Thai nationals exempted from airport immigration form

[webfact]

Thai nationals exempted from airport immigration form

By The Nation

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Good news for travellers: starting Saturday, September 16 Thai nationals do not need to fill out the TM6 immigration form when leaving or returning to Thailand, said Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd on Thursday.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, as head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) used Article 44 to order the policy change.

 

TM6 arrival and departure cards will no longer be required for Thai nationals, Sansern said.

 

The order will be published in the Royal Gazette and come into effect this Saturday.

 

The revocation was scheduled for October 1 but all concerned agencies were ready to implement it earlier, he said.

 

Foreign travellers will still have to fill out the form but it will be modified to ask fewer questions.

 

A series of multi-hour delays for tourists at Thailand’s airports made headlines around the world and was heavily discussed on social media over the summer, causing PM Prayut to ask for a solution. 

 

The present TM6 forms will be used for foreigners until they run out of stock, Sansern said, before the new style is introduced.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30326678

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-09-14

[tracker1]

That should speed things up for tourists NOT !

[khwaibah]

Thai prejudice at the max.

[NUUM]

Next step should be to force all Thais to use the electronic gates... oh, why didn't we think of that...

 

[4MyEgo]

Honey........I will see you and the kids on the other side, can you manage !!!

[PremiumLane]

3 hours ago, tracker1 said:

That should speed things up for tourists NOT !

actually it just might, because now they probably won't need as many immigration officers doing the checks for Thais... so freeing up more for the other nationalities... now whether this is what will happen is another matter.

[PremiumLane]

2 hours ago, khwaibah said:

Thai prejudice at the max.

Hyperbole at its best. I don't have to fill in forms when I go and to and from my home county either. 

[steelepulse]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

Honey........I will see you and the kids on the other side, can you manage !!!

 

Happened to me both coming and going in BKK.  I prefer the old style where you go with your family to the Thai passport window and breeze right through.  Family had to wait for me for almost an hour ingress and egress.

[connda]

Whoa!  What will the bureaucrats do with all their extra time???

[madmin]

4 hours ago, steelepulse said:

 

Happened to me both coming and going in BKK.  I prefer the old style where you go with your family to the Thai passport window and breeze right through.  Family had to wait for me for almost an hour ingress and egress.

If married to Thai you get to go through same gate saving you time

[dinsdale]

6 hours ago, khwaibah said:

Thai prejudice at the max.

Why is this Thai prejudice at the max? If they (Thai nationals) are exiting and entering Thailand then all information for the TM6 form should be linked to their passports. Makes sense if you ask me. Having to fill them out in the first place doesn't make sense.                                   

[champers]

Small steps, small steps and this is one in the right direction. Not all Thais are prejudiced against foreigners.

[Travel2003]

Not surprised. Expats and other tourists upset because a country treats her own people better than foreigners.

[sirineou]

57 minutes ago, madmin said:

If married to Thai you get to go through same gate saving you time

Just came back to Thailand last week

The cards were given to us on the plane, both me and the wife filled our cards, took only a minute, (they looked like the old ones) we did not know Thais did not need fill one.

upon arrival,  wife used her Thai passport to enter Thailand (has both US and Thai passport) .

As you said.

Nice lady at the line asked if we were Married, wife said Yes, nice lady asked as both to proceed to Thai line.

Whole process took less than ten min. 

All very pleasant.

[webfact]

Thais say goodbye to TM6 immigration forms

By THE NATION

 

 

GOOD NEWS for Thai travellers: Starting tomorrow, Thai nationals will not need to fill out the “TM6” immigration form when leaving the country or returning, Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday.

 

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, as head of the National Council for Peace and Order, used his absolute power under Article 44 to order the policy change. 

 

The TM6 arrival and departure cards will no longer be required for Thai nationals, Sansern said. 

 

The order will be published in the Royal Gazette and come into effect tomorrow. The form was to be scrapped with effect from October 1, but all concerned agencies were ready to implement it earlier, he said. 

