Smart Card System For Thais To Be Introduced At Suvarnabhumi Airport

[belg]

replace passport use, yes, maybe in suvi, if it works, but useless in other countries

[aalek85th]

What country does want a ton of backpackers in their country? None. They don't spend money (compared to a normal tourist), they take up space, use infrastructure and are the types who will buy a bottle of beer at 7-11 (and sit out the front) instead of going next door to the bar and paying 30baht per bottle more. I wouldn't want them in my country either.

A tourist visa is supposed to be for travel, not for permanently living like a hobo in Thailand. So yes, Thailand doesn't want people here not spending money, like all countries they want tourists who spend money.

They think Thailand want a ton of backpackers sitting infront of 7 drinking cheap beer, same as other haters think that this is some sort of a everything-is-perfect paradise. Then they get ripped off by a hooker and a tuk tuk guy. Then they start hating. The place that had perspective to be perfect, is ... not. Same as every other country. They expect Thais and Thailand to do what they say to them to do. Just look at those retards in KSR behaving like everything here is for their amusement. This is a mentality of a average farang it seems.

What's astonishing is that these people(expats) left their homes (obviously they now think it's better there), live here, then complain. I heard one guy complain about beer being 60 baht in nana !! The guy is from US.. and complaining about beer being $2 US, in a bar.. with beautiful girls all around that he can get. For free with a little bit of an effort. Done it personally.

Moderators: Sorry for being offtopic, but sheer number of these thai bashing comments on EVERY TOPIC is just annoying. Ought to be some kind of balance by bashing haters.

[steveyinasia]

steveyinasia, on 12 May 2013 - 11:01, said:

Malaysia did away with the immigration form, you get your fingerprints taken on the first visit and after that, all very fast. To my knowledge, Thailand is the only place(in the region I travel) that collects information about your income.....maybe thats profiling for the scammers(joke). I live in Thailand by choice, working from a home office and travel through old swampy at least 30 times a year. It is way better than it used to be.

I stopped filling out that information last year - you only really need to fill out the departure and arrival card sections anyway, not the back. How many times do I need to write down that I am a high income earner that earns at least $80000 a year? I travel in and out of Thailand frequently and the paperwork is becoming annoying, even if familiar. Just do away with the forms already - everything the authorities need is contained within your passport anyway.

Thanks TomTom...I thought they were compulsory, so from my next trip....no more completing that area.

[Amras]

steveyinasia, on 12 May 2013 - 11:01, said:

Malaysia did away with the immigration form, you get your fingerprints taken on the first visit and after that, all very fast. To my knowledge, Thailand is the only place(in the region I travel) that collects information about your income.....maybe thats profiling for the scammers(joke). I live in Thailand by choice, working from a home office and travel through old swampy at least 30 times a year. It is way better than it used to be.

I stopped filling out that information last year - you only really need to fill out the departure and arrival card sections anyway, not the back. How many times do I need to write down that I am a high income earner that earns at least $80000 a year? I travel in and out of Thailand frequently and the paperwork is becoming annoying, even if familiar. Just do away with the forms already - everything the authorities need is contained within your passport anyway.

You reliase that not all passports have the same layout of information>? If immigration officials had to look through the passport for the information they need, lines and processing times would be longer. Having a form where all the information is presented as need makes it faster than without. Surely you realise this?

[MarkCyr]

Glad to hear they plan to phase out the immigration documents -- by which I assume they mean arrival/departure cards. I'm sure that 30% of the waiting time is due to newbie travelers who didn't fill out the card until they got to the immigration desk. Freakin' annoying.

How about a special line to send stupid people so the rest of us can get to our first beer by the beach faster?

[Maestro]

You reliase that not all passports have the same layout of information>? If immigration officials had to look through the passport for the information they need, lines and processing times would be longer. Having a form where all the information is presented as need makes it faster than without. Surely you realise this?

