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As the title of this video suggests, the question we posed “are we going to see major policy changes at Thai Immigration in the future”? There are a few people that I do read throughout our research in matters pertaining to Thai Visas. One thing I read rather frequently or I should say from time to time however you want to look at it, is from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com.

A recent article: The future of Thai Immigration Policy Somewhat Clearer. Quoting directly: "The pressures are now building for a substantial review of Thai Immigration regulations to prepare for the eventual post COVID world." Quoting further: "It will concentrate on expats and long stayers rather than on vacationers." Quoting further: "Foreigners prepared to invest heavily in high-end Thai property also no longer need a Work Permit to carry out their responsibilities and permanent residency further down the road." Quoting further: "Foreigners will also likely be able for the first time purchase new houses built on luxurious sites provided the individual payment price is at least 10 million Baht and the property occupies less than 1 Rai of land." There is a lot in here. Again, I urge folks to go ahead and read this. There is way more in here, frankly. The article is titled: The Future of Thai Immigration Policy Somewhat Clearer. It needs to be noted that this is all sort of still out there in the ether. I do think that the author of this piece and I think that the folks that are talking about this also out there online are on to something that yeah I do think post COVID-19 we probably are going to see at least temporarily, some substantial shifts in Thai Immigration Policy. Exactly what they look like remain to be seen.

I am a little bit skeptical regarding matters pertaining to Thai real estate but I do think we probably are going to see some, for lack of a better term some lessening of some of the restrictions or some of the more onerous requirements associated with maintaining long-term status in Thailand. 

That said, all of this remains to be seen especially now as we are kind of in this kind of not really pleasant limbo period associated with this third lockdown if you want to call it that here in Thailand. Exactly how this plays out remains to be seen but I do think they are right on the money that down the road we probably are going to see some kind of paradigm shift in the post COVID world associated with Immigration here in Thailand.