Difficulties foreigners face entering Mae Sot and surrounding areas

[Tomtomtom69]

The TAT is silent on this, but on the Mae Sot Facebook page, it's clear - foreigners entering Mae Sot from Tak or anywhere else in Thailand may face questioning, their documents photographed and in some cases, tourists in particular, will be denied entry to the city for fear they are going to get kidnapped and taken across the border to the scam cities in Myawaddy and Shwe Kokko. That is, unless they have a Thai guarantor in town, but that's strange, considering most tourists to Thailand don't know anyone in the country, much less a requirement to know someone in a particular city such as Mae Sot. 

 

Someone told me that there is an area north of Mae Sot where foreigners are prohibited from entering altogether - it's called "Mae Ta-lor". There's a checkpoint at the start of the road that goes there, and foreigners are not allowed to proceed. I've never heard of foreigners being denied access to any public location in Thailand. Some military bases, yes (that makes sense I guess) but a random village in Tak province? I hope this is not the start of Myanmar/Burma like "restricted areas for foreigners". 

Has anyone been to Mae Sot recently? If so, what visa are / were you on and were you allowed to enter the city? Did you have a Thai guarantor? What if you don't know any Thais living in Mae Sot? 

[Tod Daniels]

Both the Mae Sai/Tachleik and the Mae Sot/Myawaddy borders with Burma are closed to foreigners, and have been for close to several years now.

 

You're not going to bounce out/back at those borders no matter if you're just trying to get a new 60 day free entry or activate another entry on a valid multi-entry visa.

 

You wanna bounce up there you use the Lao border crossings at either Chiang Saen or Chiang Khong.

 

Mae Sai & Mae Sot are open to locals only (Thai  & Burmese)

[BrandonJT]

8 hours ago, Tomtomtom69 said:

What if you don't know any Thais living in Mae Sot? 

Then pick one of the million other places in Thailand to go.

[Tomtomtom69]

4 hours ago, Tod Daniels said:

Both the Mae Sai/Tachleik and the Mae Sot/Myawaddy borders with Burma are closed to foreigners, and have been for close to several years now.

 

You're not going to bounce out/back at those borders no matter if you're just trying to get a new 60 day free entry or activate another entry on a valid multi-entry visa.

 

You wanna bounce up there you use the Lao border crossings at either Chiang Saen or Chiang Khong.

 

Mae Sai & Mae Sot are open to locals only (Thai  & Burmese)

 

I'm not bouncing. 

 

I'm meeting people in Mae Sot but they're not Thai. I might also visit a Thai business partner in Mae Ramad.

 

I have no intention of going to Myanmar; I already know the border there is closed and I realize this border closure to foreigners could be permanent, just as it as at the Three Pagodas Pass, where foreigners have been unable to cross since 2007.

[Tomtomtom69]

2 hours ago, BrandonJT said:

Then pick one of the million other places in Thailand to go.

 

Lol, so how do I meet my Burmese employees, who aren't allowed to visit anywhere in Thailand but Mae Sot, since they live just across the border?

 

If you're going to make a dumb reply, I'd suggest you didn't reply at all!

[Tomtomtom69]

It's clear people here have no idea that Mae Sot has these strange rules in place.

 

They're not used to the idea that there are actually places in Thailand where foreigners face restrictions...including for the first time ever (outside of Covid times) I've confirmed that there is an area of Thailand off-limits to foreigners for unknown reasons. You can actually view the area on Google Maps Street view, but that's as close as you'll get to the area as foreigners are blocked from going through.

 

On a Facebook forum, several people have stated that their friends or people they know of were either blocked from entering Mae Sot (even with a valid hotel booking in some cases) or were held at the last checkpoint before entering town until a Thai guarantor could pick them up.

 

Some nationalities (particularly those from China, Taiwan and several others) who's nationals have been found working as scammers in Myanmar in large numbers are essentially (unofficially) banned from heading to the area.

 

One Taiwanese lady said she was detained for mentioning she was going to visit some NGO in the area. Her story seems fishy, but par for the course for that region.

 

Seems that Thailand's call center crackdown has unwittingly created headaches for innocent tourists and expats. Also keep in mind that anyone heading to Umphang will also be caught in the crossfire as that town can only be accessed via Mae Sot as it doesn't have an airport or any roads from other parts of Thailand. 

[Cameroni]

12 minutes ago, Tomtomtom69 said:

It's clear people here have no idea that Mae Sot has these strange rules in place.

