National Head Of Immigration Police Speaks

[cali4995]

an excerpt from a newspaper article which appeared in the february 16th issue of pattayatoday. police lieutenant general suwat tumrongsiskul was asked by reporters if the new regulation had caused confusion at border crossings and airports. general suwat said "the counting process was no problem" and that "immigration computers were helping officers count up the days if necessary". if that were true, then why do reports continue to trickle in from members who have experienced irregularity in the counting process? something isn't quite right in the kingdom of make-believe? i think i'm just going to take my passport to the local temple, have the monks bless it and paste some gold flakes on the front. i have more faith in that method. they really need to emphasize implementing these revisions in an equal and consistent manner.

p.s. i don't work here i'm a tourist so you guys that do, and are unhappy about paying tax, please don't vent here

[markg]

an excerpt from a newspaper article which appeared in the february 16th issue of pattayatoday. police lieutenant general suwat tumrongsiskul was asked by reporters if the new regulation had caused confusion at border crossings and airports. general suwat said "the counting process was no problem" and that "immigration computers were helping officers count up the days if necessary". if that were true, then why do reports continue to trickle in from members who have experienced irregularity in the counting process? something isn't quite right in the kingdom of make-believe? i think i'm just going to take my passport to the local temple, have the monks bless it and paste some gold flakes on the front. i have more faith in that method. they really need to emphasize implementing these revisions in an equal and consistent manner.

p.s. i don't work here i'm a tourist so you guys that do, and are unhappy about paying tax, please don't vent here

I think this has already been reported in News Clippings or some other forum.

I am interested in how the immigration computers were helping police count up the days. how does this work then? Are all the computers linked and can tell how long someone has been in the country? Seems logical to me which suggests it wont happen in Thailand for 20 years.

Or are they using the calculator function on the computer. 28+11+9 etc

[george]

I heard they are using our visa calculator:

http://www.thaivisa.com/external/visa-calculator.html

[PeaceBlondie]

George, I'll bet that some immigration offices are using the ThaiVisa calculator. I hope they're giving us credit for it, as well! But I doubt every office uses it, or knows how. Perhaps one officer or clerk is the local counter. Perhaps on April Fool's Day, they will start figuring out how to roll 180 days.

Let's say the Lieutenant General has good public relations skills.

[Sunny Valentine]

I heared they are using our visa calculator:

http://www.thaivisa.com/external/visa-calculator.html

Maybe this calculator could be, ah, tweaked?

Sunny

Edited February 19, 2007 by Sunny Valentine

[chuchok]

an excerpt from a newspaper article which appeared in the february 16th issue of pattayatoday. police lieutenant general suwat tumrongsiskul was asked by reporters if the new regulation had caused confusion at border crossings and airports. general suwat said "the counting process was no problem" and that "immigration computers were helping officers count up the days if necessary". if that were true, then why do reports continue to trickle in from members who have experienced irregularity in the counting process? something isn't quite right in the kingdom of make-believe? i think i'm just going to take my passport to the local temple, have the monks bless it and paste some gold flakes on the front. i have more faith in that method. they really need to emphasize implementing these revisions in an equal and consistent manner.

p.s. i don't work here i'm a tourist so you guys that do, and are unhappy about paying tax, please don't vent here

I think this has already been reported in News Clippings or some other forum.

I am interested in how the immigration computers were helping police count up the days. how does this work then? Are all the computers linked and can tell how long someone has been in the country? Seems logical to me which suggests it wont happen in Thailand for 20 years.

Or are they using the calculator function on the computer. 28+11+9 etc

The computers are NOT linked.They (say Chiang Mai Immigration) have to place a call to out posts (or Bangkok even) and get other officers to go through the local computer for them.

[Francis Maube]

In the days of tax clearance, immiration officers, at least in Don Muang, had no problem counting the days and adding them up. If you had been in the country for more than 90 days in a calendar year, you had to produce a tax clearance although no taxes were due

If you had been in the country more than 180 days in a year, then you had to pay tax and produce the clearance. For those who could not, that meant, no fly, tax office and if the visa was up, overstay. Well it was only 100 Baht a day.

I suppose the passenger Traffic was much lower, pre 1990, but there were less immigration booth as well, a good book was always handy when queuing up

[astral]

Sri Racha, Chonburi is linked to the main computer and has been for 3-4 years.

Not a major crossing point, but it is a port.........

[cali4995]

George, I'll bet that some immigration offices are using the ThaiVisa calculator. I hope they're giving us credit for it, as well! But I doubt every office uses it, or knows how. Perhaps one officer or clerk is the local counter. Perhaps on April Fool's Day, they will start figuring out how to roll 180 days.

Let's say the Lieutenant General has good public relations skills.

i have to say, you guys are really a bunch of positive thinkers. everytime another one of these officials gives a press release, the undesirable category seems to have grown, i think it now includes pretty much everybody. i just wanted the option of this border run. there's no telling what the situation will be at embassies/consulates in another month or two and of course maybe you only need a few extra weeks added on to your tourist visa. so if i get to this point i'm bringing graphic visual calendar charts and leaving a couple of days early. you have to laugh about it a little bit, i've lost track of where the "thai spin" ends and reality begins.