Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, well we are discussing Immigration in Phuket. I want to preface this by saying this seems to be Phuket specific. As we have discussed in other videos, there seems to have been a major influx of foreign nationals coming into Phuket. Remember Phuket has its own International Airport down there so it kind of is its own window to the world in and of itself. I don't talk too much about Phuket because Phuket has kind of its own thing going on down there. I will talk about it from time to time when something comes up, for example this video, but yeah it has its own flavour if you will as Immigration goes. 

As we have discussed in other videos, different Thai Immigration Offices have different prerogatives regarding dealing with foreigners. In a sense and I know this really frustrates many foreign nationals here that different offices do things differently and they sort of say things like: "well why don't they all do it the same?" Well first of all, have you ever dealt with your own Immigration System? That's a big question because I have, for example in the United States and different places do do things differently. For example, processing US Visas in Bangkok is very different than processing US Visas in Phnom Penh or in Ho Chi Minh City or in Manila. It's not the same thing office to office; each one kind of does things a little differently. Then when you get internally in the United States, different USCIS Field Offices do things differently within the USA and again a lot of it is based on caseload. For example if you go to an up country kind of a rural province here in Thailand and you want to go deal with Thai Immigration directly there, it is an entirely different experience than dealing with Bangkok Immigration Division 1 which is here in Bangkok. That is the main one where everybody in Bangkok is going to process through. The case load is massively different; attitude of officers massively different because of that case I would say primarily because they are dealing with a much more intense case load. 

That said, quoting directly from The Phuket News, that's thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Phuket Immigration demands Title Deeds, home walk-throughs for permit to stay extensions. Quoting directly: Phuket Immigration is refusing to accept applications for one year extensions unless the foreigner provides a copy of the Chanote Land Title for property where the foreigner is staying even if the foreigner is only renting the property and photographs of inside the home where the foreigner is staying including the bedroom." So yeah, we have talked about this before especially in the context of Thai O Visas, Thai O Marriage Visa Extension. Some years back unfortunately there was a rash of sham marriages associated with the Thai O Visa and this resulted in a heightened scrutiny from Thai Immigration. They started showing up at people's houses and saying "hey, we want to look around, see if you are really married etc." and they would do that and it is well within their bailiwick to do that; it is well within their purview and this is another one of those situations where look Thai Immigration in Phuket clearly has taken the position that more concern is warranted with respect to the influx of foreign nationals and so they are asking for more documentation including Title Deed associated with the residence of those living here in the Kingdom of Thailand.