Bypassing passport control

[10years]

Had an interesting experience on my last trip to Indonesia that raised intriguing questions about Thailand admission possibilities in the future.

Indonesia has reinstated the 30-day visa for everyone. In the past, you got a piece of paper that the immigration officer would paste in your passport. But this time the girl took my money and scanned my passport, then gave me a slip of paper.

Reached immigration and was surprised to see a series of sparking new electric gates. I was confused about what to do so I proceeded to the immigration booths beyond the gates, but the IO saw the small slip of paper in my hand and waved me to the gates. Turned out it was just the receipt.

All I had to do was place the passport on the scanner and pose for the camera and I was through. Totally no human interaction. No fingerprints. No entry stamp in the passport.

What if Thailand adopts this unmanned arrival operation?

Anyone who visits frequently dreads the flipping through the pages in your passport, the rattling off of questions like what are you doing here, are you working, no visa, how long you stay, etc.

Are those days going to become fading memories.? Will there be system that flags you when you scan the passport? Or will it truly become a breeze to pass through the airport and go on your way? 😁
 

[Cuchulainn]

Maybe the new automatic gates will work as well as the online 90 day reporting

[KhunLA]

90 day reporting online has be flawless for the past couple years 👍  Great when O&A.   Didn't mind doing locally, as Imm office was a nice scooter ride, and usually empty, or taken right away when I arrived.

 

As with everything ... location location location 

[DrJack54]

2 hours ago, 10years said:

What if Thailand adopts this unmanned arrival operation?

Think you will find that auto gates for visa exempt will only be made available when the proposed ETA is introduced and up and running..

When that is introduced is anyone's guess. 

 

Edit: ..From Mr Google....

"The ETA will allow a single entry and be valid for up to 60 days. Visitors can extend their stay by 30 days if needed. Those with an ETA can use automated immigration gates at checkpoints. By scanning the QR code on their ETA, travellers will be able to clear immigration more quickly."

[KhunBENQ]

36 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

90 day reporting online has be flawless for the past couple years 👍  

Good for YOU (and me).

 

But you think the endless stream of complaints and frustration with the system are fabricated ??

I have a mate whom I tried to help with no success. He repeatedly asked at the immi office what is wrong. No clue at all.

"It's Bangkok problem" was about all he got.

[DrJack54]

Posts re online 90 reporting will be removed as off topic

[ChaiyaTH]

Unlike what it seems, all these things are global designs, similar tot global efforts with taxes. What the OP refers to is not a maybe or some funny idea from an experience elsewhere, this is already the standard in most countries soon. It will all be unmanned, they will check you out before you fly already and then you are simply refused upfront or else still taken away as soon the AI camera sees you.

[DrJack54]

Off topic post re online reporting removed. 

[gearbox]

3 hours ago, 10years said:

Had an interesting experience on my last trip to Indonesia that raised intriguing questions about Thailand admission possibilities in the future.

Indonesia has reinstated the 30-day visa for everyone. In the past, you got a piece of paper that the immigration officer would paste in your passport. But this time the girl took my money and scanned my passport, then gave me a slip of paper.

Reached immigration and was surprised to see a series of sparking new electric gates. I was confused about what to do so I proceeded to the immigration booths beyond the gates, but the IO saw the small slip of paper in my hand and waved me to the gates. Turned out it was just the receipt.

All I had to do was place the passport on the scanner and pose for the camera and I was through. Totally no human interaction. No fingerprints. No entry stamp in the passport.

What if Thailand adopts this unmanned arrival operation?

Anyone who visits frequently dreads the flipping through the pages in your passport, the rattling off of questions like what are you doing here, are you working, no visa, how long you stay, etc.

Are those days going to become fading memories.? Will there be system that flags you when you scan the passport? Or will it truly become a breeze to pass through the airport and go on your way? 😁
 

Meh...how is this bypassing the passport control? Humans are just replaced with electronic gates, the passport control is still there and probably better due to improved facial recognition. The gates have been in Sydney for ages now, I can't really remember the last time I had to interact with an IO.

[DrJack54]

17 minutes ago, gearbox said:

The gates have been in Sydney for ages now, I can't really remember the last time I had to interact with an IO.

The OP is referring specifically to visa exempt entry to Thailand 

[Ralf001]

4 hours ago, 10years said:

Reached immigration and was surprised to see a series of sparking new electric gates. I was confused about what to do so I proceeded to the immigration booths beyond the gates, but the IO saw the small slip of paper in my hand and waved me to the gates. Turned out it was just the receipt.

All I had to do was place the passport on the scanner and pose for the camera and I was through. Totally no human interaction. No fingerprints. No entry stamp in the passport.

 

You did not bypass passport control.

[GypsyT]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

The OP is referring specifically to visa exempt entry to Thailand 

Won't happen. They want to take finger prints and photos. Every time!

