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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawVisa NewsThai Immigration Authorities are not "Out to Get" Tourists

Thai Immigration Authorities are not "Out to Get" Tourists

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Visas and Thai Immigration, specifically in the context of Tourism here in the Kingdom. 

The reason I wanted to make this video is because those of you who have been watching this channel for a prolonged period of time or if you are just coming upon my videos, some of them may have kind of a gloomy outlook toward things having to do with Thai Immigration. There are multiple videos on this channel talking about the enforcement activities in recent months and years that have been undertaken by Thai Immigration Authorities.  We have also noted the vast number of people who have been arrested and deported from the Kingdom especially in the year 2018. We saw a number of people being rounded up who were in the country illegally or who entered illegally or who were working or committing crimes in the Kingdom being rounded up and deported and subsequently blacklisted which is a heck of a problem for those in that position. 

I wanted to make this video because I want to make it clear, tourists, genuine tourists coming to the Kingdom do not need to be overly concerned about these developments. These developments mostly pertain to those are looking to live in the Kingdom but a tourist who is just coming in for three weeks or over the Christmas/ New Year holiday for example, or to come in over Thai New Year for Songkran or just for a vacation away from work, away from home, you are coming here for a couple of weeks, Thai Immigration is not out to cause a problem for those people that is not at all, and I don't mean to speak for them, this is simply an observation that I am making as somebody who watches this apparatus fairly carefully.  This is not their reason for being; they are not looking to cause problems for just anybody.  The folks that I see that get in trouble with the Thai Immigration apparatus, especially here in the past roughly six or eight months, are mostly people who have been staying for prolonged periods in Thailand on Visa exemption stamps, the 30-day or 60-day stamps issued at entry, people who are trying to live in the Kingdom in some form of tourist visa status or simply not generally following the rules with respect to Thai Immigration here in the Kingdom.  So those who are genuine tourist looking to come to Thailand to just spend a couple of weeks and have a good time, do not fret over some of these things that you read about Thai Immigration arresting and detaining people etc., that is not their intention, that is not their goal.  What they're trying to do is preclude people from entering who have no for lack of better term reason for being here, cannot prove financial ability to both remain and depart and they also want to preclude people working and conducting illegal activity in the Kingdom; I should say working illegally and conducting illegal activity in the Kingdom.  That's what they're looking for. It is an enforcement issue. It is not a "round up everybody" kind of issue.  

So the thing to take away from this video is Tourists do not worry. Thailand's Immigration system is not looking to "get you".