Thailand's New Deportation Rules for Foreigners

A new deportation procedure for foreign nationals has been in force in Thailand since 28 August. The quotations below are taken from a Russian translation of the Regulation of the Office of the Prime Minister on Deportation; the authoritative text is the Thai original.

Grounds for deportation

Section 4: “If any foreigner, by his conduct or actions, disturbs public order, good morals or the welfare of the population…” — the section then sets out the procedure for issuing a deportation order. The wording covers a wide range of conduct, which need not be criminal and need not have been established by a court. The section is not new; it appeared in the previous law.

Section 5 provides the second, more specific ground. It sits alongside Section 4 rather than clarifying it. Once a sentence has been served, the Minister of Interior may order deportation for:

illegal entry into or stay in Thailand;
illegal work — fines and deportation for working without a permit have applied for a long time;
operating a business in breach of the Foreign Business Act — deportation has now been added to the existing fine and imprisonment;
forgery of official documents — this concerns anyone offered “arranged” paperwork for an LTR or DTV visa: such documents are easily verified, and deportation applies both to the applicant and to whoever produced them;
offences carrying a penalty of five years’ imprisonment or more;
complicity in any of the above.

Whether point 6 covers an employer’s decision to put an employee on a DTV visa instead of obtaining a work permit remains an open question.

Where a foreigner is deported to

To the country of his nationality; where nationality cannot be established, to the country where he was last present before entering Thailand. If he faces torture or ill-treatment at home, the regulation allows deportation to a third country — not at his own request, but on an official diplomatic request from another state or an international organisation. Being of conscription age, or simply not wishing to return to the country of nationality, is not a ground for deportation elsewhere.

What has actually changed

There is nothing critical in the regulation. The main issue is the vagueness of Section 4: no boundaries are set, and how widely it is applied is left to the officer’s discretion. There will be more deportations.