Surly immigration officers and long waits at the airport? : Region 2 IB chief faces investigation

[Andrew65]

5 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

As an independent traveler ie. backpacker in '88 in China we were only allowed to stay in one hotel in all cities, the rest were for tour groups only. 

In 1986 I went on a dy trip from HK through Macao to Shenzhen/China. We had lunch in a very nice hotel, but the grinding poverty away from there was obvious.

[ujayujay]

6 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Apart from Nth Korea, is there any other country in the world, that hotels must report foreigners staying there to immigration? or even ones Family members staying with you on holiday? 

.....more than not have to do this, Dreamer????

[Wake Up]

18 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Not if you have a uk passport and no going through immigration on departure either.

That is why I said tourist ????????????

[John Drake]

Remember "Land of Fake Smiles" at Don Mueang five years ago? 

 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1222235097908051&t=44

[Purdey]

Why is Singapore's Changi airport so good at handling visitors? They sit at their counters and process passports swiftly. It seems that staff appear just as the contents of a plane is unloading and then disappear until the next plane. Why is the system so different and efficient?

[spidermike007]

I don't like government officials much, and the same tends to apply to law enforcement and immigration. But, this is one area where the US beats Thailand. I find most immigration, customs and border protection agents in the US to be serious, but pleasant. In Thailand they are rarely pleasant. They are often surly. Surely, they could change this attitude if they cared one iota. I don't think they do. I think they are too arrogant to care. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by spidermike007

[ChipButty]

6 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Apart from Nth Korea, is there any other country in the world, that hotels must report foreigners staying there to immigration? or even ones Family members staying with you on holiday? 

Yep, they have some system in place in Spain where the host has to report to the local Guardia 

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

Or, they could develop e-gate for foreigners to use, just as is done in Singapore.

And stop the flow of tips.... no no no that won't do at all.

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

This followed a 20th of March communication within the RTP from senior deputy Pol Gen Roy Inkhaphairoj who mentioned the problem of foreigners doing business in Thailand via nominees who needed to be investigated at the airport and elsewhere.

 

 

Yes, foreigners must not interfere with Thai jobs.

Yet how else are they expected to fund Thai enterprises without having a Thai nominee to front the business, as they are technically not allowed to own the company?

[sambum]

7 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Apart from Nth Korea, is there any other country in the world, that hotels must report foreigners staying there to immigration? or even ones Family members staying with you on holiday? 

Is there any other country in the world where foreigners have to report every 90 days to Immigration to let them know that nothing has changed since their last visit?
 

[BestB]

51 minutes ago, Purdey said:

Why is Singapore's Changi airport so good at handling visitors? They sit at their counters and process passports swiftly. It seems that staff appear just as the contents of a plane is unloading and then disappear until the next plane. Why is the system so different and efficient?

may be because in Singapore they get paid the same irrespective of where they work, while in Thailand say if you work at Pattaya or Phuket immigration you make a lot more than sitting in the airport.

 

Also as silly as it sounds, would it not be wise to recruit people who actually want to work in the airport, instead of forcing people to move from their homes thousands of miles away to work else where and then wonder why they unhappy and not doing the job?

[Caldera]

How about automating outbound immigration, that some countries don't even have at all?

 

Unlike with inbound immigration, every foreigner is already in the system, so the remaining checks (overstay, arrest warrants, biometrics match) could easily be performed at an automated gate.

 

That would free up quite a few IOs who could then be moved to arrivals. 

[Danderman123]

8 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Apart from Nth Korea, is there any other country in the world, that hotels must report foreigners staying there to immigration? or even ones Family members staying with you on holiday? 

yes. Many.

 

Russia.

Brazil.

 

Actually, it's a common practice. 

[Danderman123]

I flew out of Suvarnaphumi on the 26th. The Immigration line was incredibly long, stretching all the way back to Security.

 

In my area, there were 6 counters. Only 3 were staffed.

 

Clearly, the staffing system at Suvarnaphumi airport has failed.

 

It's almost as if there are no people living in the Lat Krabang area who could be trained to stamp passports.

[ericdiam]

Living here over 13y and coming since 2000. 2 weeks ago when I returned from Bali visit early evening, I arrived at immigration and the queu was the longest I ever experienced. All green lights where on, in meaning less than 10min but it took me over 1.50min to pass true. And yeah I counted at least 15 boots empty. 

[rabiedabruce]

6 hours ago, geisha said:

Suvarnabhumi is the absolute worst tourist country airport where delays for entering, and departing are concerned !

i have met many Thai travelers who are absolutely disgusted by the welcome queue they  get when arriving after a 12 to 18 hour journey. 
 What I really don’t  understand is the departure queues.  I have lately been warned it can take hours, with passengers running to get to their far off gates.  For gods sake, a look at passport , stamp out, should take a minute and problem travelers set aside . And the baggage check, leaving ? Cant they open more counters, they don’t look at the screens anyway, I’ve watched them many times. 

It's also the fugliest least user friendly airport in SE Asia. And that includes Burma, where at least they have charm.

[tandor]

9 hours ago, ukrules said:

Yes, it most certainly is. Fire the lot of them.

..and what will that do...create more mayhem!

New officers need to be brought up to speed faster

[StayinThailand2much]

9 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

Everytime, facepicture here, fingerprints, double check passports, and boardingpasses for foreigners, as for Thai passports it is much easier to enter  

Spot on. While in neighbouring Malaysia (and other countries) you're just asked to scan index fingers, in Thailand it's also thumbs, and four fingers... Not to mention, the long time the IO needs staring at the screen for each visitor. Do they play online chess, watching their favourite soap in the corner of the screen, or why do they need much longer than other countries' IOs to look at the screen before stamping passports?

