New Immigration Bureau boss signals new orders so police can easily track down foreign suspects in Thailand

[Kelsall]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s Immigration Police can now halt any passenger boarding a plane for Thailand if the person is deemed a threat to the security and well being of the country.

So Thai Immigration Police are now stationed at every country that has a direct flight into Thailand?  ????

[Dogmatix]

He could start by arresting all the foreign boiler room boys that pay monthly protection fees to the BiB to be allowed to continue ripping off foreigners. Arrest the cops while they are about it.

[Dogmatix]

7 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

So Thai Immigration Police are now stationed at every country that has a direct flight into Thailand?  ????

I think they are getting access to an international system that provides advance info on passengers.  

[NanaSomchai]

12 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

So Thai Immigration Police are now stationed at every country that has a direct flight into Thailand?  ????

No, not really. They use a system called APIS. Advanced Passenger Information System.

 

How it does work is pretty simple; Upon booking a flight reservation or at the check-in counter, the airline is asked to forward onto the destination's country the full list of passengers INCLUDING the airline staff, then the full passengers list is checked upon an immigration blacklist.

 

The destination country then issues a DNB NOTICE back to the airline company which then bars you from embarking onto it's plane. It's simple as that.

 

The DNB NOTICE stands for Do Not Board. It is really THAT simple, and as the name implies even if you could get a visa in your passport from one the destination country's local Embassies the airline is supposed to follow that DNB NOTICE regardless and is explicitely told NOT let you board, as the name suggests.

 

In case of an airline company not following the DNB NOTICE and letting an unwanted passenger embark, I believe fines are then issued against the airline, which is why the airlines companies are strictly following them from a business standpoint, they know they not only are losing money but also will have to fly you back to the point of origin from their own pockets.

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by NanaSomchai

[NanaSomchai]

4 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

I think they are getting access to an international system that provides advance info on passengers.  

Yes it is called APIS. Advanced Passenger Information System. See my post above for details.

 

Added Wikipedia link:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Passenger_Information_System

 

Added note regarding the US:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Advisory_Program

 

The US also uses the IAP, Immigration Advisory Program, as the Wikipedia article reads; "Since 2004, IAP inspectors have made more than 1,000 no-board recommendations for high-risk or inadequately documented passengers, which equate to approximately $1.6 million in cost avoidance associated with detaining and removing passengers, and $1.5 million in potential savings to air carriers.[2]".

 

Bold emphasis is mine.

Edited October 14, 2021 by NanaSomchai

[Classic Ray]

I just hope the company appointed to maintain the surveillance databases isn’t the same one looking after the 90 day and TM28 online reporting systems.

[tonray]

Coming soon" OA Visa holders/extenders must purchase ankle bracelet along with 400/40 insurance and 100K $ Covid plan 

[NanaSomchai]

3 minutes ago, tonray said:

Coming soon" OA Visa holders/extenders must purchase ankle bracelet along with 400/40 insurance and 100K $ Covid plan 

It is already the case, the ankle bracelet is digitally embedded in your smartphone (GPS) and the 100K$ COVID-19 plan is called the COE (as the insurance is part of it's requirements).

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

He says better screening and database technology has already helped to make Thailand less of a paradise for these types who use the country for drug trafficking and a range of online scams that not only damage the country’s reputation but cause harm to Thai people.

Things are looking up for the 90-day reporting database then, maybe they can get that working??

[Sticky Rice Balls]

2 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

Hmmmm....

And what of Thai suspects? 

mai pen rai---was just a misunderstanding........(opens burmese scapegoat file)

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

Things are looking up for the 90-day reporting database then, maybe they can get that working??

I thought that the plan was to eliminate the need for the 90 day reporting? Are you intimating at a facility to eliminate it, or expand it?

