
According to a number of reports that have surfaced on social media recently, tourist visa holders may now be required to show at least 20,000 Baht in cash to immigration officials at the border when entering Thailand. This is apparently to kind of prove that you can financially support your stay in the kingdom.
While this obviously sounds somewhat antiquated in the agre of credit cards and online banking there is a more unsettling catch in it: If you don’t carry enough cash on you may be thoroughly questioned and/or entry may be denied – ironically despite the fact that there’s a freshly issued tourist visa sticker in your passport.
Increased scrutiny is obviously being placed on tourist visa holders under 50 that immigration may suspect of working illegally in Thailand and with “too many” visa stickers in their passport.
While some may argue that a “genuine tourist” should easily be able to produce such an amount (otherwise how would he or she be able to cover their holiday expenses in Thailand?) it’s obviously also an unwelcome sign that the ongoing clampdown on tourist visa holders has recently only been intensifying.
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