Russian denied entry at Phuket International Airport over 'visa' crackdown

[stevenl]

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chooka, on 12 May 2014 - 06:40, said:

Maybe if she just gave showed them the 20K in cash.

Um, I for one would not carry 20000 baht in cash when travelling, she lives here and like most, keeps her money in the bank.. do you not read.

Fair enough that you should have enough funds to live, 20,000 baht they said... but in cash, on you? That's not right.

Who carries 20k around with them?

Anyway, a wake up call indeed.

She lives and works here, so what is she doing trying to enter visa exempt, which has this requirement.

[Ianatlarge]

Hey! a little sympathy. This woman did nothing wrong. She wanted to visit, and stay in Thailand for a while. Nothing wrong with that. So, Russia does bad things—true, but this is not a justification for doing bad things to Russians. Not all Russians are named Putin.

Thailand is becoming less and less pleasant. In fact, this very day, a US guy I know has to travel to immigration to fix up a mess with his visa, even though he has invested sizeable $ in Thailand, and has a Thai family (a Thai family he is looking after). I can get a 90 visa on arrival in Singapore, after an India chap checks my bags, free. How about the same for Thailand?

[Dannyboy6]

She's 26 my ass... Typo

[bubba]

Hey! a little sympathy. This woman did nothing wrong. She wanted to visit, and stay in Thailand for a while.

Read the posts. She was working illegally here.

Guess you didn't see her LinkedIn profile page. According to that, she has been Assistant Manager at Sea Bees Diving in Phuket for a year and three months...on a tourist visa without a work permit?

http://th.linkedin.com/pub/mariia-sgibneva/94/710/530

[Oziex1]

I don't think she was singled out, no scapegoating, no racism. She broke the rules and she got caught by a diligent Immigration officer doing his job properly. If there was any hope for this woman to resolve this issue in her favour it went out the door with a poor and arrogant attitude,we all know to stay on the good side of bureaucrats politeness and patience is essential.

[Tanis]

I believe the shit may well hit the fan over this incident and the inevitable others which will follow.

I hope she's already notified the Russian Embassy about this as I believe she was singled out for being a Russian. If she wasn't a russian it wouldn't have happened.

Note to Mariia when you read this - please contact your Embassy to make an official complaint about this incident.

So you are saying that they refused her entry because she was Russian and not because she was in violation of numerous laws?

Note to Maria when you read this - please follow the rules.

I wonder how many non Russians have been deported at the airports since this crackdown started...

Your timeline is off. This incident is not directly related to the current land crossing issue. This is a simple case of an individual failing to follow numerous requirements of entry:

--Not having a "return/onward ticket"

--Not having "Proof of sufficient funds"

Both of these are required by most every country in the world.

Showing them your bank statement is not sufficent enough? I too would be reluntant to carry 20k on me personally.

[NamKangMan]

Meanwhile, thousands of Burmese work on constructions sites here everyday.

Because of the completely different admission process there is no connection between Burmese workers and this girl.

The below are two occupations reserved for Thai's only, but the Thai authorities have no problem allowing the Burmese (foreigners) to do this work.

Labor work except labor work in fishing boats

Bricklaying, carpentry, or other construction work

It appears the dive industry on Phuket has the most illegal workers on the island.

Ahh, it's that pesky language barrier between the English speaking Thai's and the non-english speaking Russians.

Deport all the Russians working illegally here, and watch the Russian tourist money dry up.

Edited May 12, 2014 by NamKangMan

[stevenl]

So you are saying that they refused her entry because she was Russian and not because she was in violation of numerous laws?

Note to Maria when you read this - please follow the rules.

I wonder how many non Russians have been deported at the airports since this crackdown started...

Your timeline is off. This incident is not directly related to the current land crossing issue. This is a simple case of an individual failing to follow numerous requirements of entry:

--Not having a "return/onward ticket"

--Not having "Proof of sufficient funds"

Both of these are required by most every country in the world.

