last December my partner got her first passport the idea was to come with me to Bangkok when i had to go for my visa chop . At terminal 3 she fronted up to the immigration check point the gave her the third degree as to why she wanted to leave the country,after 10 minutes of questions they told her she had to go for a interview. we were taken to an area set up with desks 3 in and 6 officers interviewing many nervous ticket holders ,( i found out they were all on new passports first time travelers) My partnered was GRILLED big time and it did not look to good until i stepped in an spoke up for her and explained the reason we were going to Bangkok. they wanted to see her company ID and counted her money, and her ticket, and accommodation receipt . Finally they let her go, i seen 3 girls that were not so lucky. I have never seen or heard of this in the 8 years ive been here. has any one had this happen to them or know why. My partner is 34 years old and has been in the same employment for 12 years cheers never stand between a dog and a tree
Sounds like another crackdown on trafficking (which will probably snare mostly completely innocent travelers), perhaps in anticipation of a new law that was just signed into effect a couple of days ago. The Philippines was kind of embarrased that the US had them on its "Trafficking in Persons Watch List." I recall someone posting about a similar experience flying out of Clark. I do support these efforts to protect Filipinas, but I wish they'd give the travellers some advance guidance on what's acceptable documentation to bring to the airport. New Law Boosts Drive Vs Human Trafficking
I'm using my husband's account to share my experience kinda similar to this. Last year February 7 2012 I had my immigration appearance appointment in Bangkok for my residence visa here in Sweden. At the same terminal (NAIA 3) passport check counter #5 that was an old fat lady, anyway when I gave her my passport she asked me if it was my first travel abroad and I answered no since I have been here in Sweden already and I just came home to process my residence permit (since I can't process it here I have to go home). She saw it on my passport that I got stamps on my previous travels but she asked again for the second time around if it was my first travel so again I said no i have been to Sweden but at the back of my head probably she meant my first time to Thailand so I spoke and said but yes this is my first time for Thailand. After saying that she pointed another officer for me to approach then she gave me back my passport. Upon walking to the second officer I saw him made some hand signals to someone behind me but I just ignored it then he handed me this 3 pages of paper to fill up. Before I wrote anything I asked him what's the paper for and he answered that it's their system to track down Filipino travelers. So i filled up all the questions on the paper and when I passed it he immidetly noticed the money part question. He told me I have to put an amount of money I am carrying and I said I have no cash on hand that's why I put and check mark on the questioner that says Traveling with a credit card and he insisted to put an amount so I did 30000 SEK (=180000 peso roughly) and he took my papers and said I will talk to my supervisor i'll be right back. He has been walking back and forth in front of me for like 20 mins until I asked him if I can leave then he asked me what's my family name then I felt abit irritated and said sir your not keeping track on us aren't you? I thought you read my paper I bit you only noticed the money question if i fill it up then with out saying anything he turn his back on me and returning after 3 mins with lots of papers on his hand and calling our names. When he finally found my paper he asked me a lot of questions like, what am i going to do in Thailand for how long im going to stay there, If i have enough money on my travel and If I have papers from the immigration of Sweden allowing me to visit them, I got confuse and say's sir, The immigration doesn't send letter's to me I booked a time and they confirmed it and now that's why im going for my appointment but if you want to see our emails I can show to you ( I have smart phone). Without farther questions he asked me to go back to the counter where I was checked and when I approached the counter the lady officer told me I did not pass on her for checked and I said Yes you were the one who were checking my passport and she keeps on denying it so I said ok, since you said I did not pass on you and you did not recognize me it's ok i can take the line again that's no problem but she can sense that im starting to answer her back she says ok I will deal with you, on my paper I saw F and the bottom of an F sign there is also R.C and last is T.I.P which is written on a blue ballpen. I wanted to take a picture of it but she saw me and says no it's not allowed to take a picture on the paper because it's confidential so I said ok im sorry then I gave her my paper, after going through all what I've written she called the other officer and asked the questions like what is this F that you wrote the other officer answers FEMALE and then she asked again how about R.C then he answered Roman Catholic then finally she asked how about this T.I.P? The other officer says "I don't know it's mister x who wrote that" then out of my irritation I burst and says T.I.P? maybe it's TIP ! saying it loudly and it makes both of their eyes big and she stamped my passport real fast and says you can go but the other officer said "Do you really have to make your voice so loud ?" and I answered owh yes it's better to make it loud and clear and he turned his back on me, then I started walking to my waiting gate/area. While im waiting for boarding it just hit me whit the what ''IF'' questions like what if they made it super hard on me that I can't leave the country like what they did to the others that has been crying because they were left by their flights because they are still not done with the interrogation and crap but then I realize that being a traveler you should have presence of mind and keep all your papers with you and don't feel manipulated I mean yes they might be in the position but don't let them get you. TLDR: They trying to get money since they know you have a rich husband, basically lts a shakedown. (I'm a Filippina)
Incidents like detailed in previous postings keep on occurring frequently. Many stories already have been posted on many info boards. I agree they (Immigration) are keen on human trafficking, but when a mixed couple (foreigner male & Filipina) living together in the Philipines for more than a couple of years, it's ridiculous to interrogate the Filipina @immigration checkpoint of NAIA as described. Immigration better spend their efforts on Filipinas who are being lured on a OFW contract to Middle East countries by scrupulous agencies. But money will do the trick and no questioning @all it's safe or not for those Filipinas involved, leaving the country.