I believe with the biometric passports the layout on the ID page is internationally standardised. Aside from that all essential information from the ID page is in the two machine-readable lines at the bottom of the page, and the same information and more is on the chip.

[samran]

I for one shall enjoy using this new system - nice to watch the plebs in the other line wait. Makes up for all the times I travel to the EU and have to queue in the 'other passport's line while the EU'er zip by.

[bangon04]

Why a smart card? Extra technology and extra expense. Unless of course there is a need to pay for some extra "overhead expense and special commissions". I thought all of the newer passports have an RFID chip built in already. Those readers and a proper database software should be all that is needed.

Well they can't make the RFID gates reliable in Heathrow, they are closed more than they are working.....so they are not fit for purpose yet..

[jacko45k]

What percentage of international/departures/arrivals are Thai? Maybe less than 5%?

Anyway, it's never been clear to me why Thais even need to clear Immigration departing - airlines check for a valid passport/visa; on arrival I guess you'd need some sort of smart ID (national ID, chipped passport) to verify they are citizens. Thais can return on an expired passport or even without a passport. Obviously the Thai penchant for paperwork needs to be addressed, but no one in Immigration likes the airport job anyway: long hours, no OT, bad commute, no ancillary income.

Great idea, I will get one down Khao sahn Rd and it will save me a lot of time and trouble.

[jmccarty]

They announced they were going to do this last year, initially for Thai passport holders and eventually for other frequent visitors, I look forward to a similar announcement this time next year.

When they first introduced the automated passport scanners my partner was encouraged to use one of them when we were flying to Singapore, as there was no exit stamp on her passport she was sent for secondry examination, no real problem apart from the two long queues.

Singapore residents do not get a stamp in or out unless requested. Can't understand why they would ask any questions of a Thai national?

[techboy]

Oh, I just remembered. They don't want us here. No convenience for us.

Farang go home after 2 weeks. You give us all your money first.

Nope, you are wrong. They just don't want the grumpy, bitter, ugly farangs. The rest are most welcome...

You got it They come here and at first think that they are "it" with their new complacent life style and the spending strength that their native currency gives them. What a grand feeling of one-upmanship they have when they boast to folks back home! However the illusion of self-magnific eventually wears off and you might say that their true self-worth catches up with them. Evidently the reality is in poor contrast with the illusion. The true feeble virtue and cretinous mentality of these people reveals itself in that their solution to recapturing self-esteem is to debase the people around them.

[kannot]

Could they please introduce something similar for foreigners who live here? Like people with WPs or something?

Yeah, like introducing fast track for Thais will help with the enormous lines of tourists coming in... There are soooo many of them.

The Thai nationals booths NEVER have a line. Never.

<deleted>.

I always have my work permit on hand and use the Thai lines, never been denied.

would it work with a Thai driving license and officially married to a Thai (if she was not with you) I know it works when she is with me and with no driver licence.

Just wondrin like althoug lately found it pretty darn quick in and out

[Tomtomtom69]

kannot, on 13 May 2013 - 12:34, said:

Spoonman, on 12 May 2013 - 07:34, said:

EvilDrSomkid, on 11 May 2013 - 18:44, said:

Could they please introduce something similar for foreigners who live here? Like people with WPs or something?

Yeah, like introducing fast track for Thais will help with the enormous lines of tourists coming in... There are soooo many of them.

The Thai nationals booths NEVER have a line. Never.

<deleted>.

I always have my work permit on hand and use the Thai lines, never been denied.

would it work with a Thai driving license and officially married to a Thai (if she was not with you) I know it works when she is with me and with no driver licence.

Just wondrin like althoug lately found it pretty darn quick in and out

Maybe - try it although it depends on the moods of the often grumpy officials but if you don't have any other suitable documentation (long term visa with work permit or something) that determines you live here, they may still direct you over to the foreigners line.

