Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff W
What is worst case scenario if immigration does refuse entry? Can you just fly in again in a couple days or are you permanently flagged? I always get single entry tourist visa in advance fwiw.
You get a denied stamp which will always be in your passport. I don't think anyone's ever tested it out thoroughly to answer that question, once denied the first time people then use a land border, and keep using them / renew passport for a fresh one / switch to Ed visa / get married / cave in and buy Thai Elite card.
The stamp comes with numbers, which refer to a numbered list in the immigration act, of the reasons for denying someone. For normal tourists the reasons they use are suspicion of working illegally, or lack of proof of funds. You already know to carry 20k cash so the former is the only possibility.
So say you got denied and then attempted to fly in 2 days later, you'd be flagged. Some small chance they don't notice because it's Thailand, but probably they will, it's a big stamp. Then they'd presumably want to see lots of proof that you don't work illegally, to then let you in that time. But there are no guidelines on what that 'proof' is. It's just based on suspicion so you can never get around it.
So the worst case scenario is you're denied on pure suspicion of working illegally and then denied again, when they see the stamp and still suspect you 2 days later.
Imo just fly in from Laos, so that if you're denied, then you get flown back to Laos, then you're close to a land border (Nong Khai) for your 2nd attempt. Then pay for your Ed visa paperwork in BKK, back to Laos with it to get the Ed visa, back into Thailand again via Nong Khai, that gives you a year, then after that renew your passport for a fresh one to remove both the denied stamp and the old Ed visa, 2 birds with one stone. It'd still be in the computer records but they don't always check.