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The Big Issue: You have my permission to stay
First, though, it’s important to note the Immigration Bureau’s new rules that kick in exactly three weeks from today don’t affect 99.9% of real tourists. These folks can be and will be oblivious. Under the “Good guys in” half of the new immigration slogan, actual tourists will come in legally, have their holiday and go back home - nothing new.
But come March 20, the other half of that slogan kicks in: “Bad guys out.” It covers people who live in Thailand illegally or, in many cases, against the spirit of the rules. These folks have tourist visas or free-entry passport stamps but they stay a long time. They work, far too often in criminal activities, and then they remain in the country longer than permitted by the terms of the immigration stamps in their passports.
Unless they have been in a coma, these people already know the details of what will soon occur. The Immigration Bureau has run one of the best government information campaigns ever. Let’s sum this up in four words.
Overstaying just got serious. After decades of treating visa-overstay less seriously than jaywalking, there now will be real and lasting consequences.
The overstayers aren’t going to prison. Oh, no, it won’t be that easy. The author and enforcer of the new regulations, Immigration Bureau Commissioner Nathathorn Prousoontorn has come up with a more diabolical plan.
He has figured out what overstayers want and now he plans to take it away from them. What do overstayers want? Obviously, they want to remain in Thailand. So he and the computerised blacklist operators at every airport and border crossing are going to kick out those who have overstayed, and not let them back. This is the really new part of the plan - exile.
The banishment is on two, side-by-side sliding scales. The re-entry ban will run from between one and 10 years, depending on how long the overstay was. And those who surrender and confess the overstay will be on the blacklist for a shorter time than those caught by authorities making visa checks.
No one has the right to a visa, but there is an expectation of clear rules. Action moving closer to clearer rules must be appreciated.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... on-to-stay
