Overstaying tourists yield fake immigration stamps

Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) have arrested an overstaying Vietnamese couple for attempting to leave the country with fake immigration stamps on their passports.

Nguyen Thanh Quang, 35, and his wife Pham Thi Dung, 34, were trying to board a flight to Ho Chi Minh City on March 30 when they were intercepted at Naia Terminal 2 by members of the bureau’s travel control and enforcement unit, said BI Port Operations chief Grifton Medina.

The couple’s passports had arrival stamps indicating that they arrived in the country on March 11. A check of the bureau’s database, however, showed that they did not arrive on that day. Further examination showed that the arrival stamps imprinted on their passports were not authentic.

“They thought they could evade paying fines for overstaying by making it appear that they arrived only recently through these fake arrival stamps,” Medina said.

BI records showed that the couple had been in the country for nine months as their last date of arrival was June 5, 2018.

“Instead of applying for the extension of their stay and paying the required fees, they chose to deal with fixers who make a living by selling these fake stamps to overstaying foreign tourists,” Medina said.

The couple are now detained at the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.