Deported - Can I re-enter on a tourist visa?

[IceWharf]

What I don't understand about the proces is why the person being deported is not allowed to call anyone. they can't call the people waiting for them in the aitport or their family/friends back home.

This means they basically disappear for a day or two!!!

This has just happened to my girlfriend and right now I have no way to contact her, and she has no way to tell her family where she is!!! this is just inhuman!

Who would the phone call hurt? It's not like you can call someone to rescue you from the deportation.

Don't understand and am pretty stressed right now!!!!

[deja vu]

I hear you mate!

The fact that the Immigration has such wide-encompassing powers - They can even turn back someone with a valid visa...imagine being deported when you have all your paperwork correct...cos they don't 'think' you're suitable?!!

And no recourse - at the airport or anything...no documentation given to you....so you can't even pursue a legal course of action once you return to your own company!!

Hope your gf's fine..and I hope she doesn't have to stay there long..I met a guy who'd to stay 3 days (!!!!) there since that was when the next flight was!!

[sundaymorningstaple]

The problem is that the nicest of people can resort to subterfuge to try to gain entry to {enter country of choice}. There is no way you can look at a person and tell if they are good or bad. Immigration is a country's first line of defense against illegal entry. Unfortunately, they don't have crystal balls and cannot detain everybody who comes through immigration due to time constraints. So, they usually only detain the ones who have discrepancies, or act nervous or have notification in advance of. It's because of the nature of their brief that they are given the powers of "dog" to act as they see fit in order to not hold up the legitimate passengers. You would be surprised at the numbers of people who are deported from Singapore from surrounding countries who go home and get new passports and try to reenter Singapore because they have been deported. Just think, they could just let anybody in and maybe the hotel you are staying in would be a target and you could be a victim. Be careful what you wish for.

sms

[IceWharf]

Yes, I completely understand this SMS and I agree.

My issues is with the process most countries (Australia included) use on these people. Because the person trying to arrive has zero rights they are treated pretty bad like criminals for a visa discrepancy. Always guilty before proven innocent. Anyway, I can't change that in this country.

Finally managed to talk to my gf when she was boarding the plane last night. As you can imagine spending the night in a detention center was not the travel experience anyone want their gf to go through.

What has really p1ssed me off is that they took ALL of her money. Now I understand the need to recover the cost of the return flight but she already had a return flight and it would have cost me $50 to change the date. Or if that did not work I or she could have gone online and bought a new ticket for $280 (I checked ont he day). What actually happened is that an immigration officer took every cent she had which was about $450 dollars (was in Thai but they forced her to change it), and from what I understand they did not give her a receipt for the money. What on earth was she meant to do stuck in Bangkok airport, more than 2 hours from home with no money for food or transport!!!!!

Now in most countries that would be considered the 'cost' of doing business. But in Singapore that's a pretty big shock for me, with no receipt, no ticket and a massively over inflated price I'd call that corruption.

Pretty mad, but what can you do in Singapore for foreign rights?!?!

[IceWharf]

Oops, sorry about the grammer, been living here too long lah!

[IceWharf]

...I'd be surprised if the new passport trick worked at all these days with records being held on computer and passport scans.

[sundaymorningstaple]

You are right. with the new photo recognition software they are using they regularly catch returnees with different passports. Many a maid & prostitute have been stopped trying to reenter the country under an alias or new passport.

[JayCee]

Yes, I completely understand this SMS and I agree.

My issues is with the process most countries (Australia included) use on these people. Because the person trying to arrive has zero rights they are treated pretty bad like criminals for a visa discrepancy. Always guilty before proven innocent. Anyway, I can't change that in this country.

Finally managed to talk to my gf when she was boarding the plane last night. As you can imagine spending the night in a detention center was not the travel experience anyone want their gf to go through.

What has really p1ssed me off is that they took ALL of her money. Now I understand the need to recover the cost of the return flight but she already had a return flight and it would have cost me $50 to change the date. Or if that did not work I or she could have gone online and bought a new ticket for $280 (I checked ont he day). What actually happened is that an immigration officer took every cent she had which was about $450 dollars (was in Thai but they forced her to change it), and from what I understand they did not give her a receipt for the money. What on earth was she meant to do stuck in Bangkok airport, more than 2 hours from home with no money for food or transport!!!!!

Now in most countries that would be considered the 'cost' of doing business. But in Singapore that's a pretty big shock for me, with no receipt, no ticket and a massively over inflated price I'd call that corruption.

Pretty mad, but what can you do in Singapore for foreign rights?!?!

Wow, that sounds pretty bad and certainly corrupt too.

Just to clarify - you haven't specifically said but I'm gathering that she is Thai so I assume you mean she was stuck in Singapore airport where they took her money and not Bangkok airport?

What was their reason for not allowing her in? As Singapore and Thailand are both in ASEAN I thought there wouldn't be any visa issues (as one isn't needed)?

[IceWharf]

Yes Thai, was stuck in Singapore, only stuck in Bangkok airport because she was scammed out of all her money. Rejection reason: Too many month-in/month-out visits to see me, they say it looks like she's working, which she's not but how do you prove that.

No now have the flight cost details and Tiger charged her $280 to change the date of her flight (Tiger and their charges is a whole other thread!), so the two guys involved pocketed $170 from one girl. Do this a few nights a week and it's a very good earner.

I have been doing some reading on the internet and it looks like the ICA have a major corruption problem, only the big cases hitting the newspapers. A big lack of process, controls and accountability over there!

[Strong Eagle]

Yes Thai, was stuck in Singapore, only stuck in Bangkok airport because she was scammed out of all her money

What does this mean? How can you be stuck in Singapore if you are stuck in the Bangkok airport?

[IceWharf]

Ok SE, slower this time.

Stuck in Singapore for 2 days because of immigration, deported, than stuck in Bangkok airport because Singapore immigration took all of her money (no taxi money, not even Money for a bus).

Not a happy woman!

[JayCee]

Yes Thai, was stuck in Singapore, only stuck in Bangkok airport because she was scammed out of all her money. Rejection reason: Too many month-in/month-out visits to see me, they say it looks like she's working, which she's not but how do you prove that.

No now have the flight cost details and Tiger charged her $280 to change the date of her flight (Tiger and their charges is a whole other thread!), so the two guys involved pocketed $170 from one girl. Do this a few nights a week and it's a very good earner.

I have been doing some reading on the internet and it looks like the ICA have a major corruption problem, only the big cases hitting the newspapers. A big lack of process, controls and accountability over there!

So has she been coming to visit you in Singapore on a sort of month-on, month-off kind of thing? So she stays for the full month then heads back for a month then comes back etc....

I guess if you do that for long enough it's bound to get flagged, they likely don't want people basically living in Singapore on non-resident visas. If you wrote a letter inviting her to stay with you that you she could show to immigration next time to show she's not been coming to work at OT would that help at all?

[sundaymorningstaple]

They would probably assume he was pimping and still grab her.