[Sticky Rice Balls]

38 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

So Thai Immigration Police are now stationed at every country that has a direct flight into Thailand?  ????

better known as the secret somchai surveillance squad-(S4)

[meechai]

3 hours ago, Crossy said:

Sadly, whilst I do think increased vetting is a sensible idea, I suspect this initiative will result in a standard Thai "sledge hammer and nut" solution.

 

It's far easier to assume we are all criminals on the run than it is to actually filter out the bad guys.

Sadly I think so too

 

I am imagine a new tougher reinstated version of TM30 soon ????

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, NanaSomchai said:

Not quite, they now have biometric scanning technology at their disposal at every entry/exit point of the Kingdom, be it by land, air or sea since mid 2019.

 

Once your biometrics details have been entered into that database, you're stored there for virtually... forever.

If only it worked!

[hotchilli]

4 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I thought that the plan was to eliminate the need for the 90 day reporting? Are you intimating at a facility to eliminate it, or expand it?

Just get it working for the expats that are already here.

[jacko45k]

Just now, hotchilli said:

Just get it working for the expats that are already here.

I used it last week just fine...instant approval.

[NanaSomchai]

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

If only it worked!

It does, actually!

 

Trolling and banter aside, do you have a first hand experience suggesting otherwise?

[meechai]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s new Immigration Bureau boss wants a tighter ship when it comes to tracking foreign residents in the kingdom and tourists. It came after it took police five days last week to arrest an American man who is alleged to have raped a Thai woman in Khon Kaen

Granted that  Man was a POS but...to tar the whole foreign resident base with that brush ?

 

Meanwhile how many white tourist women have been raped or killed by Thai men especially on the islands like Koh Tao ?? What form of tracking was added to fit those profiles?

 

 

[khunjeff]

"The police chief explained that under current arrangements one of the first things police check is to see if the foreigner has a Thai wife or girlfriend in their efforts to track a suspect down or locate his current address."

 

Wives who are connected with a marriage extension, ok. But immigration keeps a database of people's girlfriends? I don't think so.

 

30 minutes ago, NanaSomchai said:

Upon booking a flight reservation or at the check-in counter, the airline is asked to forward onto the destination's country the full list of passengers INCLUDING the airline staff, then the full passengers list is checked upon an immigration blacklist.

That's right. But the key point is that the list is checked against the destination country's blacklist; if a passenger has criminal intent but is not already known to Thailand, nothing will happen. Immigration has repeatedly claimed in the press that APIS would somehow check passenger info against criminal records from the traveler's country, but that just isn't true - that data is typically protected and would not be shared with other countries except under special arrangements (such as those which exist between the US and Canada).

[BritManToo]

Just now, NanaSomchai said:

It does, actually!

Trolling and banter aside, do you have a first hand experience suggesting otherwise?

Yep, the last 10x I entered/left the fingerprint scanners only worked (were in use) half the time.

 

[NanaSomchai]

7 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

That's right. But the key point is that the list is checked against the destination country's blacklist; if a passenger has criminal intent but is not already known to Thailand, nothing will happen.

Of course not. But in Thailand if someone well connected to the BiB and wants you gone from the Kingdom under any false charges, trust me, you're gone.

 

7 minutes ago, khunjeff said:

Immigration has repeatedly claimed in the press that APIS would somehow check passenger info against criminal records from the traveler's country, but that just isn't true - that data is typically protected and would not be shared with other countries except under special arrangements (such as those which exist between the US and Canada).

That part indeed is bull$hit, not only the APIS system wasn't designed with that in mind but it's technical limitations would make this impossible.

 

Besides as you have stated yourself, the criminal records of each respective countries (apart from the US, see all those mugshots websites) are sealed, restricted and confidentially stored in proprietary systems respective to each countries, getting all those systems to interact and exchange database is a nearly impossible feat. We are at least 100 years away from that technology.

Edited October 14, 2021 by NanaSomchai

[Orinoco]

Just a build up to more demonizing of Foreigners, they are so good at.

