you might consider the idea of getting your passport stolen.... Or maybe buy a place in Langkawi?
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#9
18-11-2006, 23:32
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It sounds like this could become a very serious problem. Let's hope not, time will tell. What will people under 50 who have been living in LOS for years do? Their whole lives could be up-rooted. Has any one made contingency plans? What are the options? Go back home? Stay out of the country for 3 months out of the year, and if so where? Move somewhere else? Where would the next best alternative be, the Philippines? I know I have lot's of questions and no answers.
__________________
My Thai girl smokes the competition,......... and now it hurts when I pee. 
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#10
19-11-2006, 02:19
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Obviously, the laws were originally created with the intent of preventing people from becoming permanent residents of LOS, except during the time they are employed there or if they are married to a Thai. And, just as obviously, the enforcement policy for the laws has been very lax, so as to make it convenient for those who wish to circumvent the original intent of the laws. But the laws were never changed, because they want them there. So that by tightening or loosening the enforcement policy, they can maintain some control over how many foreigners take up residence in their country. This just makes good sense. If you have a house, need to generate some cash flow, and, to achieve that end, you take on boarders, when your cash flow position improves(or if you simply don't like them), then you want to maintain your ability to get rid of some or all of them. Therefore, you give them a lease that limits the amount of time they may reside on your premises. In a situation where there is no written lease, their rights to stay are always subject to termination in 30 days, if you choose to give them notice to vacate. As I see it, the situation in LOS is not much different. How anyone ever got the idea that they had carte blanche approval to spend their lives there on 30-day visa renewals is something that I will never figure out. The exception for the over-50 crowd is not likely to be pulled. Why, you ask? Because they have more money, spend more money, make less trouble, do not displace Thai workers, and will only be there a limited amount of time, since many will succumb to cirrhosis of the liver from too much time spent at ladybars, or heart failure, due to consorting with the employees at the ladybars! But while they are still alive they provide steady cash flow for bars, their employees, and the hospitals. That is a winning combination for LOS. Do to people's increased life expectancies, however, someday maybe we would see the over-50 exception become an over-60 exception.
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LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown. 
Last edited by JayBee : 19-11-2006 at 02:23.
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#11
19-11-2006, 11:10
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Some heard it from Thai travel agents, others read it in magazines or their Lonely Planet. Some may even have researched the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, which didn't specifically rule it out until recently. Personally, I heard it from the mouth of a Patong Immigration official earlier this year. No one was ever told that it was against Thai law until now. Have a little sympathy for the people who took the authorities at their word, and invested a chunk of their lives here.
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#12
19-11-2006, 12:18
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It's over 6 weeks now since the new rules were supposed to be implemented so what have those guys done who used to do a monthly run to Ranong? Have they been again and come back with just a 30day stamp?...or have the new rules forced them into going to a consul somewhere and getting a tourist visa?
There must have been well over a 100 people at the consul when I went to KL a few weeks ago
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#13
19-11-2006, 14:38
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They are getting stamps with number added.. 1, 2 etc.. The theory being that after stamp 3 things may not be so rosy..
Its really going to be interesting for the non consectutive people as my brother has stamps in and out with one week UK etc in between.. Do air arrivals also get stamps, do they count days like they promised (I am on record of stating they are incapable of doing what they said over and over they will do.. They just are not up to the task) or will they count stamps, does a stamp not fully used help etc etc etc.. Crunch time for the 30 dayers comes in Jan.
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#14
19-11-2006, 17:13
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No number alongside my last arrival stamp or on the visa. Just "USED" stamped on it.
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#15
19-11-2006, 17:26
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That was a 30 day ?? At what border ??
I think my bro had a 1 added but need to look at his passport.. As predicted its a mess..
