Fingerprint scans to debut at Thai Immigration to catch known criminals

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A bit disappointing really! now where do the bad guys go! Thailand as a haven will soon be but a forgotten memory! I guess it will be back to brazil!

Christ how naive. They'll simply pay off immigration same as they've always done.

[oldsailor35]

Where else in the region do they fingerprint tourist arrivals like this?

Presumably going to be checked against biometrics?

Do they even have automated readers yet? Doesn't Somchai still key the data in by hand. At least, once its done the whole system will be automated and less open to abuse.

They might even catch a few Thai criminals . kamnan po only hung out in his own house for 10 years. I am sure the other major criminals will just get caught at a border post.

Cambodia and Malaysia at least.

Do they fingerprint in Malaysia? All arrivals?

I don't remember that.

In 2011 I was in Malaysia with a Singapore grand prix tour. We stayed at the old Hyatt in JB in Malaysia just over the border and crossed back and forward every day, for five days.

On the second day I was singled out for finger printing because I did not look like the photo in my 2003 passport. I don't know what good that would have done, as my prints are not on record at home in Australia or anywhere else?

I used to travel to the US several times a year, but since they started the finger print nonsense I have not bothered, I decided to spend my dollars elsewhere. I probably give Thailand the flick as I live here now.

Maybe Malaysia are finger printing everyone, after the infamous aircraft disappearance.

Maybe they are not on record in Australia, but if you had a record they would be. So what is your problem.

[samuijimmy]

I have not bothered to read all the posts .... usual rubbish.... and silly comments....

Certainly going into Malaysia, by land at Sadoe, .... they have been doing the finger printing for at least three years... It's when they ask you to put your finger on a small scanner.... They also have a photo of you too!

[oldsailor35]

Cambodia and Malaysia at least.

Do they fingerprint in Malaysia? All arrivals?

I don't remember that.

I live in Kuala Lumpur and go to Bangkok every 3-4 weeks on business. Now after mh370 I'm getting fingerprinted on both leaving Malaysia and coming back at LCCT most of the times. Before it might have been only once every fifth time.

The fingerprint scanning is fairly quick - less than 5 seconds and usually the clerk is doing his usual stuff meanwhile. But come to think about it, the lines to immigration has been *much* longer nowadays compared to before but I've been attributing that to having bad luck having my flight arrive just after some flight with a lot of 'undesirables'...

Have you caught any of these terrible diseases that some posters are forecasting yet.

[Briggsy]

Wash your hands after using these machines if they ever arrive and are turned on.

[mojorison]

I have not bothered to read all the posts .... usual rubbish.... and silly comments....

Certainly going into Malaysia, by land at Sadoe, .... they have been doing the finger printing for at least three years... It's when they ask you to put your finger on a small scanner.... They also have a photo of you too!

Yeah let me summarise for ya, you've just basically repeated the contents of the 242 posts made prior to your insightful little offering. But thanks anyway.

[natway09]

Why do so many people on this site have the idea that they have a" God Given Right" to stay in Thailand?

As one who has been here a while I consider it a privilege to be able to live, work & pay taxes here, not a right.

To those of you who rave on about tourism being Thailand's saviour, heres some disturbing news. Tourism (based on overseas remittances etc) contributes about 6% of GDP. If take in the border trade & other nationals "living" here" we are up to about 9%.

Not exactly a high enough % to obliterate Thailands economy.

Yes, there are many things here that could be improved & things that I do not like much but I choose to stay.

The Thais don't care if I stay or go (except a few close friends)

Bottom Line is it is their country, like or lump it, if they wanna fingerprint, footprint, finger scan, eye scan, DNA, bloodtest,

it is THEIR RIGHT. Be a little more humble as their guest. or F...............

[oldsailor35]

Listen to this puppet..."other countries do it" or "it will benefit the whole country" It benefits big brother and wishing to gain more control and lock-down on people as a whole...You globalist-puppet. Who is pulling your strings to do this? Scum...turning Thailand into a military-state.

Wherever we go in life we come across selfish spoiled brats who do not like laws which they have to abide to.

Too bad, if you want to be here, then obey the laws , even if they do not suit you. It is obvious that you do not know the meaning of discipline. There are too many people today that think that they can get their own way and are entitled to it.

Grow up, be an adult and you just might enjoy life.

[oldsailor35]

Biometric passports have already fingerprints

Not UK biometric passports.

Unless you're including the thousands on the covers and pages from being handled.

Where they not talking about putting the fingerprints on the PP chip and there was an uproar in the UK over invasion of privacy/data theft about the same time the BBC had a report about how easy it was for someone to get the data off the chip and clone stuff and it died a quiet death ?

Might have been around the same time they were trying to make all UK citizens get ID cards and the uproar that caused ?....I remember it well, as I picked my new PP at the BE and the guy behind the counter said the next you come you will have to get an ID card and said to him, don't want one, he said well you will not get a new PP...l

And yet the idiots willingly accepted driving licences .

