Longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

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barrys
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Longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by barrys »

I have an English friend near Hua Hin who has a 1-year visa based on retirement.
He has a Cambodian girlfriend. Over the last 2 years, she has gone to Thailand for 3 months each year on a tourist visa, i.e. 2 months + 1 month extension. However, on the last occasion, she was taken to an office by an immigration official at Don Muang, who indicated in an interview with her and my friend that she couldn't keep doing this.
So the question is: does anybody know how she can get a longer-term visa to stay in Thailand?
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by moater »

They can get married and then she'll be a dependent on his visa. Otherwise the usual - education visa or just have her get a new fresh passport and keep doing the tourist thing.
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by Nereus »

Doesn't Cambodia have a law that bans females from marrying foreigners?

If you can find somebody to sponsor her as an employee, then she would get a 1 year visa, bearing in mind the current BS by the government. I know a Vietnamese girl in Bangkok that does just that.
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by PeteC »

Is being issued and using a valid tourist visa once a year a crime now? I don't understand the attitude of the Thai mib at Don Muang. Is he discriminating because she's Cambodian and thinks she's a migrant worker without permit? If me I would get a second opinion from the Thai consulate in Cambodia, or a different immigration office on the Thai side. Pete :cheers:
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by barrys »

Thanks to everyone for the comments and suggestions.

@ moater: he's thought about the marriage option, but there are a few obstacles to that. Education visa doesn't sound like a bad idea though. As for getting a fresh passport, I'd be worried that they could still retrieve the previous entries from the computer system based on name and date of birth.....

@ Nereus: Cambodia has a law that bans Cambodian women from marrying foreign men who are over 50 years old. Only applies to marriage in Cambodia though. If you get married in another country, the marriage will be recognised by the authorities in Cambodia

@ prcscct: I couldn't agree more. She's entered the country each time with a proper visa, has not overstayed and certainly has not worked. My friend even goes to Cambodia to collect her and flies back with her to Thailand for the very purpose of avoiding the sort of situation that occurred at Don Muang. In fact, if he hadn't been there, it's quite likely that she wouldn't have been allowed in, despite having a valid visa. And my friend's pretty sure the official was discriminating because she's Cambodian and probably thinks that she was intending to work. Getting a second opinion sounds like a good idea in theory but, at the end of the day, it will still be up to whim of the immigration officer on duty at the time to decide according to the mood he's in on that particular day :cuss:
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

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^Welcome to Thailand, the Government is corrupt here. Corruption in Government(Local, State, County, Provincial, Federal) is rampant these days in almost every country in the world.
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by Big Boy »

barrys wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2017 4:45 pm @ Nereus: Cambodia has a law that bans Cambodian women from marrying foreign men who are over 50 years old. Only applies to
Is this a fact? After reading this, I contacted a friend who is contemplating marriage in Cambodia. He thinks the rule is no longer in force.
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by moater »

barrys wrote: Tue Jul 11, 2017 4:45 pm As for getting a fresh passport, I'd be worried that they could still retrieve the previous entries from the computer system based on name and date of birth.....
555 you are giving them way too much credit. I know people who used education visas for the allowed 4 years, then got a new passport and received education visas for the next 4. There's very little chance of having an issue with a fresh passport, and it's the cheaper short term option.
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by barrys »

BB wrote: "Is this a fact? After reading this, I contacted a friend who is contemplating marriage in Cambodia. He thinks the rule is no longer in force."

Hi BB,
It's more than a rule, I'm afraid - it was a decree.
I've never heard of it no longer being in force and I can find no evidence of it having been rescinded.

See the following publication, for example, which appeared in January/February 2017.

http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1 ... sequence=3

It says at the top of page 13:
"In 2011, the Cambodian Foreign Ministry issued a Prakas to all foreign embassies in the country outlining certain restrictions on marriages between foreign men and Cambodian women based on the age and salary of the men in question.
The Prakas stipulated that foreign men wishing to marry Cambodian women must be under 50 years of age and earn more than USD 2,500 a month (Bradley & Szablewska 2016: 461-488).
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by Big Boy »

Thanks Barry, although he's not poor, the only actual income he has is interest on his savings. I've passed the report on, but even though he's not 50 yet, I don't think he'll qualify, even though he has a family, built a house etc.

I guess he'll have to continue living in sin :wink:
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by barrys »

This is sort of related - but please feel free to move elsewhere if appropriate.

This is a real head-scratcher - you really do have to wonder what the Thai authorities are up to :banghead:

A Dutch friend of mine wanted to do a visa run from Cambodia to Thailand last week so as to get a fresh 30-day tourist visa back into Cambodia. No problem for the Cambodian immigration authorities but...

