More on Immigration

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fountainhall

More on Immigration

Post by fountainhall »

Entry/Exit Times

There was an interesting letter in the Bangkok Post a few days ago. The writer pointed out he had just returned form Jakarta. Going through Indonesian Immigration on departure took no more than 10 seconds and he was met with a smile and an "I hope you enjoyed your stay." The Director of Immigration here recently announced he had instructed officers to ensure departing passengers spent no more than 45 seconds being processed over Chinese New year. 45 seconds?

I visit Taipei regularly. On entry, my passport has to be scanned, my entry card checked, my photo taken and my index fingerprints scanned. That has never taken more than 20 seconds, and often just 15 seconds. Taiwan has abandoned exit cards. The passport scan, photo and finger checks never take more than 15 seconds. So entry and exit has been significantly streamlined.

At BKK entry has never taken me less than a minute. In part this is because I have a retirement visa which for whatever reason seems to require a great deal of checking. But Immigration times and attitudes could be a lot speedier if the staff were trained to accept they are doing a service!

Extra stamp for Retirement Visa Renewals

This will only affect regular travellers whose passports quickly fill up with entry/exit stamps. My 10-year UK/EU passports have rarely lasted longer than 4 years. So it really annoys me when Immigration officers casually place one stamp where four could be placed with just a little bit of care.

The annual Retirement Visa and Multiple reentry visa have always taken up just one page. Not any more! For the first time this morning the stupid woman who approved and stamped the visa then placed a second chop in English underneath that is a complete waste of space. All it says is "Please contact the Immigration Office for a RE-ENTRY PERMIT before leaving Thailand." As if the applicant is not already at the Immigration office and, given there are several renewals already in the document and on the computer screen, is not aware a re-entry permit is required!! All this silly stamp does is ensure the Re-entry permit cannot now be placed on the same page and so a second page is required. Next year that stamp is going nowhere near what will probably have to be my new passport!
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Gaybutton
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Re: More on Immigration

Post by Gaybutton »

Thailand is certainly behind the times when it comes to modernizing immigration.

I'd love for someone to explain the logic, for example, of the 90-day address report for retirement visa holders. They now make it much easier and quicker to get that taken care of ever since introducing the barcode check. Meanwhile, looking at it from immigration's point of view, a person could easily change his address, but unless he reports the change to immigration, it will still be a check with the same barcode.

Wouldn't it make much more sense to report your address just once and no further address report visits to immigration are necessary unless you change your address? Am I wrong?

That's just one example, but there are certainly more. To me, it seems as if some of these policies and practices have simply not been thoroughly thought through - either that or the Thai idea of thoroughly thought through is often a wee bit different from my own.

Sometimes, and this applies to much more than just immigration issues, I'd love to meet some of the people who do the thinking through, find out what they have been drinking, and buy a case of it for myself . . .
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Re: More on Immigration

Post by aussie »

I returned to Pattaya from Australia last Monday and arrived at Jomtiem Immigration to process my TM30 form at 9.00am on Tuesday. There was already 20 persons in front of me at the "Notification For House-Master, Owner or Possessor" office. They have moved the photo copier and operator out of the office to next door which is a shame because he was quite good looking. At least some eye candy to pass the time while waiting.

I am considering that it would be easier just to pay the fine if they bother to enforce the rule about reporting to immigration after returning from overseas. Still it can be entertaining with observing and chatting with some of the various nationalities of farangs while waiting.
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Re: More on Immigration

Post by Gaybutton »

aussie wrote:I am considering that it would be easier just to pay the fine
It might be easier, but I wouldn't recommend it. Why risk ending up on some sort of immigration shit list for the sake of convenience?
fountainhall

Re: More on Immigration

Post by fountainhall »

Not sure if this is the correct thread. My usual late evening Emirates flight from Hong Kong was delayed by an hour last night due to a technical issue with another A380 due to depart Hong Kong direct for Dubai a little later. So, many passengers from that other flight were transferred to mine resulting in the delay. That's understandable. Landing at 12:30 am, though, the snake queues at Immigration were extremely long. The primary reason was that only 5 of the 24 plus foreigner desks were open. The Immigration Department is perfectly well aware of incoming flight load factors many hours in advance. Why it can not find more than 5 officers on duty and persuade others to work overtime to handle several incoming flights with 1,000 or more passengers at that hours is ridiculous!
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