Thailand really wants you to come and visit but don't expect them to be at all cordial with you when you do so. The more I talk to people that more I start hearing about people just getting fed up and choosing to leave the country and while I am sure they will come back in the future, their enthusiasm for doing so is being a bit squashed by how immigration has been treating everyone lately.
According to my friends who have been here a lot longer than me if you wanted to stay in Thailand long-term 10-15 years ago, you just did so and nobody really complained, least of all Immigration. There were a lot of methods of doing this but one of the most used ones was just going on visa runs every 30 or 60 days. Especially if you lived somewhat near a border, this was done in a day which normally involved being a bus for a very long time, but it was over in a day and if you brought a book with you, it was over and done before you know it.
It isn't really possible to do this anymore or they are discouraging it by being extra threatening to the people that try to do it. I have a work-permit so this doesn't really apply to me but for some of my friends they leave the country with a very real fear that they will not be let back in. For the most part they are warned by immigration when they come back in that this "is the last visa they will receive" and I suppose that is fair enough but the problem here is that this is NOT the official policy of the government, it is just the attitude of the person who happens to be working the booth that day. He scribbles something in your passport and just because he was having a bad day you are not going to get anymore visas. It shouldn't be that way but that is the way it is.
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Another thing that is irritating people is that Thailand seems to be extremely interested in knowing your every move when you are in the country. It starts with the very thorough biometric scanning that is done. They take all of your fingerprints and also do facial scans, which is not something I am very keen on turning over to them anyway. Then, they start the grilling process of wanting to know where you are staying for the entirety of your visa.
Before I was a teacher here in Chiang Mai and was just traveling, I was backpacking a bit and that meant that I didn't actually know where I was going to be staying for the entire 60 days that I had on my first tourist visa to this country. I remember being asked about it and just kind of laughed at the question. I showed them the booking I had in BKK for the first couple of nights at a guesthouse and when I showed them this booking form, which he aggressively demanded, he then asked where I would be staying after that. When I said "I don't know yet" he called me "stupid" and begrudgingly stamped my passport and then basically threw it back at me. There is no reason to treat someone like this that is legally visiting your country to spend money there. They also demanded to see my flight ticket out, which I didn't have one me because it only existed in a digital sense. It took me ages to pull it up on my phone and he didn't even want to help me connect to the wifi so I could retrieve it. In the end when I did finally get to show it to him I don't think he even looked at it but then just roughly threw my phone back on the counter. Again, there is no reason to treat visitors this way.
My visa here is legal and I am genuinely employed by a school here in Chiang Mai. Every 90 days I still have to report to the local immigration office and it is overwhelmed with people every single day. Of course everyone working in that building has an axe to grind and is going to mistreat you as much as possible.
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I have never been to this office when it wasn't absolutely packed. They are also rude to you when you don't know how to do their jobs for them. I mean, why wouldn't I know exactly where the forms are that I need to fill out so that the official can barely even look at it and then throw it back at me with a stamp on it? They also treat me as though I am guilty until proven innocent when I go in there even though I have all the necessary paperwork from my school to renew my visa. They are overtly rude to everyone that goes in there and again, they do not need to treat people like this, but they do so without fail.
Everyone I know dreads any time that they have to interact with Immigration and their financial or employment situation doesn't seem to matter. The officials at these places just seem to be rude by default. When I see how terrible they are being towards someone old enough to be my father it makes me extra upset because the "respecting of your elders" doesn't seem to extend to foreigners.
Every time I go to Immigration I promise myself that it will be the last time, like so many other people. As it is now a lot of people are afraid or fed up enough that they don't want to try to stay anymore. The craziest part about all of this is that I haven't even been here that long, less than 5 years, and twice I have seen Thailand go on a rather massive and expensive "apology tour" of the world in order to boost tourism numbers. They have the numbers now but seem to be working as hard as possible to get lower ones by mistreating people.
The solution to all of this would be easy: Have universal rules that are adhered to the same by every office and just be nice to people. I mean does it make anyone's day, including the officials', better by being rude all the time?
Third trip to Thailand, never had a problem. The last 2 were Visa on Arrival, and I wasn't asked for anything beyond my passport, put my hand on the scanner, and look at the camera. 2 minutes, off to baggage claim.
I stay on a farm in Issan, so I do have to contact immigration in Maha Sarakham to validate my residence since I'm not staying at a place that checks my passport.
Here again, 10-15 minutes, out the door.
If I want to extend another 30-days, I fill out a TM-7, take it and the copies of my passport and a photo, done. Oh, and pay the required 1,900 baht for processing.
I know every office can be different. But everyone I personally know here don't seem to have a problem. Most use the online process for the 90-day report, and avoid waiting in line.
I agree changes need to be made. My biggest complaint is that the Thai Embassy in Los Angeles, America, and immigration here aren't on the same page when it comes to paperwork needed. The Embassy is by far harder to deal with.
Thanks for the post! Keep up the good stuff!
Regards
Richard Taylor
I'm happy that you experience a much easier process than we do in the more popular expat areas. That is probably the problem actually. Phuket, BKK, Pattaya, and Chiang Mai are where a majority of the expats reside and therefore the immigration offices are overwhelmed with tons of people every day.
To me this is a bit inexcusable and from the people I talk to the process varies wildly depending on where you go in the world. For example: The Thai embassy in Australia won't even talk to you unless you are Thai or Australian. Why not?
The more popular places probably do present a higher degree of issues. Plus they have to deal with more 'less than steller' tourists and such.
The embassy in LA won't even talk to Americans! Seriously, if you try to call, you get a recording telling you to use the website and the e-Visa system.
The only means of contact is through email, and even that is very limited. I have never got a direct answer to a question. It gets very aggravating.
Thanks for the upvotes! It is appreciated.
You got that right. While I haven't exactly been here for ages I do see the behavior of some of my farang brethren and I am embarrassed for them. It reflects negatively on all of us!
I have contemplated moving to a less high profile area but before I do that I would likely need to dramatically improve my Thai language skills. I'm very basic as it stands now.
Where I am there are 2 people (just talked to another Thai today) besides myself that speak English. My Thai is worse than basic! 😆
But I am about as remote/rural as you can get. I recommend that people look around, maybe stay a few weeks at a hotel, before deciding they might want to try this. It's not for everyone!
And yeah, there are times when I see an American doing things here that makes me want to adopt a Canadian accent or something so I won't be compared to them. But it is ALL Nationalities that can be that "less than steller" farang.
Everything you wrote is absolutely true. I myself encountered this half a year ago - in order not to stand in line at the immigration service, I had to pay bribes - this is very sad.
yeah, that seems to be the only way around it. Pay extortionate fees for something that is supposed to be free. The only people I know that aren't afraid of dealing with immigration here are the people on the pay-to-win Elite Visa, which is such a sham.
Awww, I did not know about it. Honestly, I was supposedly there in Thailand in 2012 to work in Nan as a teacher also. But I was hired here in my country and it was only my best friend who continued the journey of teaching in Thailand. It is indeed one of my favorite places especially for travel. Many thanks for this informative article my dear friend.
If you are a teacher you get to bypass a lot of the BS. That is what the situation is with me. The attitude is still the same at many of the more popular borders though.
It will bite them with this type of attitude as Thailand needs visitors as their economy is tourism. Not smart as one bad experience and people don't return.