 

Long queues and delays faced by tourists at Thailand’s airports had made headlines around the world and were heavily discussed on social media over the summer. 

 

The cancellation of TM6 for Thais was one of the measures to help relieve overcrowding at airports. Prayut also ordered the Royal Thai Air Force to dispatch personnel to help immigration officials at Don Mueang airport. 

 

Critics, however, said the scrapping of the TM6 for Thais would not be a great help in speeding up processing at immigration counters because Thai passport holders already have separate counters, adding that the measure would not do anything to reduce the long queues encountered by foreign visitors.

 

The present TM6 forms will be used by foreigners until the stocks run out, after which a new form with fewer questions will be introduced. 

 

Earlier, the Immigration Bureau maintained that foreigners needed to fill out the forms due to security reasons. In August, Singapore became the first country to be allowed to use automated immigration lanes at Suvarnabhumi Airport. 

 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30326711

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-09-15

[khwaibah]

So when do foreigner stop getting discriminated and treated as 3rd class. Thats your problem.

[Happyman58]

11 hours ago, connda said:

Whoa!  What will the bureaucrats do with all their extra time???

They will hire more to walk around airports joining the others who walk around with 50 medals on there chest doing nothing

[Happyman58]

7 minutes ago, khwaibah said:

So when do foreigner stop getting discriminated and treated as 3rd class. Thats your problem.

That will never happen  Have you not worked it out They dont want any foreigners here This mob in power is showing you that right now Problem is they cant survive  with out them now because they need there money and investment but if they found a way we all be on the plane back to where we came from

[stanleycoin]

automated immigration lanes at Suvarnabhumi Airport. 

 

Oh dear, oh dear,  that will be a laugh.

 

They have problems finding there seat number on there boarding passes.

No chance with scanning a passport in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but i look forward to laughing whilst i'm waiting in the  foreign lane.

Reckon, It will take more staff to manage the confusion then before  !!!!!!!!!

Amazing Thailand.

 

[4MyEgo]

14 hours ago, steelepulse said:

 

Happened to me both coming and going in BKK.  I prefer the old style where you go with your family to the Thai passport window and breeze right through.  Family had to wait for me for almost an hour ingress and egress.

Up to now been lucky, but will have to see in the future, in all cases my wife has always asked if I can come through Thai immigration if the Que isn't to big and all good, simple explanation, excuse me Mr nice immigration officer, it was a long flight, and I didn't sleep, with these monkeys and have to get another flight, I need my farang husband to help with all the luggage and monkeys can you please let him through here with me. If the Que is long, she goes there with the kids, and I go to farang check in Que, she then usually waves me over when she gets to the head of the Que and and approval from the Mr nice immigration officer, I have never gone through a farang counter in 10 years.

 

Whether its lucky or these guys fall for the wife's pretty looks, I'm not complaining, if its luck, the I hope my luck remains 555 

[1337markus]

What security reasons, please explain?

[Sydebolle]

What a banana republic are we living in? The prime minister has to pull article 44 for such an irrelevant change as there was quite obviously no other way of overruling the tourism ministry over an antiquated form from the no-common-sense-department?

As a retiree born and brought up in Europe I can tell you that throughout my extensive travels within Europe I've never seen a form simply because they are not only a complete waste of time, make only the printers happy but European bureaucracy could not afford the extra manpower to process anything like that over the last 60+ years. 

The entire way Thailand is dealing with aliens (official for "non-Thais") is so out of date, degrading and ridiculous so Cholburi has 25'000 one-year-visa-extensions in 2017 less than in 2016. If 10% of those aliens died it still means, that the net decrease is 20'000+ aliens who don't work here anymore or are not spending any of their retirement pensions here anymore. 

Thais cheat, murder, steal, rape and lie - with little consequences which is absolutely wrong. But if an alien living in a place is spending two nights in another town's hotel and returns home he has to report to immigration within 24 hours to report himself back - now what kind of bull...... is that? 

