Immigration
- Expats
What will happen to foreigners with expired visas after July 31?
Before you read further, seeking a definitive answer, we don’t have one. But stranded foreigners, who have been able to stay in Thailand via a visa amnesty, have an approaching D-Day – July 31, 2020. This is the sunset of the current amnesty for foreigners who have, through no fault of their own, been stuck in Thailand whilst the borders…
- Covid-19 News
90 minute Covid-19 test at BKK being tested
A Covid-19 test that takes about 90 minutes. This is a new ‘outside the box’ way at bringing people back into Thailand and checking them before they go through Immigration. The new ‘rapid’ tests were unveiled today at Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The new tests would be offered for overseas arrivals as the Thai government wrestles with the desire to reboot…
- Covid-19 News
Visa amnesty extension for foreigners “being considered”
Thailand’s Immigration Bureau is considering extending the current visa amnesty for foreigners stranded in Thailand. The Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesperson made the announcement at this morning’s daily Covid-19 briefing by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The Cabinet’s last resolution was to grant an automatic visa extension for foreigners stranded here to stay until July 30. The deputy spokesperson asked…
- Expats
TM30 immigration reporting requirements updated
The immigration reporting requirements for foreign visitors and residents have changed: the Immigration Bureau has announced an update to the requirement for TM30 reporting, clarifying when a TM30 report is due under section 38 of the Immigration Act. Here is an unofficial translation of the crucial part of the announcement for expats, in Section 2.2: “2.2: After the householder, owner…
- Covid-19 News
No Aussie dollars in Thailand for at least 3 months
As Thailand starts to poke its head out over the Covid-19 parapet and look towards its travel future, there is at least one country that won’t be lining up at Thai immigration any time soon. Australians, an enduring stalwart of Thai tourism traffic, are banned from leaving the shores of the land downunder for at least another 3 months. The…
- Thailand News
Immigration police catch 54 illegal immigrants at Thai-Cambodia border
Thai immigration police have arrested a Cambodian man along with 53 other Cambodian nationals he had smuggled across the border into Thailand. The arrests took place in the province of Sa Kaeo, about 200 kilometres east of Bangkok. The man, named as 46 year old La Peun, confessed to police that the migrants had paid him 3,000 baht each to…
- South Thailand News
Human Rights Watch says Thailand should free detained migrants
A significant number of migrants in Thailand’s Songkhla immigration detention centre have the coronavirus and the Human Rights Watch is saying all them should be free due to the dangers of the coronavirus pot the other detainees. In an article urging the release of the migrants, the HRW said the virus infections “spread like wildfire in squalid lockup” and that…
- World News
Border patrols nab 29 Thais sneaking back from Malaysia
Border patrol police arrested 29 Thai nationals for illegal entry yesterday, as they were attempting to sneak over the Malaysian border into the Sabayoi district of Thailand’s southern Songkhla province, mostly heavily wooded forest. The group – 18 men and 11 women – rode through forests on 15 motorbikes to avoid immigration checkpoints. They were intercepted by police on a…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket rolls out mobile immigration stations
In an effort to minimise mass gatherings, the Phuket Immigration Department has deployed mobile units to provide “special services.” The units are strategically placed around the island open from from 10am to 5pm. As a reminder, an automatic amnesty on visas now applies, until April 30, with a few conditions and exceptions. Not everyone will need to seek these special…
- Covid-19 News
Visa amnesty for foreigners – but conditions apply
“All foreign nationals are advised to closely monitor the Immigration Bureau’s website for updates, though the measures announced on Wednesday are valid until April 30 unless otherwise updated.” The visa amnesty has been announced, hopefully relieving some of the stress on stranded tourists and other foreigners that have ended up without flights or ways to get home. Many flights have…
- Covid-19 News
Thai Immigration seek visa relief for stranded foreigners
Thailand’s Immigration Chief Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang, is seeking cabinet approval for new measures to help foreigners in Thailand affected by the Covid-19 crisis. The proposal will be submitted to the cabinet for approval this week, he said. Cabinet meets each Tuesday. The proposals follow a difficult week for foreigners and immigration officials coping with long queues of panicking…
- Covid-19 News
Onerous new document requirements for stranded foreigners announced
Thailand’s Immigration Bureau announced yesterday that 9 separate documents are now required for foreigners stranded here to extend their stay for up to 30 days. New requirements include land deeds, rental contracts, even selfies of foreigners at their accommodations, even as scenes of chaos and massive queues at immigration continue unabated. A Thai Immigration spokesman defended the inconvenience on the…
- Covid-19 News
Stranded. Nearly 21,000 Russians struggling to get home.