Showing them your bank statement is not sufficent enough? I too would be reluntant to carry 20k on me personally.

If they don't trust your story, in this case apparently rightfully so, and you don't have the requested information in English, obviously not.

[Tchooptip]

As a tourist she had no credit card?

With ATM everywhere in Aiports the 20,000 Baht could have been solved in minutes!

Plus, sorry but telling the officers " Show me the law" was probably a very bad idea.

Plus a one way ticket for a tourist... LoL 99% chances she was working in Phuket!

Who said "SHE WAS WORKING ILLEGALLY"? Not me I said 99% chances...so 1% left :-)

That means you did not read other recent posts in the thread, 100%

I read OP, answered, then saw the links... Thanks anyway for maintaining some order and so helping the mods!

[stevenl]

Meanwhile, thousands of Burmese work on constructions sites here everyday.

Because of the completely different admission process there is no connection between Burmese workers and this girl.

The below are two occupations reserved for Thai's only, but the Thai authorities have no problem allowing the Burmese (foreigners) to do this work.

Labor work except labor work in fishing boats

Bricklaying, carpentry, or other construction work

Which has nothing to do with this girl, non-Burmese, being refused entry at an airport. There is no connection, no matter how hard you might try. So please stop trying to derail this thread.

[neverdie]

people are being hated (& beaten) in Russia simply because of their sexual orientation

This is not true. People are being hated and often beaten not just for their sexual orientation, but for pushing their sexual orientation to other people noses. If you are a man walking down the streen with a high heels and makeup on, you are most likely asking for trouble. If you are a bearded woman in a night dress, you will probably get your ass kicked pretty often. Even if you are straight, there is no point in showing that out busily. If you will, you might get beaten as well. People just don't want to know about your sexual orientation. And all the gay related problems are usually start from "gays on parade".

Shame on you. What's the big deal if some guy wants to wear makeup? He's not forcing you to do it. I'm a heterosexual, it effects me NOT. Doesn't give me the right to physically assault or intimidate him.

This is about a girl who couldn't comply with the requirement to enter a country on visa exempt. She needs to go to a Thai embassy or consulate and pay the visa few. Crikey, it's just not that hard. What do people expect, Thailand to just open their borders to one and all, no conditions.

Get real !

[Jim walker]

If she has friends in high places uncle Putin might want to annex part of Thailand and send over some bad nasty armed Russian people to bring trouble and violence to the streets of the Thai capital.

[saakura]

if she had 20k and deceided to part with it, than she would still be here ...

less chinese, less indians, less russians = less trouble

Yes, also Malays, Arabs, Blacks etc as these barbarians only cause trouble and never spend anything on the local economy. Thailand should only allow entry to white, preferably only male, westerners (excluding our russian friends, of course)if they want to bring up the economy and develop their country.

[arisaje]

The airports aren't meant to be doing anything like this until August.

She attempted to enter the country without an exit airline ticket or proof of forward travel nor could she prove sufficient funds.

I have been aware of both of these requirements before I ever made my first trip to LOS and believe they have been requirements for several years.

Has she actually denied working in the country? She looks like a nice lady and this is a very unfortunate incident; however, at the very least, she appears to have been very casual about the rules.

This is Thai Immigration upholding the law, nothing more, nothing less. I travel weekly for business around the region and most if not all other countries require some type of visa and proof of onward travel.

There are going to be a lot of people in Thailand who get caught out with this and have to leave without being able to get back in………but the bottom line folks, is that it does not damage Thailands tourism numbers at all. The real tourists i mean, who come for their vacations.

Without all the criminals and wasters here, the Tourism numbers may actually increase.

[neverdie]

Hey! a little sympathy. This woman did nothing wrong. She wanted to visit, and stay in Thailand for a while.

Read the posts. She was working illegally here.

Guess you didn't see her LinkedIn profile page. According to that, she has been Assistant Manager at Sea Bees Diving in Phuket for a year and three months...on a tourist visa without a work permit?

http://th.linkedin.com/pub/mariia-sgibneva/94/710/530

Now we are getting places. Good work!

