The Immigration Bureau today denied that it would revoke the visas of foreigners who join pro-democracy rallies as indicated in a letter sent to foreign students attending a north Bangkok university.
The refutation came a day after an email to students spread online from the Asian Institute of Technology in Pathum Thani. It warned its non-Thai students that their visas could be revoked by the Immigration Bureau for simply attending any of the rallies which have been staged in recent months.
“We’d like to insist that there is no circulating letter about the revocation [of visas] which could have resulted from miscommunication or misunderstanding,” Immigration Bureau wrote in a Thai announcement published on its official Facebook Wednesday afternoon.
The school has not publicly responded to the issue since its English-language letter was widely disseminated online last night. It said consequences would be “immediate” and severe.
“Immigration Office will immediately revoke (cancel) without consideration the visa (“ED,” “O,” and “F”) for people who are involved in any protest in Thailand,” it read. “The person will also be blacklisted by Thailand Immigration. This covers protests in Bangkok, United Nations, Embassies for any purposes.”
Protests against Thailand’s military-aligned government have taken place since August, joined by rallies against Myanmar’s coup d’etat last month.
A spokesman of Foreign Affairs Ministry, rejected the school’s threat along similar lines, shrugging it off as possible miscommunication.
“We’ve been informed that Immigration Bureau has not circulated any note regarding this issue to the educational institution,” Tanee Sangrat said Wednesday afternoon. “This could be miscommunication.”
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