The UK at its jobsworth best :D.

I departed BKK last week and I can confirm a foreign passport will work at departing APCs.

I also asked the IO for a stamp and he noted 'OUT-ATC' at the bottom as well. The VAT Refund peeps from HM Customs also advised they are aware of such procedures and will not disqualify you from your refund if you do not have a departing stamp. However, they do check for the red arrival stamp since there is currently no way to bypass that.

I'm a little shocked at how competent they are, to be quite honest. After all, I requested for a blue stamp for this purpose exactly.

Why shocked? Being employed by the government doesn’t mean you have to be incompetent… :confused:

In my experience of living here it is less about individual bureaucrats being incompetent but rather the bureaucracy as a whole being incompetent—especially when it comes to inter-departmental liaison i.e. immigration police and customs in this case.

I've read a report elsewhere that there's a sign by the egates that using them will negate any re-entry permit you hold so no good for long term visa holders. Did you notice this?

And if you need to get a stamp is there any point in using the egate in the first place? Presumably the exit stamp (or lack thereof) is the reason re-entry permit holders were being alerted by the sign mentioned.

I assume you were wondering why I'm shocked at how customs were fully aware foreigners using the eGates won't not have a stamp in their passport when they present themselves for tax refunds?

We all know Singaporeans and HKers can use and have been using auto-gates for a while – hence the concept that some foreign nationals will not have a stamp is nothing new to them, but if a third country national would show up without one, it will raise some red flags. But the fact that they are fully aware of the procedure that were only enacted last month surprised me a great deal, as they've advised me in Thai, along the lines of "oh we are aware of the procedure, we don't really care if you have it or not – as long as you have the (red) entry stamp" – which I agree, as it's only available on departures.

Maybe I am being too pessimistic here but is it not reasonable to assume IT facilities across government departments in this country are not very well connected, and I believe it is also pretty reasonable to always assume you'll face some of the "He said... she said..." or "but that department said..." situations when dealing with state matters, especially when two departments are involved at the airport.

I am not making a blanket statement that suggests all public servants = incompetent, because I've certainly met a few who know what the SOP inside out. I'm only saying that I'm somewhat surprised I did not run into issues on this occasion, when I expect at least one or two hiccups along the way based on the DPs I've read online and also from my past experiences doing tax refunds without an exit stamp.

Also I recall somebody in this thread (or a similar thread) saying that the eGates were not available to foreigners despite the news / media saying it should be. Hence I was skeptical about people who work at those VAT counters even knowing about it!

I've entered border control via Fast Track near the western-most section of the airport – Departures 3.
There is a mini door that you can open and close and it links Fast Track pax to non-Prio passenger hall – as that's where all the eGates are located.
I have NOT noticed any signs in the hall that suggests (1) a foreigner could use the eGates or (2) there are any implications re: stamping or REP. It is quite weird.


The only benefit I can think of is when you travel during rush hour in a non-Prio queue. As we all know, BKK can be unpredictable at times. If a foreign national can go through the eGate, he/she can request for a stamp at those mini tables behind the checkpoints or approach the secondary inspection area. It's almost never busy there. In less than 45 seconds you'll be on your way. This is what I do all the time – I use the eGate if there are queues at the manual counters, then quickly ask the guy behind for a stamp, then I head off to my gate. It does save you a bit of time.

Hi. Sorry to rewind slightly, but can we clarify this please for the avoidance of doubt. Foreigners with a multi-re-entry permit cannot use the eGates because it will invalidate the multi-entry permit? Or we can use the eGate to exit but must get the exit physically stamped in our passports immediately after using the eGates? Specifically, I'm in the second year of an O-A Visa and my multi-entry permit expires in August this year. I'm happily coming and going through BKK and am quite impressed that the Immigration Officers upon re-entry seem to make quite an effort to find a small gap on an existing used page in my passport rather than just turning to the first clean page and defiling that each time. In this scenario, we're saying I shouldn't/cannot use the eGates to depart? Thanks for clarifying.

If you think inter-department liaison is only bad between various independent government departments then I can categorically say that liaison between various departments of the same organization is terrible too

I will and can only comment on the stamping part – I'll let others chip in on your re-entry permit situation.

When a foreign national chooses to use the auto-gate, they have two choices, they either head over to boarding after eGate opens (therefore no stamp) or approach the immigration officers for a blue 'Departed' stamp. When the latter happens, either one of two things will happen – an officer (who is typically stationed behind the traditional counters – you will see them) will simply stamp your passport if they see you walking out or do insert your travel document into a nearby scanner to conduct further departure checks on their system (this typically / usually happens you approach the secondary inspection area but it can also happen at those mini-desks too) – the latter is to ensure that aliens haven't deliberately sneaked out of the country and then requesting for a stamp for reasons beyond my imagination...

This is the thread on aseannow that prompted my comment. One person has reported seeing the sign and there's some discussion of the possible implications, along with the usual aseannow waffle. Make of it what you will.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1316296-s...entry-permits/

first of all, you should clarify the term:

a visa can be issued with "multiple entry" but a visa does not have a "multiple reentry permit"; a normal visa only allows ONE entry, a multiple entry visa allows to leave Thailand and reenter on the same visa
If you do a EOS (extension of stay) at the immigration in Thailand for 1 or 2 years (after having entered with a non immi visa), you can apply for a "multiple reentry permit"; it's a separate form and you get a separate stamp into your passport. You are then allowed to leave and enter Thailand and your EOS does not expire

No extension of stay needed for a second year with the 12-month multi-entry O-A Visa. It is common practice to leave Thailand on or just before its last day of validity and get stamped back in on its last day with a new 12-month qualifying health insurance policy. You get stamped in until the expiry of this new health insurance policy which is August 2024 for me. I then got a multi-entry reentry permit when I next left BKK and can come and go as I please until that date in August. Hence my shorthand calling it the second year of my O-A Visa (not an extension of stay) with a multi re-entry permit which together enable my current status.

Why is this not surprising me? Now we will have the Minister and and everyone else visiting to insect to see why it failed? We had the President of AOT visiting BKK airport just before New Year to inspect if everything was working for the New Year. Everything is bound to fail so they should have ways and means to mitigate these issues always.