Perhaps all the conspiracy people need to climb back into their creates.

Imagine these guys launching themselves out if the Thai Police had grabbed her and stuck her in the monkey house instead of just denying her entry at the border.

Sounds like she was lucky indeed.

[duanebigsby]

Hey! a little sympathy. This woman did nothing wrong. She wanted to visit, and stay in Thailand for a while.

Read the posts. She was working illegally here.

Guess you didn't see her LinkedIn profile page. According to that, she has been Assistant Manager at Sea Bees Diving in Phuket for a year and three months...on a tourist visa without a work permit?

http://th.linkedin.com/pub/mariia-sgibneva/94/710/530

bubba, not sure who you are addressing here. My post is the one saying she was working illegally.

Not sure how it blended with lanatlarge post.

[ChiangMai101]

After arriving in Phuket in October, Ms Sgibneva left to get a three-month tourist visa in November. She then completed a visa run in February. Subsequently, she left the country on March 21 for a visa run, then again to visit friends in Kuala Lumpur on March 30 and April 18.

Despite the article using the term "visa run," what it looks like she did was make/attempt four or five pretty much back-to-back visa-exempt entries in a 6-7 month period of time - separated by only one actual tourist visa.

That does seem to be the kind of behavior that the new crackdown on consecutive visa exempt entries is aimed at.

The article says she didn't want to go back to her home country, Russia. So what exactly has she been doing in Thailand for all these months???

Suntanning

[lostinisaan]

I'm trying to understand her timeline of visa-runs:

After arriving in Phuket in October, Ms Sgibneva left to get a three-month tourist visa in November. She then completed a visa run in February. Subsequently, she left the country on March 21 for a visa run, then again to visit friends in Kuala Lumpur on March 30 and April 18.

- Arrives sometime in October, (presumably by air ==> 30 day visa exempt)

- Leaves within that 30 days to get a 3-month tourist visa

- 3 month tourist visa expires sometime in February and she does (I assume) a 15-day visa-run to Ranong

- Another Ranong visa-run on March 21st (so she must have been on overstay) - gets 15 days

- Leaves (assume by air) to visit friends in KL, not on overstay

- Returns from KL on unknown date, will get 30 days visa-exempt

- Goes again (assume by air) to KL to visit friends, not on overstay

Now unless immigration know something about her that we do not know (criminal etc), it looks like she did 2 visa-runs to Ranong, (one on overstay), and left Thailand well within the validity of her subsequent visa exempts.

So why was she denied entry at the airport???

You're right. Something smells really fishy here.

[flyingdoc]

Not clear at all. Why was the rule relating to entry by air being implemented before August 12th anyway?

[bubba]

Anybody read Russian? Found her Twitter account, and this Instagram pic from three weeks ago, apparently stating that this is the "deportation room" in Phuket, or at least from Google translate:

http://instagram.com/p/nBaRt2j1ms/

So was she deported previously or what???

[transam]

Though I don't know, but I hear that Eastern European birds are doing Thai birds stuff in bars, could it be a crackdown as for sure these birds will not obtain an appropriate visas..

[bubba]

Hey! a little sympathy. This woman did nothing wrong. She wanted to visit, and stay in Thailand for a while.

Read the posts. She was working illegally here.

Guess you didn't see her LinkedIn profile page. According to that, she has been Assistant Manager at Sea Bees Diving in Phuket for a year and three months...on a tourist visa without a work permit?

http://th.linkedin.com/pub/mariia-sgibneva/94/710/530

bubba, not sure who you are addressing here. My post is the one saying she was working illegally.

Not sure how it blended with lanatlarge post.

Sorry for any confusion, duane.

[NamKangMan]

Meanwhile, thousands of Burmese work on constructions sites here everyday.

Because of the completely different admission process there is no connection between Burmese workers and this girl.

The below are two occupations reserved for Thai's only, but the Thai authorities have no problem allowing the Burmese (foreigners) to do this work.

