Writing on local internet forums, tourists say the re-entry ban is being applied at the main Aranyaprathet crossing for Poipet in Cambodia in addition to those at Ban Pakard and Ban Laem. Other posters say the same restrictions are in force at border crossings with Myanmar on the opposite side of the country.
Foreigners without visas utilise these border crossings to extend their stays by getting visas on arrival. Depending on their countries of origin, they are given another 15 or 30 days’ stay. Large numbers of long-stay visitors use this method to prolong their stays in Thailand.
The unnamed Thai immigration officer said the division was using existing legislation to bar perpetual visa-runs, but would now be enforcing the rules more stringently. He noted that immigration officers were now quizzing people who entered overland about where they planned to stay and what they would be doing in-country.
As a codicil, the officer noted that people who were refused entry would be told to go and get visas from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. The tightening up of the visa rules has been attributed to last month’s bombing at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok. Police say the alleged bombers bribed border-control officers to gain entry to Thailand.
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Thailand tightens up on visa rules at selected borders
News in Asia
Thailand has tightened up its procedures for foreigners entering via land borders on back-to-back visas. An immigration officer confirmed that foreigners are now banned from crossing the border in Sa Kaew Province and then coming straight back unless they have valid visas in their passports.