The Immigration Bureau has dismissed allegations made by an Indonesian woman who claimed that she and her husband were denied entry into Thailand for their honeymoon due to a cash requirement.
The woman said in a TikTok video that she and her husband travelled to Thailand in January for their honeymoon. While she successfully completed immigration procedures, her husband did not have any cash on hand. Despite her attempts to withdraw money from an ATM to show the required amount, officials sent her husband back.
This led her to cancel the planned honeymoon in Thailand and leave with her husband, going to Japan instead.
The video gained traction in Indonesia, amassing over 24,500 views with 1,476 comments, causing damage to Thailand's tourism image, senior immigration officers said on Wednesday night.
An Immigration Bureau investigation found that the woman had entered Thailand at Don Mueang airport on flight FD395 from Jakarta on Jan 4 this year.
According to the bureau's findings, the woman travelled alone to Thailand on Jan 4 via flight FD395 from Jakarta to Don Mueang airport, contrary to her claim of travelling with her husband. She was allowed entry and departed on Jan 16 from Suvarnabhumi airport after a 13-day stay, contradicting her TikTok post suggesting an immediate departure with her husband.
Further investigation indicated that the woman frequently travelled between Thailand and Indonesia as an online vendor.
Immigration authorities suspected that the woman fabricated the story for social media content.
