Border Bounce Experience – (Wang Prachang)
Sharing a recent border bounce experience, via the Wang Prachang border.
When exiting Thailand, the immigration officer asked me two questions:
• Are you planning to return immediately?
• Do you already have a visa?
I answered yes to both.
I was then asked to speak with another officer, who explained that there is a “new policy” in place. According to her, if you exit Thailand and re-enter immediately, you now need to pay 2,000 THB (cash only) in order to be allowed to do so.
I was honestly caught off guard and asked for more details. The explanation remained vague — I was told it was coming from the Malaysian side, but no clear or official justification was provided.
Eventually, I paid the fee (no receipt provided). The officer gave me a plastic card with a number to give to the Malaysian IO, stamped my exit, and I proceeded to the Malaysian immigration checkpoint.
On the Malaysian side, everything was extremely smooth:
No questions, I handed off passeport and the plastic card, just a stamp and a friendly “see you soon”.
Interestingly, when I showed the number I had been given, the Malaysian officer immediately understood the situation — without me needing to explain anything. It clearly seems like a well-established and coordinated process for people who are only crossing to stamp, not actually entering Malaysia.
My personal interpretation (this is only my opinion):
This practice may have been introduced after the recent restrictions on visa runs (didn’t exist before as I crossed many times there with an other type of visa). Since border traffic has dropped significantly, this “fee” could be a way to compensate for lost revenue, even though it does not appear to be an officially published rule.
Worth noting:
The border was completely empty. In the past, even though Wang Prachang was always a relatively quiet checkpoint, there were usually at least a few people doing visa runs. This time — nobody.
Just sharing this experience so others are aware and not caught by surprise.
TLDR : Answer Summary
A recent border crossing experience at Wang Prachang revealed a new policy requiring travelers to pay a 2,000 THB fee for immediate re-entry into Thailand. This fee was not officially documented and appeared to be an informal practice, likely introduced due to recent shifts in visa run regulations. The author noted a significant drop in border traffic and shared insights from commenters suggesting this system may be a form of corruption. Many expressed skepticism regarding the official nature of the fee, further highlighting issues of transparency and potential corruption in the process.