Shame they don't sort there own house out. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Orinoco

[NanaSomchai]

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Yep, the last 10x I entered/left the fingerprint scanners only worked (were in use) half the time.

 

May I ask, was this by air/land or sea and how recent were these entries/exits into the Kingdom?

[AAArdvark]

Did the rapist have a record that vetting would have caught?  When they did find him, did he have an accurate 90 day report?

[hotchilli]

8 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I used it last week just fine...instant approval.

Good for you.

Last 4 years for me it's only worked once, using the same info.

Go to IO in person using same info it's done in 5 minutes.

[hotandsticky]

Just now, hotchilli said:

Good for you.

Last 4 years for me it's only worked once, using the same info.

Go to IO in person using same info it's done in 5 minutes.

 

 

It's certainly not done in 5 minutes if it takes you 45 minutes to travel each way!!

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Good for you.

Last 4 years for me it's only worked once, using the same info.

Go to IO in person using same info it's done in 5 minutes.

My run of good luck may be due to end ,as I have recently renewed my passport in Kingdom. 

[XJPSX]

How can they do this properly when they can’t even track down Thai killers that run over Policemen when high on Coke?

[BE88]

1 hour ago, NanaSomchai said:

Yes it is. Why wouldn't it be used? Not only it has cost the Thai taxpayer a whopping 3 billion baht but also was hailed as a success from the current administration.

 

I also vaguely remember that some unwanted previously blacklisted Russian guy had changed his name to a different one and showed up in Thailand with a Kazakstan passport, while he managed to sneak into the country under both a different name AND a different country of origin, the biometric system caught up eventually then a few weeks/months later down the road he was arrested while either trying to leave the Kingdom or while visiting a local immigration from within to renew/extend his visa.

 

From a purely technical standpoint; with 40 million visitor entries being scanned and subsequently added to the database per year, every year, I don't think the biometric system has the technical capabilities to compare a matching set of fingerprints against another set of fingerprints stored in a remote database in real time, however as the laid out exemple above shows with proper computing power, time and training the algorithm will eventually catch up and find matching prints/biometric profiles over time.

 

Thus one could potentially deceive the biometric system temporarily *once* with a different Firstname/Surname/Country of Origin (also many passports do not mention Place of Birth or Current registered address), long enough to pass the basic immigration database checks at any of the Kingdom's entry points (airport queue, queue at a land border, etc), fool a non suspecting immigration officer and be released in the wild in the Kingdom but rest assured the system WILL eventually over night, over the lapse of a few days, weeks or months (no one has access to that kind of information) catch up and match up both profiles.

 

I recall clearly the article's conclusion mentioning that once arrested again, the previously blacklisted Russian was blacklisted under his new name/Kazhakstan identity as well and was thrown out of the Kingdom yet again.

 

Biometrics systems exist for a reason, Thailand has spent several billions buying/invested into a German system, I wouldn't say it is flawless (no such system exists, there's always a flaw) but it appears to do the job, the only way to fool it/circumvent lies within you; your face and your fingerprints. Even though if you *potentially* could fool the facial recognition part by dyeing your hair, growing a beard, returning 20 years later, wearing glasses, having facial surgery corrections here and there, you'd still be caught out by the tip of your fingers.

 

TL;DR: Yes the Thai biometrics system is working just fine and this whole foreigner tracking mantra is only going to get worse with time as technology improves and the Kingdom has access to it, even if tomorrow the current junta was thrown out and replaced by another foreigner-Friendlier government, the biometrics system would still be in place.

 

To those who are saying that Thailand had been used as a regional hub for all criminals around the World for decades, rest assured that time is over.

Current technology still has its limits such as changing the fingerprint with the application of a false fingerprint pasted on the index finger.

 

[hotchilli]

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

My run of good luck may be due to end ,as I have recently renewed my passport in Kingdom. 

I renewed mine in 2016, and had the details transferred.

It worked the first time I did my 90 report immediately after that, since then nothing, using exactly the same details.