Immigration Bureau says woman's entry denial claims false
published : 29 Feb 2024 at 13:59
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Wassayos Ngamkham
The Immigration Bureau has dismissed allegations made by an Indonesian woman who claimed that she and her husband were denied entry into Thailand for their honeymoon due to a cash requirement.
The woman said in a TikTok video that she and her husband travelled to Thailand in January for their honeymoon. While she successfully completed immigration procedures, her husband did not have any cash on hand. Despite her attempts to withdraw money from an ATM to show the required amount, officials sent her husband back.
This led her to cancel the planned honeymoon in Thailand and leave with her husband, going to Japan instead.
The video gained traction in Indonesia, amassing over 24,500 views with 1,476 comments, causing damage to Thailand's tourism image, senior immigration officers said on Wednesday night.
An Immigration Bureau investigation found that the woman had entered Thailand at Don Mueang airport on flight FD395 from Jakarta on Jan 4 this year.
According to the bureau's findings, the woman travelled alone to Thailand on Jan 4 via flight FD395 from Jakarta to Don Mueang airport, contrary to her claim of travelling with her husband. She was allowed entry and departed on Jan 16 from Suvarnabhumi airport after a 13-day stay, contradicting her TikTok post suggesting an immediate departure with her husband.
Further investigation indicated that the woman frequently travelled between Thailand and Indonesia as an online vendor.
Immigration authorities suspected that the woman fabricated the story for social media content.
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Vocabulary
- contradict: to say that the opposite of what someone has said is true - ขัดแย้ง
- contrary: completely different or opposed to something else - ตรงข้าม
- damage (noun): physical harm caused to something which makes it less attractive, useful or valuable - ความเสียหาย
- denial: a refusal to allow somebody to have something - การปฎิเสธ, การไม่ยอมรับ
- dismiss: to refuse to accept that something might be true or important - ไม่สนใจ,แย้งกลับ
- fabricate: to invent or produce something false in order to deceive - สร้างข้อมูลหรือเรื่องราวที่ไม่เป็นความจริง
- honeymoon: the beginning of a marriage or a period of time when everything is pleasant - ช่วงแรกเริ่ม / ต้น (ก่อนมีปัญหา)
- immigration: the process in which people enter a country in order to live there permanently - การย้ายถิ่นฐาน
- Immigration Bureau: the government agency dealing with people entering and leaving the country and those who want to live there - สำนักงานตรวจคนเข้าเมือง
- investigation: the process of trying to find out all the details or facts about something - การสอบสวน
- traction: the degree to which a new idea, product, etc. is accepted by the public; the ability of wheels to move over a surface without slipping - แรงดึง, แรงลาก
- vendor: someone who sells something, but often not in a shop - พ่อค้าแม่ค้าแผงลอย
