Volume 13, Issue 17
16 - 31 May 2014
30 BAHT
What’s Inside:
VISA CRACKDOWN BEGINS I
mmigration authorities nationwide are resurrecting a 2006 rule forbidding foreigners from obtaining back-to-back 15- or 30day visas at Thai border posts. The renewed policy seems designed to weed out people living in Thailand by making regular trips to the border to obtain another two weeks or onemonth stay. However, there is no suggestion that visitors with a prior, valid visa issued by a Thai embassy or consulate will have a problem by entering Thailand through a walk-in checkpoint. Scores of people have been stranded over the past week at Thai border posts, especially Mae Sot and Ranong, after Immigration officers warned them that if they proceeded into Myanmar they would not be allowed to return to Thailand without a valid visa issued by a Thai embassy. There is no Thai embassy at these border points. However, Pattaya Today has learned that the new strict policy also is being implemented spasmodically at some other border crossings, including those linking Thailand and Cambodia. Immigration officials say that genuine tourists can still go to a border post to obtain a 15- or 30day stamp on arrival–at least once– but must provide evidence of their address in Thailand which officers say they can check quickly through their updated computers. But such visitors may well be quizzed about what they are doing in Thailand to ensure they are “proper” tourists. Thai Immigration has long suspected
that some foreigners doing backto-back border runs are working illegally or are involved in crimes such as credit card scamming. Visitors recently returned from border posts say that Immigration officers are scanning passports for evidence of back-to-back visa runs by those who do not hold an authorized
60-day tourist visa or a 90-day or one-year non-immigrant visa. The argument is that the 15- and 30-day stamps-on-arrival are not meant to be used by visitors living long-term in Thailand; they are designed for short-term vacationers only. Foreigners about whom Immigration officers are suspicious
are being advised to obtain 60- or 90-day visas at a Thai embassy or consulate before coming back to Thailand. Alternatively, they can usually arrive in the country by air and obtain a 15- or 30-day stamp on arrival–depending on their country of origin–without any current restrictions. Further bureaucratic
moves are expected in August, although it is not clear if they will seek to restrict the number of times people can enter Thailand through an airport. Already, a small number of tourists have been quizzed at Phuket airport why they come to Thailand so often. Continued on page 4