Foreigners' 'TM6' immigration form necessary for security: Nattorn

[NextStationBangkok]

They can issue smart ID card for foreigners with visa, we can show passport, just swipe the card in the machine come. 

 

I strongly recommend a separate queue for non-immigrant visa holders, away from Chinese chicken queues.

[alien365]

I probably sound naive but what's so bad about filling it in? I just see it as an easier 90 day reporting form that saves me having to go to the local office for a bit longer.

[LennyW]

2 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

I have also doubts whether the information on the tm6 is at all usable. They will not be digitized.

The cards are probably every evening picked up by a truck and stowed somewhere in a large cellar.

 

Supermarket trolley actually, seen it many times, i will get a pic next week!

[nasa123]

3 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

 

In response to criticism that travellers to several countries in European do not require such the form, he said those countries require travellers to apply for a visa before entering which provides all details.

 

But many travellers come with thai visas too.

Tourism, business, retirement, education or marriage visas. Follow logically the tm6 would be superfluous for these groups.

Maybe they should only split the groups at the control counters in : with visa / without visa. If hourly waiting times and duplicate data collection can be avoided, would be good.

Malaysia was finish whit this stupid paper for over 3 year ago, no they us fingerprint and pictures, and you get 3 month visa stamp in your passport in the Immigration on the Airport. And Immigration people smiling and tell you Welcom to Malaysia. Thailand are 50 year back from the Neighboring country. And why they want to know the income for 2 week tourists in this new TM6 ? it's totally sick.
 

Edited August 11, 2017 by nasa123

[realenglish1]

This is totally inaccurate  Americans. Canadians and Japan among other countries do not require Visa's They are visa free So i do not understand his argument 

Further to this argument Non O visa holders who live in retirement or go to school hold a visa so where does this argument go from there 

 

This is fear of foreigners not anything elses They feel the need to control everyone 

 

If you are a believer of what you say then Allow Non 0 visa holders to opt out of filling in a  card and allow them to go through Thai lines at immigration 

[Kinnock]

7 minutes ago, alien365 said:

I probably sound naive but what's so bad about filling it in? I just see it as an easier 90 day reporting form that saves me having to go to the local office for a bit longer.

The trip out of Thailand and the stamp in your passport is what helps with the 90 day report - the paper form is irrelevant.

 

I fly least twice a week, every week, on business trips - that's a lot of pointless form filling and queuing for zero value to anyone.

[Arkady]

A backlash from Immigration and from the Tourism Ministry at any break with the past was to be expected but it seems that Prayut really wants to get rid of the forms.  So they will probably go eventually.  If Thailand was in the position it was in 1927 and sitting down to plan an immigration system for the first time, it is pretty obvious that no one would suggest printing forms for visitors to fill in on arrival or departure.  Passports have readable electronic data in them and Immigration scans them as well photographing everyone. 

 

The strongest objection seems to be coming from the Tourism Ministry at the prospect of losing the questionnaire on the back of the forms which was only added as an afterthought a couple of decades ago and can't really be of much use.  The Tourism Minister should go to countries like Spain, France and the UK that have far more tourists than Thailand and try to understand how they have been managing without TM6 forms and questionnaires.  Surely there must be more efficient ways to survey visitors than that.          

[alien365]

7 minutes ago, Kinnock said:

The trip out of Thailand and the stamp in your passport is what helps with the 90 day report - the paper form is irrelevant.

 

I fly least twice a week, every week, on business trips - that's a lot of pointless form filling and queuing for zero value to anyone.

I thought the 90 day report though was to show where you live and that you're still there. The stamp in the passport wouldn't show that. Don't get me wrong, I think the 90 day reporting is a waste of time too but for an occasional traveler I don't see the form as being such an issue. For a frequent traveler though, no wonder you get fed up with it

[puck2]

2 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

I have also doubts whether the information on the tm6 is at all usable. They will not be digitized.

The cards are probably every evening picked up by a truck and stowed somewhere in a large cellar.

 

Also my idea.

Did we ever hear or read about the immigration catching people for illegally staying in Thailand - only because of the data written on TM6 ? I seriously doubt it that this "document" is needed for security reasons. Face saving.

