Interrogated and threatened at Suvarnabhumi — Risk or hot air?

[Essecola]

All these posts that appear over the weeks and months about being interrogated are cases at airports. Still waiting for a story from a person who was interrogated at a land border and refused entry when having a tourist visa and 20000 baht with them.

[HLover]

Just read this entire thread and still laughing about the 'get a new passport' advice.

Thinking an unused passport would magically erase a Foreigner's exit/entry history.  Priceless humour.

[Acemaker]

4 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

"I was taken out of line by customs ..."

 

Customs officials or Immigration officials?

He means Immigration, Americans always use the term Customs when meaning Immigration, its one of those American things, a bit like The Websters Dictionary.

[MaeJoMTB]

37 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

You are in Thailand and Thai Immigration do not have to conform to you and be able to read the Roman alphabet

I thought this was a discussion about what info Thai immigration has on us.

Which is probably nothing (any 'secret info' in my passport chip will be in roman alphabet).

I don't think UK immigration has any info on us (UK citizens) either, they certainly don't know where I am (the UK authorities think I'm in Cornwall).

Edited March 8, 2018 by MaeJoMTB

[Rama]

They want you to get a real tourist visa. Why not get a real 60 day or 6 month tourist visa and avoid all the hassle??????????? You're playing russian roulette with your next visit.

[ubonjoe]

A inflammatory post and the expected replys to it have been removed.

[jackspade]

1 hour ago, Acemaker said:

He means Immigration, Americans always use the term Customs when meaning Immigration, its one of those American things, a bit like The Websters Dictionary.

Laughed at this...  It's completely true.  Many Americans call anything near a border "Customs" casually.

 

1 hour ago, Rama said:

They want you to get a real tourist visa. Why not get a real 60 day or 6 month tourist visa and avoid all the hassle??????????? You're playing russian roulette with your next visit.

I have been using real tourist visas.

A lot of good (and some questionable advice) here, and I appreciate the good bits.  In all honesty, it sounds to me so though, while I may be given a hard time again next time I come in through Suvarnabhumi, I can hardly be committing an unforgivable sin by visiting Thailand on a tourist visa after a year in my home country, then going to Europe after just than 2 months.  Still, I recently received a job offer with a guaranteed work permit so I will try to get the process expedited just to be safe.

Edited March 8, 2018 by jackspade

[JAG]

5 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

I thought this was a discussion about what info Thai immigration has on us.

Which is probably nothing (any 'secret info' in my passport chip will be in roman alphabet).

I don't think UK immigration has any info on us (UK citizens) either, they certainly don't know where I am (the UK authorities think I'm in Cornwall).

What sort of visa/stamp do you need to get into Cornwall?

?

[oldskoolbeatz]

Thanks everyone I appreciate it.  I will book a flight out of Vietnam with my Chilean passport and enter Thailand with it.  

[Grauwulf]

On 08/03/2018 at 3:33 PM, MaeJoMTB said:

I thought this was a discussion about what info Thai immigration has on us.

Which is probably nothing (any 'secret info' in my passport chip will be in roman alphabet).

I don't think UK immigration has any info on us (UK citizens) either, they certainly don't know where I am (the UK authorities think I'm in Cornwall).

So you smuggled yourself out of the UK withought departing through UK immigration, then got into Thailand and they didn’t scan you in either... yeh right no one knows you’ve left or arrived here. Do you always write such nonsense when you’ve got home from the bar........your names not Denzel Pendragon is it :) ????

[JackThompson]

On 3/7/2018 at 5:30 PM, berybert said:

Living 3 years on tourist visa's isn't being a tourist, its called living in the country.

 

"Living In" a country means you don't have to leave, unless you want to.  Those here on Tourist-Type entries cannot stay more than 90-days at a time, then must leave, then must ask permission from Immigration to enter, again. 

 

One can legally visit Thailand plenty with Tourist Visas, but you don't get to "stay" here for long.

[JackThompson]

On 3/8/2018 at 1:46 PM, scorecard said:

Further, my guess is that most intelligent sincere people would expect that there are laws in place and actions to control who enters (and leaves) their original country.  I do. In fact it's a basic point - the government of any country has a responsibility to seriously protect the citizens.

The problem is, the IOs at the airport make up laws that do not exist - such as the oft-quoted "180 days in a year" non-rule.  In another case recently, the person questioned didn't have 180 days in the rolling year, or calendar-year so immigration added over 14 months into the past, to reach the "desired" 180-day "threat" total.  In this case, the person questioned had been gone a year, so there was no "180 day" issue to even discuss.

And, never mind, there is no law or ministerial order - even old ones no longer in-effect - which say anything about a 180 day limit on time-in-country for those entering with a Tourist Visa.  It is a fiction.  So, they threaten people based on a fictional law, which the person being threatened has not even violated.

 

On 3/8/2018 at 1:46 PM, scorecard said:

Different point - the original subject line says 'threatened'.

The word "threat" is very appropriate, when one is facing an authority, with a human-cage waiting, and the ability to use force to put one in it.  This is why clear, unambiguous laws are critical, strictly governing when and if an official can "threaten" someone - in this case with detention, which is the result if refused-entry to the country. 

At Thai airport immigration, Thailand's clear. written and published laws are not followed, and "made-up" rules may be applied.  Therefore, "modern 'civil'-ization" simply does not exist in that zone.  Best to avoid it, if at all possible. 

 

If flying in from afar, simply fly to Penang (via a 'civil' immigration system), enter Thailand by train, then fly to where ever from Hat Yai domestic.  Problem solved.

Edited March 9, 2018 by JackThompson

[JackThompson]

On 3/8/2018 at 2:39 PM, MaeJoMTB said:

If their computers have all this information on us, why do they demand everything again, on each marriage extension application?