Labor work except labor work in fishing boats

Bricklaying, carpentry, or other construction work

Which has nothing to do with this girl, non-Burmese, being refused entry at an airport. There is no connection, no matter how hard you might try. So please stop trying to derail this thread.

Not derailing.

She was refused entry because they suspected she was working illegally, which it appears, she was.

Thousands of Burmese, everyday, are working in occupations reserved for Thai's only, yet, it is allowed, on a big scale. They are working illegally.

This girl was working in the dive industry and has been deported.

Just comparing the two case when it comes to enforcement.

[MMarlow]

I'm trying to understand her timeline of visa-runs:

After arriving in Phuket in October, Ms Sgibneva left to get a three-month tourist visa in November. She then completed a visa run in February. Subsequently, she left the country on March 21 for a visa run, then again to visit friends in Kuala Lumpur on March 30 and April 18.

- Arrives sometime in October, (presumably by air ==> 30 day visa exempt)

- Leaves within that 30 days to get a 3-month tourist visa

- 3 month tourist visa expires sometime in February and she does (I assume) a 15-day visa-run to Ranong

- Another Ranong visa-run on March 21st (so she must have been on overstay) - gets 15 days

- Leaves (assume by air) to visit friends in KL, not on overstay

- Returns from KL on unknown date, will get 30 days visa-exempt

- Goes again (assume by air) to KL to visit friends, not on overstay

Now unless immigration know something about her that we do not know (criminal etc), it looks like she did 2 visa-runs to Ranong, (one on overstay), and left Thailand well within the validity of her subsequent visa exempts.

So why was she denied entry at the airport???

No ticket to leave Thailand and no proof of funds, it's all in the report, not difficult to understand.

[neverdie]

If she has friends in high places uncle Putin might want to annex part of Thailand and send over some bad nasty armed Russian people to bring trouble and violence to the streets of the Thai capital.

I think that's what Gonki was trying to imply to me earlier, perhaps I'm mistaken, I'm not really sure, however it was pointed out to me that the Russians are not a force to be messed with. Haven't you seen history?

It would be fair to point out that the Russians arnt the only one with a political leader that has mental issues, cripes it seems to be the norm, these days.

[stevenl]

Anybody read Russian? Found her Twitter account, and this Instagram pic from three weeks ago, apparently stating that this is the "deportation room" in Phuket, or at least from Google translate:

http://instagram.com/p/nBaRt2j1ms/

So was she deported previously or what???

This refusal we're talking about now happened on April 21, so about 3 weeks ago. So I'd presume the photos are from the same case we're talking about now.

[phanangpete]

Ah Mariia ,you are a very good looking girl, but must be a little slow.

My guess is ,you must have known about the 20 thou baht rule , as you have been doing these visa runs for sometime now and really its no a vast amount to carry with you, you would have walked through.

Also, my guess is you were a little tired and frustrated and being from you come from a little lippy, come on admit it.

If it makes you feel better, i would probably , and many others gone down that line, but rep preceeds you guys these days and so the authorities have had enought of it.

I think you get my drift, no its not bashing , a little truth is hard to swallow sometimes.

[Mac13]

I´m gonna stay for 32 days, but only get 30 days on arrival,is that gonna be a problem at the airport can they denie me to enter Thailand.

Never been a problem before, now i´m told that even the airlines can stop you at the check in.

Seems like it´s better to get a tourist visa just to be on the safe side.

[cacruden]

From what I gather they questioned her about certain requirements and instead of being deferential to the Immigration officer she was combative in nature (assuming I read into it correctly). I am guessing her lack of respect shown to the immigration officer on entry was the real reason why she was deported. And no, they don't need to escort you to an ATM so that you can prove yourself -- in fact most would not go to that effort since the ATMs are not inside the immigration area.

[phanangpete]

Oh yes forgot to mention that, they now suspect that you were in illegal employment, i wonder why that is , any clues please Mariia.