[oldsailor35]

Where may I go to be fingerprinted ? Glad to see this and thing they should use Facial or Eye Scanners. Whatever it takes to keep or maker Thailand a harder place from Drugs, Human Trafficing and Terrorist to transit. Only problem is they have no data base for Kenya, Nigeria maybe even Malaysia.

I think you get the idea, Jerry

Why do you wish to be fingerprinted? It would only help if you are a terrorist.

Edit: Maybe not even then. 5% of people naturally do not have machine readable fingerprints.

There is also the issue that many, many people actually have similar fingerprints.

Finally, the commissioner clearly does not care about diseases on the machines, or about people getting those diseases.

And i suppose you carry a bottle of vinegar to sterilise your small change when you get it, or do you use rubber gloves to handle money.

Edited May 16, 2014 by oldsailor35

[Thai at Heart]

Why do so many people on this site have the idea that they have a" God Given Right" to stay in Thailand?

As one who has been here a while I consider it a privilege to be able to live, work & pay taxes here, not a right.

To those of you who rave on about tourism being Thailand's saviour, heres some disturbing news. Tourism (based on overseas remittances etc) contributes about 6% of GDP. If take in the border trade & other nationals "living" here" we are up to about 9%.

Not exactly a high enough % to obliterate Thailands economy.

Yes, there are many things here that could be improved & things that I do not like much but I choose to stay.

The Thais don't care if I stay or go (except a few close friends)

Bottom Line is it is their country, like or lump it, if they wanna fingerprint, footprint, finger scan, eye scan, DNA, bloodtest,

it is THEIR RIGHT. Be a little more humble as their guest. or F...............

You think 10% of GDP is not really worth prioritising? Good oh.

I am sure Thailand will be happy to just give it up then.

[oldsailor35]

"The scanners will force thousands of people to touch the same device. When asked about the possibility of transmitting diseases – such as MERS – the general said he was not worried."

Upon further questioning, the General said, "Look, I am not worried because I will not be touching the device and besides this new procedure is aligned with our desire to stimulate more money coming into the country for medical reasons. It will add to the countries GDP in 2 ways. First, medical treatment caused by the transference of disease. Secondly and more importantly, Thailand will become the HUB of Finger Print Filings and cosmetic Finger Print Modifications. It is estimated that this new procedure will out strip the current income level for other Farang cosmetic surgeries."

Seeing as how you are obviously suffering from hypochondria, do you sterilise all your small change before handling ?

[HooHaa]

Where else in the region do they fingerprint tourist arrivals like this?

Presumably going to be checked against biometrics?

Do they even have automated readers yet? Doesn't Somchai still key the data in by hand. At least, once its done the whole system will be automated and less open to abuse.

They might even catch a few Thai criminals . kamnan po only hung out in his own house for 10 years. I am sure the other major criminals will just get caught at a border post.

Cambodia and Malaysia at least.

Do they fingerprint in Malaysia? All arrivals?

I don't remember that.

they did me last time i flew into penang. was quicker than thai immgration and the photo.

[david555]

Is Thaksin Shinawatra's prints on file ...

they are for sure on plenty 1000 baht bills

[Dogmatix]

Why do so many people on this site have the idea that they have a" God Given Right" to stay in Thailand?

As one who has been here a while I consider it a privilege to be able to live, work & pay taxes here, not a right.

To those of you who rave on about tourism being Thailand's saviour, heres some disturbing news. Tourism (based on overseas remittances etc) contributes about 6% of GDP. If take in the border trade & other nationals "living" here" we are up to about 9%.

Not exactly a high enough % to obliterate Thailands economy.

Yes, there are many things here that could be improved & things that I do not like much but I choose to stay.

The Thais don't care if I stay or go (except a few close friends)

Bottom Line is it is their country, like or lump it, if they wanna fingerprint, footprint, finger scan, eye scan, DNA, bloodtest,

it is THEIR RIGHT. Be a little more humble as their guest. or F...............

You think 10% of GDP is not really worth prioritising? Good oh.

I am sure Thailand will be happy to just give it up then.

It is important to understand that "national security" is always mentioned as a priority in official Thai discussions on this sort of topic. Large numbers of foreigners using consecutive transit visas to live permanently in the country are, in their view, people who attempt to fly under the radar by refusing to disclose their real purpose for entering the Kingdom or apply for the appropriate type of long-term visa. They believe that foreigners entering the country in this dishonest way are likely to be engaged in criminal activity or working illegally without paying Thai tax. Undoubtedly some of them are (or were).

Thailand has been very successful at promoting tourism and wants to continue promoting this source of foreign exchange income. Tourism is a business and in any business you want to sell the products that generate the highest margin. Obviously it makes sense for them to promote the highest margin tourism and eliminate the bottom end who are long term tourists on very low daily budgets who are unable or unwilling to obtain the appropriate visas for their intended purpose in Thailand. That is exactly what they have done through this move and it makes absolute sense from both the national security and business perspectives.

