Foreigner database to be ready in six months

[connda]

18 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Well done. What's next? Will I soon get a big scarlet-red "F" stamped in my passport, too?

 

I just hope there also will be a single-platform database for Thai nationals, because I hear there occasionally are criminals among the local population as well. Some of them are even in cahoots with those dangerous foreigners.

Yeah is seems that every time the word 'foreigner' comes out of the mouth of a Thai official, that the word always seems to be paired with the word 'criminal.'  The message being: "All foreigners are probably criminals unless proven otherwise."
With that sort of monolithic thinking, it's no wonder that this country is actually populated with peoples whose bodies are living in the 21st century, but whose minds are still in the 18th.

[Just Weird]

9 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Guess you don't have to make a copy of that TM6 you filled out 12 years ago, every time you go to immigration. 

Yes, I have to do the same as everyone does but do you find that so hard to do that you have to moan about it?

[janpharma]

Mr. Prawit could use one of his expensive chrono watches to keep the speed up ongoing.  If his friends, being the owners, do agree.

[chainarong]

19 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

This paranoid military "government" will cost Thailand a lot in tourist revenue if they keep on with this stupidity.

They've lost mine

[mike324]

I know foreigners all hate the arrival card, but I think its a good thing to have it for the purpose of tracking down suspects. If there are no arrival card, where are police suppose to find out where a suspect is going in Thailand? 

 

I doubt hotels and hostels can keep up with the daily reportings of guest in the system.

 

 

[chainarong]

I told Ya this would happen if we mentioned those watches, poor old Pawtwit..............................................

[phkauf]

I really don't get all the vitriol in this thread. This is a positive thing for those who travel in and out of the country frequently. Anyone who goes to most any other country in Asia has their Passport scanned by an e-reader and their fingerprint taken. Thailand is just trying to catch up with the current technology to make things a bit better.

It is my hope (yeah i know keep dreaming) that once this system is up and running, they allow those with Multi-Entry Visa's to use the automated lines. I am registered for HK's e-Channel and it takes me less than a minute to get through. 

There is no reason that this system could not be up and running in six months if the government would use the same technology that HK or Singapore uses. But alas it was not created by a Thai person, so not going to happen.

[ujayujay]

I doubt......

[digger70]

16 hours ago, mdmayes said:

Two problems I see with this. 1. To have a system up and running (bug free) in six months is a very tall order. Tall as in Mount Everest tall. 2. This will mean hour upon hour upon hour of line ups at immigration coming into the country. Having to enter your own info at electronic stations. I forcast that it will be one big cluster at the airports.

Why ,,,,They just can scan ones Passport ,,,, and on you're way,,,,

[Time Traveller]

This is great! Imagine a database that includes names, date of birth, home addresses, fingerprints, passport information, bank account numbers + account balances, social media acounts and passwords. 

Just hacking that would be a goldmine !

And the best part is, many of these dumb farangs are in favor of the idea ! 

And I don't even think you'd need any hacking skills, just wave a few banknotes infront of the thai database gatekeepers

[SymS]

52 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

Same in Hua Hin. No more TM47's for about a year now.

Still using TM47 in Chiang Mai. I do that over the mail however, not quite as a pain as having to drive to their office.

[malibukid]

great, now link it to FBI, Interpol, Yard and other data bases to kept the trash out.  Thailand has a bad rep, and for good reason.

[mrmicbkktxl]

18 hours ago, wgdanson said:

Now they will really have to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

It's more like from amiga 500 to windows95,if they really to blurred to use a computer maybe iphone can do.Not to difficult to save some names,or go to phanthip and ask some computer freaks to help them

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

12 minutes ago, digger70 said:

Why ,,,,They just can scan ones Passport ,,,, and on you're way,,,,

 Part of the problem here is, apart from the government's demonstrated lack of technical execution capability, is that the country's borders are like a sieve. It's not just the two international airports in BKK, but also all the various land border crossings out in the middles of nowhere.

 

Trying to get this kind of technology up and running out in all those those remote locations, and maintained properly in those remote locations, and then operated successfully by guys whose main interest often seems to be checking their cellphones and collecting fees would seem to be a pretty tall order, especially for Thailand.

 

Someone above mentioned the possibility of getting foreign consultants/technical expertise involved. Not sure Immigration is likely to do that, but even if they did. Having foreign tech folks involved certainly hasn't been a panacea elsewhere in the government's tech initiatives.

 

Having foreigners involved didn't stop the Mangmoom shared ride transit card project from stumbling into failure. Having foreigners involved hasn't stopped the Airport Rail Link line from being an operational and planning mess. And of course, these are the same government folks who brought you propeller boats in the Chaophrya River to supposedly increase its water flow, Etc etc...

