Chiang Mai: 100 armed police arrest foreigners for not carrying passports

[ChoakMyDee]

I don't know what the problem is with carrying a passport at all times while out and about in Thailand. I've been here for 8 years and I NEVER leave the house without it. It's small. It's light. It's easy to carry in my front pocket with a zipper so it doesn't fall out.

You are in a 3rd world country. You have to think for yourself here. It doesn't matter if someone tells you that carrying a copy is OK; you know the rules change all the time. Carry your passport when out at all times and you will never have a problem. <deleted>. How difficult is that?

[BKKdreaming]

I want to pay $5 - $10 more when I enter Thailand for an official ID / Visa card with my passport info and visa info,

then I can keep this official card in my pocket and my Passport in the Hotel safe ,

Yeah I know thats too easy !

,

[jacko45k]

It's a good idea to keep a (reduced size) photocopy of your passport about your person. Technically the law requires you to carry the original at all times; but in practice a photocopy will do.

That's what I do also, since I don't want to risk carrying around (and potentially losing) my original passport.

But in the news reports of the recent passport raids in Pattaya and Chiang Mai, there's been no mention of whether those arrested for not having "passports" either didn't have anything, or perhaps had copies but not the originals. No mention of that detail whatsoever.

So, I'd say it's pretty hard to know/assume whether a copy is going to be sufficient in this latest "crackdown" -- notwithstanding what the authorities told us last year.

Seems a bit old hat these days when a photo can be kept in your phone.

[KonaRain]

I must follow this one..

Aloha

P.S. Palau has the richest Ocean life..

$10k average income.. A very nice alternative

[diehard60]

Yea know I have been here for over 25 years now and I have been asked to see my passport by the police only 2 times. I go through many police check points and they never ask for it. But I always carry it with me. And you should too. And don't say you are scared that someone might steal it from you. You should always be aware of where you are and who is around you so that nothing will happen.

[River7471]

Bloody hell m16s just to check for passports.

Police state or what?

They just had a serious bombing incident. It's good to know they are being more stringent, and making sure that those people who are in Thailand have a right to be there.

[williamgeorgeallen]

i have not heard an account from anyone who has been made to go to the police station. what happens, is the a fine before being released for those who have later produced a passport with everything correct. this is the most important part of this story, and of course it is missing.

[jeffreysearch]

Difficult to make an informed comment without all the details, but my thought is that recent passport checks in Pattaya and Chiang Mai might be related to:

Latest News:

• BREAKING Thai police on high alert over possible IS terror threat

Could be this is a proactive attempt by authorities to stop a problem before it becomes a problem.

Dont people realise .. Terrorists are invisible... they are a figure in our imagination at the time it is publicised in the Media.... they dont advertise themselves as so ... they have a passport like many other tourists... and they just act like normal people on holiday ... until they decide to do what they have have planned in their minds... Governments use this threat ... to undermine many liberties and freedoms of `The people`... to do what they like ... Anytime and Anywhere they want ! they really only know who they are ... after they stage an attack,,,,,,

[chiang mai]

There's a region wide alert in effect for ISIS members who are thought to be planning attacks somewhere, I'm extremely pleased that the Thai police are raiding these places and checking everyone's ID, even if it does mean interrupting the drinking sessions of innocents!

[puukao]

I am going to need proof from all members that they are not with ISIS.....from middle school records to 100 testimonials to birth certififcates to lie detector tests to 100 hours of lock up to see if they crack. don't worry, it's for your own good!!!! And then pay a fine of 10,000 baht so we can continue this....

enjoy your holiday, COME AGAIN WITH MORE CASH

kap kap, smile, kap......"I love this place!!!!"

[bazza40]

It's a good idea to keep a (reduced size) photocopy of your passport about your person. Technically the law requires you to carry the original at all times; but in practice a photocopy will do.

You are correct. a photo copy not save you as some found out the need to have the orignal one with them

Many people get a way with the good mood of the officer in fact the officer is violating the law by allowing to check you with the copy. and therefore copy or no copy of passport is in fact the same when you run into the real checks.

Having a copy of your passport is a risk one takes.

.

IMHO the risk is worse if you carry the original. Lose it or have it stolen, and:

You can't board a flight

You can't get an extension

You can't leave the country

You can't check into a hotel

You can't withdraw money on a bank passbook

You can't rent a scooter or a car

However, you can look forward to weeks or months of inconvenience getting the passport and your visas renewed.

[chiang mai]

It's a good idea to keep a (reduced size) photocopy of your passport about your person. Technically the law requires you to carry the original at all times; but in practice a photocopy will do.

