Airport immigration screwed up...Jomtien to the rescue.

[Mr magoo]

Just wanted to relay a story to you guys,

Flew into Bangkok from Manila yesterday, armed with my 60 day SETV which i'd got from the Thai embassy in Manila, breezed thru' immigration (only 4 people ahead of me ) and was back in my apartment in Patts' a few hours later. All was well with the world, right up until I'd checked my permitted to remain stamp in my passport, it was only then that i discovered the immi' officer at BKK airport hadn't checked the pages in my passport, and hadn't seen my SETV and as a result had only given me 30 days.

Initially i was annoyed with myself for not immediately checking the stamp before heading to the baggage carousel, then frustration, as i thought "how much is this screw up gonna cost  me to get sorted out" This morning i called the visa agent lady who works on the six, just to gauge her response, explained to her my situation.

She gave me two options, go to Jomtien in person and see if they can remedy it, alternatively, for a fee she could take care of it. Now i've used this lady before for visa ext's and been happy with her service, so i was kinda' expecting just a small admin fee, not so, she was asking for 1500bt, the visa price in Manila was less than that...

At 1:15pm i entered Jomtien immigration, collected my queue ticket (only 6 people ahead of me ) and within 20 minutes i walked out with the correct date stamp, no fuss no drama and most importantly, no 'admin' fee.. so lesson learned, from now on i'll be checking that date stamp before heading to the baggage carousel...

[Scuba+]

You can understand how an immigration officer could miss the visa with all the pages and other stamps etc, probably worth having the arrival card in with the visa page

[Edge]

.......................back in my apartment in Patts' a few hours later. All was well with the world, right up until I'd checked my permitted to remain stamp in my passport, it was only then that i discovered the immi' officer at BKK airport hadn't checked the pages in my passport, and hadn't seen my SETV and as a result had only given me 30 days.

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

 

Happens often.

 

Standard advice as always:-

 

1.When you present your Passport point out the relevant visa page so they can't miss it.

 

2.Check your stamp before you walk away.

 

.

[Scumbag]

You can understand how an immigration officer could miss the visa with all the pages and other stamps etc, probably worth having the arrival card in with the visa page

The other thing you need to do is remember to put the visa number on the arrival card. There is really no excuse for the immigration officer to 'miss' the visa if this is on the arrival card.

[Mr magoo]

The other thing you need to do is remember to put the visa number on the arrival card. There is really no excuse for the immigration officer to 'miss' the visa if this is on the arrival card.

Yeah, I'd done that, which is why I was surprised the immi' officer had missed it.

 

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[roger buttmore]

When handing my passport over at immigration upon entry I always hold my passport open at any relevant visa or re-entry permit pages and use the entry card as a bookmark in order to bring it to their attention.

 

They process 1,000's upon 1,000's of arrivals every day and I would imagine those with no visa who require only a visa waiver are by far and away in the majority. It always seemed an obvious thing to do for me.

[Edge]

Yeah, I'd done that, which is why I was surprised the immi' officer had missed it.

.

 

Good idea to do that......still a good idea to do it afterwards in your situation.   

 

Edit -  Hang on..............you have to fill that in routinely surely?

 

Pointing at my visa and saying "Visa" has never failed yet.....plus checking before walking away.

[Okanagan]

Just wanted to relay a story to you guys,

Flew into Bangkok from Manila yesterday, armed with my 60 day SETV which i'd got from the Thai embassy in Manila, breezed thru' immigration (only 4 people ahead of me ) and was back in my apartment in Patts' a few hours later. All was well with the world, right up until I'd checked my permitted to remain stamp in my passport, it was only then that i discovered the immi' officer at BKK airport hadn't checked the pages in my passport, and hadn't seen my SETV and as a result had only given me 30 days.

Initially i was annoyed with myself for not immediately checking the stamp before heading to the baggage carousel, then frustration, as i thought "how much is this screw up gonna cost  me to get sorted out" This morning i called the visa agent lady who works on the six, just to gauge her response, explained to her my situation.

She gave me two options, go to Jomtien in person and see if they can remedy it, alternatively, for a fee she could take care of it. Now i've used this lady before for visa ext's and been happy with her service, so i was kinda' expecting just a small admin fee, not so, she was asking for 1500bt, the visa price in Manila was less than that...

At 1:15pm i entered Jomtien immigration, collected my queue ticket (only 6 people ahead of me ) and within 20 minutes i walked out with the correct date stamp, no fuss no drama and most importantly, no 'admin' fee.. so lesson learned, from now on i'll be checking that date stamp before heading to the baggage carousel...

1500 baht = 5 days of minimum wage. WTF!

[Edge]

1500 baht = 5 days of minimum wage. WTF!

 

Agents don't work for minimum wage LOL.

 

I did get caught out once myself, but lucky or not I don't know - I went to Jomtien with all my paperwork including Flight printout etc and they corrected the date and entered it on the database......for 200 Baht (edit - actually I think that was something else, think it was free....not sure, few years ago....200 only the price of a 'model' LD anyway 55)

 

The alternative of going back to BKK was obviously a no brainer.

[Mick Pattaya]

Always slot in the boarding pass & arrival card as a bookmark on the visa page, can't miss both of them. We are always so eager to be in ''Thailand'' that sometimes focus on immigration formalities waver.

[Scumbag]

Always slot in the boarding pass & arrival card as a bookmark on the visa page, can't miss both of them. We are always so eager to be in ''Thailand'' that sometimes focus on immigration formalities waver.

In my experience they just mostly pull the arrival card out without opening the passport so this tactic is probably not effective. I have never given them a boarding pass. I always check it as they stamp it or as I am walking away.

[Pattaya_Brian]

When did the Thai embassy in Manila start giving 60 day visas?

 

That was a "no go" for a long time there.

 

The last time I tried was in 2007 or 08 though.

[biggles]

PB, I have been getting 60 day visas in Manila for the last 4 years. GF gets them as well but she is Filipina and doesn't pay !!