Transcript of the above video:

It seems like we have been doing a lot of these alerts lately and this is a big one, okay? I know folks, I have had some emails and people saying "oh don't use that ALERT thing too often, not everything's an ALERT. I get it, I do get it but things are moving pretty fast; there's a lot going on here. We are going into so-called low season here in Thailand. That's always more of a time when we see stricter scrutiny on foreigners especially those who have been here all during high season and they end up wanting to stay longer; Immigration strictly scrutinizes those kinds of folks. On top of that though, as discussed in other videos, when we were talking about major shakeups within the Thai Police Force, I felt like it was worth noting that there could be ramifications for foreigners in a more general sense as a result of that, coupled with the fact that we have seen a lot of incidences of what I would call 'foreigners behaving badly' here in Thailand and these things all combined are kind of coming together in a confluence of events that can only be described as a ‘perfect storm’ operating possibly against or to the detriment of many foreigners out here in Thailand. Now that being said, it would appear to be targeted against foreigners operating illegally as we all know as any foreigner knows who has lived in Thailand, again these can have broad ramifications; it can have unforeseen implications all throughout sort of the expat community. So again, buckle up folks because there is a lot going on here. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Khao Sod English, that is khaosenglish.com, the article is titled: Police require monthly case reports and stricter foreigner screening. As per usual, I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in full detail, where you can get every bit of it but I am going to quote some pertinent excerpts here and we are going to analyze these one by one. I may make some videos contemporaneously with this one where I drill down on a few key parts but I am going to do this video a little more long form because there is a lot going on here. Quoting directly: "Recently there have been headlines about foreigners committing illegal acts some of which pose a threat to society. In response, Pol. Gen. Roy Ingpairoj, Deputy Chief of the Royal Thai Police, issued a letter of instruction to the Commissioner of Immigration ordering stricter enforcement of Immigration Laws. Quoting further: "The investigation revealed that some foreigners had entered the country illegally and had ulterior motives for staying in Thailand." Quoting further: "In order to control and prevent foreigners who are allowed to stay temporarily in the Kingdom of Thailand from committing crimes, causing disturbances or posing a threat to the peace, security or national security of the people, the following instructions have been issued." I can't state this enough. This is an instruction to the Commissioner of Immigration from a Deputy Chief of the Royal Thai National Police; this is an instruction being issued on what to do regarding foreigners here in Thailand. Quoting further: "Strictly screen foreigners entering and leaving the Kingdom. This includes consideration of applications for extensions of stay, visa stamping and changes in visa status. All relevant laws, regulations and orders must be strictly followed."

What does that mean? Well I think what it means is we are probably going to see a tightening up if you will or maybe an application of even stricter scrutiny of Visa applications processed through Thai Embassies and Consulates outside of Thailand. So this first prong if you will of these instructions would seem to be geared toward primarily Immigration facilities abroad. That said, things like ‘applications to be allowed to stay temporarily’, that's like an extension, you could argue like extension of stay; that would be done here in Thailand. So again there are ‘Visa stamping, changes in Visa status’, again where we once saw a lot of this stuff was always done abroad and then got kind of pulled in here to Thailand during COVID under their discretion, could we perhaps see a boomerang effect where a lot of these prerogatives will now only be exercised at Embassies and Consulates abroad. What I am basically, if I am not being clear enough, to put a fine point on it, “could we start seeing a lot more Visa Runs, folks having to go to Embassies abroad in order to start getting their visa status sorted where we once saw people being able to do these things in country?” I don't know but that was the first thing I thought of. And I also thought of the fact that it looked like the first line of "defense" for lack of a better term would be folks at Embassies need to be scrutinizing and then also folks here in Thailand, at Thai Immigration here in-country. Quoting further: "Investigate and prosecute all crimes committed by foreigners. This includes violations of the Immigration Act, the Alien Employment Act, the Entertainment Places Act, illegal business operations, nominee arrangements where Thai Nationals hold shares or real estate ownership on behalf of foreigners to avoid legal compliance. The behaviour of foreigners should also be investigated to determine if they have any mafia-like influence. Cooperation with relevant agencies is required for integrated law enforcement." Now let's go back. They say: “investigate and prosecute all crimes committed by foreigners. This includes violations of first the Immigration Act”, that's strict scrutiny on visas and immigration matters. Then they go over here to the alien Employment Act, that's work authorization or restricted occupations; further scrutiny there. This is the first time I have ever seen this being sort of roped into this analysis: “Entertainment Places Act”; that pertains to things like adult entertainment establishments, pubs, bars, these kind of places. Again something that many foreigners have active business activities perhaps or business interests and this may be something where we see even further strict scrutiny by Thai Immigration and the police force more generally. Then on top of that, “illegal business operations and even nominee arrangements” are specifically mentioned, again in these instructions given from the National Police Officer over to the Immigration Commission. Okay this is an instruction being issued here. Expect there to be ramifications from an instruction like this being issued. Quoting further: "3. Revoke the stay permits of foreigners who were found to be staying in the Kingdom without a legitimate reason." So that's just one, that's just the first one and that reminds me of a roughly going back to 8, 9, 10 years ago, it was around the time we saw the Blacklist being brought in but where we saw the major move against those who were using Tourist Visas to live here in Thailand. I think we can expect to see strict or scrutiny regarding long-term stay using Tourist Visa facilities here in Thailand especially moving into the low season. That is just kind of a common thing that just happens; it is almost like the tides. But now on top that we have got this instruction issued by National Police over at Immigration saying this is something we consider a priority and we need you to prioritize, so again be aware. Quoting further: “Or who have other behaviours that warrant the revocation of their permits.” What does that mean? That can mean a whole host of things, I don't know precisely what that means, it means whatever they want maybe. “This should be done in accordance with the Immigration Act,” well obviously in accordance with the law. Quoting further, this was another key point here: “For every arrest made, the case must be investigated further and the results of the operation must be reported by the 10th of every month. The first report is due on 10 April, 2024.” I say that again: “The first report is due on 10 April, 2024.” What I read, the implications I read into this were, this new reporting process is going to now be a regular thing and I would presume this is just kind of the way bureaucracies work. I'm not going to say that this is exactly what will happen or this is even my prediction or any guarantee associated with what I'm about to say, but just the way bureaucracies work, I a report needs to be made oftentimes you need something to report.

So the question posed there is will that create an impetus on the part of relevant immigration and police officers to have something to report by doing further investigation, having further arrests, having further detentions, possibly further deportations. Is that what's in the offing here? The way I read it is it very well could be. Now again like with anything, I am not telling people to panic. Don't do that. If you have got your Visa sorted and you've got nine months left on your extension or whatever, take a deep breath, let's see how this all plays out. We have definitely seen similar situations in the past, different kinds of announcements regarding foreigners in Thailand. As always to one degree or another, this too shall pass. That being said, in the aftermath of all of these incidents involving foreigners here in Thailand and with the current state of law enforcement and kind of a present internal shake up, I don't think there is any reason to think and then on top of this new protocol not only with these instructions regarding further strict scrutiny of foreigners, but now this reporting protocol that's going to be happening on a regular basis, I don't think it is outside the realm of possibility that we could see further detentions and deportations of foreigners who are living and working illegally here in the Kingdom of Thailand.