Border Pass Office opened in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai

CHIANG RAI: -- A permanent office for issuing border passes was opened in Mae Sai district here Monday morning.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Chiang Rai Governor Sumet Saengnimnual.

The office used electronic border pass issuing system, which could issue a border pass in less than one minute.

Sumet tested the system and found that his border pass was issued in 25 seconds.

Mae Sai district chief Wisit Sitthisombat said about 2,800 tourists cross the border to Burma at the district border checkpoint each day and the electronic border pass issuing system would speed up the process. The number of tourists grew to 5,000 a day on long weekends, he said.

-- The Nation 2010-07-05

is this for Thai nationals only crossing to Mayanmar?

ie Farang would still need to have their passport checked and processed before crossing I would assume.