The Thai government has warned its citizens to get the right type of visa when traveling to Japan, which has recently tightened measures against illegal immigrants.

The Foreign Ministry called on Thai women not to seek student visas as a pretext for overstaying and working in Japan, otherwise they would face tough punitive measures, Bangkok Post reported on Saturday.

The ministry made such a warning after the Thai embassy to Tokyo reported harsh measures taken by the Japanese authorities against schools that take in fake students.

Many Thais have gone to Japan for working with a student visa, which was applied with the help of certain agencies.

"We would like to beg and warn those with immoral objectives to think about the 95 percent real Thai students and tourists experiencing more difficulty in getting visas approved," a senior official was quoted as saying said.

Around 5,000-10,000 out of a total of 50,000 Thai travelers to Japan each year end up in prostitution or illegal work, according to Bangkok Post.

Those Thais working illegally in Japan often face miserable living and working situation, due to lack of legal documents.

Last year, about 5,000 Thais, most of them sex workers, were repatriated from Japan and 50 Thai women died of HIV/AIDS there, the newspaper said.

Source: Xinhua