 

And if memory serves, the last times Immigration attempted database projects to track foreigners, all the contents of the database was left unprotected and available for hackers to see and find on the Internet.

 

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/culture/net/2017/08/23/sensitive-information-790000-people-published-online/

 

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/2016/03/28/1459141534/

 

[tandor]

19 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Finally getting rid of the TM6 arrival card.

...no revenue making ability in the TM6...but there is in the TM30..no mention of that being canned.

[LoVeFuN]

48 minutes ago, mike324 said:

I know foreigners all hate the arrival card, but I think its a good thing to have it for the purpose of tracking down suspects. If there are no arrival card, where are police suppose to find out where a suspect is going in Thailand? 

 

I doubt hotels and hostels can keep up with the daily reportings of guest in the system.

 

 

What happens when I give my girlfriends address entering on visa exempt, are they supposed to notify police in that area ?.

[1337markus]

19 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Finally getting rid of the TM6 arrival card.

Let us also include TM 30 with the TM 6. I cant remember any Asian or African countries who go to this level of stupidity!

[captspectre]

20 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

This paranoid military "government" will cost Thailand a lot in tourist revenue if they keep on with this stupidity.

what's wrong with that? if it keeps out the trash I am for it!

 

[Peterphuket]

ah,...now I understand, just before the election's of course.

Clever!

[transam]

Well on-line reporting worked....

[SunsetT]

16 hours ago, evadgib said:

We'll still be required to submit a 'phone-book' of documents at every interaction involving immigration a decade from now.

Of course! If not the Thai 'stapler' mafia would go out of business. The abolition of TM6s will no doubt be a major blow to them..............

[holy cow cm]

21 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

This paranoid military "government" will cost Thailand a lot in tourist revenue if they keep on with this stupidity.

Look at Chiang Mai. It is literally a camera from hell. Can\'t look left or right without one in YO Face. 

[bridge2bridge]

21 hours ago, HiSoLowSoNoSo said:

This paranoid military "government" will cost Thailand a lot in tourist revenue if they keep on with this stupidity.

What is stupid about SECURITY.

All countries have some form of it.

[bridge2bridge]

23 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

Look at Chiang Mai. It is literally a camera from hell. Can\'t look left or right without one in YO Face. 

If you are not doing anything wrong.

You don't have anything to worry about.

 

[holy cow cm]

3 minutes ago, bridge2bridge said:

If you are not doing anything wrong.

You don't have anything to worry about.

 

Sorry, but I detest big brother looking over my shoulder and seeing every move I make. Like being in a zoo. You can take that approach all you want, but not my comfortable zone. 

[dwcrist]

21 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Well done. What's next? Will I soon get a big scarlet-red "F" stamped in my passport, too?

 

 

No, they'll need something easier to identify you, like a patch sewn on to your cloths or maybe a number tattooed on the arm.

 

[RickBradford]

7 minutes ago, bridge2bridge said:

If you are not doing anything wrong.

You don't have anything to worry about.

 

 

Not necessarily.

 

For the above to apply, you must believe that both:

 

1) the government always acts in good faith (i.e. they won't doctor photographs to make you appear to have been somewhere you weren't at a particular time, and;

 

2) the government is competent, and its employees won't leave your details lying around on a laptop in a karaoke parlour or a public toilet or somewhere.

 

I don't believe either of those conditions is met by the Thai government or its bureaucrats.

[Andrew Dwyer]

It has in our neck of the woods - about a year ago. The IO just scans the barcode on the new yellow receipt in your passport.
No form filling, just sign the new printed receipt and it's done. Takes two minutes - well in Udon it does.

Not so lucky here in Ayutthaya!!

On presenting my passport and tm 47 at the front desk a young girl promptly made 4 copies ( pp and tm 6 ) charged me 20 baht and asked me to sign and add mobile number on each one before I could get my queue number from the machine. !

Luckily I was still in and out in 10 minutes but I just wondered “ now that my details have been entered into their computer what will become of my little stack of paperwork ? “

I swear I heard a shredder start up as I left !! [emoji51]

[bheard]

I know foreigners all hate the arrival card, but I think its a good thing to have it for the purpose of tracking down suspects. If there are no arrival card, where are police suppose to find out where a suspect is going in Thailand? 
 
I doubt hotels and hostels can keep up with the daily reportings of guest in the system.
 
 

As a foreigner I don't hate the arrival card. After all I have to fill in the arrival card in my own country - Oz - it's the departure card in Thailand that I hate. Get very nervous about it every time I hand over my passport for whatever reason.
I've not had the problem of not having it on exit so far, but not looking forward to the day that it disappears for whatever reason.


Sent from my F3116 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[MaxLee]

1 hour ago, transam said:

Well on-line reporting worked....

Never tried it, because I don't trust that stone-age technical system in Thailand