Re-entry after deportation

[dcduffy]

In 1991 I was arrested and put in the Thai immigration prison in downtown Bangkok awaiting deportation because the US State department had voided my passport so US Customs could have me arrested and held in Thailand and then transferred to US Marshals so I could be sent back to USA for racketeering charges. I had entered the Kingdom legally, lived in Thailand for approximately 8 years and never did anything wrong while in Thailand.
I was married to a Thai national and working for Berli Jucker and Thai Tobacco firms out of Lamphun as a subcontractor doing/fixing/selling weighing equipment. My wife and I were members of the Thai silk association and operated Thai silk factories in Chiang mai and Pakthong chai. While at Thai immigration prison I was fingerprinted and a written notation of the arrest in Chiang Mai and my disposition was entered into a hand written log book at the immigration office at Chiang mai airport. No computer entry that I am aware of.

Okay now the question
Can I re-enter Thailand without getting in trouble with the new fingerprint scanners and such? I have dual nationality with Ireland and USA and can use either passport. I am married with three Thai children; we own a condo in Chiang mai and rural properties in buriram. While I did go to prison in the USA it had nothing to do with any Thai law violation or problem. I never broke any law in Thailand except having my passport voided after entering legally.
My childdren attend university in bangkok.

[dcduffy]

Kind of expected some sort of reply but i guess it is an unusal topic

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[Mario2008]

You will definably be questioned when you arrive in Thailand. Being convicted and sentenced to a jail term is sufficient grounds to deny you entry into the country. And given your deportation immigration is aware of your situation and will want to know more about it. But if you will actually be denied entry will also depend on the exact charges and how long since you were in jail etc.

In your case I would contact a lawyer with good connections to immigration to see what is possible.

[StefanBBK]

I think if you use your Irish passport you should be fine.

[ubonjoe]

I think you should check to see if you are blacklisted.

This forum sponsor recently made a post that for a reasonable fee they can do the check. http://www.thaivisaservice.com/

You might contact them to see what they can do.

[ubonjoe]

I think if you use your Irish passport you should be fine.

Why?

Immigration can and will do a name and date of birth search. Changing passports has not worked for a long time now.

[Thai Visa Service]

you can contact us for the check.

We need full name, nationality, obvious US, and your date of birth,(date,month,year).

Please PM.

We can not clear Black List, but you can appeal at Thai Immigration.

thank you

[Thai Visa Service]

I think if you use your Irish passport you should be fine.

No, if the name is same the data in the machine readable part will be picked up by the Thai Immigration System.

In case the name is different, due to a missed middle name, miss spelling, etc., that will not be picked up.

We are not familiar with rules of your country about name changes. Usually these changes will be picked up, sooner or later, by Thai Immigration.

[paz]

Can I re-enter Thailand without getting in trouble with the new fingerprint scanners and such?

There are no fingerprint scanners at this time. There is a project to introduce them, but is still to be funded and rolled out.

[Maestro]

I think if you use your Irish passport you should be fine.

No, if the name is same the data in the machine readable part will be picked up by the Thai Immigration System.

In case the name is different, due to a missed middle name, miss spelling, etc., that will not be picked up.

We are not familiar with rules of your country about name changes. Usually these changes will be picked up, sooner or later, by Thai Immigration.

I'm not sure but I believe Thai immigration has progressed to reading the data chip in electronic passports.

[thedemon]

In 1991 Thai Immigration did not have a centralized computer system. I'm quite certain of that based on 2 experiences.

Attending a wedding in Bangkok circa early nineties, I sat next to an immigration officer and had a long conversation with him. My recollection is quite clear because at that time I spoke next to no Thai and this guy's English was completely fluent. He mentioned the lack of computerization at which point I queried him about the computer terminals that were quite obvious at each immigration counter at Don Muang. He told me that those terminals were provided by the US DEA but not linked in any way to Thai Immigration. I found that surprising which is why it has stuck in my mind all these years.

Of course that is only hearsay but I did believe him at the time and backing that up is 2 separate experiences both in the early nineties. The first was when a friend of my Mothers was staying at my house and lost her wallet containing her passport. After getting a police report and getting an embassy issued replacement passport I took her to Suan Phlu immigration to have an entry stamp made. We were led to a small 2 storey building separate to the main office. This place was stacked floor to ceiling with cardboard cartons. We were asked the flight number and date of arrival whereupon the officer in charge of that place retrieved a stack of 3-400 arrival cards, removed the rubber band and handed them to me so I could search for this ladies arrival card. Sure enough, it was there and I was told to take that card to another office whereupon an officer stamped the new passport. There was no computer involved at all. A while after that a friend went through through the same process except that his arrival card couldn't be located. He had to go to the airline he had arrived on and ask for a copy of the passenger manifest.

Based on what you have said I don't see any reason to assume that you were blacklisted. In cases like yours, to avoid a lengthy extradition process Thai Immigration simply took the position that since you no longer had a valid travel document, your permission to stay was automatically revoked and they removed you on that basis. Even if you were blacklisted at that time, it would require that the information was manually entered into Immigration's computer system years later and that no errors were made during this process.

If I was a gambler, I would put high odds on you having no problems at all.

[paz]

In 1991 Thai Immigration did not have a centralized computer system. I'm quite certain of that based on 2 experiences.

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Even if you were blacklisted at that time, it would require that the information was manually entered into Immigration's computer system years later and that no errors were made during this process.

If I was a gambler, I would put high odds on you having no problems at all.

That is exactly what Immigration, in all probability, have done at the time the database was introduced, manually entered all existing arrest, deportation and whatever other record they deemed necessary.

Since there are ways to check on that, no gambling is necessary, and it would be stupid not to do it.