 

I had an idea. I was supposed to meet an incredibly hot 22 year old Burmese girl in Mae Sot. But I googled a bit and saw the issues with that town, so I did not go in the end.

 

Good info, thanks for posting.

[Tomtomtom69]

9 hours ago, Cameroni said:

 

I had an idea. I was supposed to meet an incredibly hot 22 year old Burmese girl in Mae Sot. But I googled a bit and saw the issues with that town, so I did not go in the end.

 

Good info, thanks for posting.

 

Aside from exaggerated scare stories about being kidnapped if you venture to Mae Sot, the reality is quite different. Only individuals who actually apply for scam jobs (often without their knowledge of what they're getting themselves into) end up being trafficked across the border but the vast majority of such individuals first make their way to Bangkok or Chiang Mai and are then brought to Mae Sot without their knowledge. Sometimes, one hears of stories about trafficking victims being taken across the border to the Kings Roman casino in Laos or nearby Tachilek in Myanmar, but this is less common.

 

There is precious little information online about the fact that foreigners heading to Mae Sot and surrounding areas may face questioning and in a small number of cases, are not permitted to enter the city unless they have a Thai guarantor who lives in the area and can vouch for them.

 

I wonder why this information isn't made known by foreign embassies or the Thai authorities. I'd be angry if I was not allowed to enter the city, a place I've been to so many times, just because the Thai authorities believe that to "solve" this problem, they need to use a sledgehammer to Crack a nut. At least Myanmar is honest in publishing a list of "restricted areas" for foreigners, thus we know not to attempt to go there.

 

Problem is, shutting down these scam centers could go on for years and thus any foreigner wanting to or currently doing business in the area will naturally flee (assuming this continues), hurting economic prospects in the area.

 

Strangely, even the 3 southernmost provinces, which are violence plagued, do not prevent foreigners from visiting. Discourage, yes, but prevent? No.

 

You might have to pass through some checkpoints but I've never heard of foreigners being required to know a local from the area (Pattani, Narathiwat or Yala) to visit those provinces.

 

Mae Sot and surrounding areas are much safer (at least on the Thai side) thus these actions are clearly not rational.

 

Focus on possible scam victims (use profiling tools if necessary) but don't inconvenience legitimate travelers, whether they be expats, tourists, business travelers or whoever.

[Cameroni]

1 hour ago, Tomtomtom69 said:

 

Aside from exaggerated scare stories about being kidnapped if you venture to Mae Sot, the reality is quite different. Only individuals who actually apply for scam jobs (often without their knowledge of what they're getting themselves into) end up being trafficked across the border but the vast majority of such individuals first make their way to Bangkok or Chiang Mai and are then brought to Mae Sot without their knowledge. Sometimes, one hears of stories about trafficking victims being taken across the border to the Kings Roman casino in Laos or nearby Tachilek in Myanmar, but this is less common.

 

There is precious little information online about the fact that foreigners heading to Mae Sot and surrounding areas may face questioning and in a small number of cases, are not permitted to enter the city unless they have a Thai guarantor who lives in the area and can vouch for them.

 

I wonder why this information isn't made known by foreign embassies or the Thai authorities. I'd be angry if I was not allowed to enter the city, a place I've been to so many times, just because the Thai authorities believe that to "solve" this problem, they need to use a sledgehammer to Crack a nut. At least Myanmar is honest in publishing a list of "restricted areas" for foreigners, thus we know not to attempt to go there.

 

Problem is, shutting down these scam centers could go on for years and thus any foreigner wanting to or currently doing business in the area will naturally flee (assuming this continues), hurting economic prospects in the area.

 

Strangely, even the 3 southernmost provinces, which are violence plagued, do not prevent foreigners from visiting. Discourage, yes, but prevent? No.

 

You might have to pass through some checkpoints but I've never heard of foreigners being required to know a local from the area (Pattani, Narathiwat or Yala) to visit those provinces.

 

Mae Sot and surrounding areas are much safer (at least on the Thai side) thus these actions are clearly not rational.

 

Focus on possible scam victims (use profiling tools if necessary) but don't inconvenience legitimate travelers, whether they be expats, tourists, business travelers or whoever.

 

I had just read that there were increased checkpoints and thought the better of it to make the trip, but this is much better info. Thanks again!

[Tod Daniels]

My question to you would be, what does this have to do in the least with visas, entry, extensions?

 

You're not even wanting to exit/re-enter at the Burma border there.You're just wanting to go to a border town.

 

If all you're doing is meeting Burmese in the town of Mae Sot go do it. The worst that will happen is they won't let you into the town.