Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are doing another ALERT.  I want first of all to be clear I do not make these ALERTS cavalierly. I am aware that people, they have lives, they don't want to sit around constantly talking about Thai Immigration matters but this one, the one I recently did contemporaneously with this one on changes to Work Permits or cracking down on folks possibly working illegally here in Thailand, these are all pretty big changes; this is all pretty big news and these ALERTS I think, once we get into it you will see why I am doing them that I think they are pertinent. This one pertains to the possibility of Thai Visa fee increases occurring and it seems to be happening subtly, I'll put it that way. What do I mean by that? 

Well I came upon this after reading kind of really a legend in modern Thailand's blog Stickman Bangkok and under a recent entry over there on stickmanbangkok.com, under: Dramatic Visa Fees Increase. Quoting directly: "Late last week the Thai Embassy in New Zealand published its new Visa rates schedule online. From March 19, the Embassy itself won't accept Visa applications anymore and all Visa applications must be made online. With the new online system, the fees for a visa to Thailand have increased dramatically." Quoting further: "There has been disbelief and shock at the massive increases in Visa fees which will see a single-entry Tourist Visa increase in price from $NZ 60 to $NZ 300. A single-entry Non-Immigrant Visa  (the Visa needed for a Work Permit or a Retirement Visa or a Marriage Visa) will increase in price from $NZ 120 to a whopping $NZ 800. For reference, $NZ1 equals 22 Baht, so a single-entry Tourist Visa will be priced at the equivalent of about 6,600 Baht, getting on for US$ 200. That means a single-entry Non-immigrant Visa would be the equivalent of around 18,000 Baht.” We will put this up, we will go ahead and put the sort of the rates that they are showing from the New Zealand Embassy's website that's actually cited by Stickman in there, so “around 18,000 Baht or $US 500. A multiple entry Tourist Visa will cost $NZ 1,000 and a multiple-entry Non-immigrant Visa $NZ 2,000." Quoting further: "There has been much speculation about the reason for these huge price increases with some saying this is a New Zealand only thing." 

Okay let's go back. We saw major changes occur especially when we were talking about insurance protocols associated with the Retirement Visa where something would go up on one Embassy website and people would say well that's just an Australia issue or an America issue; turned out it was actually a broad change to overall policy. It just so happened to one Embassy put their protocols up sooner. Why they do this I don't know. It could be intentional, it could be unintentional; it could be a variety of things, it could be nothing. My personal opinion is if they are changing fees to this level, this isn't an exchange rate change. This isn't changing the exchange rate and thereby changing the underlying cost of the Visas. They are actually changing the Visa prices here. So let me get into the rest of that analysis after I finish quoting. “For now the Thai Embassy in New Zealand is the only one to have announced these new fees,” and tip of the hat to Stickman for letting us all know about it because I think that this is pertinent news. “The Thai Consulate in Australia has announced a new online visa application system is coming but has not announced new fees. I don't believe for a moment that this will be a New Zealand only thing. And no, it has nothing to do with me being a New Zealander." I urge those who are watching this video go check out that full article on Stickman Bangkok, stickmanbangkok.com, you can learn more about that. 

But yeah, for the thrust of this video I couldn't agree with him more. I don't think that this is a New Zealand only thing either. If anything, my experience having watched Visa changes or I should say policy changes within the Immigration apparatus lo these many years especially these years I have been running this channel, whenever we do see something like this it usually turns out to be something that is a major change throughout the system. So now while saying that, it's not a foregone conclusion so until such time as we see it actually change, don't necessarily just think that it's a given. But that said, I think it is safe to presume this is probably in the offing. That said, we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as that situation evolves.