Thailand to strictly scrutinize foreign visitors under visa exemption scheme
Thailand’s Immigration Bureau has unveiled a series of stricter visa-run regulations. They tend to intensify its scrutiny of foreigners who repeatedly enter and exit the country under visa exemption. The measure has been taken in a bid to stamp out abuse of the system. It will help fight cybercrime and other illicit activity, officials indicated.
According to bureau guidelines, travelers who use visa-free entry more than twice without a “valid justification” may now be denied entry. Immigration officers have been instructed to flag entries that resemble visa-runs. As an example, foreign nationals whose stays nearly always max out the permitted duration, or those who exit to a neighboring country (not their home country) for just a few days before returning.
In addition, the Immigration Bureau has ordered more careful reviews of visa-extension applications. For now, visa-free stay are permitted officially for a total of 60 days + an extension of 30 days to be asked at local immigration offices.
Overstays, illegal work and activities under strict monitoring
Provincial offices must now closely examine requests and may revoke extensions if they detect a pattern of misuse. From now on, tourist visas will face limitations. Under the updated system, reports indicate that only two extensions are permitted. The first is still up to 30 days. However, the second is now limited to just 7 days.
The crackdown also tightly targets overstays. Immigration units nationwide have been told to intensify operations to identify and deport foreign nationals who remain in violation of their permitted stay. The immigration bureau has pledged to publish regular reports on how many over-stayers are removed.
Other rules address individuals tied to high-risk border zones and potentially banned for scam operations. They will now be blocked from entering.
Internally, immigration officers are also urged to use a variety of data sources to assess travelers’ patterns: comparing entry/exit records, arrival cards or house-registration reports (Section 38), and information shared with other agencies.
These red-flag indicators — frequent in-and-out travel, stays that always fill their maximum allowable duration, and limited time back in a “home country” — are explicitly named in new internal directives, report local media outlets.
Authorities however stress that these measures are not meant to discourage tourism to Thailand. But they should ensure that the system is not exploited by people with bad intentions...
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