Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Medical Visa Extension. So for those who are unaware, if there is an exigent need, there is sort of a medical emergency here in Thailand and you are a foreign national, Thai Immigration has the discretion to grant an extension of status based on the fact that maybe one can't travel or one has health issues that pose a problem for travel. Thai Immigration can allow extension of status based on those issues. 

Now I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Visa extensions for sick foreigners are now tougher to obtain. I urge those who are watching this video to go check out that article and read it in detail. There's a lot of information on this topic in that article. I am going to quote an excerpt in here to give an idea of what is going on with respect to the overall issue of Medical Visa extension denial, but I really urge folks who are watching this video, there is a lot of information and insight in that article. Quoting directly: "There are numerous reports, from Pattaya and Phuket in particular, of foreigners being refused a visa extension on medical grounds unless they have copious proof of being a hospital inpatient as opposed to a casual outpatient. British visitor Lawrence Dudley who has obstructive emphysema, says he was refused a medical extension even though he carried a letter from a private sector hospital supporting his claim to be too ill to travel. He was told to take a same-day minibus trip to the Cambodian border to receive a 45 day Visa exempt stamp. According to reports on Facebook this policy of "inpatients only" is now common in many Immigration Offices. Mr. Dudley said he had approached the hospital to see how much inpatient care would cost and was told about 27,000 Baht (about 650 pounds) a night. He explained he had travel insurance but it did not cover pre-existing health issues." 

The reason I have quoted kind of a larger excerpt there is one, it is very insightful but two, this is something I think to understand. This person who is cited in this article had real medical issues. This was not someone who is kind of faking a cough or something to pretend that they have medical issues. No this person has and I quote “obstructive emphysema”, yeah that's serious stuff obviously and this person now I think reasonable people can definitely disagree whether or not this was the right call to deny someone a medical extension that has this affliction. That being said, I don't know the full sort of background of the case, the circumstances so no point getting into that. But clearly we are seeing there is increased scrutiny and they are taking a much more stringent line of adjudicatory logic if you will, when it comes to adjudicating these applications for extension and they are denying them even in cases where quite honestly I think a really strong argument could be made where it is warranted. 

So if folks are thinking that they can somehow game the system so to speak utilizing a medical extension here in Thailand, I think that's something folks probably should think twice about because I am presuming and I think based on my experience that there is reason to presume this, this could lead to some real problems maintaining one's status here in the Kingdom of Thailand.