Blacklisted For 100 Years!

[deviltea]

December 2003 I was arrested at Bangkok airport for having a fake visa. I had renewed my visa several times in travel agents before and never had a problem leaving the country so didn't expect the visa to be fake this time.

I went to court in Bangkok and was fined 7,000 baht and put on a two-year probation by the judge. He did not blacklist me or deport me.

I have been home in the Uk for the past 4 months but tried to return to Thailand lastsaturday (4th). The Thai Embassy in the UK had given me a visa and told me I wasn't blacklisted. (My new passport had a new number.) The Thai Immigration refused me entry and told me I was blacklisted ro 100 years!

My fiance is Thai and I have been living there for over 2 years so it crushed me to be told that. My fiance has been to the UK before and can get a visa but I want to know if there is anyway I can return to Thailand?

I have been told that if I change my name by deed poll and enter visa Laos, Cambodia or Malaysia then they will not recognise me and I will be allowed through without difficulty. Is this true?

[jhj2000]

I feel very sorry for you. By the time you change your name etc all immigration posts will be online to a central system with bar code readers for passports.

I think your best bet is to plead your case with the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs either directly or through the Thai embassy in London. I would try and get someone at the embassy to take your case up first.

From your post I understand that you are a victim of a visa scam and it makes me angry when I compare your situation another recent post on this forum about overstaying 2 years.

Don’t give up hope, if you persist I think you will be allowed in again. Good luck.

[unbiasbob]

Do you really expect anyone to believe this one? Here's another from out of the woodwork. gimme a break

[deviltea]

thank you for the first response. i have sent an email and written letter to the thai embassy in london and am waiting for their reply.

second reply...whats your problem? i was only asking for some advice because i dont know what to do in this situation. i've got better things to do with my time than come onto a website and make up a story. this is true and i just wanted to know how to resolve the problem if there is a possible way.

[jhj2000]

No I don't think your post was a troll. Follow the e mail with a phone call. I really hope everything goes well for you.

[ovenman]

I don't know how the system of checks works exactly but I don't understand how Thai immigrations would know who you were if you changed your name legally and obtained a new passport in that new name.

[jhj2000]

If you change your name your identity doesn’t change. In the climate of anti terrorism that has become more important and there are links to other countries databases.

[deviltea]

thanks for all the comments. you mentioned the computer systems were changing...do you know when? when i was at the airport on saturday they had the same old computers were they type everything in off your arrival card...the lady swiped my passport and then typed all the information in and it was only after all of the had been done that she obviously pressed some sort of 'accept' or 'enter' button and i knew from the look on her face alone that some information about me had come up on the computer screen.

i was then taken to the first immigration office/box just up from where you collect your luggage. they didnt know why io was blacklisted but told me then i couldn't come back because i was blacklisted for 100 years!!! this shocked me as the british embassy had told me previously that there were hundreds of cases ecactly like mine and if there was a blacklist made then it was usually between 6 months to 2 years.

i am not keen to go back to thailand just now because i dont trust the authorities and dont want any further problems. right now my fiance is applying for another UK visa (been once already) so hopefully we can live together in the UK for a year or two which will give me a chance to try and write to as many people as possible to try and sort this out!!!

[jhj2000]

As you've seen at the airport they have changed. The system is getting rolled out to all other entry points in Thailand. This should have been done by now but I think that they are a bit behind. They still have to enter a lot of stuff manually but it's the bar code on your passport that alerts them to problems, I don’t think changing your name will help.

At the end of the day you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and the person who dealt with you was in a bad mood.

Persist with the Thai embassy and I think all will turn out well.

If you have any other problems PM me and I will give you my e mail address.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I don't know how the system of checks works exactly but I don't understand how Thai immigrations would know who you were if you changed your name legally and obtained a new passport in that new name.

As things are now, the Thai Immigration won't tie a new name to your old name, but changes are on the way worldwide, with fingerprint ID in passports as well as eye pics. ( unless UK police tip off the Thai's about the change )

[ovenman]

As things are now, the Thai Immigration won't tie a new name to your old name, but changes are on the way worldwide, with fingerprint ID in passports as well as eye pics. ( unless UK police tip off the Thai's about the change )

Hard to picture the UK cops losing much sleep over getting information about a UK citizen's name change to the Thais. I don't figure the authorities in the UK would even be aware of the blacklisting. Still, I wouldn't want to be the person taking a chance on this lack of coordination!

