Extra Arrival Form at Airport (Men Only)

[Konini]

Apologies if this has already been covered, we've been away.

On arriving at CNX on Monday evening, there was a young lady standing at the bottom of the escalator leading into the immigration hall with a crowd around her (and some panic-stricken faces from those on the escalator about to bump into the throng) handing out a photocopied page wanting name, passport, address - exactly the same things that are on the arrival card, but not handed out on the plane along with the arrival card.

Anyway, handing the form out to people waiting in the queue would be a lot better than having an accident waiting to happen. The men both in front of and behind us didn't take a form, perhaps didn't think it was anything to do with them and were allowed to complete it at the desk with the rest of those in the queue waiting.

Presumably to do with the recent bombing; as we all know, women don't do things like that so no need for us to complete the form.

[peterjackson]

It must be a very new requirement. Arrived back into both BKK and CNX within the last month, with no additional form to complete.

Surely, even if using the 'logic' men only do bad things, are they taking it even further and suggesting 'only men arriving into CNX' do bad things?

If this was a requirement, surely all border entry points would have it as a requirement?

[khwaibah]

Bin it.

[northernjohn]

Arrived back after the bombings. Saw nothing different.

[NancyL]

I have a sense that the directives from "on high" change at a moment's notice and often aren't very well thought out. Probably someone finally had the courage to point out to whomever gave the order to collect this information from all male arriving passengers that it was already on the arrival card.

I was involved in a project once with a high official and he had his staff doing something that was basically "re-inventing the wheel". I pointed that out to him in a meeting, bringing printouts from the internet to show him what he'd ordered his staff to do was already readily available on-line, only better. I asked the staff if they knew about this material too and they said yes. I asked why they hadn't pointed it out to the boss rather than spend hours doing something that basically could be downloaded. They said because he never asked. He just told them to go do the project, so they did it the way he told them, rather than suggest he look at what was already available as public domain material on the internet.

[sappersrest]

If you read it carefully it is an undertaking that you will lift the toilet seat before using it.

[Oscar2]

after all these years and alarms, the wife was finally required to empty the contents of her purse for examination by a latex-gloved gent, as well as having her body gone over with the "sensor wand" at Central Festival the other day. they just let me through with no wand....

so much for the "only men do bad things" theory.

on another note, i was at the P.O. yesterday with a large package and i had to wait while they x-rayed it and ran it through some type of sensor...

[LivinLOS]

on another note, i was at the P.O. yesterday with a large package and i had to wait while they x-rayed it and ran it through some type of sensor...

I am told that a spike in drug postage and even line and facebook groups to deal drugs via postal has spiked.. And this in turn has lead to increased scanning of postal packages.

[scottiejohn]

Arrived CNX yesterday (Tue 29 Sept mid afternoon) no sign of any such form/person etc!

[brommers]

I also had it is form nonsense when I arrived from Singapore 2 weeks ago. Filled the damn thing in but did not hand it with my passport & arrival/departure card. After much looking at the computer screen and a lot of key pressing I was given my passport back along with a short lecture on getting my visa extension in June next year. I have been doing this for a decade and really don't know what he thought he was contributing to my life! I then asked him if he wanted the mystery form and he took it without even glancing at the content. Seems like a totally nonsensical time waster of an exercise in futility.

[trainman34014]

Came through last evening...no such paper handed out.

[millwall_fan]

...something about <deleted> and elbows....

[Lizard2010]

I had a similar thing just the other week

When arriving from KL at Don Muang airport

Was told staff in KL di not hand out the forms to cabin crew

[CMfoodie]

Happened to us on Sunday - delayed getting through by 30 minutes.Chinese flights at same time.... nightmare. Immigration guy took paper and tossed it aside. Did not even glance at it.

All because the alleged bomber came and went through the border at Cambodia but after bribing officials 20,000 baht for every entry. How is this going to resolve anything?

Where do they store all this paper? What a waste of trees.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Chiang Mai is already hyper annoying to arrive at internationally. Also that every single passenger has to queue up and get their bags X-rayed.

In Bangkok I always walk straight through.

It's actually a reason to avoid going through customs in CNX even if it means another check-in in Bangkok.

[Konini]

Arrived CNX yesterday (Tue 29 Sept mid afternoon) no sign of any such form/person etc!

It's a good thing that they've stopped it I think, as I said it was the same information as the landing card and was men only. Perhaps they saw the futility of it.

The worst/funniest part was that the lady handing the forms out was standing right in front of the escalator - a flight from China had arrived just minutes before or after us, many ignored her and the rest crowded around her waiting on some explanation or assistance from her, neither of which were forthcoming; I asked why and she didn't answer (very politely of course).

[Konini]

I also had it is form nonsense when I arrived from Singapore 2 weeks ago. Filled the damn thing in but did not hand it with my passport & arrival/departure card. After much looking at the computer screen and a lot of key pressing I was given my passport back along with a short lecture on getting my visa extension in June next year. I have been doing this for a decade and really don't know what he thought he was contributing to my life! I then asked him if he wanted the mystery form and he took it without even glancing at the content. Seems like a totally nonsensical time waster of an exercise in futility.

After doing the key pressing and screen contemplation for a good 2 minutes, the officer asked Mr K for his return ticket. When he pointed out that he doesn't have one as he has an O-A visa, said officer then told him the wrong visa number was written on the landing card - I know this is definitely not correct because I always fill in both of our landing cards and I have written the visa number at the bottom of the page in the passport because the handwritten number is a bit hard to see (ink is the same colour as the stamp) and that particular number has been used on 4 landing cards prior to this one. I remembered the last three numbers of what he was told to write and checked it later - it was an old double entry tourist visa issued mid 2014 in Hull. Not our problem (hopefully).

