I have recently seen a few threads about people being denied entry despite having visas.
This seems a little strange and I was wondering if this could happen to anyone, or if specific conditions have to be met.
For example, can someone with a non-O visa (family) also run into the same kind of trouble, or does it only concern people with tourist visas?
Are younger people (below 50) more susceptible of thorough inquiries than older ones?
Anything else that is important to know to avoid that fate?
Conditions to be denied entry?
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This primarily happens at Bangkok Airports, and the Poipet-Aranyaprathet border crossing. Other airports (Krabi, Phuket) also have “unfriendly” reputations, though with fewer recent reports – and most of those I recall being Visa-Exempt cases.
If entering at the bad-locations, one may find themselves subjected to “unpublished rules” regarding “time in country” or “too many entries.” There is nothing in the laws / rules regarding Tourist Visa entries that cover this, so no way to know where “the line” is. Because the IOs cannot use the non-published rule as the reason for denial (there are exact reasons only allowed by Thai law), they use a different, often unrelated, reason for the rejection-stamp.
Age:
Many rejection/interrogationinclude older people, including “snowbirds” who stay less than half a year – so while it may be a fartist, it is not the only fartist.
Money:
Many rejection/interrogation reports include those traveling widely and often to more expensive destinations, so the IOs can see they have plenty of money to spend.
Non-O marriage-based Visas:
So far, only the Poipet/Aranyaprathet border has been reported to be giving these people a hard-time. I have one of these, but would never try to fly in, because I prefer entering at civilized locations with a history of following published laws/rules.
How To Avoid?
Always have 20K Baht worth of cash and/or travelers checks (can be another currency). This is insanely anachronistic in a world of electronic-banking, but it is a published rule.
Point of Entry is KEY:
Enter via land-borders that follow only the published rules (all but Poipet). Forget the Bangkok airports exist – they might as well be in some hell-hole country where laws don’t matter, from my perspective.
Why risk entering at a location known for denying people for unpublished reasons, to further some unknown agenda (China?, agent-money?, elite-visa sales?, who knows!), which damages the country’s reputation, and literally robs their own citizens of jobs funded by the foreign-sourced incomes being turned-away?
Consider, also, that even if denied at a land-border, you can just walk back where you came from – no “last minute” overpriced ticket going where you do not want to go, being put in detention, etc. If that happens (unlikely), report your experience here to warn others and seek advice, then try a different entry-point.
Bring along anything else you have which could be used to prove you have money/income (so don’t need to work illegally) and where you live in Thailand. I always carried a copy of my condo-lease, plus bank-books showing foreign-transfers in, plus some docs from my business in the USA (where my taxes are paid). I never needed any of this, because I didn’t try to run the airport-gauntlets – but carried it every time anyway.
One useful item was a business-card from my condo, so the IO could copy this into his computer, instead of a hen-scratch partial-address in the tiny TM-6 form (now, even smaller). They really seem to appreciate this – often get a pleasant response.