WTF? Thai Immigration Asks Foreigners for Bank Accounts, Social Media, Hangouts

[Rainwalker]

Foreign nationals residing in Thailand are being asked to disclose personal information to the government, including their bank details and where they hang out online and offline.

Internal documents obtained earlier this month by Khaosod English showed the Immigration Bureau would ask foreigners for personal details about places they frequent in the virtual and real worlds, additional information to be filed before they can extend their visas or complete the routine 90-day reports required to reside legally in the kingdom.

In recent days, a number of people have reported on Twitter and online forums frequented by expats that they have received the new forms at the Immigration Division 1 office and One-Stop Service Center at Chamchuri Square. Both are in Bangkok.

Apart from the basic information, the form requires details about what social media they use, details of vehicles they use including license plate numbers, and “places or premises visited often by the foreigner … such as club, restaurant, shop, hospital and other places.”

The form also asks for their bank account numbers.

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1460977949

[fountainhall]

That article also has this quote -


Chatchawan Wachirapaneekhun, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau’s crime suppression unit, said providing the information was not mandatory. “We won’t force them to fill it out,” he said. “We won’t bother with their social media – if they aren't doing anything wrong.”
So it seems to be just another useless form to be filled out. Are Immigration seriously going to check which social media websites people check? If someone happened to be a terrorist, do they seriously expect that person to list sites dealing with how to be a terrorist? It's nuts!

[Moses]

That article also has this quote -


So it seems to be just another useless form to be filled out. Are Immigration seriously going to check which social media websites people check? If someone happened to be a terrorist, do they seriously expect that person to list sites dealing with how to be a terrorist? It's nuts!

I think it is just a part of some marketing research for govt. "Where to promote Thailand" - something like that.

[Dboy]

I think it is just a part of some marketing research for govt. "Where to promote Thailand" - something like that.

Lol. I remember when I was that naive..think I was 12 then. Social networking data is a core part of the surveillance/police state.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-04-15/cia-tech-firm-seeks-more-social-media-spying

[Moses]

Lol. I remember when I was that naive..think I was 12 then. Social networking data is a core part of the surveillance/police state.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-04-15/cia-tech-firm-seeks-more-social-media-spying

Aha... Yeah, lets compare power of CIA and BiBs... Hehe... Ok, I can imagine what they can watch some activity in Thai and English... Do you believe they can follow activity in 15 Chinese dialects, 150+ Russian nationality languages, over 100 European languages and dialects? Your trusting in Thai police is even more naive than my idea about marketing research then.

[fountainhall]

Can you imagine the increased bureaucracy that will be required to analyse this sort of idiotic data? As Moses points out, it's an impossibility to check the vast number of sites on the internet in thousand of languages and dialects. Besides, I expect most people will almost certainly treat the social media question with the contempt it deserves and insert made-up sites. Can you imagine some junior apparatchik going crazy trying to find "Balcony Gardening Excitement for Expats" or "The Existential Realities of the Common Hokkaido Worm"? Even the bank info is almost certainly unnecessary because banks already must provide this info to some Ministry. And again, is a terrorist going to declare the gazillions in the accounts he has opened with fake passports?