Hk Sar Landing Refusal

[alexg]

Hi all -- been reading ThaiVisa for years and found it very helpful, but I've searched (ThaiVisa and the Internet) and called the Chinese embassy, and found nothing to help, so I've registered so I can ask here.

Sorry if this is a little long-winded, but I'll get to the point eventually. A while ago my (Thai) girlfriend had her handbag grabbed by a thief on a motorbike. Unfortunately it contained not just her ID card but her passport too. No problem. Reported it to the police, and got a new ID card and passport.

She's fairly well-travelled in the region and has always wanted to visit HK, so she left for a couple of days shopping there last week. It was all very last minute, but she had time off work and decided to go. Also at the last minute I booked a hotel for her online. There seemed to be some problem processing the booking, but I printed out a map of its location for her anyway and thought no more about it. The next day she left for the airport, and then I found I had an email saying the booking could not be confirmed (no idea why). No problem I thought. Called her at the airport and she said not to worry, she'd try that hotel or just get a room somewhere else.

When she arrived in HK she says there was a fairly large tour group of Thais who got through immigration very quickly, but she and maybe half-a-dozen other Thais were called over by immigration officers and questioned. She heard what was going on either side of her, where a couple of Thai men were being questioned. It seems they were all given a pretty rough time: One of the men claimed to own several restaurants in Thailand and that his mother lives in HK, that she is married to a HK man and has a HK passport (Chinese passport?) and that he visited her there often. She says the other was well-dressed and was there on ''business''. They were then taken to separate offices. She was treated very badly, from what she says. They asked about money -- she had HK dollars on her, her ATM (which they checked) and a credit card. They asked if she travelled much, and she said yes. They didn't believe this (it was her first trip with her new passport). And it just got worse from then on. They asked if she had a hotel, she said ''maybe''. They called the hotel I'd tried to book and they said they'd never heard of her. It carried on in a similar vein for four hours (!)

The upshot is, she was given a Refusal Notice and put on the next plane home. She wasn't deported, just refused landing. She has what appears to be an HK entry stamp in her passport, with a cross through it in black biro and a reference number below it that matches the reference number on her refusal notice. She was quite lucky -- she saw the two men she overheard being questioned (and the other Thais pulled over), and they were to be held overnight because there were no more seats available -- but she came back on the airline she was flying with anyway and there were no extra costs incurred.

So (finally), what I would really like to know is: Can she ever go back to HK? It would seem that the only real reason they refused her admittance was that she didn't have a hotel (oh, and the questioning was so petty that they made a big deal out of her not knowing which shops she was going to visit). If she goes back will they let her in? Personally I wouldn't bother after that sort of treatment, but she says that Thai people are treated like this in several countries and she's still keen to visit. The Chinese embassy didn't seem to understand the problem (or I couldn't make myself understood). I assume it's the Chinese embassy that deals with HK-related matters -- I couldn't find anywhere else to ask. Is there a visa she can apply for before she goes next time that will (almost) guarantee entry?

Thanks for any advice or help anyone may be able to give.

(I'm actually quite shocked that Thais are treated this way in other Asian countries.)

[Prakanong]

Sorry to hear about that. Yes it unfortunate Thai's can be treated like that in other countries.

My friend at work got pulled going into Korea - she normally used her Canadian passport as she grwew up there from age 11 before returning to Thailand after graduation to work. This time though her Canadian passport was in getting a visa for Europe she used her Thai passport and was puled.

Dumped in a room with 20 odd other Thai girls for over an hour before questioning and then let out.

This girl is a manger in Thailand with a household name MNC - she was visiting Korea not for the fist time and going to our offices there with hotel booked and limo waiting at airport. She is very well travelled all around asia, North America and Europe as well as dressing extremly well in a conservativer busseness manner when travelling.

[Daewoo]

(I'm actually quite shocked that Thais are treated this way in other Asian countries.)

mate, that is Hong Kong all over.

My (Australian) brother worked there for 5 years, a member of the HK College of Vet Surgeons, got into a cab to come meet me at the airport. The cab driver didn't speak English, so he asked a passing policeman to tell the driver he wanted the airport. The cop held him for 20 minutes questioning him about why he was going to the airport, who he was meeting, why I was coming to HK, going through all his papers.

Many of his assistants were Pilipino and Burmese, qualified vets in their own country working as assistants in HK. They were stopped and detained every single day walking to work, often by the same policeman.

Watch the pier where the ferries from China arrive. Every single Chinese person who has skin that would appear to have been exposed to more than 3 days of sunlight is stopped and questioned.

I guess HK is one of the most prosperous countries in the region, so an obvious target for illegal immigration, but HK Chinese are in my experience, the most racist and prejudiced I have met.

Although it is fun to call them Vietnamese, stand back, and watch the fireworks

Cheers,

Daewoo

[Eff1n2ret]

Did the refusal notice contain any detailed reasons? Some countries just issue a standard proforma with a checklist, and one or two boxes ticked, which doesn't tell you much.

I think it can only be the Chinese Embassy now that would issue a visa for Hong-Kong. She would be unwise to re-attempt entry there without one, unless she has a blue-chip sponsor waiting for her on arrival.

A further problem is that the refusal stamp will attract the adverse attention of immigration and visa officers elsewhere, so any future travel plans must be very well prepared - a copy of the police report of her previous passport loss, and evidence of previous trips might be worthwhile. Some people in similar circumstances have sought to conceal the refusal by "losing" the passport containing the refusal stamp. In your lady's case this could be a high-risk strategy, having lost one already. if both the previous issues were noted in a new passport, it would ring as many alarm bells as a refusal stamp.

[alexg]

Did the refusal notice contain any detailed reasons? Some countries just issue a standard proforma with a checklist, and one or two boxes ticked, which doesn't tell you much.

I think it can only be the Chinese Embassy now that would issue a visa for Hong-Kong. She would be unwise to re-attempt entry there without one, unless she has a blue-chip sponsor waiting for her on arrival.

A further problem is that the refusal stamp will attract the adverse attention of immigration and visa officers elsewhere, so any future travel plans must be very well prepared - a copy of the police report of her previous passport loss, and evidence of previous trips might be worthwhile. Some people in similar circumstances have sought to conceal the refusal by "losing" the passport containing the refusal stamp. In your lady's case this could be a high-risk strategy, having lost one already. if both the previous issues were noted in a new passport, it would ring as many alarm bells as a refusal stamp.

The refusal notice said nothing at all -- no reason, just a piece of paper saying ''Refusal Notice'' and a reference number (the same one written in her passport). I suppose the best bet is to contact the Chinese embassy about a visa. Does anyone have experience of this (a Thai applying for a visa to visit HK?)

[torrenova]

But lets face the facts. Many girls and women go to HK and Singapore, even Korea and Japan to work as prostitutes or in legitimate jobs because it is far more lucritive than doing the same job here in Thailand. On a new passport with no previous visits to HK, at least she had some money but not having a confirmed hotel room was a daft thing to do. No good bleating about how badly she was treated, she weas intheir eyes a risk because she had no proveable itiniary and nowhere to stay.