Crackdowns are fine, a bit of a nuisance but understandable if there is a good enough reason for them, but if you're going to crack down, at least crack down properly.

[Konini]

Happened to us on Sunday - delayed getting through by 30 minutes.Chinese flights at same time.... nightmare. Immigration guy took paper and tossed it aside. Did not even glance at it.

All because the alleged bomber came and went through the border at Cambodia but after bribing officials 20,000 baht for every entry. How is this going to resolve anything?

Where do they store all this paper? What a waste of trees.

Has this been proven? Not being sarcastic, I'm actually out of the loop a bit. If it is proven, is any action being taken against the individual officers who stamped them in? Impossible to say 'It wasn't me' as the officer would be logged into the system and it is all very traceable. (Just had a thought that the entries may have been without any passport at all and coming in through the back door which is more difficult to prove).

[Srikcir]

Happened to us on Sunday - delayed getting through by 30 minutes.Chinese flights at same time.... nightmare. Immigration guy took paper and tossed it aside. Did not even glance at it.

All because the alleged bomber came and went through the border at Cambodia but after bribing officials 20,000 baht for every entry. How is this going to resolve anything?

Where do they store all this paper? What a waste of trees.

Has this been proven? Not being sarcastic, I'm actually out of the loop a bit. If it is proven, is any action being taken against the individual officers who stamped them in? Impossible to say 'It wasn't me' as the officer would be logged into the system and it is all very traceable. (Just had a thought that the entries may have been without any passport at all and coming in through the back door which is more difficult to prove).

Mostly unconfirmed reports but:

"Thailand police chief, Somyot Pumpanmuang revealed that Bangkok bomb suspect, Adem Karadag, had bribed his way into Thailand paying approximately 20,000 THB to enter using a fake passport."

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/855508-reports-thai-cambo-border-check-points-closed-to-visa-runners-with-immediate-effect/

Tip of the iceberg?

[Milkmanmanmill]

I went through Satun border earlier this year 4 days Penang on the way back in they gave me greif I never checkedd out.The officer couldnt see the stamp I could and signiture He checked back dep.arr. card shouted at his mate for not stamping it hard enough.

All dep.arr. cards are traceable if in the system. They know who allowed fake passports in. The photo that is stored shows the people behind you as well at check in.Thais never get over that 14 year old mentality regardless of what the job is. They have the know how but have no idea how to use it.

[Konini]

Mostly unconfirmed reports but:

"Thailand police chief, Somyot Pumpanmuang revealed that Bangkok bomb suspect, Adem Karadag, had bribed his way into Thailand paying approximately 20,000 THB to enter using a fake passport."

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/855508-reports-thai-cambo-border-check-points-closed-to-visa-runners-with-immediate-effect/

Tip of the iceberg?

Undoubtedly, but if they used a passport hopefully it will be on the system and whoever it was (or were) taking the bribe will be in the cross hairs.

From little things, big things grow.

[Konini]

I went through Satun border earlier this year 4 days Penang on the way back in they gave me greif I never checkedd out.The officer couldnt see the stamp I could and signiture He checked back dep.arr. card shouted at his mate for not stamping it hard enough.

All dep.arr. cards are traceable if in the system. They know who allowed fake passports in. The photo that is stored shows the people behind you as well at check in.Thais never get over that 14 year old mentality regardless of what the job is. They have the know how but have no idea how to use it.

I suppose if the passport was fake, the officer could have just pretended to stamp and take the photograph. If I were corrupt, I'm smart enough that I wouldn't leave a trail, but not everyone thinks ahead - especially for something which it appears might be endemic and long standing.

How would that conversation go? It would have to be set up in advance, surely? You couldn't just hand over your passport to a random officer with 20,000 inside. Meaning, if true, that there must be some organisation behind it.

It's a bit scary really.

[LindsayBKK]

It's called 'Creative Inertia': the tendency of a creator at work to stay at work unless allowing an outside force to act upon them. Or, an artist at rest to stay at rest unless applying their will as an outside force.

[maidee]

i hope it is only for WHITE ARABS

[FinChin67]

Why not give an armband for all arriving muslims... ?

Edited October 1, 2015 by FinChin67

[steve73]

I thought the new form was a waiver absolving the <deleted> from any losses incurred through being scammed by middle-aged hookers.....

[hawker9000]

[connda]

We're all considered "National Security Risks" - we implicitly (and now explicitly it seems) mischievous foreign men. Which is exactly why farang males married to Thai women are treated differently than farang women marriage to Thai males. We don't have the same rights because of a bill passed in the Thai Parliament declaring us "national security risks". You can source it if you dig deep enough into the Thai Visa archives. That's where I originally read it. After reading it, I think my next words were - "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot".

I told my wife if the xenophobic discrimination ever gets bad enough, prepared to "migrate" (immigrate isn't a proper PC term anymore - it's migrate now, Lmao. You know...like birds, whales, and lemmings). But for the time being, I can live with it - simply a nuisance at the moment. Like a typical farang I've already gotten pissed off and voiced my opinion, primarily on the CNX formum and targeted at the abject stupidity that tends to be the norm now. But also in typical farang fashion, after blowing off steam I'm pretty well over it. Unlike Thais who hold it in then go nuclear.

Edited October 1, 2015 by connda

[connda]

Anybody even bother to check the credentials of folks handing out the paperwork?

[meltingpot2015]

This form will solve ALL of Thailand's problems.