[Tomtomtom69]

Amras, on 12 May 2013 - 21:07, said:

Tomtomtom69, on 12 May 2013 - 15:02, said:

steveyinasia, on 12 May 2013 - 11:01, said:

steveyinasia, on 12 May 2013 - 11:01, said:

Malaysia did away with the immigration form, you get your fingerprints taken on the first visit and after that, all very fast. To my knowledge, Thailand is the only place(in the region I travel) that collects information about your income.....maybe thats profiling for the scammers(joke). I live in Thailand by choice, working from a home office and travel through old swampy at least 30 times a year. It is way better than it used to be.

I stopped filling out that information last year - you only really need to fill out the departure and arrival card sections anyway, not the back. How many times do I need to write down that I am a high income earner that earns at least $80000 a year? I travel in and out of Thailand frequently and the paperwork is becoming annoying, even if familiar. Just do away with the forms already - everything the authorities need is contained within your passport anyway.

You reliase that not all passports have the same layout of information>? If immigration officials had to look through the passport for the information they need, lines and processing times would be longer. Having a form where all the information is presented as need makes it faster than without. Surely you realise this?

Many countries have eliminated arrival cards for everyone, including several in the region: Vietnam and Malaysia (apparently, as the last time I was there was in 2007 when they still had them). By scanning the front page of passports, the required information is neatly entered into immigration systems. Surely you realize that this is 2013 and immigration computers can easily record the information on a passenger's passport and input it into a format that records all the relevant information? Thailand has such a system and is in this sense no less advanced than other countries, the difference is the amount of paperwork it still chooses to process rather than just eliminating passenger cards.

[Tomtomtom69]

steveyinasia, on 12 May 2013 - 20:22, said:

Tomtomtom69, on 12 May 2013 - 15:02, said:

steveyinasia, on 12 May 2013 - 11:01, said:

steveyinasia, on 12 May 2013 - 11:01, said:

Malaysia did away with the immigration form, you get your fingerprints taken on the first visit and after that, all very fast. To my knowledge, Thailand is the only place(in the region I travel) that collects information about your income.....maybe thats profiling for the scammers(joke). I live in Thailand by choice, working from a home office and travel through old swampy at least 30 times a year. It is way better than it used to be.

I stopped filling out that information last year - you only really need to fill out the departure and arrival card sections anyway, not the back. How many times do I need to write down that I am a high income earner that earns at least $80000 a year? I travel in and out of Thailand frequently and the paperwork is becoming annoying, even if familiar. Just do away with the forms already - everything the authorities need is contained within your passport anyway.

Thanks TomTom...I thought they were compulsory, so from my next trip....no more completing that area.

Yes, I have been told numerous times by officials mostly at land borders between Thailand and Laos that I don't really need to bother filling out that information as it used for statistics purposes - so I stopped. The officials checking your passport won't read it and are not interested in it anyway as it serves no immigration purposes.

[Payboy]

Smart Card System For Thais To Be Introduced At Suvarnabhumi Airport

Couple of quick questions. Would it work as good as the EasyPass? Is there a max speed at which someone must walk through the turnstile to make it work?

[Tomtomtom69]

belg, on 12 May 2013 - 17:54, said:

replace passport use, yes, maybe in suvi, if it works, but useless in other countries

I don't think it's really replacing passport use per se, but rather, as a Thai traveler or perhaps later on, another eligible traveler type, you get to use a card that based on your eligibility status (passport, visa etc.) will allow you to quickly bypass immigration processing. It's similar in that sense to the system in place at Australian and NZ airports for Australian and New Zealand e-passport holders (and apparently a certain category of Americans too) where you insert your passport into the reader and get a card out of it to pass customs - no immigration officer required.

However, in the meantime I think a Thai/PR and other long term visa (i.e. residents) line should be introduced at all Thai airports and perhaps some overland entry points. Many other countries also treat non-citizen residents the same as citizens, by allowing them to use the same lines as citizens officially, without having to beg their way into those lines or ask for permission first. For example, I recall seeing a Singaporeans/residents line at Singapore airport when I was there. Same for Hong Kong.