No change in Japanese visa for Thais

[Lite Beer]

No change in Japanese visa
The Sunday Nation

BANGKOK: -- Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul yesterday dismissed as rumour a social media report that Japan would again require visas for Thai nationals, as a large number of Thai tourists had exploited the no-visa rule by staying illegally in Japan.

Surapong said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had asked the Japanese authorities about this matter and the report was found to be untrue.

However, he warned that it was possible Japan would consider ending the visa relaxation for Thai nationals if many end up overstaying their time allowed to stay in Japan as tourists. He urged Thais seeking to work in Japan to apply for a work visa, as the visa relaxation only applies to tourists.

The foreign minister said that in the past New Zealand had exempted visa requirement for Thai tourists but later cancelled the relaxation after many people exploited it by working in that country. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not want that to happen again," he said.

Starting from July 1, the Japanese Embassy has stopped requiring visas for tourists from four member countries of Asean - Thailand, Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia.

-- The Nation 2013-10-20

[jalansanitwong]

The no visa requirement for Thais is very missleading. Japan and Korea immigration officials only allow entry to those they consider legitimate, Thai girls,in particular, are refused entry and sent back on the same plane to BKK or the earliest flight available.

If any high wage country gave easy access to Thais there would be no-one left here except a few bored rich families.

[simple1]

The no visa requirement for Thais is very missleading. Japan and Korea immigration officials only allow entry to those they consider legitimate, Thai girls,in particular, are refused entry and sent back on the same plane to BKK or the earliest flight available.

If any high wage country gave easy access to Thais there would be no-one left here except a few bored rich families.

A few days ago their was an article in the BKK Post covering this matter. It was claimed that in Japan about 50 Thais, mostly females, a month are indentified as overstayers. Those caught are fined a minimum of nearly 700k baht. If they do not have the funds have to stay in prison until the equivalent daily rate is used up, it did not say what is the daily rate for the fine.

[Soutpeel]

Those caught are fined a minimum of nearly 700k baht. If they do not have the funds have to stay in prison until the equivalent daily rate is used up,

Thailand should consider doing something similar for all the habitual overstayers

[JoeThePoster]

The other paper has a somewhat different twist on this story.

[noitom]

The girls go up to work the Japanese bars and clubs. Everyone knows that. And everyone knows that the "overstays" refers to the girls not Thai family tourists or high end elite shoppers.

[Pib]

The girls go up to work the Japanese bars and clubs. Everyone knows that. And everyone knows that the "overstays" refers to the girls not Thai family tourists or high end elite shoppers.

The girls prefer to be referred to as Trade Representatives. For some money I will trade you some .....

[Soutpeel]

The no visa requirement for Thais is very missleading. Japan and Korea immigration officials only allow entry to those they consider legitimate,

Not misleading at all,

A visa or visa waiver doesnt entitle anyone to enter a country, its always down to the immigration official to allow entry or not, this is not just in Japan. Just because you have a visa this doesnt mean you have to be given entry to country you can still be refused entry by an immigration official of that particular country

[soi41]

Poor Thailand.

No takers for Thai rice:

But it appears, there are still customers for Thai pork!

[ginjag]

The no visa requirement for Thais is very missleading. Japan and Korea immigration officials only allow entry to those they consider legitimate, Thai girls,in particular, are refused entry and sent back on the same plane to BKK or the earliest flight available.

If any high wage country gave easy access to Thais there would be no-one left here except a few bored rich families.

Agree with what you say.

Just to inform -re visa, Hull England do NOT give 0. visa on the day----posted now to London-processed and posted back to Hull for collection. Maybe in the near future this service could end. I had to get a triple entry tourist visa---60 day 60 day 60 day.

Sorry mods for off topic a bit but this is important to UK ex pats etc.,

[jcb2001]

Looks like Surapong has a little egg on his face!

Bad news for any Foreign Minister to have to face. Thailand just gets "No Respect".

[steveyinasia]

It would be a shame if others ruin this opening of the borders by Japan. Legitimate tourist will by disadvantaged by those not playing by the rules. My wife(thai) and I were lucky to visit for a week holiday without having the restrictions.

[Tomtomtom69]

The no visa requirement for Thais is very missleading. Japan and Korea immigration officials only allow entry to those they consider legitimate, Thai girls,in particular, are refused entry and sent back on the same plane to BKK or the earliest flight available.

If any high wage country gave easy access to Thais there would be no-one left here except a few bored rich families.

Thais can't just be sent back willy-nilly. There has to be a good reason, such as no funds, or a high likelihood they will seek work illegally.

However, I do hope that there won't be a ton of Thais abusing the visa free waiver as the minister correctly stated New Zealand was generous and then it was abused - which is why so few rich countries are willing to allow Thais to visit visa-free. Malaysia is OK but Thailand is still a step behind, unfortunately. Thais need to stop with this behaviour and just travel as tourists and then return home at the end of their stays. A few overstays will always occur as with any other nationality group, but discouraging large numbers of Thais from doing this is something the government should consider educating people on, for example with scare campaigns like showing the consequences such as jail time, fines and deportation and even exclusion from said country.