[gearbox]

3 hours ago, GypsyT said:

Won't happen. They want to take finger prints and photos. Every time!

Malaysians also take fingerprints and the gates are already in operation there.

[bradiston]

Modern day passports have a chip in them containing the holder's biometric data, including photo, as supplied to the passport issuer. I believe the immigration process compares the data on the chip with for instance the photo, or facial recognition record, that's taken of you. So they have realtime verification. Not sure of the complete dataset stored. Fingerprints are also included as a prerequisite on some passports. AFAIK the UK dataset doesn't include fingerprints. The chip is reprogrammable but heavily encrypted by PKI. Already hacked by a variety of sources. But see below for full fascinating, on topic, link.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_passport

[newbee2022]

23 hours ago, 10years said:

Had an interesting experience on my last trip to Indonesia that raised intriguing questions about Thailand admission possibilities in the future.

Indonesia has reinstated the 30-day visa for everyone. In the past, you got a piece of paper that the immigration officer would paste in your passport. But this time the girl took my money and scanned my passport, then gave me a slip of paper.

Reached immigration and was surprised to see a series of sparking new electric gates. I was confused about what to do so I proceeded to the immigration booths beyond the gates, but the IO saw the small slip of paper in my hand and waved me to the gates. Turned out it was just the receipt.

All I had to do was place the passport on the scanner and pose for the camera and I was through. Totally no human interaction. No fingerprints. No entry stamp in the passport.

What if Thailand adopts this unmanned arrival operation?

Anyone who visits frequently dreads the flipping through the pages in your passport, the rattling off of questions like what are you doing here, are you working, no visa, how long you stay, etc.

Are those days going to become fading memories.? Will there be system that flags you when you scan the passport? Or will it truly become a breeze to pass through the airport and go on your way? 😁
 

Well, what would you do with all the immigration and police people, if most procedures are done by automated electric gates?

(Send them to the streets for law enforcing /safety?

[TTSIssues]

Too many IO’s employed to check passports manually to be replaced by electronic gates. Much slower and more inefficient system to use humans than machines - keeping a huge number of people employed.

 

Also can only imagine that rather than buying a system off the shelf that is already used in other countries, here they will try and build their own system that inevitably doesn’t work as well.

 

As an example, I have online banking apps on my phone from Indonesia, HK, UK, Dubai and Thailand. Guess which is the worst one out of the bunch? 🤣

 

All good fun and games !

[JBChiangRai]

We could bypass passport control/immigration today, but we won’t.

 

We will return from Phu Quoc to Chiang Rai today.  We will have tickets for PQC-DMK and DMK-CEI issued at Phu Quoc and be given CQI Fly-Through stickers to put on our shirts/blouses.

 

We will clear immigration and customs at Chiang Rai.  They will hold a sign up at the plane door on arrival to Chiang Rai and process us separately from all the other domestic passengers.

 

We could avoid passport control by not voluntarily identifying ourselves at this point, or even booking and checking in electronically to another flight whilst waiting in DMK domestic departure lounge.

 

The only other way I know to avoid passport control is at Chiang Kong where enterprising Laos people run a boat service between the two countries at night facilitating the underground Laos domestic and laborer traffic.

[renaissanc]

I think Thailand will continue to have a slow immigration system at the airport and visa extension process for at least two more generations. Firstly,  the Big Bosses want the systems to be as they are. Secondly, their Assistants who will eventually take over from the Big Bosses have learned the current system so they will continue it. It may take two generations or more for these people to be replaced by people who will revolutionise the Immigration Department. Eventually, the airport immigration process will probably be carried out on planes with a special device before arrival. Only passengers with a problem will meet an Immigration Officer.

[bradiston]

2 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

I think Thailand will continue to have a slow immigration system at the airport and visa extension process for at least two more generations. Firstly,  the Big Bosses want the systems to be as they are. Secondly, their Assistants who will eventually take over from the Big Bosses have learned the current system so they will continue it. It may take two generations or more for these people to be replaced by people who will revolutionise the Immigration Department. Eventually, the airport immigration process will probably be carried out on planes with a special device before arrival. Only passengers with a problem will meet an Immigration Officer.

Funny you should mention that last item. Returning to UK from France many years ago on a ferry, the purser collected my and my Thai wife's passports in advance of our arrival. Result? We were waved into the strip search channel, and our car was almost completely dismantled. The reason? We'd travelled down to the South of France looking for land for a small holding, towards Marseille. Click click click, 1+1=3, Thai/French Connection. When they were finished, one of the customs people had the gall to say "Well sir, if you've got it, you've got away with it. Welcome to the UK." The dike female officers enjoyed examining my wife though by what she told me afterwards. Ugh. Borderforce? Useless scumbags.