Edited March 29, 2023 by StayinThailand2much

[Seppius]

Last week, a friend of mine waited 2 hours at passport control when leaving the country

[MarkBR]

4 hours ago, Wake Up said:

My vote for the worst tourist immigration service is Heathrow. Many officers but few doing any work. 

Hellrow is awful, I always go via other routes.

[kennw]

9 hours ago, realfunster said:

True, I am also fairly confident these up-country 'jobs' will be fairly flexible, quite relaxed and involve minimal work.

 

Sitting at a public immigration desk at BKK under the watchful eye of superiors and cameras for several hours a day is probably quite a culture shock.

As would be dealing with a load of grumpy foreigners just disembarked from their plane who don't show the proper 'respect' to these auspicious public servants.

What do you expect , respect,? 5 min to clear immigration in Singapore, and then the huge queues and log waits at swampy with many of the booths not manned. 

[Bday Prang]

10 hours ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

In the UK is worked, in Thailand many of the army cannot speak English, which could pose a problem especially if they work in immigration?

 

I doubt very much if any immigration officers in the uk at airports etc  speak any  foreign language,  For investigative purposes the relevant departments  would be generally be  using hired in translators   as and when required.  Understandable really when you consider the number of languages concerned.  I recently read a report about one street in the UK where 70 different languages are being spoken

[Bday Prang]

59 minutes ago, MarkBR said:

Hellrow is awful, I always go via other routes.

So do most incommers to the UK these days,  most never see immigration officers at all,  the first english face they see is either a lefty " human rights" lawyer or the receptionist at their allocated free 4* hotel.  I really don't have an issue with the way things are done here and I have never had a problem other than the length of the queues occasionally. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Bday Prang

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, StayinThailand2much said:

Spot on. While in neighbouring Malaysia (and other countries) you're just asked to scan index fingers, in Thailand it's also thumbs, and four fingers... Not to mention, the long time the IO needs staring at the screen for each visitor. Do they play online chess, watching their favourite soap in the corner of the screen, or why do they need much longer than other countries' IOs to look at the screen before stamping passports?

I have always wondered what is on those screens, and why it takes them so long to read them

[BangkokReady]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

In order to crackdown on foreigners

Nice.  Not "crackdown on foreign law breakers" just foreigners in general.  At least someone is being honest about it.

[Confuscious]

11 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Apart from Nth Korea, is there any other country in the world, that hotels must report foreigners staying there to immigration? or even ones Family members staying with you on holiday? 

Yes, for example Belgium.
https://ibz.be/en/registration-and-reporting-obligation-general#:~:text=If you wish to stay,months of arriving in Belgium.

[BangkokReady]

Quote

Surly immigration officers and long waits at the airport?

They really should have consulted with the TVF.  They would have told them that the IOs are always friendly to them and it must be the tourist's fault.

[josephbloggs]

6 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Not if you have a uk passport and no going through immigration on departure either.

You are joking. Took me 90 minutes last time I was there - as a UK citizen and business class traveller. 90 minutes to clear immigration in my own country in the UK citizens lane. And when I took pictures of the horrendous queue I was shouted at and told to delete them by a security guard.

 

[josephbloggs]

6 hours ago, Purdey said:

Why is Singapore's Changi airport so good at handling visitors? They sit at their counters and process passports swiftly. It seems that staff appear just as the contents of a plane is unloading and then disappear until the next plane. Why is the system so different and efficient?

I can tell you why. Looking at pre-Covid, in 2019 Changi had about 34 million international arrivals. Suvarnabhumi had around 55 million international arrivals. Changi is spread over four terminals, BKK has one. So Singapore had about 9 million through one terminal as opposed to BKK's 55 million through one terminal. That's a huge difference.

 

I travel to Singapore often and yes, the airport is good (better than Suvarnabhumi by a way), but I often have 15-20 minute waits at immigration and had 45 minutes 2-3 trips ago. I have never come close to that at BKK. I have timed the IO processing times at both - yes I am that kind of geek - and it is pretty much identical.

 

They do both work to timetables and staff accordingly but BKK has a much higher volume of flights than SIN and all it takes is four 3-4 international flights to have unexpected delays and arrive simultaneously (which wasn't planned for) and it throws the schedule into chaos for a short period.

 

In short, similar systems, similar processing times, completely different volumes, and completely different airport designs - and yes, having multiple smaller terminals can be more efficient than one giant one but there are downsides too.

 

Most of the people who moan on here about "massive queues", "surly immigration" etc don't actually travel, they just live in their villages and moan about stuff they see other people moan about. People who travel regularly will say it's pretty average for a major international hub. Certainly much quicker than many places on arrival (Heathrow 10000% included) but it does have the occasion hiccup due to the aforementioned reasons.

You need to compare apples with apples.

[rose33]

13 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

too busy with handling VIPs I suppose..... Why can other countries, manage to have less problems at the immigration...Computersystems, enough staff, and less administration?? Everytime, facepicture here, fingerprints, double check passports, and boardingpasses for foreigners, as for Thai passports it is much easier to enter  

I've gone thru a VIP (biz class) booth recently (last week) and IO there was still super-rude to me. Now, I don't expect special treatment on account of being in that line -- I'm just saying, the IO rudeness happens to biz class people too.