Did I read this article wrong? Why would American Mormons need to go through American immigration to work in another country?

I live in Northeast Thailand, and there is a hive of Mormons not too far from here who always travel on bicycle in pairs, and always wearing black trousers, white shirts and little black name tags. Local people just think they are crazy and ignore them. I have know idea how they work out visas out here. But I do know they have a lot of under the table political clout in many countries mostly because of money paid over many decades. When I lived in Hong Kong, I remember someone telling me that in 50 years they had only converted a handful of people.