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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawVisa NewsFuture Thai Visa Policy Under "The Crime Buster of Bangkok"

Future Thai Visa Policy Under "The Crime Buster of Bangkok"

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Immigration Policy, specifically Thai Immigration Policy and in a recent video I made on this channel I went ahead and discussed a recent appointment of a new Immigration Chief and I am going to go ahead and quote again from the same article I quoted previously. That article is titled Border Police Chief to Replace "Big Joke".  

For those who are unaware, the former Chief of Thai Immigration, Surachate "Big Joke" Hakpan, was subject to a transfer and is no longer the Police Chief of Thai Immigration which has resulted in much speculation with respect to the possibility of Immigration Policy changes or changes with respect to enforcement regulations etc. How that actually is going to come about remains to be seen but I think it is fairly safe to presume that we are going to see, I shouldn't say change, but there is someone new in charge so I think it is fairly safe to go ahead and speculate that there could be at least ramifications if you will, with respect to how the Immigration apparatus operates in the future. 

That being stated, I don't think it is particularly reasonable to presume that Immigration is going to get any easier to deal with. Certain regulatory changes which have come into effect before and still are in effect after "Big Joke's" transfer, things like Income Affidavits with respect to Retirement Visas or should I say the lack thereof. Meanwhile things like specific and strict scrutiny of bank account balances with respect to Retirement Visas and Marriage Visas, I don't think any of this policy is going to change. 

I went ahead and did some further research with respect to the newly-appointed Immigration Chief and it should be noted first of all, let me quote again from this article, Border Police Chief to Replace "Big Joke". It was April 19, 2019. The quote states: "The Chief of Border Patrol Police has been named Head of Immigration Police.  Police Lieutenant General Sompong Chingduang, Commissioner of the Border Patrol Police Bureau was transferred to lead the Immigration Bureau at a meeting of the Police Board. I have already quoted that in a prior video. We know that. He has been transferred in.  He is "Big Joke's" replacement. 

But going through some other things, I came upon an article; again from the Bangkok post and this one is from October 29, 2018. The article is titled Crime-buster Heads up Border Security. Quoting directly, again bangkokpost.com. Dubbed by media as the "Crime Buster of Bangkok", Police Major General Sompong Chingduang has been put in charge of the Border Patrol Police. BPP has to ensure security along the national border. He is the first outsider of BPP in the past decade to grab the top post. His promotion has not invited any opposition from staff at the BPP sources say." Quoting further "BPP is a low profile agency so the arrival of famous new boss has raised expectations." 

Now for those who are interested in either of these articles, there is a lot more in there as far as information. I urge you to go to the bangkokpost.com and look that stuff up but I thought this was interesting. This person was previously dubbed the "Crime Buster of Bangkok".  He has also come off of being the Border Patrol Policeman lo these past few months presumably; it is going on I think a year now, but he's been in that position which is a substantial one and I think it is pretty safe to assume that where "Big Joke" came off the Tourist Police and took a pretty hard line with respect to immigration enforcement but someone coming off the Border Patrol,  coming over to head up Immigration in its entirety, is probably going to be someone who is going to take a pretty strict stance on Thai Immigration as well. 

So it remains to be seen exactly what initiatives this new Immigration Chief is going to put forward. We will go ahead and put up information pertaining to that as and when it comes to light on this channel but the thing to keep in mind for now, I don't think it is particularly safe to assume that Immigration is going to get any easier at least in the foreseeable future.