 

The same is valid for the (nonsense) 90-day-report. Whenever did we read about a foreigner caught because of missing the 90-day-report. We only read when catching a foreign criminal that he has been in Thailand already x- or xx-years without such a report. They have not been caught immediately because of not reporting.

 

Bureaucracy at it finest without any serious consequences.

[puck2]

26 minutes ago, realenglish1 said:

<------>

Further to this argument Non O visa holders who live in retirement or go to school hold a visa so where does this argument go from there 

 

This is fear of foreigners not anything elses They feel the need to control everyone 

 

If you are a believer of what you say then Allow Non 0 visa holders to opt out of filling in a  card and allow them to go through Thai lines at immigration 

Yes, ... with reference to the passport.

[Ricardo]

" In response to criticism that travellers to several countries in European do not require such the form, he said those countries require travellers to apply for a visa before entering which provides all details. "

 

That's simply not true ! 

 

In the Schengen-countries, there IS no border-check, there's usually no border either, and no requirement for other Schengen-countries' citizens (who are the vast majority of visitors) to have a visa.  Might not ASEAN look at something similar ?

 

Airlines  do however have to supply details of their passenger-lists, especially where travellers/flights come from outside Europe, perhaps Thailand might simply require the same thing ?  It could all be computer-to-computer, easy peasy.

 

Time perhaps for a study-tour, to see how the modern world does these things ?

 

And time also for an end to this paranoia about foreign-visitors, when the TAT are trying so hard to attract them here, in the first place ?

[tomacht8]

7 minutes ago, puck2 said:

Also my idea.

Did we ever hear or read about the immigration catching people for illegally staying in Thailand - only because of the data written on TM6 ? I seriously doubt it that this "document" is needed for security reasons. Face saving.

 

The same is valid for the (nonsense) 90-day-report. Whenever did we read about a foreigner caught because of missing the 90-day-report. We only read when catching a foreign criminal that he has been in Thailand already x- or xx-years without such a report. They have not been caught immediately because of not reporting.

 

Bureaucracy at it finest without any serious consequences.

Yes useless bureaucracy.

At each border of Thailand the tm 6 cards are filled. Are they at all centralized? When, how orderly? By tm6 number, date of arrival ?, name?

Does anyone there really make the effort to decipher all these illegible manuscripts and transmits them in a computer? I doubt it.

And on the back is also only statistical data scrap. 

The income statements are usually exaggerated. 

As a hotel address is enough to write: Thai hotel, Bangkok.

[daboyz1]

I probably sound naive but what's so bad about filling it in? I just see it as an easier 90 day reporting form that saves me having to go to the local office for a bit longer.

The form isn't a big deal IMO. It's the hour long waits on arrival. Like others here I travel every week for business and it sucks coming home on a Friday night to an hour long wait at immigration.

[ETatBKK]

“For Thailand, the form is important as it is the tool for us to get and keep information about foreign visitors where they stay in Thailand,” he said.

 

it is absolutely TRUE that in some countries, you are not allow to enter the country without an address.  yet my favourite address is HOLIDAY INN :-)  it works many time.

[spectrumisgreen]

3 hours ago, Oceanbat said:

I think there would only be resistance to any sort of modernization or digitization of the immigration functions given the considerable lower manpower required to administer. Not to mention the reduced opportunity to make a little extra. In my view immigration is nothing but a rather large jobs program.

OB 

Lot of it about! Only got to count the sometimes silly numbers of people working, milling around, in any larger store, and it becomes clear these are, as you say, 'jobs programs'!

[chilli42]

They already take a scan of your passport when you enter along with a photo.  There is nothing else on that form that has any meaning than they are already getting from the passport ... unless they think someone that is up to no good would happily provide their real home address.  

[Briggsy]

It is all about the money.

 

These forms are printed only by the Police Printing Bureau (Yes, such an organisation exists!) and then airlines have to buy them. The selling price is many times production cost.

 

As ever in Thailand, think about income streams rather than efficient public services when interpreting announcements from government figures and senior civil servants. Every activity has to produce an income.

[tomacht8]

40 minutes ago, ETatBKK said:

“For Thailand, the form is important as it is the tool for us to get and keep information about foreign visitors where they stay in Thailand,” he said.

