Thailand to rethink exempt visa fees for tourists

[Big Boy]

I keep reading charge for this and charge for that. Are the embassies and consulates profit making, or is it an admin charge?

I would imagine somebody in Thailand at some stage decided that for the amount of visitors coming to Thailand for short stays, it just wasn't the hassle of administering it for small change, so they invented the 10 days on arrival, which increased to 30 days some time later. It encouraged visitors to stay for longer, and spend more money while here.

Levying a charge for all visitors will require much more administration, and the extra hassle might put some visitors off. OK, Thai labour is cheap, but is it worth the extra hassle?

[Dannie Boy]

I keep reading charge for this and charge for that. Are the embassies and consulates profit making, or is it an admin charge?

I would imagine somebody in Thailand at some stage decided that for the amount of visitors coming to Thailand for short stays, it just wasn't the hassle of administering it for small change, so they invented the 10 days on arrival, which increased to 30 days some time later. It encouraged visitors to stay for longer, and spend more money while here.

Levying a charge for all visitors will require much more administration, and the extra hassle might put some visitors off. OK, Thai labour is cheap, but is it worth the extra hassle?

And the extra queues when checking in at Imm.

[dalmatiandave]

A Thai going to the UK needs to be vetted for obvious reasons, the UK for an Asian or anybody for that matter is a Disneyland of opportunity, once there the ability to claim this and that is a possibility for some, the idea of vetting is meant to protect the country from people taking advantage of what the UK offers and to ensure they come in as per their intentions, an intention that needs vetting.

On the other hand a UK citizen coming to Thailand for 30 days will not possibly get any hand outs, will be pumping money into the economy, knows he can not work and should he attempt to claim asylum or benefits will be laughed at and sent packing.

The two situations are not relative to each other, the reason for the vetting process for entry into the UK is reasonable considering the possibilities of an alien arriving with the wrong intentions; the need to vet a UK citizen traveling to Thailand is of little importance as it is unlikely a UK citizen would become a burden for the Thai government or the Thai tax payer. They have already talked about charging an increased tax to cover such things as medical treatment for foreigners with no money, over-stayers etc so I see this as just another way of making money. Somebody has come up with the idea without really understanding the reasons why other governments implement border entry policy. A tit for tat action is just plain childish.