Mistakes made by immigration officers and their consequences

[Brunolem]

There have been quite a few threads started by members whose passport had been stamped a wrong number of days (authorized to stay until...) upon entry in Thailand.

 

Such mistakes are easily discovered because they are...visible.

 

But what happens when a mistake is made, not on the passport, but in the system (a wrong entry in the officer's computer)?

 

For example, someone enters with a tourist visa and gets one's passport stamped 60 days.

Then, a few days before the expiration of stay, this person shows up at the immigration to ask for an extension, and the computer shows that instead of 60 days, the IO had entered 30 days.

What happens then?

Does the immigration immediately admit and correct the mistake in its system, or can the person be in trouble?

 

More generally, how does the immigration react when there are discrepancies between what its system shows and what a passport shows?

 

[manarak]

document always takes precedence.

[ubonjoe]

The stamp in the passport is what counts since that is what the holder of the passport can see and check. A person cannot be held accountable for something they are not aware of in a case like this.

Normally a stamping error is the result of the officer picking up the wrong stamp.

[overherebc]

46 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

The stamp in the passport is what counts since that is what the holder of the passport can see and check. A person cannot be held accountable for something they are not aware of in a case like this.

Normally a stamping error is the result of the officer picking up the wrong stamp.

I had a thirty day stamp instead of the 90 I was due corrected at the desk and on leaving 90 days later the IO mentioned the computer still had the 30 day entry noted. No problems.

He said the main Imm' office in BKK was the only place that could alter the computer data.

[Brunolem]

2 hours ago, overherebc said:

I had a thirty day stamp instead of the 90 I was due corrected at the desk and on leaving 90 days later the IO mentioned the computer still had the 30 day entry noted. No problems.

He said the main Imm' office in BKK was the only place that could alter the computer data.

OK...how about a more extreme situation...

 

Say the officer hit the wrong key, or there is a computer glitch, and someone's entry in the country is not registered into the system, despite the concerned person having her passport correctly stamped.

 

What happens then? No alteration in the computer data, or lack thereof?

[overherebc]

19 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

OK...how about a more extreme situation...

 

Say the officer hit the wrong key, or there is a computer glitch, and someone's entry in the country is not registered into the system, despite the concerned person having her passport correctly stamped.

 

What happens then? No alteration in the computer data, or lack thereof?

Sort of similar situation a couple of months ago.

We left SVB for a long weekend and my wife used the electronic gate on the way out so no stamp. On return the female IO spent ages going through her passport, electronic gates being slow as hell with people taking ages to get it registering their passports, she told my wife 'you have a problem, there is no record of you leaving Thailand.'  

My wife, who is not the shy retiring sort of person just said 'it's your system and your problem, not mine.' and pushed her passport back.

For myself I always keep copies of flight bookings and boarding cards for the last journey beside my passport just in case.

[jingjai9]

I had an immigration officer stamp the incorrect date on my visa extension, then correct it with a pen. At the time I did not notice. A couple of years later I was exiting Thailand and Bangkok Immigration noticed it. It took one hour to sort out. They called the immigration office where the mistake was made. Would you believe  Bangkok Immigration was told the officer who made the alteration had retired? They were able to determine I was not at fault and that satisfied them. However, had I needed to catch a plane or had some other urgent business, it would have been a problem.

[Telly]

happened to me coming in last Sat. Old IO gave me 30 day visa exempt even though my non-o visa needed renewal on 15 Aug. Spotted it and he changed in system with corrected date but did not cancel the 30 day. 

 

come ytd at promenada, IO spotted the discrepancy and gave to the SIO who then did manual correction on the stamp itself,  even though system had the correct info. 

 

so there,  they don't trust their system, your physical document takes precedence. 

[gamini]

I had a bad experience in France. We were driving in a French registered rented car from Italy back into France. There were such queues at the border that we were waved straight through. I tried to talk to the police who were directing us. But we had to move on. So none of us got stamped into France. It was no problem for my wife and I because we both had British passports which allowed us free movement in the EU. But my Thai daughter had a Thai passport. When we tried to leave and fly back to Thailand the French immigration made a terrible fuss about my daughter not being stamped into France. It took me an hour to sort out everything, fortunately, I am fluent in French otherwise I don't know what would have happened. The point of this post it to show that it is not only Thailand that immigration problems arise. 

[overherebc]

15 hours ago, gamini said:

I had a bad experience in France. We were driving in a French registered rented car from Italy back into France. There were such queues at the border that we were waved straight through. I tried to talk to the police who were directing us. But we had to move on. So none of us got stamped into France. It was no problem for my wife and I because we both had British passports which allowed us free movement in the EU. But my Thai daughter had a Thai passport. When we tried to leave and fly back to Thailand the French immigration made a terrible fuss about my daughter not being stamped into France. It took me an hour to sort out everything, fortunately, I am fluent in French otherwise I don't know what would have happened. The point of this post it to show that it is not only Thailand that immigration problems arise. 

Can't remember whose quote it was,

You can judge a country's level of civilisation by the number of stamps they put in your passport.

Working in Syria everytime going through Imm' used two and a half pages of the old blue 90 page UK passport.

PS

Please Mr Brexit can we get them back next year?

Edited August 17, 2018 by overherebc

[Gillyflower]

A few years back when you could get your 60 days at Mae Sae, there were two windows open at IO.  I was there for ages, the window next to me dealt with 5 people whilst I was still there.  Eventually I got my passport and visa stamp.

At the airport when I was leaving to go home, the same story, I was there for ages, all the other queues moving.  Finally my IO asked me to accompany him to see the supervisor.  To cut a long story short, I wasn't in LOS, had never come back in.  The old twerp who stamped my passport, couldn't use a computer. Fortunately I had the paperwork.

 

[Garry]

Don't feel bad, A few years back I had a trainee immigration officer cancel my brand Non-O multi entry visa. He never noticed the M in the Visa. I very nicely stood my ground until a senior officer came over to see what the problem was. They were all very apologetic, made some notes on the newly cancelled visa and I was one my way. I received a replacement visa from the embassy in the country of my work and they gave me an extra few months extension on the expiry. Overall a good outcome and everybody is happy. ?

[Rastaputin]

On 8/16/2018 at 8:29 AM, ubonjoe said:

The stamp in the passport is what counts since that is what the holder of the passport can see and check. A person cannot be held accountable for something they are not aware of in a case like this.

Normally a stamping error is the result of the officer picking up the wrong stamp.

Does that mean that someone who erroneously get a One Year Stamp instead of a 30 Day can stay a full Year? Or is the Tourist supposed to be aware of all Immigration rules and regulations and stipulations and the limits of individual decision-making of IOS so he must know this can only be an error?

[ubonjoe]

10 hours ago, Rastaputin said:

Does that mean that someone who erroneously get a One Year Stamp instead of a 30 Day can stay a full Year?

No it does not. If you get stamped for longer than is allowed you are responsible to get it corrected or you could be charged for an overstay if you went beyond your allowed stay.

I would assume that most people would be aware of what their allowed stay is when they enter the country.

[ubonjoe]

Some baiting and bickering posts have been removed. Time to end it.