Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing changes to the procedure for extending your Visa status here in Thailand. Are there changes to that procedure on the horizon? 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, article is titled: Thailand's new visa rules from June 1 break fresh ground. Quoting directly: "The new 60 day visa policy has several consequences." So what are we talking about here? As discussed in a prior video, they have expanded the amount of, not only countries and nationalities that can gain Visa Exemption status by travelling to Thailand. For those who are unaware, that means you don't have a Visa, you don't apply for a Visa before you come. If you are one of these 93 nationalities, if you are a holder of a passport, you can travel to Thailand on that passport, be admitted to 60 days lawful status upon entry as opposed to 30 in the past. So they have expanded the number of nationalities that can avail themselves, and they have also expanded the amount of time that they will be permitted lawful status notwithstanding lack of a Visa here in the Kingdom of Thailand. 

Quoting further: "It will no longer be necessary for anyone from the 93 countries to seek a month's extension after the first 30 days from local Immigration Offices which will thus lose the 1,900 Baht (around $50) fee currently imposed. The absence of these nationals from Immigration Offices will certainly reduce the queues, although there is still the requirement to report their Thai address within a day or two of arrival, either in person or via their hotel registration." Yeah the TM30 reporting, address reporting, here in Thailand is still a thing. That said, by expanding this I think it will take a great deal of pressure, a great deal of workload if you will, off of the Immigration Officers who had to adjudicate these 30 days extensions which were pretty frequent; there was a high volume of those. What does that mean? Well as an upshot, I think we are definitely going to see more folks in the inspectorate in Thailand with regard to Immigration. I also think it's highly probable that we will see a situation where extensions may become a lot more efficient if you will. 

Now that said, while they are lightening up the workload on Visa Exemption stamp extension, by lightening that up, does that mean they are going to have more resources to do inspections of Non-immigrant Visa Extension and that's what I think the ultimate upshot of this is likely to be is, okay we are dealing with less volume of 30-day extensions but that means that they can redirect that manpower over to further, maybe deeper adjudication, deeper scrutiny if you will of Non-immigrant Visa applications here in the Kingdom of Thailand. 

Now that said and something to bear in mind is, again and I have talked about this in prior videos, those have who have a history, like for example our clients who have been with us for years - we've been helping them with their visas and maintaining their status - you don't have a lot to worry about here okay. Immigration is looking at this much the same way that other law enforcement agencies look at these things which is a cost-benefit analysis. Basically they say is this somebody who we think is in violation of the rules? If not, and it can be shown, we have a record of this person they have lived here for a year or more or even 6 months; they have gotten themselves into the system and they have been maintaining their lawful status legally, paying their taxes, dealing with all of their inherent issues associated with maintaining their status, that is not going to be somebody who's going to be a high priority from these enforcement personnel in terms of an inspection. That's not going to be something you're going to want to look into. Meanwhile, we are seeing a huge influx of people coming into Thailand for the first time and trying to get into Non-immigrant Visa status. I think it's fairly safe to presume you are going to see a lot of those folks be placed under a great deal more scrutiny as a result of the redirection of this manpower from the 30-day queues if you will to paraphrase that article, basically you are going to see that manpower redirected over to looking at folks who are trying to get into Non-immigrant long-term status for the first time.