Visa Exemption - New Announcement

[Pen-fifteen]

http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/popup_anounce.html

 

 

PenXV

[Edge]

So sounds like only one 30 day Visa Waiver allowed, but then how long before you can fly back in and get another?

Same as we were expecting, but then what?

 

I'll leave the Ed' one for furryman.

[storytime]

How do you get the 30 days extra?

[The Sly Fox]

So sounds like only one 30 day Visa Waiver allowed, but then how long before you can fly back in and get another?

Same as we were expecting, but then what?

 

I'll leave the Ed' one for furryman.

That's the bit when you have to convince the official you're a good guy by paying for breakfast for everyone in the immigration office.

[Edge]

That's the bit when you have to convince the official you're a good guy by paying for breakfast for everyone in the immigration office.

 

Possibly, but I'm getting the impression that a lot of the clichéd solutions are drying up.

 

Issuing stamps against the direct orders received might be accountable at some stage and it's their name on them.

 

Similarly, I think the kitchen table O Visas and Retirement Extensions (money in bank only overnight) may become much harder or impossible to get

[The Sly Fox]

Possibly, but I'm getting the impression that a lot of the clichéd solutions are drying up.

 

Issuing stamps against the direct orders received might be accountable at some stage and it's their name on them.

 

Similarly, I think the kitchen table O Visas and Retirement Extensions (money in bank only overnight) may become much harder or impossible to get

It's my guess that they're well aware of all the little tricks and loopholes used by the Aliens and they'll close them all soon enough. As you point out running borrowed money through bank accounts.

 

As for myself I have over the 800,000 Bt in a fixed term account that I use solely for my retirement requirements. Plus my income also satisfies current requirements. What worries me a bit is if they were to double or triple the financial requirements in the future.

[Oukiva]

So sounds like only one 30 day Visa Waiver allowed,

Why "only"? No change on that.

Till now you get only 7 days, but in 2 days you may get 30

[The Sly Fox]

Why "only"? No change on that.Till now you get only 7 days, but in 2 days you may get 30

For the bona fide tourist it's still a much better deal than most of the neighboring countries. You can enter visa free and stay a month, if you require a further month can get that for approx $60. I just wish Lao, Cambodia, Vietnam would give us a month free.

[Beerburgerbonk]

It's my guess that they're well aware of all the little tricks and loopholes used by the Aliens and they'll close them all soon enough. As you point out running borrowed money through bank accounts.

 

As for myself I have over the 800,000 Bt in a fixed term account that I use solely for my retirement requirements. Plus my income also satisfies current requirements. What worries me a bit is if they were to double or triple the financial requirements in the future.

Lots of buttock clenching being expressed on Thai Visa by this prospect. 

 

 http://www.thailandelite.com/glimpse.php

 

Remains an option but at a price of course.

 

Its not beyond imagination that the financial requirements will be raised but also that compulsory health insurance will also become a prerequisite.

 

Any large rise in savings/income combination may change to an amount being on kept deposit for an entire year for renewals and proof of income and expenditure over the previous year excluding this amount, with again, a predetermined minimum of income from overseas or a single very large amount on deposit in addition to the predetermined one with again, proof of expenditure from that amount.

 

Having a predetermined amount kept on deposit year by year in a Thai bank in baht would be proof of buffer funds but also would benefit the Thai banks and therefore the economy.

 

How much ? perhaps 500k - 1m ball park figures would make sense

 

The real issue is does Thailand want to make it impossible for less well off farangs to retire,

 

if it does the only reason that makes sense to me is a burden on the hospitals - compulsory health insurance at a minimum predetermined level of cover would remove that.

 

Many retired people with serious pre-existing medical conditions may find that the cost of cover actually prices them out of retirement but would they, without insurance, be able to cover private hospital treatment themselves or have to rely on government hospitals ?

 

"Your welcome to retire here but you must prove that you never become a burden" makes sense.

 

If any of the above are in the offing it really does seem that the Thai Elite option becomes perhaps a preferable one for some - but it costs !

 

I have looked at this with farang logic not Thai so I'm probably utterly wrong in everything I've said and things just stay as they are.

 

All we can do is wait and see.

[Bek]

I'm leaving the country today, will be gone for about 10 days or so. Interesting to see if they let me in again

They can interpret anyway they want to, but as I read it, this is only for extension of the visa exemption. The question is still how long time they want you to leave the country, before you are eligible for a new entry under the visa exemption program.

 

Normally I don't keep a big amount of cash on me, but this time I have 10000 baht, if I need to pay for 30 meals to the immigration office.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Edge]

So sounds like only one 30 day Visa Waiver allowed, but then how long before you can fly back in and get another?

Same as we were expecting, but then what?

..........................

 

 

Why "only"? No change on that.