 

it is absolutely TRUE that in some countries, you are not allow to enter the country without an address.  yet my favourite address is HOLIDAY INN :-)  it works many time.

And under the indication: Profession

some of my friends writing (they are real pattaya fans) : pussy stretcher,

Daty expert, dr. threeholer or something similar. I think there are the poor tourism students from the first semester who have to evaluate the tm6 cards.

Edited August 11, 2017 by tomacht8

[thequietman]

For Thai passengers, the bureau is in the process of amending Article 18 of the immigration law to exempt Thais from filling in the TM6 form, because basic information of Thais is available on their passport. 

 

This just in ...................... the details are all in our passports as well ye pr##k.

[daboyz1]

I do see them asking tourists for proof of where they're staying like hotel reservations etc. Also, I've seen them ask for proof of a ticket out of Thailand. Both of which are irrelevant for long term visa holders.

 

 

[newcomer71]

Total utter bulls@#t. I wonder how for example Malaysia can survive without those disgrace of forms... 

[Thailand]

5 hours ago, khwaibah said:

BULL SHYT. Thats what computers are for. Come out of the dark ages.

You mean like online reporting and all that type of thing that they have nailed down?  

[ttrd]

4 hours ago, khwaibah said:

BULL SHYT. Thats what computers are for. Come out of the dark ages.

It does not help much with a computer unless you are taught how to turn it on and not to mention how to use it...;)

[Morakot]

Quote

Foreigners' 'TM6' immigration form necessary for security: Nattorn 

 

Similar headline in the Daily Mail last week, when the UK government announced they will be scrapping their Landing Cards next year... 

 

 

Plans to scrap landing cards 'undermine border security' | Daily Mail ...

Plans to scrap landing cards for travellers arriving from non-EU countries threaten to undermine border security, a former immigration official ...

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4770302/Plans-scrap-landing-cards-undermine-border-security.html

Edited August 11, 2017 by Morakot

[sambum]

4 hours ago, Oceanbat said:

I think there would only be resistance to any sort of modernization or digitization of the immigration functions given the considerable lower manpower required to administer. Not to mention the reduced opportunity to make a little extra. In my view immigration is nothing but a rather large jobs program.

OB 

But what caused the massive tailbacks recently at Don Muang airport and Suvarnabhumi airports? That's right - lack of manpower, so "cake and eat it" springs to mind!

 

[georgemandm]

5 hours ago, khwaibah said:

BULL SHYT. Thats what computers are for. Come out of the dark ages.

No not bs , you still need them to come in to a country, you not need them to leave a country.

it has to do with  declaring prohibited goods , but thailand dose not ask you about those goods . 

So in thailand I agree with you bs . 

Computers shoud do the in's and out of their country.

[Juan B Tong]

Who got the printing contract?

[jimn]

21 minutes ago, Morakot said:

 

Similar headline in the Daily Mail last week, when the UK government announced they will be scrapping their Landing Cards next year... 

 

 

Plans to scrap landing cards 'undermine border security' | Daily Mail ...

Plans to scrap landing cards for travellers arriving from non-EU countries threaten to undermine border security, a former immigration official ...

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4770302/Plans-scrap-landing-cards-undermine-border-security.html

Absolutely right thing to do. I wonder how many posters on this thread who are critising the Thai system realise we still do this in the UK. My Thai wife has to fill in a landing card every time she visits the UK

[Kinnock]

1 hour ago, alien365 said:

I thought the 90 day report though was to show where you live and that you're still there. The stamp in the passport wouldn't show that. Don't get me wrong, I think the 90 day reporting is a waste of time too but for an occasional traveler I don't see the form as being such an issue. For a frequent traveler though, no wonder you get fed up with it

The address on the form does not get picked up by the system.  I realized I'd been using an incorrect address on the airport form for a while (as I'd forgotten the proper address), and nothing happened.  It's just a 100% pointless form that ends up in a shopping trolley and then stuffed in a warehouse.

[Briggsy]

15 minutes ago, Juan B Tong said:

Who got the printing contract?

The TM6's forms are printed solely by the Police Printing Bureau. (Don't forget Immigration is a branch of the Royal Thai Police)