Penang in Malaysia is a popular destination for expats and tourists, especially from Phuket, to extend a visa for Thailand or convert to a Non-Immigrant visa for a longer stay.
In Phuket there is a thriving visa industry and minibuses depart every day for Penang where hotels, restaurants and taxis are more than happy to assist visitors.
The journey to Penang by minivan takes about 10 hours, but recently Air Asia announced daily flights to Penang Island from Phuket to compete with Firefly Airlines, the only direct flight from Phuket to Penang. The flight takes about an hour.
It is busy every day at the Thai Consulate General and in connection with this, the rules for a visa application have now been tightened. From May 14, a maximum of 100 applications per day will be accepted and visitors are advised to fill in the application forms correctly in order to make their stay in Penang no longer than necessary. People with incomplete documentation are denied access to the building and then have to line up again the next day and hope that they will be counted among the first hundred. .
You can read the full statement from the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Penang below.
It goes without saying that 'guests' in Thailand must behave like guests and at least abide by the rules. But decency is not a one-way street. The host country also has obligations. This is of course even more true for the country that claims to be happy to receive guests, that is setting up tourist offices everywhere to attract guests and has also made itself economically largely dependent on that flow of guests.
To be honest, Thailand also attracts quite a few indecent people, who do not care about the rules, apparently assuming that everything is possible and allowed there. Yet it is not appropriate to lump well-intentioned tourists – and I do not mean the Cheap Charleys and the striking small-town bigtimers – with the types who come to Thailand to test the borders.
Thailand must separate the wheat from the chaff.
The reception at the consulates is pitiful. In The Hague, tourists, long-stayers and winter visitors who want to apply for a visa are also not kindly received at the consulate – an old coal cellar under the embassy where as a visitor you have to be very careful not to bump your head. Visa applicants are often barked at or sent away like little children. That, too, needs to be said clearly.
You just don't feel welcome there, actually just a nuisance.
I have already heard several older Thailand visitors, who always liked to spend the winter there, say that they have put Thailand on their own blacklist. What do you think about that?
No problem at all in that 'coal cellar': always treated correctly. But yes, I am stupid enough to approach the man/woman behind the counter correctly, that must be it………..
Recently visited a Thai consulate and was helped neatly there. So it is possible.
ps
What is a visitor?
Now if those people don't want Thailand anymore and have put it on their blacklist, they better stay away here. Then it goes a little faster for people who want to.
Have been applying for my Non imm O based on marriage in The Hague for 6 years now.
Never a problem and the 20+ years before usually a tourist visa if we went longer than a month. always without any problems.
Problems arise if you have not prepared properly and do not have the right documents with you.
Preferably a bit of an arrogant tone and then you know that you can go home without a visa and try again later.
Go to Amsterdam for a non hmm Oh you have to show bank statements for the last 3 months and you have to have a positive attitude. Oh well, they don't want any more idiots in Thailand.
Now it is clearly indicated at the consulate in Penang, I have only been there recently and now they also need a copy with the stamp of Malaysian immigration on it ...... that is in your passport, isn't it?? It's getting crazier. But how often has it happened that it is not clear which papers you need to bring with you or they ask for additional documents that are not listed on the website (the van den haag is already a disaster) (emails you do not get a response or in coal english), experienced a few times with that cheerful bird of the thai embassy in the hague. He once told me that if I cross the border from Thailand to Malaysia that I had to stay at least 1 night in Malaysia until I could return to Thailand, so I had to fill it in on the forms …… tiring that man… ….date in date out date in date out etc etc.. Then told the nice man that I regularly do visa runs and that I will return to Thailand the same day, a border bounce. He said that was not possible, I was sure that it was possible because I had already done that several times. When I confronted him with that, he was clearly ”not amused”….losing face was a fact! Last time I was there for my nun O he was suddenly sweet and even said hello, that's one way to deal with customers, after all, we also spend quite a bit of money there, they won't make it with only Russians and Chinese !
I think that the rules are now clear, but that they are handled differently in the respective places. The people at the embassy have their instructions and they stick to them. These rules apply regardless of what others think. I do think that there should be a more public-friendly response from time to time. I myself have not really had problems in the past, but there are people who do not know the rules and are otherwise ignorant and they need help and understanding. They are certainly not all bad people with bad intentions or cheap charlies. Level differences are always there. I also notice a certain stress or fatigue among the embassy staff. Explaining the same thing over and over again, etc. People should turn the tables and spend a day there to see and feel how things are going for them. Coming from both sides. What bothers me is that if a copy is too short, it cannot / may not be made by their copier. You are sent out the door to make a copy somewhere nearby. Then such a visit suddenly takes extra long. Mailing to embassies is not done. This happens at many embassies. Try Myanmar. Never answer.
Completely agree dear Jacques. A correct attitude and preparation may be expected from a visa applicant, but also some understanding for those who have little or no experience with a visa application (be it a Thai visa, Schengen or whatever). People sometimes drown in information and forms. If applicants often make the same mistake, the information provided may not be entirely clear and could be improved. On the other hand, people should also understand that answering the same questions over and over again can be tiring for staff: people do not read the brochure or website, but feel that their easy question should be given by the staff. But imagine that you have to answer the same thing 100x day after day about something that is clearly stated on the site. I remember that in an interview with the NL embassy, an employee also said that he regularly received questions that could really be found on the site with 3 mouse clicks. Look if a (very) elderly person asks that question, but someone who is full of life and has internet can still surf to the site. Everything is give and take, put yourself in someone else's shoes, be respectful and above all show kindness.
When I was still working and regularly went to Penang for a non-o, I was refused a visa at the end of the 1970s because I had 10 days overstay. After some talking back and forth I got a non-o with the warning that it shouldn't happen again, overstay. Was 1970s so nothing new under the sun.
Last year I applied for a visa in “the basement” in The Hague, marriage/retirement Visa OA multiple entry, no problem, could pick it up a week later, but yes, you have to meet all the requirements and bring the right papers , start following the list on time and check it off. Did it all on my own without a visa agency.
The man behind the counter was normally friendly, and yes, I think he could write a book about the extras who appear in front of his counter. for example the person in front of me only had a plane ticket and a passport with an overstay stamp, yes, then the man will ask questions to which he did not get an answer, but a lot of chatter from him and his daughter and that he had a girlfriend in Pattaya, the man was not really impressed by this and they were sent back of course, but also invited to come back with the correct papers and answers.
It's just how you bring it yourself, you can apply for a visa, not claim it.