... after crossing from Poipet to Aranyapratet and getting his 30-day visa exemption stamp from Thai immigration, he was suddenly pursued by the immigration official, who then asked my friend whether he was simply doing a visa run and intended to return to Cambodia that day. When he said that was exactly what he was doing, he was immediately escorted to the Thai immigration office, where he was accused of "misusing the Thai border". He was told this was unacceptable behaviour as it was contrary to the Thai immigration rules. The immigration officer then demanded that he purchase a flight ticket out of Thailand and leave Thailand asap. (Really weird, because he didn't want to stay there anyway!!!). He told them he didn't have the money to buy an air ticket and wanted to spend some more time in SE Asia. They then came up with an alternative solution :idea: He was told to sign a declaration that he had crossed the border to go shopping at Big C and that this was the reason for entering Thailand. He agreed to do this and was told he could go, but was not to do this again and that his name would be put on a blacklist. When he asked what that meant and whether there would be a problem if he came back to Thailand again, the officer replied: "Maybe, it depends on the immigration office at the time..."

Can anybody make any sense of this at all? What rule was he actually infringing? Are they just making it up as they go along? Do they get brownie points for scaring foreign tourists away? :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
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Re: longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

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barrys wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2017 2:55 pm This is sort of related - but please feel free to move elsewhere if appropriate.

This is a real head-scratcher - you really do have to wonder what the Thai authorities are up to :banghead:

A Dutch friend of mine wanted to do a visa run from Cambodia to Thailand last week so as to get a fresh 30-day tourist visa back into Cambodia. No problem for the Cambodian immigration authorities but...

... after crossing from Poipet to Aranyapratet and getting his 30-day visa exemption stamp from Thai immigration, he was suddenly pursued by the immigration official, who then asked my friend whether he was simply doing a visa run and intended to return to Cambodia that day. When he said that was exactly what he was doing, he was immediately escorted to the Thai immigration office, where he was accused of "misusing the Thai border". He was told this was unacceptable behaviour as it was contrary to the Thai immigration rules. The immigration officer then demanded that he purchase a flight ticket out of Thailand and leave Thailand asap. (Really weird, because he didn't want to stay there anyway!!!). He told them he didn't have the money to buy an air ticket and wanted to spend some more time in SE Asia. They then came up with an alternative solution :idea: He was told to sign a declaration that he had crossed the border to go shopping at Big C and that this was the reason for entering Thailand. He agreed to do this and was told he could go, but was not to do this again and that his name would be put on a blacklist. When he asked what that meant and whether there would be a problem if he came back to Thailand again, the officer replied: "Maybe, it depends on the immigration office at the time..."

Can anybody make any sense of this at all? What rule was he actually infringing? Are they just making it up as they go along? Do they get brownie points for scaring foreign tourists away? :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
:?
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Re: Longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by Nereus »

Are they just making it up as they go along?
That would be the nearest explanation! :guns:
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Re: Longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by lomuamart »

I'm pretty sure that you're only allowed 2x 30 day visa exempt stamps in a year now at land border crossings.
Of course, your friend would have been getting the 30 day stamp by entering Thailand even though he was going straight back to Cambodia.
So, those who have been using Thailand as an entry/exit country to renew their visas/permits to stay in other countries are caught up in this as well. As are those who used to pop over to Thailand regularly to do shopping - ie from Cambodia or Laos.
Maybe that's why the Imm officer suggested putting down shopping as the reason for the visit?
But as far as breaking the rules are concerned, the likely transgression is that your friend has entered Thailand on 30 day stamps too many times in a year.
Crazy, isn't it?
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Re: Longer-term Thai visa for a Cambodian national

Post by barrys »

lomuamart wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:50 pm I'm pretty sure that you're only allowed 2x 30 day visa exempt stamps in a year now at land border crossings.
Of course, your friend would have been getting the 30 day stamp by entering Thailand even though he was going straight back to Cambodia.
So, those who have been using Thailand as an entry/exit country to renew their visas/permits to stay in other countries are caught up in this as well. As are those who used to pop over to Thailand regularly to do shopping - ie from Cambodia or Laos.
Maybe that's why the Imm officer suggested putting down shopping as the reason for the visit?
But as far as breaking the rules are concerned, the likely transgression is that your friend has entered Thailand on 30 day stamps too many times in a year.
Crazy, isn't it?
Hi lomu,

I'm aware of this new rule and I asked my friend about how often he'd been to Thailand on 30 day stamps.
He hasn't been to Thailand for more than 2 years!!! Go figure :cuss: :banghead:
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