Getting a Tourist Visa Regionally: Report from the Field

[preahko]

Like lots of people, I've been concerned about the new long-term stay rules that have been in effect since Oct. 1. Now that we're coming around to the three-month mark, you would think that many of us are now testing what's really going to happen when we use up your 3 X 30-day free stays, etc. You'd also think that people would be posting their experiences in detail on forums like this, or thaivisa.com...but they are not.

 

Prior to my first trip out of Thailand to try to secure a Thai tourist visa regionally, I thought I'd do some research and learn from others' experiences. But all I could find was either nothing, or very sketchy hearsay kinds of stories. No clear documentation of people's first-hand experiences. So, after my trip to Kuala Lumpur this past week, I thought I would post exactly the kind of report I had needed to read but couldn't find.

 

First of all, a little about my situation so you can figure out how much (or how little) my experience is relative to yours. I've been living in Thailand on continuous 30-day stays since October of 2004, save for three months every summer when I return to the US to teach at a university there. I have tried to get a non-immigrant O visa, with the argument that my work (the creation of Southeast Asian language teaching materials) from September-May, for which I am paid by a US university, necessitates that I be in Thailand for 9 months a year. I had letters of support both from my university and from a big honcho at Matichon magazine here in BKK, who heads the local alumni association for my USuniversity...no dice. The immigration officials at Suan Phlu told me that I should alternate 3 X 30-day stays with 60-day tourist visas (with 30 day renewal), and by doing so I could stay in Thailand as long as I wanted.

 

That's what they've been *telling* people...but this is Thailand, and regional embassies are little fiefdoms of somebody's power...who knows if they'll really grant us long-stayers a visa now or not? I'd heard reports of Thai embassies in Phnom Penh and Yangon NOT granting them any more, and I'd heard of the Thai embassy in Singapore granting them but writing in the passports "this is the only visa this person can get at this embassy." Again, a lot of hearsay. So my trip to KL was really kind of an adventure, I had no idea if I'd actually get the visa.

 

Note that I've only entered Thailand twice on 30-day stays since Oct. 1, so technically I had one 30-day entry left before I had to get the visa. But I decided to get my visa this month rather than next and beat what I expect will be an incredible January rush of long-staying farangs to regional embassies.

 

The process of getting the visa was pretty simple. I flew from BKK to KL on AirAsia last wednesday, stayed at the Federal Hotel, and walked the 2+ miles to the Thai embassy (for those of you who like exercise and aren't lazy lumps, KL is a great city for walking) on Thursday morning. There were probably one hundred people there; you get a number and wait to be served at what in theory is one of four windows. You have from 9:30 to 11:30 in the morning to do this. It is best to get there early--I'd recommend 9 at the latest--because when they reach a certain number in line they turn people away.

 

The people you deal with at the embassy--save for one Thai--are all Malaysian, and none of them speak Thai. The reason for my "in theory" comment above about the four windows is that window number 4 was staffed by a Thai man. In true Thai work-shirking fashion, he kept calling up one of two non-existent ticket numbers on the display to go to his window, so of course nobody ever went to his window, he just sat there and the Malays did all the work, haha.

 

The woman at the window leafed through my fat passport (I've added pages twice) full of countless visas from Laos and Cambodia and as many exit/entry stamps from Aranyaprathet, Nong Khai, etc. from the past 4+ years, and asked "what are you doing in Thailand?" I explained and she shot me a kind of suspicious look, but continued processing my paperwork and took my 100 RM (1,000 baht). I was told to return at 11:30 am the next day to pick up my passport. I was out of there in about 1 hour 15 minutes.

 

Incidentally, if you're staying in Bukit Bintang and don't want to walk to the embassy (and don't want to pay the ridiculous taxi fares; they have meters but nobody uses them), there's a very good elevated train/subway system in KL, and with one transfer between lines and about 15 minutes of walking, you can get to the embassy pretty quickly.

 

I was still nervous for the next 24 hours, since I knew that the visa application fee was non-refundable, and there was a chance they'd reject my application. But lo and behold, when I returned at 11:15 am (I got the feeling I could have come even earlier), there was my passport in a stack with a nice shiny 60-day Thai tourist visa affixed to it. And no written warnings about not being to get another visa there, etc.

 

So, it was a rather expensive visa run, but it worked, and I'm set now for another 90 days (when you count a 60 day extension), after which time I can do 3 more 30-day stays, and then I'll be going back to teach for 3 months in the US anyway. It was expensive because of the relatively high (for them) fare I had to pay on AirAsia (8,000 round trip), and the overpriced hotel I stayed at in KL (almost 3,000 baht a night, and the quality is what you'd pay about 1,200 for in BKK). In general, I found KL to be quite a bit more expensive than BKK, and by comparison kind of a podunk town, it really deserves no comparison to a world-class metropolis like Bangkok, the two are apples and oranges. But like I said, KL, with its broad sidewalks and a lot less cars than BKK, is quite pleasant to walk around in, if you like to get off your butt.

