The Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand on May 8 sent a working team to the Immigration Office of Sakaeo province - which manages the Aranyaoathet border gate - to find out more on the discrimination against Vietnamese citizens entering Thailand.

Thai authorities acknowledged the impolite and unfriendly attitude of some officials at the border gate as well as the unpleasant noticeboard stating that citizens of some countries, including Vietnam, might be interrogated.

In accordance with a regulation issued on May 8, 2000 by the Thai Ministry of Interior, the border gate requested foreigners, regardless of their nationality, to prove their financial capacity, asking them to show an amount of 20,000 baht (or 700 USD) in cash before entering the country, they said.

Sakaeo Immigration Office affirmed that it will direct the Aranyaoathet border gate to improve their attitude and immediately remove the board.

The gate will stop taking photograph of visitors holding the cash and allow them to show their credit card instead of cash, it added.

The same day, the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department received a diplomatic note from the Thai Embassy in Hanoi replying the department’s request to explain the case.

Source: VNA