This holiday season someone’s feeling the old bah, humbug!
To punish others collecting visa fees from its citizens, Thailand’s government will consider ending free-on-arrival visas for people from 17 nations.
The Immigration Bureau has formally requested the Foreign Ministry end the longstanding practice which provided free visas for arriving Australians, Britons, Americans, Germans, French, Swedes, Canadians, Dutch, Italians, Swiss, Danes, Finns, Norwegians, Israelis, Emiratis, Spaniards and Kiwis.
Why? Thai immigration officials complain it’s unfair those nations require Thais to pay visa fees, and believe the kingdom should reciprocate in kind.
Another reason to charge visa fees is the familiar “quality travelers” argument.
Fees would filter out criminals and cons seeking to conduct their nefarious deeds from Thai soil, according to immigration commissioner Lt. Gen. Panu Kerdlarpphol.
Panu suggested two possible structures: A flat, THB1,000 fee, or better yet, charge them the same as their government’s fees, which range from THB750 to THB3,900, Thai PBS reported.
Photo: Chris Waits
gamuk says
i remember it was suggested as a way to pay for the foreign hippies who suffer alcohol related injuries and who have no health insurance and place a strain on thai medical services.
Nicholas Ian Cortese says
Somebody call the Whaambulanace. There are innumberable reasons why these countries should get free visa's Primarily and number one is our trade agreements with Thailand that allow for virtually a duty free landscape with the kingdom. This translates into virtually direct importing of wealth from these countries into the kingdom. The icing on the cake is not only does Thailand not reciprocate these trade agreements, but we send tourists there as well to spend even more money that goes directly to the locals as well. The truth is that we paid for our visa's, and have been for some time now and for the visa's of future generations as well. These cry baby nigh jai bureaucrats need to get educated before they start playing on the sympathies of Thai's.