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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawThailand Immigration LawWill Thai Business Visa Applications Be Subjected to Heightened Scrutiny?

Will Thai Business Visa Applications Be Subjected to Heightened Scrutiny?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Business Visa applications; the Thai B Visa specifically and some recent remarks from Surachate "Big Joke" Hakpan  which those of you who are familiar with these issues or watch this channel rather frequently, you will know this individual has been transferred away and is no longer the Thai Immigration Chief. That is an issue for other videos on this channel. You can look it up on our search function. There is plenty of information out there about the former Chief of Immigration.

That being said and as I have gone over previously, although he has gone, the policies promulgated while he was in office are not necessarily his alone so I think the policies that were on the way to being implemented and things while he was still there, are still probably on track to be implemented now that he has moved along.  

So in a recent article from March 31st, 2019 entitled "Easier Faster and More Watertight": Surachate's Vision for Immigration.  This is published in the thaiger.com. There was a recent quotation, small one: "The Immigration Chief is also foreshadowing changes to Business Visas. He also mentioned specifically the problem of agents handling Visa extensions". Now it doesn't go into much more detail than that and there is a lot in this article. It is actually kind of short but it is rather concise and is packed with a lot of information. There is stuff in there about processing of inbound tourists. There is also information about retirees etc., so those who are interested in these topics, again I urge you to check out the Thaiger and check out that article.  

But that being said, the reason I bring this up is he doesn't say things with no reason and where he is saying you know "foreshadowing changes to Business Visas", I don't know what that means specifically but I think it is safe to presume that B Visa applications could either change substantially or heightened scrutiny may be placed on such applications.  I don't know. Moreover, again where they are making an issue with respect to Visa agents, as we have seen in the past Immigration had real problems with Agents who were submitting falsified documentation; arrests were made with respect to those issues; and for this reason I think it's fairly safe to presume that there could be some further heightened scrutiny and  there may be new initiatives implemented to go ahead and deal with the evidentiary aspect of a Thai B visa application and for this reason I think it is pretty safe to presume that moving forward, one should be very, very cognizant of the maintenance of the documentation that is connected with extending one's status here in the Kingdom be it B Visa, O Visa, or Retirement Visa etc.;it is all pretty important.

So moving forward just be aware this is something that I think that notwithstanding who is in charge of the Immigration apparatus, the apparatus itself, the policy associated with it, may be one of heightened scrutiny on B Visa applicants.