 

Incidentally, the very excellent visa run service Five Star Visa in Pattaya is now offering a tourist visa run package to Penang on AirAsia; 11,000 for everything including a night of hotel. You have to leave from Pattaya (beach rd. soi 13), but I took one of their runs to the Cambodian border and I can say their service is truly superb, if a bit pricey (2,400 baht, includes lunch, breakfast, visa, etc., and the lunch is a box lunch made in thailand, not scary cambodian casino shit)...they totally beat the pants off mickey mouse outfits like Jack's Golf.

 

That is all.

 

preahko

[Flashermac]

Interesting that the Malays at the Thai embassy don't speak Thai. I've found those at the consulate in Penang generally speak at least basic Thai.

 

p.s. Since you are writing for the uni, have you thought of having them ask for a journalist visa for you? Maybe the guy at Matichon could tell you how.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Julian2]

Thanks a lot for this preahko, I'm off to Vientiane on the 26th and have been a bit apprehensive. I'd imagine my passport looks a bit like yours, well endowed with visa run stamps, so I was worried they were going to knock back guys like us.

I'll put in a report on what happens in Lao when I get back, maybe its a cheaper option. I'm flying from Chiang Rai so the Air Asia fares total about 3000B, 1000B for one night in a hotel in BKK, no I won't include the night on the town as a legitimate expense, then the Lao visa, about 1200, followed by a couple of nights in Vientiane, possibly 500B each, and I though I'd get the bus back to Chiang Rai from Nong Khai just to see how it went.

[Nervous_Dog]

Good advice about the Skytrain there. I NEVER used it, my mum and wife did but I didn;t till last trip and now kick myself for ignoring it!

 

As much as I love KL, the taxis there SUCK!!!

 

They make the wrost shitty Bangkok Taxi look good!

 

DOG

[preahko]

Good advice about the Skytrain there. I NEVER used it, my mum and wife did but I didn;t till last trip and now kick myself for ignoring it!

 

As much as I love KL, the taxis there SUCK!!!

 

They make the wrost shitty Bangkok Taxi look good!

 

DOG

 

One interesting thing about the KL rapid transit system (monorail and several combination subway/elevated lines...not to mention the special airport trains) is that most of it is made for the working class, not for tourists and the rich (as could be argued for the BKK skytrain and many rapid transit systems I've seen throughout Asia and the West). This is evident both in the places it goes, and also in the quite cheap (especially for KL) fares...

 

preahko

 

[Palatkik]

the taxis there SUCK!!!

 

 

Yes, they can do. Any public holiday book ahead, or near the breaking fast period during Ramadan.

 

I was staying at a popular hotel once (the Corus - just down road from Thai Embassy, and couldn't get a taxi from there at all - couldn't flag one down or get bell boy to arrange one. I had to walk the main road outside to the underground with all my bags to get a train to KL Sentral. Trouble is the first trains didn't start til 6am or something so I still missed my early morning flight.

[dddave]

I flew to Phnom Phen Thursday, Dec 7 (Air Asia; B3800 rt including fees) and went immediately to the Thai Embassy as soon as I had checked into Flamingos Hotel, arriving at the Embassy about 10am. I had expected to be able to pick up my passport with new 60 day tourist visa the next afternoon and fly back to Bkk Sunday... NOT!

 

After a short wait, the clerk looked through my also very thick passport, remarked "Stay Thailand long time. Maybe boss say ok for visa, maybe not ok. Pay money, ($25) come back Tuesday." AAARRRRGGGGHHH!!! Turned out they take two full working days in Phnom Phen; Monday, Embassy closed for a Thai holiday, thus: Tuesday which meant I couldn't return to Bkk until Wednesday since the flight departs at 08:40.

 

Air Asia charged me B500 for the ticket change at the local office.

 

I had a really bad sinus infection so no fun in PP. Went to the Embassy on Tuesday; the visa was granted but the passport and visa were stamped in many places "DO NOT APPLY NEW VISA PHNOM PHEN AGAIN"

 

B4300 Airfare w/change

B500 Thailand departure tax

B750 Cambo entry visa (all Cambo fees converted

from dollars)

B4350 Hotel: 6 nights

B900 Visa fee

B900 PP departure tax

___________________

B11,700 total (not including food, taxi's and incidentals.

End of story.

[Nervous_Dog]

<< "DO NOT APPLY NEW VISA PHNOM PHEN AGAIN"

>>

 

FARK

 

I wonder what they put into the computer system as well?

 

DOG - Sorry to hear this

[elef]

Somebody told me that you get a better service without that stamp in PP if you donate 5,000 baht (that was 2005 so maybe he/they has been sent some other place but I guess not).

[Flashermac]

1000 baht for a hotel room in Wiengchan? I didn't pay more than 500 or 600 for a decent enough room at the Hai Soke Guest House. Two double beds, , shower w/hot water, a/c, fridge, satellite TV. (Make sure you get the hotel section, not the cheaper backpacker part for this.) Best thing about the Hai Soke is that it is covered with Christmas lights year round. Thus you can find the place at night no matter how sh*tfaced you are.

 

p.s. Walk one block towards the river from the Hai Soke and you'll find little restaurants offering Farang style breakfast!