You are correct. a photo copy not save you as some found out the need to have the orignal one with them

Many people get a way with the good mood of the officer in fact the officer is violating the law by allowing to check you with the copy. and therefore copy or no copy of passport is in fact the same when you run into the real checks.

Having a copy of your passport is a risk one takes.

.

IMHO the risk is worse if you carry the original. Lose it or have it stolen, and:

You can't board a flight

You can't get an extension

You can't leave the country

You can't check into a hotel

You can't withdraw money on a bank passbook

You can't rent a scooter or a car

However, you can look forward to weeks or months of inconvenience getting the passport and your visas renewed.

Using a Thai drivers license you can do all the above apart from leave the country/renew visa, obviously.

[tinat]

Bloody hell m16s just to check for passports.

Police state or what?

I better be careful they maybe lock me up for driving my wheelchair ! without due care !

That is an M4, not an M16 :-)

[AUSSIE BOB]

If one was to read into these recent two raids you could expect the next raid to be in another tourist hot spot like Phuket or Samuii. Can there be a link to the other hot topic about an IS threat in Thailand? Perhaps these raids are well planned and we should be thankful. Nobody wants their holiday ending in disaster.

[tinat]

The only times I carry my passport is when I have to go to Immigration, and when I take one of my bike trips. Only once during my many trips was I asked for my actual passport, instead of them accepting the laminated copy, along with my Thai driving license. They simply compared the laminated copy to the original, smiled, said "Thank you", handed them back and waved me on.

Why on earth would they compare your passport to the laminated copy of it - that makes no sense whatsoever ?

[brewsterbudgen]

Bloody hell m16s just to check for passports.

Police state or what?

They just had a serious bombing incident. It's good to know they are being more stringent, and making sure that those people who are in Thailand have a right to be there.

Not to mention yesterday's alert from the US that an ISIS attack was possible.

[bander]

RTP really doing a good job harassing foreign tourists. Wonder if the junta is behind this BS.

[chiang mai]

RTP really doing a good job harassing foreign tourists. Wonder if the junta is behind this BS.

What's with this "harassment" business, the police are checking the validity of passports and looking for bad guys, harass away I say, unless you've got something to fear of course!

Edited February 21, 2016 by chiang mai

[BKKdreaming]

Using a Thai drivers license you can do all the above apart from leave the country/renew visa, obviously.

Please tell me an easy way to get this Thai drivers license ,

you make it sound as easy as going down to 7-11

[chiang mai]

Using a Thai drivers license you can do all the above apart from leave the country/renew visa, obviously.

Please tell me an easy way to get this Thai drivers license ,

you make it sound as easy as going down to 7-11

It is!

Take your home country license and go to the Drivers License office, make the application to exchange it for a Thai one, confirm your address (residence certificate) take a colour blindness test, maybe also a reaction test, watch a safety video, pay 106 baht and you're done. Figure about three hours.

There's loads of threads on TVF about this, take a look.

[Chongalulu]

what is the big deal about carrying identification. some TV members are sensible and good idea to carry a copy

The Thai gov. are only trying to protect the Country. do you want to walk freely without threat of being killed.

so to those who dont like it i say go home.

The only people in Thailand, I feel, likely to threaten or kill me are the police or the army (and their gangster mates).

Statistically ,you'll find its Thai drivers that are your biggest threat.

[LukKrueng]

That picture, with a semi-automatic weapon, in the tourist zone of CM is sure to make TAT happy! LOL I wonder how many trips are being cancelled as I write this???

probably none

[Chongalulu]

Symbolically,the policeman is pointing the gun at his foot.

[craigt3365]

That picture, with a semi-automatic weapon, in the tourist zone of CM is sure to make TAT happy! LOL I wonder how many trips are being cancelled as I write this???

probably none

I've already read about a few....

[Mot Dang]

Perhaps we should all just sew Yellow Star on our clothes, as it seems thats the way its heading....

Yes you are right. It seems to be that nations have forgot that China is still COMMUNIST. China may have put a sugar coating on their image over the past years, but they still are a world threat. Look how they are militarizing the South China Sea for a start, much to the condemnation of South East Asia. But not Thailand, they suck up to China where-ever they can, kowtowing no-less, and Thailand 30-40 years ago was the bastion of anticommunism. Thailand can only lose crawling into bed with China.

[Jimbo53]

Totally OTT and frankly outrageous behaviour in a supposedly civilised country - Thailand is firmly in reverse gear and my wife and I are firmly headed back to the UK in a few weeks as a result.

Goodbye Thailand and we wish Thais all the best in their bleak future.................