For those that insist there is no appropriate visa class for them to live in Thailand because they have sufficient private incomes to live without working, are not married to Thais and are under 50, this is not the case. There is an extension based on investment for those who bring 10 million baht into Thailand and invest or deposit it as prescribed in the regulations. If you don't have 10 million baht to invest, the Thai authorities probably feel that you are better off working in your own country than being a bum in theirs. Before you say that the financial hurdle should be equivalent to the minimum daily wage of 300 baht a day, ask yourself if your own country admits foreigners without even a lump sum of US$100,000 and with no visible means of support or a legitimate job with a work permit to come and settle permanently on consecutive transit visas without disclosing the intended purpose of their visit.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Dogmatix

[Jim walker]

So we can expect a few of the regular TVF posters to disappear for a while especially if the prints are run through Interpol's most wanted list. If it makes Thailand any safer to live in good luck to them with the scanning , all criminals should be locked up.

[Somtamnication]

A lot of Brits with their yearly poll deed name changes better watch out now!!!

[Bernard Flint]

I bet some farangs are pooing their pants

[ROGER DUNN]

they have been using this system in Cambodia for years,

wake up Thailand.

[trigger571]

For REAL CRIMINALS changing fingerprints is no biggie either. I know brick layers who don t have matching prints due to their jobs. If they would go the way of changing i.d. and looks changing fingerprints is not that hard. Ah well. Wonder who s SUPPLYING the equipment?

You don't really need much equipment really. A quick search on Google will show you how to do it with household items.

[Dogmatix]

For REAL CRIMINALS changing fingerprints is no biggie either. I know brick layers who don t have matching prints due to their jobs. If they would go the way of changing i.d. and looks changing fingerprints is not that hard. Ah well. Wonder who s SUPPLYING the equipment?

You don't really need much equipment really. A quick search on Google will show you how to do it with household items.

Thai police love fingerprints and put great faith in them. My maid couldn't get a new ID card at our local khet because they said her prints didn't match her records. So she had to go back home to her own amphur and prove her identity. My wife must have been working her too hard to wear her prints off! If you apply for anything like licence or PR there is a laborious process of getting prints from all 10 fingers from different angles and from the palms of your hands too, repeated 3 times. I thought they would ask me to take off my shoes to start work on my toe prints too.

[samuijimmy]

I have not bothered to read all the posts .... usual rubbish.... and silly comments....

Certainly going into Malaysia, by land at Sadoe, .... they have been doing the finger printing for at least three years... It's when they ask you to put your finger on a small scanner.... They also have a photo of you too!

Yeah let me summarise for ya, you've just basically repeated the contents of the 242 posts made prior to your insightful little offering. But thanks anyway.

glad I did not waste more time on this then...

At least old sailor35 seems to have made some sensible responses...

[northernjohn]

For REAL CRIMINALS changing fingerprints is no biggie either. I know brick layers who don t have matching prints due to their jobs. If they would go the way of changing i.d. and looks changing fingerprints is not that hard. Ah well. Wonder who s SUPPLYING the equipment?

You don't really need much equipment really. A quick search on Google will show you how to do it with household items.

Thai police love fingerprints and put great faith in them. My maid couldn't get a new ID card at our local khet because they said her prints didn't match her records. So she had to go back home to her own amphur and prove her identity. My wife must have been working her too hard to wear her prints off! If you apply for anything like licence or PR there is a laborious process of getting prints from all 10 fingers from different angles and from the palms of your hands too, repeated 3 times. I thought they would ask me to take off my shoes to start work on my toe prints too.

I have a set of those taken at birth as part of my birth certificate. I carry it with me when traveling.

Seems to me this finger printing thing once it becomes fully implemented should speed things up at immigration. It will take years but I see the time when all countries will do it and be connected by internet to check on them. A quick scan and presto no more proof needed.

What would also be a big help at immigration if all countries would enter their stamps in an orderly manor. Save a lot of thumbing through the pages.

[lostinisaan]

Yes.-

[kannot]

When will they be taking blood? how about a number tattooed on each visitor? a large "B" for buffalo etc centre of forehead, or retina scans...............meanwhile back down on the beach, anyone want a jet ski for hire?

[chiangmaicharlies]

“But at least we will have a better system for collecting information on which foreigners enter Thailand, how often they enter and when,” he said.

"Immigration queues will get longer, but this needs to be done. They already do it in other countries, such as Japan.”

I've just returned from a month's travelling in Japan and never once saw any fingerprints being taken going in, coming out, or during. Who invents this stuff!?!?

[Dogmatix]

So that means they might be able to catch foreign criminals who have been finger printed in Thailand who were deported after serving their sentences and try to come back after changing their names or on a false passport. They won't be able to catch criminals on the Interpol database because they refuse to subscribe to the service, nor can they detect fake passports on the Interpol list for the same reason. Theoretically they will be able to detect Thai criminals who have fled the country but they are likely to have paid off Immigration to let them slip in and out of Thailand on their legal Cambodian (or even Montenegrin passports),