Tourist Visas: Immigration Officials

Canadian Officials Dept: Thai immigration officials and police raided 17 apartment buildings in suburban Bangkok, arresting 155 Sri Lankan migrants accused of being in Thailand illegally while awaiting transport elsewhere, according to CBC. Many of the migrants are believed to have entered Thailand on two-week tourist visas that have since expired, and many are believed to be Tamils, McAuliffe said. It is believed they were using Thailand as a transit point before shipping off to a third country, possibly Canada, he said and immigration advocates say Canada may have contravened international law if it had any role in the arrest of more than 150 Tamil migrants in Thailand on Monday, even if they were headed for Canada. RCMP stand on the deck and bridge of the migrant ship MV Sun Sea as it is escorted into CFB Esquimalt in B.C. in August. Thai and Canadian officials have been co-operating to prevent similar sailings. Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press The migrants appeared in a Bangkok criminal court Tuesday, where they were charged with being in the country illegally, Bangkok-based journalist Michael McAuliffe reported. As reported in the news.
@t michael mcauliffe, immigration advocates