bureaucracy

We have non-tourist, multiple-entry visas. The school reimbursed us for our visa costs, which was really nice.

For whatever reason, we have to leave Thailand at least once every three months, or something will go wrong with our visas and the only cure will be paperwork and headaches. That's fine with us, because we all want to travel while we're here.

What's not fine, we learned yesterday, is that you need a re-entry permit to get back into Thailand once you've left. You can buy a single re-entry permit for 1,000 baht, or a multiple re-entry permit for 3,800.

My question is, why doesn't a multiple-entry visa cover re-entering the country? It seems unneccesary to require two different types of permissions just to let someone inside your borders.

Professor Mueller didn't say anything about re-entry permits at our orientation, and neither did the Baylor alumni who had gone in past years. In fact, there are two couples here now who taught last year. They've both said they never needed re-entry permits.

In conclusion, I'm irritated at "the man."


* Several hours later *

Some of the American teachers from Matthayom (7th-12th grade) went with Geoffrey (a snarky old Englishman who works in the Matthayom) to the immigration office today to see about all this permit business. Turns out, you only need the permits if you didn't buy a multiple-entry visa. Some of the Sacramento State teachers only bought single-entry visas, so this applied to them. I'm relieved, and "the man" and I are on speaking terms again.