Has anybody been refused entry to Thailand?
Replies: 28 - Last Post: Feb 11, 2013 4:25 AM Last Post By: indus
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Sorry, but that's like saying you've been to Africa 100 times and never used malaria meds. Not good advise. You were just lucky.16
I did meet someone who was almost refused entry - a person from Finland who had once been banned for drug offences. Although his 5 year banning had expired there was still something on the immigration computer about it and he was taken to a room to be questioned by immigration officers . it was decided that he would be let in if he had air ticket out , he had a ticket to Kuala Lumpar but they refused to accept a ticket to nearby countries and in the end he had to buy a ticket to India at the airport. Note that others who have been banned are sometimes let in without question , but this can vary.As a digression about Malaysia and Singapore which also have air ticket out rules , never been asked for ticket when arriving by land ,boat or air in Malaysia . In Singapore only been asked for ticket once when arriving by boat from Indonesia - they were having crack down on illegal immigrants so everyone on the boat was being asked for ticket , but were allowed to show funds en lieu of ticket - thats the only time that happened though . When arriving by air in Singapore the only time immigration staff ever said anything was once when I forgot to sign the form.
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But all of this makes no difference , airport staff and even travel agents in countries outisde region have little awareness of this generally , although sometimes there is the odd staff person who does know the real situation , so more often than not they will enforce the rules rigidly and insist on seeing air ticket out if the person has no visa. Some posters say airports in parts of Europe have become more liberal about this but on the other hand some posters have said they were hassled about onward tickets even when flying from Japan.It would be more sensible if Thai immigration would relax its formal onward ticket rules in recognition that there are valid reasons for tourists to fly one way and allow those who wish to fly one way to show adequate funds en lieu of ticket . Unfortunately this does not seem that likely to happen.
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Strange experience Captain_Bob. When we flew back, they could see it was the return segment of the flight. Korean Air smiled and asked how our trip was. They smiled and gladly checked our 4 50 lb. bags, gave us our boarding passes, and sent us on our way at Dulles. They never glanced at anything other than the photo page of my passport.It does seem to come down to the person.
Arriving in Thailand was another story. I was stamped in for 2 days only!!! I arrived on Oct 24 late at night. I was stamped in until Oct 26. They wouldn't give me a longer stamp and told me to clear it up at Chaeng Wattana. They refused to change my stamp and went so far as to rudely claim I didn't have a visa. In the end, I had to buy another re-entry permit. Then, I had to do a visa run to wonderful Poipet on the 26th to get a new stamp that was correct. It was a mess!
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I told her this IS my return flight, because I live in ThailandGood one geomark! Wish I could have been there to see the look on her face.
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Arriving in Thailand was another story. I was stamped in for 2 days only!!! I arrived on Oct 24 late at night. I was stamped in until Oct 26. They wouldn't give me a longer stamp and told me to clear it up at Chaeng Wattana. They refused to change my stamp and went so far as to rudely claim I didn't have a visa.
I think in Thai, the words for surly and for immigration official are the same.
Do you have any idea what you might have done to set this off? Was it just random?
In the 1990's there used to be a sign on the Malay/Thai border that said "no entry for those taking drug or those of hippy appearance"!
And the sign said long-haired freaky people need not apply...
I'm sure that sign was barring entry to Malaysia: if it had been a Thai sign, there would still be replicas of it for sale on KSR.
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No I didn't get a photo, I wasn't there , early 70's was before my time , I read about it in David Jenkins mid 70's guidebook -'AsiaTravellers Guide'. As I recall he didn't go into details about what exactly the diagrams depicted. You could start a post on the Older Travellers branch and ask if any of them saw those signs.Did you know about that time a whole lot of travellers at Batu Farringhi at Penang , Malaysia who had been staying in huts on the beach were deemed to be hippys by authorities and all given 24 hours to leave the country -including any foreigner who happened to be unlucky enough to be just at that beach at time of raid ?.
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On Monday,12th November I accompanied my neice to Heathrowe airport.She was initially unable to check in with Air India for her one-way flight to Bangkok via Delhi as she did not have any onward ticket out of Thailand. She went on line and booked a one way ticket Bangkok to Vientiane. Returning to the Air India desk she presented this ticket and was then allowed to check in for her flight to Delhi/Bangkok. I wonder if a train,bus or ferry ticket would have sufficed!26
Thanks for the report .train , ordinary train bus and ferry tickets are not really obtainable outside Thailand , and also the formal rules say "confirmed ticket' - a bus or ferry ticket is not a confirmed ticket thus the check in may not necessarily accept them.27
In the 1990's there used to be a sign on the Malay/Thai border that said "no entry for those taking drug or those of hippy appearanceThats an improvement - in the 80's on that same border they had a wall size picture of a noose, with the words "Dada means Death"
Dave, you might like this - I have a slide, somewhere - If I ever come across it and get it digitalized all send you a copy - it’s of the old boat dock quay side immigration office in Nongkai circ mid 80's I took a picture of their list of what constitutes; non desirable tourists. No pictures, just 5 or 10 features that can identify them. Nongkai was of course a terminus of the Laos Loop - defunct since the Pathet Lao took over in 75 but as Thai things go still right up there on the immigration wall, to identify the dreaded "HIPPY". No tourists going across the Mekong in 85, but a good 5 to 15 boats a day. Business was going good on the local trade which is why that office was still there. Today its part of the riverfront market
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Those who want to know some problems with being deported in South East Asia.. must read this letter, a guy was declined to board on plane ex BKK for Singapore...http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/10930/letters-from-abroad-shame-on-you-you-are-pakistani/
