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

[neverdie]

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.

That's the point, the rules are enforced as one sees fit, plus they are informally changed every so often.

A joke immigration occurrence in a joke country...shocking news.

What about your country champ?

What are the requirements for Thais to blow in and out.

It's easy to critical, try and understand what is going on., if you have so a low opinion of this country > GET OUT !

[vogie]

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.

"She looks a nice lady" The Yorkshire ripper looked a nice man and I guess Eva Braun must have thought Hitler kinda cute

[neverdie]

Nasty personal attack.

MrT is most likely younger than you, a business man, local tax payer and someone that assists members of the Thai community, ill people at that.

He could walk down the street with a 19 yo and it wouldn't look out of place. Not overweight either.

You should attack the post, not the poster. You should be ashamed of yourself

Lol, not too sure about the 19 year old bit ND, don't think Mrs T would be too impressed.

Point being 19 is probably closer to ur age than urs to johnnies.

Don't worry bout mrs t, I'll have a chat to her

Seriously though, you make a daily difference to the lives of various sick Thais, people such as yourself contribute positively in the lives of so many people, unlike so many others. Your attacker needs to WAKE UP to himself.

The rule here use to be play the ball, not the man.

[mrtoad]

There have been a number of issues recently in Phuket regarding WPs and dive schools. I think there we numerous complaints about how it was being enforced, my guess is that this is the strike back. The BIB aren't stupid, they know who is working illegally in these types of shops. I don't think this has anything to do with her being Russian, just not having the correct paperwork or meeting the requirements for entry to the country. Be interested to see what some on here would think, if it was discussing immigration into their own country?

[stickylies]

when the thai will enforce a crackdown on all the land/houses bought through the loopholes the longterm TOURISTS annex RENTERS will have a laugh...

[Mister Fixit]

Assistant Manager at Sea Bees Diving in Phuket, without a visa or work permit?

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

Well, that was a bit f*cking stupid, wasn't it? Advertising yourself working illegally, like an idiot.

She deserves being turned away - what a brainless clot. Does she think that Thais can't trawl the net like anyone else?

Dead easy - have an iffy entry/re-entry profile, be Russian, young and good-looking, and be told to 'just wait here' and the Immi chaps whack her into Google. Silly cow.

[rbmcn]

Actually, old chap, the age for retirement visa is 55, not 50. Don't give the youngsters false hope!

[neverdie]

Actually, old chap, the age for retirement visa is 55, not 50. Don't give the youngsters false hope!

Incorrect.

The age was reduced to 50, a decade and a half ago (approx)

[hullupullo]

Her russian "facebook"

http://vk.com/id2928385?w=wall2928385_16520

[stevenl]

There have been a number of issues recently in Phuket regarding WPs and dive schools. I think there we numerous complaints about how it was being enforced, my guess is that this is the strike back. <snip>

From somebody involved in Phuket diving: no, I don't think so.

[neverdie]

Assistant Manager at Sea Bees Diving in Phuket, without a visa or work permit?

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

Well, that was a bit f*cking stupid, wasn't it? Advertising yourself working illegally, like an idiot.

She deserves being turned away - what a brainless clot. Does she think that Thais can't trawl the net like anyone else?

Dead easy - have an iffy entry/re-entry profile, be Russian, young and good-looking, and be told to 'just wait here' and the Immi chaps whack her into Google. Silly cow.

Have you got your beer goggles on?

[mrtoad]

Actually, old chap, the age for retirement visa is 55, not 50. Don't give the youngsters false hope!

Incorrect.

The age was reduced to 50, a decade and a half ago (approx)

Correct, although rumours going around that it may well go back to 55.

[mrtoad]

There have been a number of issues recently in Phuket regarding WPs and dive schools. I think there we numerous complaints about how it was being enforced, my guess is that this is the strike back. <snip>

From somebody involved in Phuket diving: no, I don't think so.

Fair enough.

[neverdie]

Actually, old chap, the age for retirement visa is 55, not 50. Don't give the youngsters false hope!

Incorrect.

The age was reduced to 50, a decade and a half ago (approx)

Correct, although rumours going around that it may well go back to 55.

Incorrect.

Some Pratt was just sprouting that off on this forum.

It was later confirmed by moderator to be,unfounded nonsense

Further more I made my own enquiries and believe there is nothing on the immediate horizon.

[Briggsy]

She was targetted. She is a Russian tour guide working without work permit.

[easybullet3]

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

then again,,, 20k baht is not really enough money for 1 month to live on.. rent, food etc...

so it doesn't paint a very positive picture about her working (or not working).

if she had to get a friend to buy her ticket,, then *possibly* she was breaking the law and working in Thailand.

Possibly? Well, here is her LinkedIn profile again.

Mariia Sgibneva: Assistant Manager at Sea Bees Diving on Phuket. For more than a year?

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

so,, in that case,,, she is as guilty as hell !!! Lol

why is everyone here speaking about "Targeting Russians"... when its pretty plain that she was working illegally !

