Fingerprint scan planned for all arriving foreigners

[buksida]

Thai Immigration aims to begin scanning fingerprints of all foreigners arriving in the Kingdom by the end of the year, to catch known criminals.


Immigration Commissioner Pharnu Kerdlarpphon told Phuket Gazette yesterday that the project costing Bt342 million is not yet approved, but the agency hopes to introduce the scanning machines by the end of this year.

The scanners, to be introduced at every immigration entry point in the country, are part of the bureau's effort to prevent foreign criminals from entering Thailand. Fingerprint scanners were chosen over biometric passport scanners as they are better able to identify criminals who have officially changed their names and have passports under their new identities, Gen Pharnu said.

"We are aware that some of our target groups, such as Russians and South Koreans, are issued biometric passports," he explained. "But biometric passport scanners would not catch people travelling with new documents or those using fake passports.

"You can change your name or your appearance, but you can't change your fingerprints."

The general recognised that scanning fingerprints would not flag any inbound foreigners unless they had a criminal record in Thailand or were wanted by Interpol.

"But at least we will have a better system for collecting information on which foreigners enter Thailand, how often they enter and when," he said.

"Immigration queues will get longer, but this needs to be done. They already do it in other countries, such as Japan."

The scanners will force thousands of people to touch the same device. When asked about the possibility of transmitting diseases - such as MERS - the general said he was not worried.

"So many other countries use fingerprinting. We are not worried about disease transmission. As I said, it is something that needs to be done for the benefit of the whole country."

The general's announcement is in addition to a new policy to restrict foreigners from working in Thailand while on visa-exempt status.

Source: The Nation

Thought: Big Thai Brother is watching you ...

[Lung Per]

And the lines will grow and grow and grow.......

[Stargeezer]

Hopefully this will not delay the entry time too much. I hope to visit Thailand at least once every two years and am getting less patience as I get older. If you want to enjoy a long process, try
Vancouver BC in Canada. I have had long waits nearly every time I return from Thailand to
Canada, thankfully the airport in Calgary is opening its second very long runway this Summer and maybe I will be able to travel from here direct to Asia from now on. Even A380s will be using Calgary
once the International Terminal is open, or maybe starting this Fall.
It is Spring now and for once I am looking forward to Winter! Meanwhile I do have some star gazing to enjoy.

Stargeezer

[Roel]

I do not mind offering some of my time if this implementation really leads to less criminals in Thailand. Surely they will only catch the tip of the iceberg but at least they are trying to do something. They took electronic thumbprints last time I went to Malaysia. Takes about ten seconds.

[crazy88]

Checking the prints before they leave their home country in the first place might help

Crazy 88

[Dannie Boy]

Checking the prints before they leave their home country in the first place might help

Crazy 88

Ah, but that would be a contravention of their human rights and we wouldn't want to offend them would we?

[VincentD]

The fast lane in and out of Singapore for citizens and permanent residents uses a biometric passport AND a fingerprint scan. It is automated and takes all of ten seconds. There is an officer on standby for first-timers or anyone encountering difficulties using the system.
In my opinion, it would probably speed up the process, if anything.

[Nereus]

The fast lane in and out of Singapore for citizens and permanent residents uses a biometric passport AND a fingerprint scan. It is automated and takes all of ten seconds. There is an officer on standby for first-timers or anyone encountering difficulties using the system.
In my opinion, it would probably speed up the process, if anything.

Yes, all very well while it is in Singapore. Do you really believe that it will work here the same way? From what I have seen of it recently at Swampy they cannot even get the existing electronic scanning for Thais to work properly!

[chelsea]

Has been happening in Malaysia at all airports I have been to for about the last 4-5 years. Is done as part of the normal arrival procedures. They only do index fingers from memory and does not really hold anyone up

[GLCQuantum]

I'm all for it as long as they can implement it properly, get the maximum potential out of it (actually finding and following through with arrests of undesirables that turn up... instead of accepting any cash incentive to let them pass if they did find them) while causing minimum disruption to normal every day people.

Now, I'm not generally one to feel pessimistic about something but...

Only time will tell I suppose.