Cowshed Cowboy wrote:I'm sort of looking forward to d-day to see what the actual impact is. How many long stayers are prepared to risk a border run knowing the likelihood is they will be refused.

I believe the elites wish to curtail outside influence. TOO many farangs and the beloved ppl (who they won't even throw a bone to...the Issan ppl etc.) are being negatively affected by dealing with them. That kinda shit. Now they got NO PROBLEM with you if you're stinkin rich. Retirement is around 1500 dollars a month guaranteed income. Only about 5 times what most Thai's live on.
Immigration regs for Malaysia and Indonesia are similar, tho I think you have to employ one local as a maid etc. also. But there you get a 5 yr R visa and in Malaysia I believe it's ten.
No matter the veracity of it, what bugs most ppl is how arbitrary and OFTEN the Thai's change their codes. You'd be CRAZY to have investment there. Lose your job? one WEEK to clear out of the country. Yeah, easy to get quality ppl in those circumstances.
I think what'll happen is ppl will basically go...fine, shoot yourself in the foot. I'm gone. But I'll be counting how long it takes you to quietly stop enforcing these regs. The elites blame Thaksin (and the ten year run) for corruption. So a LOT of this is to correct things and make Thailand the perfect and non corrupt place it was before that bastard threw the dog a bone.
It's going to hurt a LOT of decent ppl who may or may not be surviving there thru the letter of the law but who do NOT do the Kingdom harm. The "I got mine" brigade will me mouthy as hell but bottom line, the illegal workers from Myanmar and Cambodia WILL continue. They need em like the cheap crooked bastards HERE need the Mexicans.
It's gonna leave a really foul taste in a lot of ppls mouth. Ppl who WOULD be good for the Kingdom. Maybe Laos,Myanmar and Cambodia will benefit. Funny how we are all welcome as HELL when they're a developing nation but the minute their head swells the put on the boots.
Personally I'd be worse off in this sick place than I would be touristing thru Thailand, Cambodia and Laos for a majority of the year. Perhaps that's what they want, to share the fees with neighbors. Really, they're such nice fellas.

phuketrichard wrote:bet $ to donuts you will be allowed visa exempt ONE extension an thats it /6 months or possible a year.

The whole reason was to stop back to back visa runners. ( do i really need to explain who those are again??)

Note G7 countries have been getting 30 days at land borders for over 6 months now

I was very happy to find out about that as I was in Cambodia and thai gf had to leave after 2 weeks. I always have a prebooked RT air ticket so I have to juggle things to be legit entry to get to my plane (one year I had to buy a 2 month Thai Tourist visa because my plane left 17 days from when I had to leave Cambodia). They had just made it 30 days AGAIN, after a few years of 15. I swear they hate backpacker kiddies. No wonder those lil fockers are always on the move.
NO mention on the latest IF they'll STILL do that for G7 nation peeps. PERHAPS they TOO are back to 15 days. Considering THEY were the only ones to recieve this "new" 30 days upon land entry.
Ya ever get the feeling they make up these new regs at drunken karaoke parties?

phuketrichard wrote:fuck , i told myself stay out of this but u all are either thick or u just want things to be YOUR way.

it's not inconceivable for me to have several back to back exempt stamps.

CORRECT you are tourist, you are NOT living in Thailand
NOR abusing the visa exempt system.
once again and this is the last time

Back to back visa exempt runners are those that LIVE, possibly work, in Thailand without the correct VISA,
They Get a 30 day visa EXEMPT on arrival, or a single entry tourist visa and at the end of 30/60 days head to a border, have a coffee an come RIGHT back to Thailand REPETITIVELY!!!
These are the people they want to stop.


get it???

the OUT?IN ones.
He's got a point. The ones that go OUT/IN back to back or have like 3 or 4 or more tourist visa's. YOU OD won't be affected. OBVIOUSLY don't live in Thailand. Your stays show as short and you leave for long periods.
NOW.....the next question IS just HOW LONG do you have to be OUT before coming back IN is seen as OK????
and THIS is another big question mark.

