Visa-free travel on back burner

Thailand’s military coup, 22 May, was a contributory factor delaying the planned introduction of a visa-exemption programme between Myanmar and Thailand according to the Thai embassy in Yangon.
Deputy chief of mission at the Thai embassy in Yangon, Chainarong Keratiyutwong, told the media in Yangon that the pending agreement with Thailand was stalled due to the political turmoil of the past six months, which prompted the military to seize power in late May.
“The agreement for visa exemption remains pending. We would like to have a visa exemption between our countries – we are now pushing our government to confirm that. We are waiting for a response,” the embassy official said.
The deputy chief added that one issue to be ironed out was eligibility for visa-free travel.
Myanmar has requested visa exemption whatever the mode of transport, but Bangkok opposed a blanket permission for overland travellers fearing it would encourage migration for work purposes. It counter-proposed that visa exemption be limited to air travellers, he said.
However there are not enough direct air links between major towns in both countries such as Chiang Mai and other towns in the North or South where there is potential for two-way leisure travel between the two countries.
For example residents in the far north would need to cross the land border at Mae Sai in Chiang Rai province to connect with a daily airline service from Tachilek in Myanmar to Mandalay. They would need to obtain a visa to cross the land border to transfer to the domestic airport in Tachilek just 15 km away. This would first require a 340 km round trip to the nearest Myanmar consulate in Chiang Mai to obtain a visa, on top of the trip from Chiang Rai town to the border a distance of 80 km.
As long as Thailand insists that visa-free exemption is linked to airline travel, it will favour airlines operating between the Thai capital and cities in Myanmar. There are also not enough airline services from Chiang Mai to points in Myanmar, although visa-free travel would certainly encourage them to add flights.
The same inconvenience applies to Myanmar citizens planning to travel to Thailand for leisure or business. They will need to travel to Yangon and spend considerably more time and expense on roundabout routing to get to their destination of choice if it is beyond Bangkok to be able to benefit from visa-free travel.
The regional airline network between Thailand and Myanmar’s cities would need to be expanded to support visa-free travel if it is limited to airline travel only.
Overland migration for work purposes is an on-going issue at all checkpoints not just the borders shared with Myanmar. Over 180,000 Cambodians re-entered their country at the border at Aranyapathet last week fearing Thailand’s labour department was about to crackdown on illegal workers. Cambodia and Thailand have visa free exemption for both overland and airline travel. The same applies to Laos where overland travel far outweighs airline travel.
Myanmar has said it wants to tie up visa-exemption arrangements with all fellow ASEAN members, but so far it has only agreed deals with Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.
A visa exemption agreement was signed with Indonesia in May, this year, but has yet to be ratified. The visa exemption agreement was signed by Myanmar’s Foreign Minister, Wunna Maung Lwin and Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, 10 May in Nay Pyi Taw, during the 24th Asean Summit.
Thailand and Myanmar were supposed to sign off on the agreement during last December’s SEA Games, held in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.
However, former Thai Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, cancelled her trip to the Games resulting in the postponement of the final round of talks and the signing ceremony.
Since then there has been no progress made on visa-free travel between the two countries.

Sourced: ttrweekly