It is very frustrating seeing this type of pettiness,which must be driving tourists to book alternative destinations other than Thailand to spend their money,rather than suffer harassment by the Thai authorities,which are counter productive,they may as well scrap the TAT,for every tourist they attract,the government will be deterring thousands from coming to Thailand with all the BS they devise,mainly by half wits! I am sure there are many like you,myself included,that have had a gut full of the Numpties that order these raids on tourists that are here for a break,and are considering pulling up stumps,and heading home. TIT.

[Yann55]

That picture, with a semi-automatic weapon, in the tourist zone of CM is sure to make TAT happy! LOL I wonder how many trips are being cancelled as I write this???

Not enough, Craig, not enough ...

The clichés that prevail about every country are particularly time-resistent. They come up all the time on TVF threads, showing how little use most humans make of their own brain and how happy they are to appropriate ideas that are not theirs. There are positive and negative clichés about every country, and both always have a measure of truth in them, while being at the same time ridiculously reductive.

Here are some of the most resilient positive clichés about Thai people : they're said to be gentle, laid back, tolerant, fun-loving, and quick to smile, which prompted the famous slogan 'Land of Smiles', used at nauseam not only in Thailand itself but by tour operators around the world.

When you read an article like this one and see the very strong image that goes with it, you have to ask yourself (as did you) how deeply it can affect the positive clichés, which in turn would have a domino effect on tourism. Strangely enough, the answer is : very little effect, at least not in the short term or medium term. In this day and age where image is everything, image is also killing itself, in a way, because there is simply too much of it.

When, during the Koh Tao debacle, I read over and over again, on this Forum, comments like 'the world is watching', all I could think was ... 'if only'. The truth is that no, the world was, and is not watching. People plan their holidays according to a number of criteria, and a 'knee-jerk cancellation' due to an incident like this, shocking as it may be, is highly improbable.

In the long run, however ... that's a different thing. The image of Thailand is affected, albeit very slowly and gradually, by this incident and many others where the xenophobia of not only the authorities but also of many Thai people is made apparent.

Thailand prides itself on its thriving tourist 'industry' (the 2 words put together always make me cringe) and there's no doubt that this 'industry' brings in a lot of money. At the same time, and especially in the recent years (oh yes, it started way before the present government), Thailand reveals its visceral dislike of all things foreign in all kinds of ways. People in power are no exception, no exception indeed. There's this pathology called schizophrenia, and you're taught that it happens to human beings, but then you discover it can happen to countries as well.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Yann55

[mcfish]

Hmmm.....another nail in the tourism coffin I suspect

This cracks me up. Millions of tourists frantically looking for a substitute country on the miniscule chance they may have to show a passport... W O N T Happen

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[Yann55]

Perhaps we should all just sew Yellow Star on our clothes, as it seems thats the way its heading....

Yes you are right. It seems to be that nations have forgot that China is still COMMUNIST. China may have put a sugar coating on their image over the past years, but they still are a world threat. Look how they are militarizing the South China Sea for a start, much to the condemnation of South East Asia. But not Thailand, they suck up to China where-ever they can, kowtowing no-less, and Thailand 30-40 years ago was the bastion of anticommunism. Thailand can only lose crawling into bed with China.

Mot Dang, I'm sorry but I beg to differ. China is not dangerous because it is communist. It is dangerous because it is China. The present Chinese system has nothing to do with the principles of communism as established by Karl Marx and everything to do with the Chinese mentality, especially when it comes to the question of territory.

Excuse me for saying so, but when you react like you do in your post, you show that you are just as brainwashed as the Chinese. You need to think deeper and understand what is really at stake here. There are two books that would help you immensely in doing just that :

- 'Mao the Unknown Story', by Jun Chang and Jon Halliday.

Best ever biography of the 'Great Helmsman', damning, terrifying, accurate, comprehensive. You will see that the 'Last Emperor' was definitely not Pu Yi but Mao himself. China never ceased to be an empire. It never was a communist country either. Mao just used communist ideas and methods (mostly copied from Stalin) to reach his goal, in Line with another emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who lived two and a half centuries before Christ, and to whom Mao often and explicitely compared himself.

- 'When China Rules the World', by Martin Jacques.

A superbly written analysis of contemporary China, with a thorough scientific approach and intellectual honesty that is not so frequent in the publishing world nowadays.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Yann55

[stephenterry]

Better to inconvenience people for a short time, than have some fanatic bomb the place. Okay, it seemed an overkill, but the world is becoming more and more dangerous. Thailand will not be an exception if terrorists decide to target tourist areas. They only have to get lucky once.