Korean Job Discussion Forums

[badfish]

Immigration confirms the end of border runs from October 1, 2006
Thailand tightens visa rules for tourists to cut illegal workers

BANGKOK: -- Thailand will tighten entry regulations for tourists in a bid to crack down on illegal foreign workers, the Immigration Bureau said.

The move, which takes effect October 1, would affect tourists from 41 countries including Australia, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the US, said Suwat Thamrongsrisakul, the head of the bureau.

Currently, tourists from 41 countries can enter Thailand without visas and stay in the kingdom for up to 30 days.

They can extend their stay by checking out of the country, mainly by crossing the borders of neighboring Cambodia and Laos, and returning with new entry stamps.

'Under the current rules, people from those countries can stay in Thailand as long as they want. Some even stay here for one year,' another bureau official said.

The bureau had learned that a growing number of foreigners from the 41 countries worked illegally in Thailand, Suwat said, adding many were employed in bars and restaurants in the popular seaside resort of Pattaya, east of Bangkok.

'Tourists are taking advantage of the visa exemption law. Instead of sightseeing, they are doing business here,' Suwat said.

From October, tourists from the designated countries can still enter Thailand without visas and stay for up to 30 days, but their entry stamps will be renewable twice at most for a maximum stay of 90 days.

Tourists who stayed for 90 days must leave the kingdom for at least 90 days before being permitted to re-enter Thailand, Suwat said.

--forbes.com 2006-09-10




end of an era no more back to back to back to back 30 day visas although theyre already cooking up ways to get around this, sounds like you can stilll just go to an embassy outside Thailand and arrange 60 day visas as much as you want. It will be interesting to see how this affects tourism and teaching , to say the least.

[shevek]

idiots.....the amount the country loses from people working illegally doing the monthly visa runs pales in comparison to the money the kingdom gains from expats living in places like phuket, bangkok and pattaya doing their monthly visa runs in order to stay living there not working and spending their money within thailand.
cambodia here the long term tourist masses come???

[jaganath69]

If you want to see the real endgame of this kind of visa lunacy, look no further than Indonesia. The Megawati government was doing a good job of killing off tourism before the Bali bomb brought it to its knees.

[Tiger Beer]

Thats also bad news for those who like the Philippines. Meaning quite a few of those retired westerners might end up there instead.

The beauty of the Philippines is its current hidden pearl status in southeast asia.

[TECO]

TB,

Do you think people are going to start looking at the Philippines as an attractive retirement destination?

I always thought that Thailand had an edge over the Phils for safety and development of infastructure and genral convenience for the expat. Good hospitals and medical services also. On the other hand, I'm also considering the Philippines as a possible retirement location. So many people there are friendly and speak English which also puts it at an advantage to Thailand. Not to mention that the tropical beach locations in the Phils, out in the provinces, are arguably the most pristine in Asia.

[Tiger Beer]

[badfish]

doesnt the Phillipines being an island make it difficult to live as a 30 day visa comer and goer? In Thailand you got so many options to get in and out every 30 days, how do you go about this in the Phills?

[Tiger Beer]

[shevek]

[shevek]

[ttompatz]

[confucian]

I'm just combing through old threads on travel, and I see Tom Patz is awesome

[mmstyle]

I didn't even realize this thread was that old until confucian's post.