Maybe after the junta is done changing their tourist visa regulations for the umteenth time, they will decide it's time to put limits on consecutive work permits or retirement visas or whatever morally righteous visa phuketrichard has been using to stay in thailand for 30 years, leaving him and those just like him in the same exact predicament those awful long stay tourist visa undesirables are now in.

I've already heard from people who've gone about once a month for a day or two each time (driving in from cambodia, in a car with cambodian license plates... so clearly not living in thailand, to get some supplied they use for their business here) that when they went a few weeks ago they got an "O-I" stamp on their passport. No one seems to know what that means, as in how long until they'll be allowed back in, but they're now having to resource their business supplies.

Side effects.

I have seen this from immigration.

The alien must not enter the Kingdom by exploiting 30-day visa exemptions undertaking method “in-out” or called by foreigners as “Visa run”. Aliens use the advantage of Tourist Visa Exemption by leaving Thailand and returning immediately for the purpose of extending their stay, which is considered from the tourism point of view to be longer than necessary and not in line with the purpose permitted while entering country.

Note ;

Maybe after the junta is done changing their tourist visa regulations for the umteenth time,

these new visa regulation started before the military took over its NOT THE JUNTA!!!

Published: 12 May 2014 at 17.36
Asia Writer: Wassayos Ngamkham Immigration police have announced they are clamping down on tourists who remain illegally in Thailand by exploiting permission given to many foreigners to enter Thailand without a visa and remain up to 30 days at a time.
The clampdown does not affect holders of non-immigrant visas or holders of tourist visas who still have remaining entries permitted on their legal visas.
The crackdown aims at foreign visitors, particularly westerners, who do not hold a visa, but who exit and then immediately return to Thailand every 15 or 30 days to receive another stamp to extend their stay. A loophole aimed at helping short-term visitors allows foreigners from many countries to enter Thailand for between 15 and 30 days without a visa.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/40 ... -visa-runs

"The alien must not enter the Kingdom by exploiting 30-day visa exemptions undertaking method “in-out” "

Shouldn't that be "out-in"?

Soi Dog wrote:Maybe after the junta is done changing their tourist visa regulations for the umteenth time, they will decide it's time to put limits on consecutive work permits or retirement visas.

There is always that concern and I don't consider it outside the realms of possibility in the future. I've always felt Thailand's visa rules are as much if not more governed by economic rather than political expediency and when it suits the powers that be economically they relax or tighten them as they see fit. Not a uniquely Thai situation though.

It's a measure of the attractiveness of the country that despite lurching from disaster to disaster, self inflicted or otherwise, it remains a place that people wish to visit, work or retire to in continually increasing numbers. So despite all the negativity Thailand as a destination seems to be doing more things right than wrong On balance I still love the place for ease and variety of living, travel and recreation.

As much as you can believe a website called "Pattaya-funtown.com"
The proof of income for education visas is new and troublesome for many, I would think.

July 2014
New Stricter Requirements for Education Visa Extensions
The Ministry of Education has announced new, stricter requirements for education visa extensions, which are due every 90 days, and released new application forms for ED visa extensions. The new requirements are obviously meant to prevent students from "abusing" ED visas to work illegally in the country and check whether the applicants are "genuine" students and can support themselves financially.
According to a post on ThaiVisa.com, the new requirements are:
1. Two year visa history of the student (currently only required for applications submitted in Bangkok)
2. Extra documents required
- Proof of income (to see if the student can support themselves and not work illegally)
- Reason for long stay in Thailand, if extended time in Thailand prior to application (to check the student is not just a visa runner who cannot get any more tourists visas)
ThaiVisa.com has the two new forms available for download. The Personal History Check form explicitly asks the student what his/her "expenses per month during the course of study will be" and "who is supporting you financially" (relationship to and address of the "supporter" must also be given).

http://www.pattaya-funtown.com/visa_news.html

Interesting that you're not allowed to work while on a student Visa... you'd think part time jobs/etc would be allowed.