The Russian Ambassador to Thailand claims there are about 20,800 Russian citizens stranded in the Land of Smiles. Ambassador Tomikhin says they’re desperate to get home. He says that most of them are stuck in Phuket and neighbouring provinces (Phuket is in virtual lockdown with the airport being closed to all passenger flights on April 10). Another 8,000 in and around…
- Covid-19 News
Nearly 300 Thais stranded at the southern border, paperwork issues
Around 300 Thais trying to return to Thailand are stranded at the Wang Kelian immigration checkpoint in northern Malaysia’s Perlis State. On the other side is Thailand’s Wang Prachan checkpoint in Satun’s Khuan Don district. They’ve been denied entry after failing to comply with the strict new regulations set by the Thai authorities. Thailand and Malaysia have closed their checkpoints…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand cancels visas-on-arrival and some visa exemptions for 21 countries
On top of all the changes announced in the past few days for passengers arriving in Thailand, today the government has announced an additional measure. The Thai government has now cancelled the automatic granting of the visa-on-arrival for 18 countries as well as cancelling visa exemption for three other countries in additional efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.…
- Covid-19 News
All arriving passengers now required to provide additional contact info
The Department of Disease Control plans to impose compulsory measures for all inbound arrivals, including notifying personal information and contact information such as mobile phone numbers and email addresses as part of steps to control the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. The additional arrival formalities will start tomorrow and officials say the new personal information provided by inbound passengers will stay in…
- Covid-19 News
Coronavirus UPDATE – over 100,000 Chinese are still in Thailand
This morning there remain 25 confirmed coronavirus cases in Thailand. The death toll has now reached 724 with a total of 34,878 confirmed cases in the past six weeks. Over 2,000 have now fully recovered. Meanwhile, around Thailand, many Chinese tourists and expats continue to circulate after being in the Kingdom for more than 2-3 weeks. Around 100,000 Chinese tourists…
- World News
Regional news source publishes smuggled photos from Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Centre
A regional news source, linked to the Catholic Church, has published a group of photos over the weekend slamming Thailand’s notorious Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Centre. The article claims the Centre has “squalid and overcrowded conditions in which inmates, including children, women and the elderly, have been forced to languish for months and even years on end.” The Union of Catholic…
- Hot News
Shakedown rocks the top levels of the Royal Thai Police
The upper echelons of the Royal Thai Police Force has been rattled by some high-profile shakedowns that have been ordered by executive order from the Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha. Starting with the former immigration chief, Pol Lt-Gen Surachat Hakparn, the PM has ordered him to “adhere strictly to the ethical code and discipline expected of all civil servants” Earlier this…
- Crime News
Senior police double down with their praise of the new Biometrics system at Thai airports
Police are doubling down with their overt support of the new biometrics system at airports. A high-level disagreement over the 2.1 billion baht contract for the biometrics equipment and installation, is emerging as the reason for last yea’s mystery side-lining of the former head of Thailand’s immigration Bureau, Surachat Hakparn. Ever since the introduction of the systems at airports across…
- News
Foreign criminals apprehended in Thailand in two separate arrests
Immigration police have made two more arrests, apprehending a Burmese man and a Chinese man, both of whom are wanted in their own countries. Thai Residents reports that Myanmar authorities issued an arrest warrant for Soe Htun, although it’s unclear on what grounds. He was subsequently found to be staying in Thailand illegally with Immigration police unable to find any record…
- Bangkok News
Chinese and Indian nationals arrested for fake visas, entry stamps
PHOTO: Immigration.go.th Two Chinese nationals and an Indian couple have been detained by Thai Immigration police in two separate arrests at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Thai Residents reports that the Chinese nationals were attempting to check in for a Cathay Pacific flight from Bangkok to Canada using fake Canadian visas. When airline staff got suspicious over the visas’ appearance and contacted Immigration…
- Expats
Swiss man nabbed on Koh Phangan, overstayed visa by more than four years
PHOTO: Naew Na A 52 year old Swiss expat has been arrested on Koh Phangan in violation of his visa conditions. Naew Na reports that the man had overstayed his entry visa into Thailand by over four years. Police tracked him down at a rented house on Koh Phangan, a small Gulf of Thailand island near Koh Samui. He had overstayed…
- Expats
Thai app will ease expat immigration woes and make 90 day reporting simple
The “OSS Foreigner” app is coming, and you will be able to use it for 90 day reporting, according to the Secretary-General at the office of the PM. Dr Kobsak Pootrakool says the planned app can be used for all immigration reporting, including 90 day reports, adding that typing in the required data and uploading a selfie will accomplish the…
- Expats
Immigration overhaul – TM6 disappearing and TM30 App being launched
“We made the decision last Friday. Within two to three months, life will be much easier for foreign tourists and expats.” In what appears to be a major overhaul of immigration procedures, dare we say ‘modernisation’, foreign visitors will soon no longer have to fill out the “TM6” arrival forms. The white and blue form has been a source of…
- Bangkok News
British Instagrammer locked up in “filthy Bangkok cell’ over missing passport pages
A British model has had a “misunderstanding” with Thai immigration officials after being locked up for 24 hours when it was discovered there were two pages missing from her passport. The model departed Scotland last Sunday for a flight to London before heading to Bangkok. According to mirror.co.uk, Lacey Montgomery-Henderson, from Glasgow, says she was treated ‘like an animal’ during…
- Expats
More industry groups line up calling for TM30 abolishment
More industry and NGO groups are lining up with criticism or calls for abolishment of the embattled TM30 and TM28 immigration forms. Most of the criticisms focus on the draconian nature of the forms, confusion around interpretation and the problems with inconsistent implementation. Trade and commerce organisations are saying it flies in the face of the government’s wishes for Thailand…
- Crime News
Biometrics identify 8 fake passports in 3 days
PHOTO: Workpoint News Thai Immigration Police have been lauding the success using their new Biometrics System at the airports. In 3 days, 8 foreigners have been nabbed using fake passports. In the case of these 8 cases, all the passports were purchased from an Iranian Agent. Immigration Police reported the arrest of the foreigners on September 13 who were using…
- Expats
Thai Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce call for overhaul of TM30 laws
PHOTO: Stanley Kang, chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand, spoke to the Bangkok Post about their concerns over the TM30 debacle Speaking to the Bangkok Post, chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce Stanley Kang, says the government needs to review the enforcement of the draconian TM30 (and TM28) immigration reporting regulations The TM30, and…
- Expats
Thailand drops 7 places in world’s best places for expats to live
PHOTO: Wikipedia An Expat Insider survey on the world’s best places for expats to live sees Thailand drop 7 places. The country is now in 25th place, out of a total of 64 destinations. Taiwan took the top spot, with Vietnam coming in second, and Portugal third. In March, InterNations, the world’s largest expat networking group, consulted over 20,000 expats,…
