FM Surapong suggests 'photo visa' to stop criminals entering Thailand

[webfact]

ILLEGAL VISAS
Surapong suggests 'photo visa' to stop criminals entering country
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- Thailand is considering introducing a photo visa to keep criminals out of the country. "I will talk with the director-general of Consular Affairs about a new type of visa sticker to prevent fraud," Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said yesterday.

Recently 300 visa stickers went missing from the Thai embassy in Malaysia and fingers have been pointed at local staff. At least 14 suspects have been caught trying to enter the country on visas from Malaysia with the cancelled serial numbers. Hence, the minister suggested new visa stickers include a photo of the passport holder.

Surapong quoted permanent secretary Sihasak Phuangketkaew as saying that 2,000 visa labels in a diplomatic pouch had also vanished on their way to the Thai embassy in The Hague.

Nuttavudh Pothisaro, deputy permanent secretary, said the ministry sent the visa stickers on THAI to Frankfurt in Germany, where they were due to be put on a connecting code-share Lufthansa flight to Amsterdam.

The ministry cancelled the visas and other documents in the pouch on July 15, so this case was unrelated to the Malaysian theft.


-- The Nation 2013-08-27

[Pimay1]

I would think the scammers could take a recent photo, scan it and embed it in the visa sticker. Even if there were identifying remarks from an embassy on the photo these can also be reproduced.

[Songhua]

How does taking/adding a photo determine whether the applicant is a criminal or not?

Although some appear to have entered the country by less than legal means with stolen stickers, surely the only 'criminals' here are the officials who stole them in the first place.

Another knee-jerk reaction.

[rogerdee123]

This headline should read :

Thailand is considering introducing a photo visa to make it more difficult for government officials to sell visa pages

[Sunderland]

No, this headline is clearly a misprint and should read :

FM Surapong suggests 'photo visa' to stop local criminals leaving country

[Thai at Heart]

FM Surapong fires hundreds of embassy staff globally for being on the take?

No, pictures will solve the problem?

[lensta]

How does taking/adding a photo determine whether the applicant is a criminal or not?

Although some appear to have entered the country by less than legal means with stolen stickers, surely the only 'criminals' here are the officials who stole them in the first place.

Another knee-jerk reaction.

Thainess, no more needs to be said

[johnnie20110]

Rather than hold a handful of people responsible for a couple of isolated incidents, by all means, lets squander a billion baht concocting some nonsensical new method of visa issuance that is compromised within the first week.

Well done to Thaksin's cousin Surapong.

[Tatsujin]

Why is everything done backwards here???? Punish the criminals (the Officials) and have done with it. Problem solved.

[RickBradford]

Why is everything done backwards here???? Punish the criminals (the Officials) and have done with it. Problem solved.

Yes, but where's the money in that?

New photo visas means a big new contract for the company that prints them, and that means extra payoffs for the officials who give them the contract, and no doubt a suitable gift for Surapong at the end of it.

[Songhua]

Yes, the picture in your passport is the same as the picture on the visa. Therefore, you are you, and you are not a criminal.

[chooka]

Isn't the photo in your passport already not good enough, how many photographs do you need attached? You have a pic of a guy in his passport then a pic of the same guy attached to a visa sticker what's the point? If you want to stop criminals entering the country via legal methods then don't grant them a visa. How will this prevent a criminal obtaining a visa on arrival.

Edited August 27, 2013 by chooka

[mca]

How does taking/adding a photo determine whether the applicant is a criminal or not?

Simple mate

[Zolt]

The rationale being that visa stickers may get stolen - but as we've seen the visa numbers in question just get blacklisted and the the criminals in question nicely show up at the border to get arrested immediately.

More dangerous is when a corrupt official steals the stickers himself to sell them on the black market. In that case the visa numbers are not flagged. But again, I imagine simple cross-checking can easily answer this: If the name on the visa doesn't match the name this visa number was originally issued to in the records, detain the person. Not exactly rocket science and no pictures or additional work needed for anyone.

[Colabamumbai]

I thought that my passport photo should suffice.

I think he meant to say, if this procedure had been inplace now it may have been helpful regarding the visa sticker/no. theft. Immigration has a list of all the stolen numbers although it appears that one hundred or so people were able to leave, leave, not trying to enter the country with the visas, before the police had a list of the stolen numbers.

This is why foreign Embassys do not issue passports. They do not have them on the premises.

Years ago and not so long ago thefts of blank passports was common. The Baeder Meinhoff crew comes to mind as known for passport thefts from Embassys.

[ingvar]

Could'nt they just use the picture that they take of you at arrival and stick that in the passport where the visa is? wouldn't that prove that you are you and that you are not a criminal?

[jacko45k]

Isn't the photo in your passport already not good enough, how many photographs do you need attached? You have a pic of a guy in his passport then a pic of the same guy attached to a visa sticker what's the point? If you want to stop criminals entering the country via legal methods then don't grant them a visa. How will this prevent a criminal obtaining a visa on arrival.

You seem to be missing the point that a stolen visa blamk can be added to any passport.

If a photograph is embedded into the visa when issued, you can feel more confident of validity.

The USA and UK certainly do this.

As to criminals, I have always felt passport issuing countries might be persuaded to issue criminal records in the details when a passport is scanned in at the airport immigration.