[Psimbo]

If one reads the articles fully the 2ic of the Immigration Dept considers them impractical as well. The Information is for use by 'other agencies' such as the TAT so its not an 'Immigration Card' any way.

 

It should be abolished to save IOs wasting their time on non-immigration matters.

[Psimbo]

6 minutes ago, 1337markus said:

What security reasons, please explain?

There are none but I forgot to quote you in my comment above.

[DavisH]

15 hours ago, steelepulse said:

 

Happened to me both coming and going in BKK.  I prefer the old style where you go with your family to the Thai passport window and breeze right through.  Family had to wait for me for almost an hour ingress and egress.

Can't you still do that? I did it a few years ago but haven't traveled since. At that time I went through the aisle for Thais with official passports. Took a couple of minutes as no one else was waiting. 

[PREM-R]

I wonder if the abolishing of the TM6. card for the foreigner/the alien, would have a detrimental effect on processing times.  Seems that the IO looks at the TM6 to see if there is an entry in the "Visa No." section and then knows to search for a visa/re-entry permit. If the section is left blank the IO can just stamp in a 30 day "Visa Exempt" stamp without having to search through every passport presented,. Without the TM6 the IO will have to search through every passport before applying the appropriate stamp. 

[steelepulse]

3 minutes ago, DavisH said:

Can't you still do that? I did it a few years ago but haven't traveled since. At that time I went through the aisle for Thais with official passports. Took a couple of minutes as no one else was waiting. 

At BKK they have the scanners for Thai passport holders, so there is no Thai immigration queue at all.  I asked if I could go to the scanner with my family and got the " No, Thai people only" reply.

[DavisH]

3 minutes ago, steelepulse said:

At BKK they have the scanners for Thai passport holders, so there is no Thai immigration queue at all.  I asked if I could go to the scanner with my family and got the " No, Thai people only" reply.

Interesting. They make it faster for Thais (who are less in number). So it would make it faster for foreigners if only they use their extra staff to open more counters. 

[idman]

And just how is this suppose to help move the que for Foreigners at Immigration?.. That is where the big problem is, not at check points for Thai nationals. When two or three jumbo jets arrive from overseas I seriously doubt if the combined number of Thai nationals equals more than 27% of total passengers. Fix the damn problem where it is the most obvious but this is Thailand and common sense has no place. I have no issue with the form passed out, easy to fill out unless you are brain dead but after de-planing the last thing I want to deal it is a wait over thirty minutes just to clear Immigration.

[abrahamzvi]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Thais say goodbye to TM6 immigration forms

By THE NATION

 

 

GOOD NEWS for Thai travellers: Starting tomorrow, Thai nationals will not need to fill out the “TM6” immigration form when leaving the country or returning, Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday.

 

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, as head of the National Council for Peace and Order, used his absolute power under Article 44 to order the policy change. 

 

The TM6 arrival and departure cards will no longer be required for Thai nationals, Sansern said. 

 

The order will be published in the Royal Gazette and come into effect tomorrow. The form was to be scrapped with effect from October 1, but all concerned agencies were ready to implement it earlier, he said. 

 

Long queues and delays faced by tourists at Thailand’s airports had made headlines around the world and were heavily discussed on social media over the summer. 

 

The cancellation of TM6 for Thais was one of the measures to help relieve overcrowding at airports. Prayut also ordered the Royal Thai Air Force to dispatch personnel to help immigration officials at Don Mueang airport. 

 

Critics, however, said the scrapping of the TM6 for Thais would not be a great help in speeding up processing at immigration counters because Thai passport holders already have separate counters, adding that the measure would not do anything to reduce the long queues encountered by foreign visitors.

 

The present TM6 forms will be used by foreigners until the stocks run out, after which a new form with fewer questions will be introduced. 

 

Earlier, the Immigration Bureau maintained that foreigners needed to fill out the forms due to security reasons. In August, Singapore became the first country to be allowed to use automated immigration lanes at Suvarnabhumi Airport. 

 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30326711

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-09-15

What about Permanent Residents?  Will they be required to compete the exit and entry old or new form?