[phanangpete]

"Mariia Sgibneva, 26, hoped the sharing her story might raise awareness and prevent others from unexpectedly being denied entry into Thailand"

Hopefully it works and the rest of Russians never come back

They brought it on themselves, their attitude stinks, they come here think they own the place , see it as an easy walkover.

They think that after many years of ordinary foriegners coming here setting the standard, integrating with the locals ,creating employment, paying taxes, they can come and

destroy all that.

They better wake up ,not only are immigratiion , police , locals getting sick of them, we all are.

Sorry to the good ones but that is a low percentage of the totals here.

Ive traveled the globe and ive never come across a race who are hell bent on making people hate them.

[stevenl]

There have been a number of issues recently in Phuket regarding WPs and dive schools. I think there we numerous complaints about how it was being enforced, my guess is that this is the strike back. <snip>

From somebody involved in Phuket diving: no, I don't think so.

Fair enough.

We're going off topic here, but: I can't prove this of course, but I agree with you there will be a strike back, no doubt. But the full strike will come from the people involved, not from immigration.

[PhillyBoy]

Sounds like the Bib knew something more to me. 26 year old Russian, attractive woman, no job and extended stays in Thailand and other close by Countries. Anybody have a guess as to how she might be supporting herself. I didn't see anybody even pose that as a possibility. I don't know the woman and don't want to defame her but come on!!! Thailand is her home base and she meets clients in Phuket. I am just saying.....

[stevenl]

Sounds like the Bib knew something more to me. 26 year old Russian, attractive woman, no job and extended stays in Thailand and other close by Countries. Anybody have a guess as to how she might be supporting herself. I didn't see anybody even pose that as a possibility. I don't know the woman and don't want to defame her but come on!!! Thailand is her home base and she meets clients in Phuket. I am just saying.....

That's because others have read the thread so know how she was supporting herself.

[craigt3365]

Several posts and associated replies have been removed from view for violating forum rules. Specifically, these:

7) Respect fellow members by posting in a civil manner: do not launch personal attacks, or be hateful or insulting towards other members, ie No flaming

8) Do not post disruptive or inflammatory messages, vulgarities, obscenities or profanities or to incite useless arguments by avoiding troll activity.

9) Do not post inflammatory messages on the forum, or attempt to disrupt discussions to upset its participants, or trolling.Trolling can be defined as the act of purposefully antagonizing other people on the internet by posting controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.

And one for this:

11) Do not post slurs, degrading or overly negative comments directed towards Thailand, specific locations, Thai institutions such as the judicial or law enforcement system, Thai culture, Thai people or any other group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

Apologies to the members with the very good replies to the removed posts.

[Genericnic]

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.

Contempt of cop almost always had a bad ending.

David

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[losworld]

Why Thailand would even bother with this crackdown when their economy is on the brink... yes on the brink. Thailand is in a downward spiral economically. The only reasoning for this would be to try and gain some type of anti farang sentiment from the Thai population or some supposed cleanup on crime.

[phanangpete]

There have been a number of issues recently in Phuket regarding WPs and dive schools. I think there we numerous complaints about how it was being enforced, my guess is that this is the strike back. <snip>

From somebody involved in Phuket diving: no, I don't think so.

Fair enough.

We're going off topic here, but: I can't prove this of course, but I agree with you there will be a strike back, no doubt. But the full strike will come from the people involved, not from immigration.

No, i doubt their is a link here, none of the dive schools have Russians running them, And the Police ,Tourist Police/Immigration , inadvertantly took on too big a business and it backfired on them.

The Govenor did the right thing here and moved the officer in charge out before the whole problem esculated.

This Russian is a tiny minion in the overall problem with them in Phuket.

[neverdie]

Why Thailand would even bother with this crackdown when their economy is on the brink... yes on the brink. Thailand is in a downward spiral economically. The only reasoning for this would be to try and gain some type of anti farang sentiment from the Thai population or some supposed cleanup on crime.

The govt is divided up into sections. These guys are doing their job. They should be applauded. Normally there is outrage when officials here are seen not to be doing their job. Heck, they can't win.

These immigration guys work at the airport, they do this sort of thing, daily, even multiple times during the day. It's normal, the only difference is this Sheila went to the media.

Relax. Every day there are hard working Thais trying to get on with their jobs, even govt employees.

[LivinginKata]

Removing many off topic and inflammatory posts.

[bubba]

No, i doubt their is a link here, none of the dive schools have Russians running them, And the Police ,Tourist Police/Immigration , inadvertantly took on too big a business and it backfired on them.

The Govenor did the right thing here and moved the officer in charge out before the whole problem esculated.

This Russian is a tiny minion in the overall problem with them in Phuket.

But perhaps Russian assistant managers at dive companies?

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

[harrycallahan]

Arrived Thailand October 2013, LinkedIn says started work in Phuket March 2013.

The onion unpeels!

[wvavin]

Its only one side of the story. The other? We will never get to know.

[stevenl]

Its only one side of the story. The other? We will never get to know.

We have both here and immigrations comments. Who else's opinion would you like?