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#16
19-11-2006, 18:13
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Sorry if I sound unsympathetic. That is not my intention, as I assure you it is not hard for me to imagine myself in the same situation, had things gone a little differently for me in the past. However, I so often hear people on this board, when commenting on the plights of others, for example, the English girl who was so stupid as to get thrown in jail for attempting to board as airplane to Japan with heroin in her possession, saying "I have no sympathy for her whatsoever. It's the law. You break the law, you pay the price. She knew what the score was. And, even if she didn't know, ingorance is no excuse." Now, some of the same people are changing their tune. I could just as easily say, "Well, the law is the law. Wasn't it apparent that the visas were for 30 days,and didn't it ever occur to you that there was a reason for that? And BTW, ignorance of the law is no excuse." But I am not saying that. In fact, I feel badly for those whose lives may be seriously disrupted, if, in fact, they do enforce the law strictly, as they may, if they choose to do so. I am just pointing out that it is a bit naive to think that these sort of policies are written in stone in any case, and, especially, when the law is clearly designed to give them complete discretion in the matter of who comes, who stays, and who goes. This whole thing might just blow over. But even if it does, people should be aware that this sort of enforcement policy situation is subject to change at any time. Even big countries have rules about who may stay there. But for small countries it is most important, or they can easily become overrun with foreigners. Just look at what happened in Kosovo. It was a Serbian state, but for many years they were lax in enforcing their immigration policies. When they took action against the Albanians there, it was too late. They were condemned, and accused of genocide. And the State of Kososvo, to a great extent, was taken away from the native Serbs and given to the immigrant Albanians.
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LOS is warm, soft, smooth, and brown.
Last edited by JayBee : 19-11-2006 at 18:21.
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#17
19-11-2006, 18:56
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That was a 30 day ?? At what border ??
No, a 60day from the Thai consul in KL.
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#18
19-11-2006, 18:59
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[However, I so often hear people on this board, when commenting on the plights of others, for example, the English girl who was so stupid as to get thrown in jail for attempting to board as airplane to Japan with heroin in her possession, saying "I have no sympathy for her whatsoever.]
The point is Heroin has always been illegal, 30 day stamps were not. [When they took action against the Albanians there, it was too late. They were condemned, and accused of genocide.] What should we call it?
__________________
My Thai girl smokes the competition,......... and now it hurts when I pee.
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#19
19-11-2006, 19:15
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OK sure.. But thats not relevant to the discussion of only being allowed 3x 30 day visa waivers in a 6 month period.. They said all along that if you were staying to simply get a 60 day visa.. Now they are doing exactly what they said they owould not do and thats be difficult about giving 60 day visas..
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#20
19-11-2006, 19:28
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But it wasnt illegal.. They clearly said that it was legal to come as m any times as you liked and do visa runs indefinately. They had, up until this year, always said that as long as you did a visa run this could be done indefinately and without end. Even now they have said "its no big deal, we are not saying you cant stay indefinately, only thios allows us to do background chacks on long stayers as part of the visa application process". If you went to immigration and asked them what to do in the past they very often told you to do exactly this.. So you go and ask those that enforce the law, what the law is and then do as they say, and then your still wrong. Also it was only a couple of years ago that no one did visa runs.. You just gave you passport to a visa agent and it came back with a fresh stamp.. Sure it was illegal but so is getting on a motorbike taxi without a passenger helmet, so is prostitution, so are many many things which or 100% tolerated and not enforced. A law that is not enforced on the ground ceases to be a really valid law (I think in England its still a law you cant play golf until you have practiced with your longbow and other inane old un enforced laws) I am lead to believe it is illegal to be naked in your own apartment in Singapore (how do you shower) or to get a blojob in some US states..
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Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich. Last edited by LivinLOS : 19-11-2006 at 19:31.
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#21
19-11-2006, 19:49
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Bummer, JayBee. I suppose, since you're such a straight-arrow fan of Thai law, you won't be pulling any girls on your next visit.
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#22
19-11-2006, 20:03
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One of the best and most memorable quotes from a long-time Kata Beach resident (21 years) comes to mind when I read this: "In Thailand, you can break the law, just don't break the rules" The TanMan
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