[jhj2000]

Yes you are right but don't forget that all electronic messages are monitored in the Europe and the states, all of them whether its telephone or e mail. Yes the Thais have a new computer system that is linked to others around the world, it’s as easy to do as I’m talking to you.

[Gazza]

when i was at the airport on saturday they had the same old computers were they type everything in off your arrival card...

They simply matched your personal data to what they have in their database. ie name, DOD, birth place, etc. I've had two passports reported stolen over the years and always used to get pulled into the office when dep. or arriving the airport. I wasn't blacklisted in the sense that I couldn't enter Thailand but they had enough info about me and my passports, that they had to check me out to make sure I was indeed the owner of the passport.

[simple1]

New software for immigration control checkpoints was developed about 2 years ago. This application will track passport name changes. If I remember correctly it was devloped by an Australian company and worldwide support provided by SITA www.sita.com. Here in thailand the immigartion system being implemented is from USA; I assume it would have the same functionality.

[jhj2000]

Yes simple1 you are right.

[unbiasbob]

All this talk about name changing and all i think is nuts. The only thing you should do is try and get off the blacklist somehow. Contact an attorney over here

[cutethaigirl]

All this talk about name changing and all i think is nuts. The only thing you should do is try and get off the blacklist somehow. Contact an attorney over here

That is a lot nicer than your first post and is good advice.

Get off the blacklist.

Original Poster.

Did you buy a ticket to fly to Thailand, get on a plane and were then refused entry to Thailand? Did you just get back on the plane again? Did you have any kind of visa from the UK? Or just get the 30 day on arrival?

[sas_cars]

Is it possible for him to enter from a border?instead of the airport?I don't think that the immigration computers at Kap Chung ,Nong Khai,Ranong or Hadyai would be that efficient to track a black lister.

[sas_cars]

I don't understand that why now a days i hear the word TROLL a lot in this forum.Nearly each and every post which is a bit suspicious,every body start shooting from ass.Why don't u people just be a bit more broad minded and accept what other people say and what problems they are in !

[p_brownstone]

What Country - anywhere - blacklists someone "for 100 years"??

It all sounds ridiculous to me.

[IamMaiC]

What Country - anywhere - blacklists someone "for 100 years"??

It all sounds ridiculous to me.

sounds like the man (original poster) has been smoking something other than tobacco i have never done things the fast and easy way as in a fake passport but wouldn't he have been in trouble somehow in thailand?

[deviltea]

so you don't think if i change my name it will work. at the moment my fiance is trying to 'make a deal' with a family friend who is a thai immigration officer. try to pay him to remove the blacklist as the officer who i spoke to before leaving suggested this to me as many people do it.

im a bit nervous of this just because i dont trust the imigration and worried they might take the money and not take my name off the list? what do you think?

[dingfishingtours]

I think you're "avin a giraffe" here mate.You want someone on here to endorse your attempt to bribe an immigration officer.Good luck.

Still, worst case scenario,write a book like that Warren Fellows chap and you can be living the good life in what,10 years time.

I'm glad youre not in charge of the trolling at the same fishing company I work for...

[Sporting Dog]

Not having a go at the OP...But I for one hope that getting a new passport, and then getting in/out of a country isn't as easy as some are suggesting. I mean what is the point of any security system if you can just change your name and in effect, wipe your past.

If this is true, then I guess we'll just have to accept a few hijackings/bombings (like the one at the Oz embassy TODAY) every few months.

[Gazza]

so you don't think if i change my name it will work. at the moment my fiance is trying to 'make a deal' with a family friend who is a thai immigration officer. try to pay him to remove the blacklist as the officer who i spoke to before leaving suggested this to me as many people do it.

im a bit nervous of this just because i dont trust the imigration and worried they might take the money and not take my name off the list? what do you think?

I paid a '500 baht donation' to someone to have my stolen passports info erased from their database. Explaining things nicely to a female officer did no good whatsover, even when her superior told her to remove it.