Till now you get only 7 days, but in 2 days you may get 30

 

I said "same as we were expecting" but you clipped that and then ask me "Why only, no change in that?'

 

You lost me.

[Oukiva]

I said "same as we were expecting" but you clipped that and then ask me "Why only, no change in that?'

Oops. You wrote about "30 days visa waiver" indeed

but I thought about "30 days visa extension" as it was de first/main point of the OP

and only the length of the extension changed, not the way you get & use it.

 

BTW the announce says that the "extension" is one time only, not the "visa waiver".

[biggles]

"Many retired people with serious pre-existing medical conditions may find that the cost of cover actually prices them out of retirement "

 

It isn't just the cost, many over 65 retirees can't get coverage here.

 

I am still unclear on the advantages of this proposal. If you intend to get a 30 day visa free entry and to extend it by another 30 days how are you going to get on the plane? The airline will want to see a ticket out of the country, preferably back home, and they won't be impressed with a ticket 58 days ahead. Probably less hassle just to get a 60 day tourist visa?

[Beerburgerbonk]

I'm sure though a policy can be tailor-made for almost anyone but at a very high price depending on the individuals health.

 

Again, thinking as a farang, the Thai government could actually create a policy to go as part and parcel of a retirement package, but again at what cost.

 

The principle of compulsory health insurance for any foreign national retiring to Thailand though has often been mentioned in the past.

 

If health insurance was unobtainable and non was forthcoming from the Thai government then the solution would be just to have a far larger cash amount permanently on deposit throughout the year as a condition of retirement.

 

As an aside if I was unable to get health insurance and did not have sufficient funds to cover the unexpected or probability of failing health in Thailand I would return home, of course that may not the chosen option for some but it they still have the airfare it really should be unless they expect to have treatment in government hospitals.

 

That goes back to the reason why the government may want/demand that they have it so as not to put a burden on the health service.

 

Everyone's circumstances are different and I'm not saying what I think others should do, merely what I would.

 

The sheer premise for raising any financial thresholds is, by nature, about money and how much they determine is needed, as health care and the retired is a real issue at some point the ability to pay for it must form a large part of the reason for any increase and therefore determine the amount.

 

However, as I alluded to in my previous post, this is just pure speculation on my part using farang logic, not Thai.

[Sick Water Buffalo]

So, sounds pretty much like the 'leaked' information from a few weeks ago, regarding the 30-day extensions for tourists arriving on exemptions and rolling 90-day permissions for students.

 

How do you get the 30 days extra?

 

For now, I would assume that you go to the local Immigrations office, fill out the form, wait in line, pay your fee, get stamped; just as the current seven-day extension process goes.

[Edge]

Oops. You wrote about "30 days visa waiver" indeed

but I thought about "30 days visa extension" as it was de first/main point of the OP

and only the length of the extension changed, not the way you get & use it.

 

BTW the announce says that the "extension" is one time only, not the "visa waiver".

 

Sorry, I was reading it wrong.

 

What I see now is that a tourist can probably come here for up to 2 months without a Visa.

 

Compared with the rest of SEA that seems quite generous, albeit that would be at a cost of 1900 (?) Baht, with the proceeds going to Immigration.

 

Consulates may be bleating a little as they may lose out on sales of Single Entry Tourist Visas.

 

Is that right?

[Pakwaan]

For the bona fide tourist it's still a much better deal than most of the neighboring countries. You can enter visa free and stay a month, if you require a further month can get that for approx $60. I just wish Lao, Cambodia, Vietnam would give us a month free.

Agree. Malaysia and Singapore give 90 day visa waiver on entry, It's a shame the other Asean countries don't follow suit.

[The Sly Fox]

Agree. Malaysia and Singapore give 90 day visa waiver on entry, It's a shame the other Asean countries don't follow suit.

Right, it's a breeze visiting Malaysia and S'Pore, as you say 90 days free and just two small stamps in your passport.

 

I love going to Lao/Cambo/Nam but the visa fees add up, especially for Nam, then every visit takes close to 2 pages from your passport, an entire page with those fucking stickers, then their stamps.

 

When I was living in upper Isan I would have popped over to Vientiane every weekend if it was free like Malaysia, but at $USD 35 plus nearly 2 pages from my passport I strictly limited my visits. Dumb really because the country didn't get the money I (and many others) would have spent on hotels, meals, drinks, shopping, taxis.

[Pen-fifteen]

Oops. You wrote about "30 days visa waiver" indeed

but I thought about "30 days visa extension" as it was de first/main point of the OP

and only the length of the extension changed, not the way you get & use it.

 

BTW the announce says that the "extension" is one time only, not the "visa waiver".

 

My subject heading says "exemption", not "extension".

 

The first two [numbered] paragraphs of the announcement concern the extension following a visa exemption, not the extension of a [tourist] visa.

 

PenXV