Dismayed by mixed signals at Thai Immigration
After visiting Thailand for almost 20 years, I had a shock last week when I was told that a written visa entitlement, granted and paid for in Britain, was being overruled by the Koh Samui Immigration office.
The entitlement, in document form from the Thai Consul in Liverpool, states that an O status 90-day visa entitles the bearer to a 30-day extension. It was on that basis that my wife and I booked our annual three-to-four-month stay in Samui.
However, Samui Immigration said only a seven-day visa extension could be granted. Queries in English and Thai failed to change the situation, even when the Liverpool 30-day extension document was presented.
As an award-winning journalist and author whose depiction of the treatment of elderly Thais drew praise in Britain from former Home Secretary David Blunkett, I do not write to newspapers on a whim, and I take words seriously. So I submit this letter reluctantly, more in sorrow than anger.
My “sorrow” reflects concern that anything should undermine my overall-positive feelings for Thailand. Simply put, I’m baffled that responsible Thai authorities can give out contradictory information.
I, and all people professing goodwill towards Thailand, want to see the country progress and continue on an upward path in the years ahead, hopefully realising its immense potential.
May I respectfully suggest an important step on that path would be to ensure that Thai diplomatic offices abroad and Immigration offices at home improve coordination and sing from the same song sheet.
Maurice Jones,
Lipa Noi, Koh Samui
