Posted by Administrator
Monday, 12 February 2007 15:01
In an interview with Pattaya Mail, Pol Col Ittipol Ittisarnronnachai, superintendent of Pattaya Immigration, said the issue was cause for real concern in Pattaya and the Eastern region. At the meeting in his office on Jomtien Soi 5, Pol Col Ittipol also introduced his new assistant, Pol Lt Col Wasan Kittikulavanit, who has long experience in immigration procedures and who has recently moved to Pattaya City to help push forward the pending visa issuance works. Our reporter asked the superintendent about the level of damage alien qualification certificates that have been forged have made to our country.
Pol Col Ittipol responded that they were not a major cause of damage in themselves, but undeniable harm is caused when teachers submitted forged documents to international schools because the students were the ones who would suffer through the inadequate educational skills that were being used to teach them. They might receive language skills, but the cores of the lessons would be neglected, as the teachers were not trained to deliver them. Additionally, the Immigration office has to know the true intention of those teachers and the reasons they came to Thailand, and if they have any hidden agenda to carry out in this country. Some have been found to be involved in child molestation.
Pattaya Mail asked how many aliens have been recorded as carrying forged documents, and were being investigated.
Pol Col Ittipol said that currently there are 63 cases of foreigners who have submitted falsified documents to the Office of Private Education Promotion. The Office had transferred these cases to the Immigration office to find out more about them. Recently two cases have been sent to court and two former teachers were sentenced to three months imprisonment. There are still 61 cases that are in the process of examination by the court.
{mospagebreak}Our reporter asked about the duties of the Office of Private Education Promotion and how it cooperates with the Immigration office. The superintendent said that one of the key duties of the Private Education Office is to keep records of foreign teachers and monitor their activities in the Kingdom.
“Teachers have to submit their applications and teaching qualification certificates and the Office of Private Education Promotion will in turn issue a document for them to bring to our office to get a visa. Schools play a very important part in checking backgrounds thoroughly before accepting applications,” he said. Under certain circumstances where the Immigration office made an appeal for the schools to check further on a teacher to make sure the background was completely clean, this had been done. Pol Col Ittipol added that with the new policy that became effective from October 1 last year concerning regulations on visa extension applications, school directors or department officers were asked to look for accurate documents and check and re-check on backgrounds to generate transparency in the process.
Our reporter asked what is the punishment for those forging documents for visa applications.
“Generally the punishment is three years’ imprisonment for an alien forging documents such as qualification certificates or teacher’s licenses, but recently a verdict has been reached on two cases, and two teachers, one from England and the other from Canada, have been sent to prison for three months each,” said Pol Col Ittipol. “The two were also blacklisted and will never be able to cross the border into our nation for the rest of their lives.”
The superintendent added that another aspect of concern is those schools that become involved in forging documents for their applicants. Some institutes tended to turn a blind eye so they could save some budget in hiring qualified instructors, he added. “So we again ask the schools to do prior investigation through writing requests to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get factual information on those aliens.”
Pattaya Mail asked how the public could help in pointing out illegal immigrants. “People can report any doubtful activities of foreigners or teachers at schools to an authority such as the police or Immigration office,” said Pol Col Ittipol. “There are cases where some might carry lawful documents but who knows what goes on behind the scene. We are qualified to withhold their visas if we found out that they are committing wrongful actions.”
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