Nong Khai Immigration launches auto channel

[webfact]

Automatic passport screening implemented at Nong Khai border checkpoint
By The Nation

 

 

NONG KAI: -- Automatic passport screening machines on Sunday were introduced at the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge border checkpoint in Nong Khai with the aim to accelerate the screening process to identify fake passports and people with arrest warrants.

 

Immigration Bureau chief Pol Lt-General Natthorn Prorsunthorn said it was the first land checkpoint where the bureau had chosen to install the machines, given that as many as 15,000 people travelled through the checkpoint each day.

 

The machines in the “auto channel” system consist of a two-tiered system, Natthorn said. The first system inspects whether a passport is fake and the second scrutinises passport holders’ fingerprints. The system alerts authorities if it finds that the fingerprints match with a criminal database.

 

The system, however, only works with Thai passports at present given the state of the database, he said.

 

The machines have already been installed at Suvarnabhumi Airport and have screened more than 20 million passport holders, Natthorn said, adding that major checkpoints in Songkhla and Sa Kaeo provinces would be the next recipients.

 

Lt-Colonel Saisaming Seewilai, director-general of Laos Immigration Department, added that Thailand and Laos should have a tighter information-sharing system given that the flow of people crossing the border had been increasing following the official opening of the Asean Community in 2015.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30316561

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-05-29

[webfact]

Nong Khai Immigration launches auto channel

 

NONG KHAI , 29 May 2017 (NNT) - The Commissioner of Immigration Bureau in Nong Khai and the Director General of the Lao Immigration Department have launched an auto channel to prevent the use of fake passports and intercept criminals. 

At the outbound Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge Boundary Post in Nong Khai provincial seat, Pol. Maj. Gen. Natthorn Phrohsunthorn, the Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, presided over the launching of the auto channel with Lt. Col. Saisaming Siwilai, the Director General of the Lao Immigration Department. 

The Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau said that the Nong Khai Boundary Post had been selected as the first boundary post to use the auto channel because it is a large international border checkpoint with an average of 15,000 people entering and leaving the country each day. 

This system connects to the database of criminals and it can immediately detect if anyone has an arrest warrant, committed crime and uses someone else's passport or a fake passports. The use of the auto channel will help speed up the operation of the staff with accuracy.

 

-- nnt 2017-05-29

 

[ubonjoe]

Same as the ones they have at Suvarnabhumi. Only for Thai's and those with permanent residency that have registered to use them. 

[diehard60]

my passport does not have a finger print.

[Sydebolle]

Well, it still takes the Thai authorities anything between 25 - 40 minutes to clear my Thai registered car with International Transport Permit (ITP); they still need, apart from the "Information of Conveyance" in duplicate, the additional "Passenger List" and the "Crew List". This results in the issuance of a temporary import permit (but used to export the car on a temporary basis) and if I do not return within 30 days - Thai-registered, Thai-plated and Thai-taxed car - then I am fined THB 10'000. 

Now how is this for AEC2015 and efficiency. The Lao counterpart at the other side of the bridge take no paper at all, punch in the ITP-number plate, a green "Laisser-Passer" (passing through permit) is issued automatically, signed by the driver and off I go - entire process takes less than 2 minutes.

And to show you what I mean, see the enclosed documents - I kid you not. A passenger and crew list for a car crossing the border (and I've done it more than a hundred times) - welcome to Thailand! In the sets I use I filled in the blanks and just insert the dates but nobody is reading the crap and you are still required to do so. You should see the queues on a weekend, when Khon Thai goes shopping for booze at 40% of the Thai price! 

And to close - I hold a permanent residence permit for many years - no way an electronic passing is possible. My foreign passport is perfectly machine readable with fingerprints and the works but not admitted in Thailand.