[dalpha]

I never been anywhere where they consume so much printing paper as in Thailand. I guess somebody connected to the paper industry.

One thing I think about is what's gonna happen with the visa when ASEAN gets active. I guess they have to start reconsider may things then? Is it still gonna be possible to get visas in the neighbouring countries? Or do all farang need to go back to their own country? Is the visa still gonna be the same as now? Do they introduce more different kinds of visa? The list of questions is long.

[bangkokheat]

incoming criminals is not the problem, its the ones that were born here thats the biggest problem

[Nickymaster]

FM Surapong suggests 'photo visa' to stop criminals entering Thailand

What's wrong with the current method? Are you a criminal? Are you trying to create a civil war? OK here is your visa/passport. Welcome to Thailand!

Edited August 27, 2013 by Nickymaster

[surfinglife]

This is obviously a misguided attempt at solving what, sadly, is a serious problem in Thailand in general and in Pattaya in general. I have read a statistic somewhere that apparently as many as 50% (every second of us!!!) of Pattaya long-term farang residents is a current of former criminal!! Hard to believe....but then again a quick look around in most bars reveals individuals with not so bright faces covered in tats who obviously haven't spent their productive days as city bankers...

[Always18]

"Yes, far too many foreign criminals are entering Thailand and taking the work away from our home-grown ones....................."

[Rorri]

Really have to laugh at the stupidness, how many tourists arrive, everyday, WITHOUT a visa, I would guess thousands, we also have people crossing borders everyday, without going through immigration, eg crossing from Lao to Thailand via the Mekong. Unintelligent, media grabbing comments.

[Docno]

How does taking/adding a photo determine whether the applicant is a criminal or not?

Although some appear to have entered the country by less than legal means with stolen stickers, surely the only 'criminals' here are the officials who stole them in the first place.

Another knee-jerk reaction.

Let me break it down for you....

1. "Entering the country by less than legal means" = entering the country by illegal means (no need for spin, right?)
2. = knowingly engaging in a criminal activity thereby making one a criminal (the people who bought the stickers were knowingly committing a crime
3. a. NB. There can be more than one criminal involved in a crime (here, both the sellers and purchasers of the stickers have committed a crime)
4. People who engage in one criminal activity (e.g., entering a country in a knowingly illegal manner) have a higher likelihood of having committed other crimes and greater probability of committing crimes in the future. This is because:
5. a. Their threshold for committing crime is lower (they're willing to knowingly commit one crime so may be more willing than average to commit others)
6. b. They probably have something to hide if they need to avoid legitimate means of entry.

Therefore, having a photo requirement will make it more difficult (perhaps not impossible) for criminals to gain illegal entry to Thailand (ref. 5a and 6b above).

Stop thinking the Thais are so stupid ...

[p.s., the above logic does not necessarily apply to refugees and economic migrants who are generally seeking long-term safety and economic security for their families and who perceive no other options ... these are not the people we're talking about here, like the young Russian picked up a few days back]

[bigdod]

This is obviously a misguided attempt at solving what, sadly, is a serious problem in Thailand in general and in Pattaya in general. I have read a statistic somewhere that apparently as many as 50% (every second of us!!!) of Pattaya long-term farang residents is a current of former criminal!! Hard to believe....but then again a quick look around in most bars reveals individuals with not so bright faces covered in tats who obviously haven't spent their productive days as city bankers...

I've got a few 'tats' and didn't do particularly well in school....are you saying that makes me a criminal...?? I'd perhaps suggest that the 'city bankers' you refer to are most likely bigger crooks than most....

[theblether]

No, you don't have to laugh at the stupidity. If Thailand introduced a mandatory criminal record check on all visa applications, then issued a photographic id to show that the individual had cleared, that would cause mass panic among the multiple thousands of people with criminal records.

China runs mandatory criminal record checks on all applications and that's why they are getting stricter on applicants who do not apply in their own country. They are trying to force everyone to comply with their home country requirements which I reiterate, includes a criminal record check.

A simple command to every Thai embassy that a copy of the criminal record has to be provided would be easy to enact.

Obviously people could still show up under the visa exempt programme, but it would be easy enough to require a criminal record check for every tourist visa and other type of visa.

There's loads of you that moan about the rough element that live in Thailand, now an idea about making it harder for them to be here appears you moan about that.

Make up your mind eh?

[belg]

why not put an rfid chip in the sticker with biometric info that must match the rfid chip in the passport

looooooool

and stupid people paid up to 30k baht for such a stolen sticker where the serials have been cancelled

hope they catch much more

but how many stickers are sold under the table to criminals for big bucks?

time to check the personal wealth of each employee before, during and after they worked for an embassy?

[anon467367354]

how does that work with visa on arrival? does someone charge you $5 for a polaroid shot like they do in Vietnam?

the problem is not the people with the stickers,the problem is with the ones that sold them or issued them.

it could be the people with the illegal stickers had no idea they were stolen.

[tingtongteesood]

If they did it then it would take longer, cost more money and be a general pain in the ass for everyone. I hope it doesn't happen as visa's are already stupidly annoying and expensive enough !

[mickba]

Are there any problems with Cambodia's (official) e-Visa system?

Seems to work very well, photo included.

.