Integrity Legal - Law Firm in Bangkok | Bangkok Lawyer | Legal Services Thailand Back to
Integrity Legal

Legal Services & Resources 

Up to date legal information pertaining to Thai, American, & International Law.

Contact us: +66 2-266 3698

info@integrity-legal.com

ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawVisa NewsDo Online Visa Processing Systems Make Anything Better?

Do Online Visa Processing Systems Make Anything Better?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Digital Visa Processing Systems or Digital Immigration Platforms and the questions arises, do they make anything really that much better or more efficient? 

Well let me be clear, I am not pointing out any one country. Thailand and the US both now are using these sort of digital Immigration systems. Most notably, for example the US at NVC uses the CEAC, the Consular Electronic Application I am forgetting, CEAC. You can just type in CEAC on Google you will see with that acronym stands for. I forget it off the top of my head. Then you have got US Travel Docs to deal with if you are dealing with an Embassy abroad. On top of that Thailand has recently unveiled an Immigration portal associated with processing of Visas overseas and then they also, depending on the country you are talking about they may use VFS this online go between dealing with a Visa.  

The point of this video, is not to complain but it is to raise issues associated with whether or not, when I get into most of the catch 22s that I get into with US or Thai Immigration, I get into it online. Anytime I am in front of somebody, some issue may arise and there are catch 22s that will pop up in an Immigration context, sometimes it is statutorily. You may end up in one of these cul-de-sacs of statutory law in US Immigration that you know and I have been staring it Consular Officers across the window and we have thrown up our hands and say "well we are stuck at an impasse." Often times we can turn to the Foreign Affairs manual to find some way through it or there are various means and methodology but I often find that when I get into the real cul-de-sacs that really become nettlesome and truly bothersome to a client or to an overall processing time, it tends to be online because you are not dealing with a person and trying to rectify the real world with what a machine wants to see or what a set form requires oftentimes it simply can't be rectified. 

I bring this up again. It is not a complaint, it is more to provide an insight to folks that are dealing with this. First of all I empathize with you if you are dealing with for example US Travel Docs or the online Thai Visa portal, yeah it is tough stuff. Sometimes it will make you want to pull your hair out. The best thing to do I found is just sort of plow through it. Oftentimes we may have to call somebody or send in an inquiry and it takes a few days. I have never ultimately had an issue that could not be resolved. The timing of it can be very frustrating and how it is resolved, because often times it might be some seemingly backwards way of dealing with something that looking at it in foresight, it should have been a rather straightforward issue.