[LivinLOS]

I can categorically confirm that a name change and reissued passport does leave a cold trial on thai immigration as it stands.

How this system changes in the future is impossible to predict.

[bkk_mike]

The computer systems match based on the information on the machine-readable section on the bottom of your photo page on your passport.

This is the same from one passport to another...

However, that basically encapsulates your identity with your nationality. (Whether it keeps your identity following a name change, I'm not sure, but given the passport office would know your old name and new name in order to issue the passport in the new name, I think it's probably likely that it will link through.)

As a computer programmer, (as a purely intellectual exercise), there would appear to be two, fairly obvious, and legal ways around it. However, neither are easy to do, as both involve you living in a 3rd country for a period.

i.e. Option 1 - get a passport without a machine readable section. This is commonly issued at embassies abroad, simply because a lot of embassies lack the equipment to print that section properly. - i.e. My daughter's passport, issued at the embassy in Bangkok, is blank in the machine readable section. The security hole is recognised though, which is why, for instance, you can't apply for the US visa waiver program after this month if that section is blank (so you need a visa). However, for an embassy to issue anything other than a temporary passport, you need to be living in the country where you apply, and until you apply, you wouldn't know if your embassy was still issuing passports with the blank section.

The disadvantage with this is that the computer would still match on your name, date of birth, etc. - but without the actual machine-readable section, immigration could not be sure if you were the same person (although they might then check for any photos of the offending person, to compare with your likeness, but it will probably be a copy of your old passport photo - and how much do they ever look like you...). Also, if you're name's John Smith, you'd probably have fewer issues than if you have an uncommon name, unless you have also done the name change by deed poll. (It wouldn't need to be a big change, just change the spelling slightly).

Option 2 - get a second nationality. Barring buying a second nationality (which I think you can do from some countries in the Caribbean), you would have to live in a foreign country long enough to become a naturalised citizen. Despite the passport of your new nationality still having the same name, date of birth, etc. (barring name change again) - the mere fact that the passport is issued by another country would mean that the computer wouldn't pick you up as a match.

Neither of these options is particularly simple, but they definitely take less than 100 years, and they are actually legal (although entering the country if you know you're on an immigration blacklist is not a good idea anyway, as if you run into any trouble with the police, the paper trail back to your original passport wil be pretty easy to follow).

Option 2 is pretty much guaranteed to work, at least until they have records of an Iris scan or fingerprint on the computer.

However, if you've genuinely done nothing worse than get a bad visa stamp, it's almost certainly easier to try and get your name off the blacklist.

[jhj2000]

p_brownstone - most includig the U.K and the USA and longer.

[huski]

My daughter's passport, issued at the embassy in Bangkok, is blank in the machine readable section.

i was wondering when this passport was issued. my daughter's US passport from jan. 2003 is machine readable. even though the application is filed at the bkk US embassy, all new passports are made in the US and sent back to bkk.

so you don't think if i change my name it will work. at the moment my fiance is trying to 'make a deal' with a family friend who is a thai immigration officer. try to pay him to remove the blacklist as the officer who i spoke to before leaving suggested this to me as many people do it.

im a bit nervous of this just because i dont trust the imigration and worried they might take the money and not take my name off the list? what do you think?

try and find a lawyer in thailand to check on your status or you may be flying here again only to be sent back.

[lopburi3]

My daughter's passport, issued at the embassy in Bangkok, is blank in the machine readable section.

i was wondering when this passport was issued. my daughter's US passport from jan. 2003 is machine readable. even though the application is filed at the bkk US embassy, all new passports are made in the US and sent back to bkk.

so you don't think if i change my name it will work. at the moment my fiance is trying to 'make a deal' with a family friend who is a thai immigration officer. try to pay him to remove the blacklist as the officer who i spoke to before leaving suggested this to me as many people do it.

im a bit nervous of this just because i dont trust the imigration and worried they might take the money and not take my name off the list? what do you think?

try and find a lawyer in thailand to check on your status or you may be flying here again only to be sent back.

He did not say US Embassy so suspect it was elsewhere. Mine was issued and made at US Embassy a few years ago and is fully machine readable. Even visas are machine readable these days - no great technology required.

Don't know what they use for the 'temp' passports issued overseas now so perhaps it could be one of them?