How to get visa to Thailand in Malaysia
How to get visa to Thailand in Kuala Lumpur – how it all started. As soon as I’ve arrived to the Polish embassy I saw, that the entrance gate was locked. Luckily a moment later guard appeared from behind the corner and without saying a single word opened the gate for me. I passed the bank statement and was waiting for it to be notarized. 15 minutes have passed and I was still waiting, I looked at my watch and it’s already 12:47. I had 13 minutes to get back to the Thai embassy with all the documents. Finally I got all the documents and rushed to the Thai embassy, I arrive there around 12:55, passed all the necessary documents and lady who checked them said, that I didn’t attach ‘letter from employer’. I must have been dreaming – she told me an hour before that they will make an exception and process my visa without a letter from employer. Requirement to attach letter from employer with tourist visa application is insane! The girl I was talking to said, that I can call her supervisor and if he says it’s alright, they will accept my application. Of course no one was answering the phone and it’s already 12:59 so embassy was going to be closed in a minute. When I was leaving the embassy after that spectacular failure, one of the employees told me off the record, that I should head to Penang, cause recently there has been a lot of problems with obtaining visa in Kuala Lumpur. Of course I’ve decided to follow that advice and head to Penang.
In the meantime I’ve learned that for a small additional fee, I can just leave my passport in one of the travel agencies and they will apply for a visa to Thailand for me. Most of the hotels in Penang provide such service, so as soon as I’ve reached my hotel, I left my passport there and asked them to process Thai visa for me. Next day in the afternoon, without any stress, standing in queues, wasting time, I received my passport and inside was valid Thai visa. From now on, I’m going to apply for a visa indirectly – through travel agencies! It saves time and nerves!
I already had Thai visa in my passport, so I was quite confident while waiting in the queue on the border, but as soon as I’ve reached the front of the queue I had another unpleasant surprise. I walked over to the window and I was told, that I have to show, that I have 20000 baht in cash with me. Otherwise I will not be allowed to enter Thailand. I tried to explain that I have over 20000 baht on my bank account, I showed them my debit cards and bank statement, but the officer just repeated “show 20000 baht or no enter”. I went back to join the group of Russian tourists traveling in the same bus, who waited in the queue. I told them what happened and one of them said that he also didn’t have any cash on him. Luckily one of the Russian women, lent each of us 600$ to show on the border. This time when I reached the windows, I slowly showed my debit cards and bank statement as soon as I’ve reached to show dollars, officer stamped my visa and I was allowed to enter Thailand! Finally my struggle with obtaining Thai visa comes to an end! I’m back in Thailand!