[StevieAus]

On 12/29/2024 at 8:27 AM, KhunLA said:

90 day reporting online has be flawless for the past couple years 👍  Great when O&A.   Didn't mind doing locally, as Imm office was a nice scooter ride, and usually empty, or taken right away when I arrived.

 

As with everything ... location location location 

I pass our local Immigration Office most days it takes me three minutes from leaving the car to returning for the 90 day reporting, no forms only the passport and friendly staff.

[daveAustin]

Same same but different, and although never really had dramas coming in, it would be nice if they had an expat line. Having said that, although different kettle of visa fish, my country lumps ‘others’ into one bracket, too. 

[geisha]

On 12/29/2024 at 3:44 AM, ChaiyaTH said:

Unlike what it seems, all these things are global designs, similar tot global efforts with taxes. What the OP refers to is not a maybe or some funny idea from an experience elsewhere, this is already the standard in most countries soon. It will all be unmanned, they will check you out before you fly already and then you are simply refused upfront or else still taken away as soon the AI camera sees you.

Yes, saw this at Heathrow lately when a red light started flashing when a man tried to go through. An official was near and told him to stand back and wait, interested, I waited a minute and other officers turned up to check him. 
it’s a very good system. Shame that the trouble makers are not flagged this way. 

[GypsyT]

On 12/30/2024 at 8:52 AM, renaissanc said:

I think Thailand will continue to have a slow immigration system at the airport and visa extension process for at least two more generations.

I think airport control is very good now! No waiting.

The other sucks... and may never get sorted out.

[Caldera]

On 12/30/2024 at 8:30 AM, JBChiangRai said:

We will return from Phu Quoc to Chiang Rai today.  We will have tickets for PQC-DMK and DMK-CEI issued at Phu Quoc and be given CQI Fly-Through stickers to put on our shirts/blouses.

 

We will clear immigration and customs at Chiang Rai.  They will hold a sign up at the plane door on arrival to Chiang Rai and process us separately from all the other domestic passengers.

 

That surprises me, they changed the system a while ago so that you have to clear immigration where you first land in Thailand. In your case, at special international to domestic transfer immigration counters at DMK. Has that changed again?

[JBChiangRai]

We did clear immigration at DMK but because we didn’t have the foresight to get boarding cards for the CEI leg.

 

They did scan our carry on luggage on arrival at CEI even though it had already been through customs at DMK.

 

I can’t say whether with boarding cards we could have CIQ fly-through.  

[StayinThailand2much]

On 12/29/2024 at 6:23 AM, 10years said:

What if Thailand adopts this unmanned arrival operation?

Anyone who visits frequently dreads the flipping through the pages in your passport, the rattling off of questions like what are you doing here, are you working, no visa, how long you stay, etc.

 

I don't think such unmanned arrival gates will ever happen in Thailand, unless they can invent one that flips through every page of your passport, before asking you: "Why you come too many times..." 😆 

[DrJack54]

22 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

 

I don't think such unmanned arrival gates will ever happen in Thailand, unless they can invent one that flips through every page of your passport, before asking you: "Why you come too many times..." 😆 

Will be interesting to see how ETA will impact serial visa exempt entries.

That's if it's ever introduced. 

[StayinThailand2much]

16 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Will be interesting to see how ETA will impact serial visa exempt entries.

That's if it's ever introduced. 

 

Either it will fail, or stop many from visiting twice in a year... Doubtful that it will do much to raise tourism income.

[JoseThailand]

On 12/29/2024 at 6:53 AM, 10years said:

But this time the girl took my money and scanned my passport, then gave me a slip of paper.

 

...

 

All I had to do was place the passport on the scanner and pose for the camera and I was through. Totally no human interaction. No fingerprints. No entry stamp in the passport.

 

Girl taking your money and scanning your passport is not human?

[zmisha]

On 12/29/2024 at 6:53 AM, 10years said:

Had an interesting experience on my last trip to Indonesia that raised intriguing questions about Thailand admission possibilities in the future.

Indonesia has reinstated the 30-day visa for everyone. In the past, you got a piece of paper that the immigration officer would paste in your passport. But this time the girl took my money and scanned my passport, then gave me a slip of paper.

Reached immigration and was surprised to see a series of sparking new electric gates. I was confused about what to do so I proceeded to the immigration booths beyond the gates, but the IO saw the small slip of paper in my hand and waved me to the gates. Turned out it was just the receipt.

All I had to do was place the passport on the scanner and pose for the camera and I was through. Totally no human interaction. No fingerprints. No entry stamp in the passport.

What if Thailand adopts this unmanned arrival operation?

Anyone who visits frequently dreads the flipping through the pages in your passport, the rattling off of questions like what are you doing here, are you working, no visa, how long you stay, etc.

Are those days going to become fading memories.? Will there be system that flags you when you scan the passport? Or will it truly become a breeze to pass through the airport and go on your way? 😁
 

Which airport did you use to enter the country?