Transcript of the above video: 

I know I am kind of late to the party on this one because frankly we have had other things to talk about on this channel, but I've been talking about it in the run-up. I got a bunch of emails from people saying, "oh there's stuff on your website that says that the 60-day visa has already been cancelled." Somebody sent me an email that said, "I went on, I think it was the Thai Consulate LA website and it still said 60 days." Well it may stay 60 days for weeks. The Consular websites are oftentimes wildly out of date. Yes, I was ahead of the curve; yes the 60-day Visa seems to be ending. 

I thought of making this video initially - I've seen it all over the Press - but the first thing I saw and credit where credit is due, was on Khao Sod English on X so @KhaoSodEnglish, that is on X under the headline: Big Visa Change. “Thailand has officially scrapped the 60-day Visa-free stay scheme for citizens of 90 countries. The Government says most travellers will now return to the previous 30-day limit instead. Officials say the move is linked to security and economic concerns, while a new country-by-country Visa review is now underway." So okay, also they are reviewing now - as I talked about in another video - I think the bigger story here was that we had 93 countries that were on the Visa-free list, and it seems - from what I have read in other sources and I'll stay on top of this, if I need to clarify down the road, I will - but it looks like they are snapping back from the 93 countries back down to the 57 and then they are putting the countries that were added under review as to whether or not they want to continue to allow Visa-free for those folks. 

So the thing I would say to folks that are looking to travel to Thailand, double check - contact a firm like ours or check out various websites - again Thai Embassies and Consulates can have good information although from time to time, it's a little bit out of date but you may want to double check whether or not you're still on the Visa-free rolls, depending on if you are one of the nationalities that only just recently was allowed visa-free into Thailand. There seems to be some nebulousness about whether or not they are rolling this back to 30 days for all 93 of those countries, or if they are snapping it back to 30 days, with only 57 countries being allowed to use it, and then they are putting under review the countries that make up the difference in order to determine whether or not they want them to be Visa free. That is my understanding as of the time in this video. Again, if I need to do videos clarifying further I will. That said, as of this moment it looks to me like Thailand, well it's clear, they have rolled back from 60 to 30 days. 

As I have discussed in other videos, they are now doing a top to bottom review of all visas associated with living in Thailand. We are seeing a lot more scrutiny associated with Business Visas now. Notwithstanding that, our ducks are in a row with regard to our clients, so we are ultimately seeing positive results. But yeah, there is a heavy crackdown happening in Thai Immigration at the moment. 

Very quickly as an aside, while I'm thinking of it, folks have asked me, "is there anything we can do. We don't necessarily need to avail ourselves of a lawyer or a law firm, but we appreciate your videos. We know you're not monetized. Is there anything we can do? Well, if you are interested, as I have discussed in other videos, my better half and I set up a restaurant in downtown Bangkok. The name is Pancake Palace, as the name implies it is breakfast anytime. We've also got American Diner style food: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, we've got hot dogs, chilli dogs; actually we've gotten some new hot dogs that I really enjoy. Hot dogs, chilli dogs, we've got grilled cheese sandwiches, Coke in glass bottles. If you're interested, check out the links in the description below, and come see us over at Pancake Palace. 

But yeah, to round this out, I think we're seeing a heavy sea change. When we look back on 2026 from 2030 or 2032, or something, I think not unlike 2017-18 with the rise of "Big Joke" and the massive changes that happened at Immigration then, the late great Barry Kenyon said it last summer, he thought that we would see serious reforms within the Immigration apparatus with the incoming of this new Parliament. I disagreed with him at that time; I think I was wrong, I think he was right. It looks to me like that's exactly what is happening. There's a top to bottom review happening with all Immigration matters. I personally would like to see a streamlined comprehensive Immigration reform, Bill that's actually enacted by Parliament so that foreigners can actually see the actual criteria associated with Immigration. I mean everything we are dealing with now basically stems regulatorily one way or the other, from the Immigration Act of 1979. Then on top of that, there are certain things that seem to have just gone completely off the rails from the Immigration Act even though I don't think that that's legally possible, but they do, they have. There are certain visas where they say, "oh, you don't have to do 90-day reporting", notwithstanding the clear plain language of the '79 Act states quite to the contrary; you either have an Immigrant Visa or you do not, and if you don't, you have to do 90-day reporting. That is just one example of just the kind of hodge podge patchwork if you will, system that we have at the moment. I think it's very likely and this Parliament is probably going to see out of its term; I think it's very likely at some point within the next upcoming years that we will see some sort of Bill within Parliament. 

That said, as of now this is pretty big news. It should also be borne in mind that this is happening in front of a backdrop of again a top to bottom review of all visa categories, not just Visa-free, but all Visa categories here in the Kingdom of Thailand.