Thailand Illegal Immigration Concerns

Thai Immigration Police  Crackdown in North-East Thailand

Immigration Police in North East Thailand have announced the begining of an initiative on foreigners entering Thailand posing as tourists, who they suspect working illegally in the Kingdom, a  seminar for immigration officers was told on Monday.in Khon Kaen.

This latest crackdown is to also going to target foreigners on border runs and those who have entered and re-entered Thailand a number of times using tourist visas over a prolonged period of time.

After an wide ranging and thorough investigation into foreign visitors the Immigration Department Thailand has found repeated patterns of immigration irregularities, with some foreign nationals re-entering the country up to 60 times, but each only for a duration of between 15 and 30 days.

Further investigations revealed that out of those people who regularly re-entered Thailand, very large numbers came from neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia,Laos and Myanmar, with many working in restaurants, factories, and construction sites and the fishing industry

Immigration Police have now stepped up their operations all across all the twenty provinces in the northeast of Thailand and in particular in the areas of Mukdahan, Nong Khai Ubon and Ratchathani all  of which are widely used by people re-entering Thailand on border runs.

Officers have also been instructed to  closely scrutinise  each individual, regardless of what country they come from, in deciding whether to deny them entry to the kingdom.

40,000 foreigners blacklisted

High tech identity scanning machines will be installed at entry points throughout North Thailand and electronic processing will also be brought in nationwide. All data will then be cross-referenced with the central immigration database which a wealth of detailed information on the 40,000 foreigners who are presently blacklisted from entering Thailand.

Checkpoint data will also be used to help combat people suspected of smuggling or transportation of illegal goods into Thailand, as well as in assisting in national security issues.

Immigration officers were warned of the harsh penalties they can expect to face should they be found to be illegally involved in any corrupt practices with regards to assisting, aiding or abetting foreigners who enter Thailand illegally.