Immigration Gets Stricter: ‘Good Guys In, Bad Guys Out’

 | Fri 11 Mar 2016 08:37 ICT

CityNews – On March 10th, there was a conference held by Pol. Lt. Gen. Nathathorn Prousoontorn, the Commissioner of Immigration Bureau titled ‘Aliens Ineligible for Admission to the Kingdom of Thailand (Overstay)’ at Chiang Mai Grandview Hotel. The conference saw hundreds of attendees ranging from members of the consular corps, representatives from major international schools, language schools as well as businesses which employ significant numbers of aliens, along with members of the press.

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Today’s conference

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There are even immigration mascots!

In his opening speech Pol. Lt. Gen Nattorn explained the need for tighter measures in regard to immigration laws. “Thailand has 165 airlines flying into the country totalling 900 flights per day. Our borders with four countries are also very long and porous. There are 49 countries exempt from requiring visas including many richer Middle Eastern countries whose visitors often come to use our medical hub facilities,” he said. “A further 19 countries can get visas on arrival,” he added saying that this makes Thailand very attractive to many criminal elements. “We have very little filtering system,” he continued, “and many people come in and overstay while they wait to get into a third country, or wait for fake IDs or passports to be made available.”

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We have a few spare immigration stickers to give out if anyone is interested

In order to combat these issues, the new slogan for the immigration department is: Good Guys in, Bad Guys Out.

Based on the Ministry of Interior’s Order 1/2558 Regarding Aliens Ineligible for Admission to the Kingdom of Thailand:

1. When entering the Kingdom of Thailand, be mindful of the last day on your permit and DO NOT stay longer than the permitted date.

2. If you have already overstayed beyond your permitted date before the order’s enforced date (20 March 2016), you may surrender to the authorities at the Immigration Checkpoint before departure (land border, seaport, and airport). You must pay a fine of 500/day, but not exceeding 20,000 baht before you are allowed to leave the Kingdom of Thailand.

3. If you have already overstayed beyond the permitted date and do not leave the country before the order’s enforced date (20 March 2016), you will be fined 500/day, but not exceeding 20,000 baht and banned from re-entering the Kingdom of Thailand as shown in the details below:

Alien Surrendered to Authorities:

3.1 An alien who overstays more than 90 days beyond his/her permitted date will be banned from re-entering the country for 1 year, starting from the departure date.

3.2 An alien who overstays more than 1 year beyond his/her permitted date will be banned from re-entering the country for 3 years, starting from the departure date.

3.3 An alien who overstays more than 3 years beyond his/her permitted date will be banned from re-entering the country for 5 years, starting from the departure date.

3.4 An alien who overstays more than 5 years beyond his/her permitted date will be banned from re-entering the country for 10 years, starting from the departure date.

Alien Being Arrested and Prosecuted:

3.5 An alien who is caught overstaying less than 1 year beyond his/her permitted date will be banned from re-entering the country for 5 years, starting from the departure date.

3.6 An alien who is caught overstaying more than 1 year beyond his/her permitted date will be banned from re-entering the country for 10 years, starting from the departure date.

For further details, please visit Immigration Bureau website www.immigration.go.th

If this is all too confusing for you, then watch this animated video which will not only inform, but certainly entertain

Call 1111 with any English language queries to the Immigration Department.