[Dork]

As I recall, NZ ended the reciprocal 90 day visa free agreement not because of Thai citizens entering as tourists and then overstaying to work illegally. There were some doing that, of course, but not in huge numbers. It's a small country and not so easy to blend in and hide.

The main problem was that quite large numbers of Thai's started arriving then immediately claiming refugee status. None of them were genuine but NZ law required that they once they had declared that they were "political" refugees they went through an evaluation process that took a couple of years during which time they were allowed to work and claim various social welfare benefits. It was just easier to end the visa free agreement with Thailand than to amend the law since it is practically impossible to reach NZ shores illegally any way other than by commercial flight..

[anotheruser]

Those caught are fined a minimum of nearly 700k baht. If they do not have the funds have to stay in prison until the equivalent daily rate is used up,

Thailand should consider doing something similar for all the habitual overstayers

Considering that the 700K is imagined and not real, perhaps you are right. Deportees are usually flown out at their own expense to their country of origin. If you are unable to pay usually your embassy will pay and then confiscate your passport until the debt is paid back.. This assumes you are not from Nigeria or somewhere similar. Immigration procedures are strict in Japan but straight forward. There are no people from Sri Lanka named Tony to "help" you out. It is all conducted in a professional if not somewhat sterile way.

[simple1]

Those caught are fined a minimum of nearly 700k baht. If they do not have the funds have to stay in prison until the equivalent daily rate is used up,

Thailand should consider doing something similar for all the habitual overstayers

Considering that the 700K is imagined and not real, perhaps you are right. Deportees are usually flown out at their own expense to their country of origin. If you are unable to pay usually your embassy will pay and then confiscate your passport until the debt is paid back.. This assumes you are not from Nigeria or somewhere similar. Immigration procedures are strict in Japan but straight forward. There are no people from Sri Lanka named Tony to "help" you out. It is all conducted in a professional if not somewhat sterile way.

Before posting you may wish to get your facts correct. As we are not permitted to post links to BKK Post articles, please refer to the URL below that states fines up to 3m Yen, approx 950k baht for overstay, if located and arrested by police. I strongly doubt the Thai Embassy would pay the overstay fines for their nationals.

There have been numerous reports of Western nationals arrested in Thailand for overstay & if unable to pay the fine & airfare home remain in IDC detention for quite a while, prior to intervention by their Embassy on humanitarian grounds

http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/e/archives/355

Edited October 21, 2013 by simple1

[bangon04]

The no visa requirement for Thais is very missleading. Japan and Korea immigration officials only allow entry to those they consider legitimate, Thai girls,in particular, are refused entry and sent back on the same plane to BKK or the earliest flight available.

If any high wage country gave easy access to Thais there would be no-one left here except a few bored rich families.

Exactly like they have been doing at Seoul immigration for years - any pretty Thai female will get pushed into the side room and interrogated...

[elzach]

As I recall, NZ ended the reciprocal 90 day visa free agreement not because of Thai citizens entering as tourists and then overstaying to work illegally. There were some doing that, of course, but not in huge numbers. It's a small country and not so easy to blend in and hide.

The main problem was that quite large numbers of Thai's started arriving then immediately claiming refugee status. None of them were genuine but NZ law required that they once they had declared that they were "political" refugees they went through an evaluation process that took a couple of years during which time they were allowed to work and claim various social welfare benefits. It was just easier to end the visa free agreement with Thailand than to amend the law since it is practically impossible to reach NZ shores illegally any way other than by commercial flight..

So what was their "refugee" claim based on? that they come from Thailand? The country that they so desperately trying to portray to farangs as the best in the world (and have succeeded doing so with quite a large number of them)?

[elzach]

The Japanese should have known what "they're getting themselves into"....or maybe that was exactly the rationale in the first place

[simple1]

As I recall, NZ ended the reciprocal 90 day visa free agreement not because of Thai citizens entering as tourists and then overstaying to work illegally. There were some doing that, of course, but not in huge numbers. It's a small country and not so easy to blend in and hide.

The main problem was that quite large numbers of Thai's started arriving then immediately claiming refugee status. None of them were genuine but NZ law required that they once they had declared that they were "political" refugees they went through an evaluation process that took a couple of years during which time they were allowed to work and claim various social welfare benefits. It was just easier to end the visa free agreement with Thailand than to amend the law since it is practically impossible to reach NZ shores illegally any way other than by commercial flight..

So what was their "refugee" claim based on? that they come from Thailand? The country that they so desperately trying to portray to farangs as the best in the world (and have succeeded doing so with quite a large number of them)?

As an NZ citizen I was interested in this post. The details of the claims for refugee status and the review of the case is at the URL below. It appears it was a test case as 285 other Thais submitted very similar applications, apparently they were all represented by the same immigration "consultant"

http://www.refugee.org.nz/Fulltext/72752-01.htm