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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawVisa NewsAre Thai Immigration Checkpoints at Suvarnabhumi Airport "Hell"?

Are Thai Immigration Checkpoints at Suvarnabhumi Airport "Hell"?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Thai Immigration processing system at the main airport here in Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi.  

Now in recent days, this system or I should say this particular checkpoint has come under some criticism. Recently in Thai Visa, that is thaivisa.com, there was the article Suvarnabhumi is "Hell" Screams Thailand's Most Famous English Teacher. Quoting directly: "Celebrity English teacher and journalist Andrew Big, has created a storm by saying the immigration queues that greeted him on a return trip to Thailand at Bangkok's main airport were "hell"!" Andrew, well-known figure in Thailand for several decades was writing in Thai on Twitter, when he said it was “hell” for tourists. Look at today's queue he tweeted. I have never seen one like it before." Quoting further: "Police Colonel Cherngron Rimphadee said that Mr. Biggs had arrived at a very busy time on Wednesday between 12 and 2 p.m. with 4,500 people on 44 flights needing to be processed. All available staff were deployed and it is not an easy job said the Police Colonel. 

While I definitely come through Bangkok, especially Bangkok Immigration, at both Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang and found myself the subject of rather long lines, the fact of it is, it is almost like the weather, you can't really a) predict it and frankly sometimes there is not very much that can be done in order to deal with it.  Now is the frustration, for lack of a better term, frustrating?  Is it a frustrating situation?  Yes. That being said, what are you going to do about it really? I mean it is difficult for them to process a large number of people through.  The other thing to keep in mind is they are just bringing online biometric systems as well as new protocols if you will, for processing in people that are trying to be admitted to Thailand and while this is happening I think it is just simply going to slow things down for a while. I think eventually this will be resolved or I should say the training will sort of kick in and more and more people will be out there with full training that know how to deal with the new systems for admitting people and this will probably speed up the process of admitting people in Thailand. I don't wish to sound like an apologist for the Immigration System. That is really not my function with this video. but that being said when I read things like this and they get a great deal of traction over the internet I like to go ahead and at least provide some perspective where I can because Thailand is not the only country with an airport that had got serious Immigration lines. For example, when I return to the United States, I am frequently stuck in a line being readmitted into the US. It is not uncommon. Now they have created automated systems etc., but especially for those who are not US citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents in the United States, the line can be rather long in the US and the US isn't alone. Other countries are the same way. It takes time to lawfully admit people. People need to be inspected from an Immigration standpoint and processed in accordingly and for this reason I don't think that it is particularly accurate to say that it is "hell" although  it could be quite trying to stand in a long line waiting to be admitted into the Kingdom.  But that being said, maybe little bit of perspective is in order because a) they are doing a great deal of work processing people in and b) this isn't really out of sorts for other airports around the world.