Because it is a major-pain to do, you might be "inclined" to use an agent, which avoids having to comply with some "official" requirements and ALL the "unofficial, local, ad-hoc" requirements. 

 

The kickbacks from that sort of thing seem to go way-up the chain, such that hassles from any IO, even at Bangkok airports, are unlikely for those who have them. 

[stevenl]

I find your negatively astounding. All they want is people living in country with the appropriate visa and avoid entry of illegal workers. You may not agree with the way they do this, but that doesn't warrant your consistent moaning on here imo.

[overherebc]

Would getting a letter from the company that has promised employment help?

[torrzent]

On 3/8/2018 at 3:19 PM, Acemaker said:

Americans always use the term Customs when meaning Immigration, its one of those American things, a bit like The Websters Dictionary

why wouldn't they?  It is the same government agency under the Dept of Homeland Sec.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement

[berybert]

8 hours ago, JackThompson said:

 

"Living In" a country means you don't have to leave, unless you want to.  Those here on Tourist-Type entries cannot stay more than 90-days at a time, then must leave, then must ask permission from Immigration to enter, again. 

 

One can legally visit Thailand plenty with Tourist Visas, but you don't get to "stay" here for long.

I live in my condo but have to go out to do things most days. Does that mean I don't live there ?

[jackspade]

3 hours ago, overherebc said:

Would getting a letter from the company that has promised employment help?

Who knows how seriously an IO would take an unofficial letter, but I suppose it couldn't do any harm to try.

 

[rickudon]

As said, governments have a lot of information about us. But, it is not always available to all the different authorities. In Maejo's case the reason why the UK government doesn't know where he is is because ENTRY to the UK is meticulously recorded but exit isn't .... that is why the UK has a problem with migrants because they know when they arrive but not when they leave. However that information is there, as your passport is scanned when you leave, It just isn't linked up (YET).

 

Thailand has an even more voluminous data capture exercise, but yes not every officer has access to it all, and sometimes they are to lazy to search for it, But who wants to play Russian roulette with immigration?

 

180 days. May not be a law that says you can only stay 180 days, but many countries will consider you a resident (i.e. not a tourist) if you stay longer. For instance, i can stay in the USA as a tourist for 6 months, but need a very different visa to stay longer. Certainly if i was the Thai government, i would want to know what a tourist was doing if he was staying more than 6 months. May not be a coincidence that the maximum validity of any tourist visa is 6 months in Thailand. I have also heard immigration quiz someone who was using a lot of single entry Non 'O' visas, and tell them to get a marriage extension or retirement extension if they want to stay..

[overherebc]

16 minutes ago, jackspade said:

Who knows how seriously an IO would take an unofficial letter, but I suppose it couldn't do any harm to try.

 

Company headed paper with an interview place and time?

Verifiable of course.

Edited March 10, 2018 by overherebc

[BritTim]

10 minutes ago, rickudon said:

May not be a law that says you can only stay 180 days, but many countries will consider you a resident (i.e. not a tourist) if you stay longer.

In Thailand, you can be both a tourist, and a resident for tax purposes. There are even FAQs that discuss this situation.

[JackThompson]

4 hours ago, berybert said:

12 hours ago, JackThompson said:

"Living In" a country means you don't have to leave, unless you want to.  Those here on Tourist-Type entries cannot stay more than 90-days at a time, then must leave, then must ask permission from Immigration to enter, again. 

 

One can legally visit Thailand plenty with Tourist Visas, but you don't get to "stay" here for long.

I live in my condo but have to go out to do things most days. Does that mean I don't live there ?

 

You leave because you Choose To Leave, for your own reasons - not because you Must Leave Or Else risk arrest, caging, and deportation. 

 

Those on Tourist Visas do not have a choice other than to leave the country every 90-days (or less).  Failing to do this would be to break the law and risk arrest, jail, etc. 

Edited March 10, 2018 by JackThompson

[overherebc]

5 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

 

You leave because you Choose To Leave, for your own reasons - not because you Must Leave Or Else risk arrest, caging, and deportation. 

 

Those on Tourist Visas do not have a choice other than to leave the country every 90-days (or less).  Failing to do this would be to break the law and risk arrest, jail, etc. 

That's the point many miss.

[berybert]

30 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

 

You leave because you Choose To Leave, for your own reasons - not because you Must Leave Or Else risk arrest, caging, and deportation. 

 

Those on Tourist Visas do not have a choice other than to leave the country every 90-days (or less).  Failing to do this would be to break the law and risk arrest, jail, etc. 

No I don't choose to leave. I have to leave to do a 90 day report or my yearly renewal. There is no difference.

[JackThompson]

1 hour ago, berybert said:

No I don't choose to leave. I have to leave to do a 90 day report or my yearly renewal. There is no difference.

You don't have to leave the country for those - or even your condo for the 90-day.    Leaving the country every 90-days and then asking permission to re-enter at a border-checkpoint at a later time, is quite different.

 

But to the extent that no one without citizenship or PR is "just visiting" for a year, then asking to stay just one more year, you have a very valid point.  To some extent, no one without those can feel secure living here, without some degree of self-delusion - especially given the anti-Farang attitudes which exist among some in positions that affect us. 

 

Even the PR people, if they had to be gone for a year, would lose their "right" to be here - so, in reality, citizenship is the only way to "live here permanently," without worry of a monkey-wrench being thrown into one's plans, at some point down the line.

[stevenl]

5 hours ago, JackThompson said:

 

You leave because you Choose To Leave, for your own reasons - not because you Must Leave Or Else risk arrest, caging, and deportation. 

 

Those on Tourist Visas do not have a choice other than to leave the country every 90-days (or less).  Failing to do this would be to break the law and risk arrest, jail, etc. 

Of course they leave, after all they're tourists and not living here.