Beeonlotus

I'm leaving. Nothing of value's come from this. Mostly snarky questions or uninformed opinions.

That's missing the point. A judge can also sentence someone to no prison time and a fine, a day in prison, or completion of a drug rehabilitation program. Therefore, prison time is not mandatory for possession crimes of even hard drugs.

Quoting from Siam Legal: Category 1 – Heroin;Amphetamine; Methamphetamine; MDMA (Ecstasy); LSD Category 2 – Cocaine; Codeine; Methadone; Morphine Category 5 – Cannabis; psychoactive mushrooms; Kratom Plant For Category 1 Substances: Up to 10 years imprisonment or a fine of 20,000 – 200,000 Baht for possession. Note again that if the quantity of the substance or substances found exceeds prescribed levels in the act, then possession for the purpose of disposal will be inferred. It should also be noted that 'disposal' is defined in the act as meaning to 'sell, distribute, give away indiscriminately, exchange or give Up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine of 10,000 – 60,000 Baht for consumption For Category 2 Substances: Up to 5 years or a fine not exceeding 100,000 Baht or both for possession. If the quantity is 100 grams of a pure substance or more, this will be regarded as possession for the purpose of disposal Six months to three years or a fine of 10,000 – 60,000 Baht or both for consumption "Up to 5 years" in this case means that they can not sentence a person to any prison time. Judges sometimes allow prisoners to go to a drug treatment facility instead of going to prison or pay a hefty fine.

I read the law in Thai when it was first released. The THC limit is on extracts, not on flowers.

They did. You can read more here and here (for this last one, as far as I understand, the Narcotics Act replaced some of the sentencing for the Psychotropics Act). A lot of the law websites haven't updated the information on their websites, which is one of the reasons why there's so much confusion about this.

That's true, but they also revised and lightened the laws re: drug offenses in 2021 prior to Marijuana's legalization. Part of that was removing all mandatory prison sentences for possession, including hard drugs like heroine or meth.

To clarify, I wasn't busted for coke possession. It's a hypothetical example. What I want to know is whether or not the Immigration / Labor Department's views towards drug possession have lightened when considering criminal records / in-country convictions.

In 2021, Thailand lightened many of the drug laws, including removing all mandated prison sentences for possession. I'm curious: has this policy change had any effect on other areas of government? For example, if I was convicted of possession of cocaine five years ago, would this be viewed more leniently when applying for work permit/visa? Also, have there been any changes in cases of expats facing lighter repercussions for possession charges? I've heard some stories of people being banned for 20 years for being caught with a gram of marijuana. Thanks in advance.

Got it. Thanks to you and everyone for your replies. Very helpful.

That's my worry. I don't want to be at the mercy of others.

Yes, it'll be abroad and I agree - consulting with an accountant + lawyer who specializes in immigration would be useful. Right now, just surveying.

I currently work for a company in Thailand, but next year I'm considering leaving it and starting my own online content creation business while staying in Thailand. My customers will mainly be Americans and Brits. I'd like to change my visa from Non-B to a Marriage Non-O after I quit, but I'd also like to do everything above-board. After reading more about the visa, laws, and other people's experiences, however, I'm unsure of what to do. It seems like many people on Non-O visa work digitally with no problem and without a proper work permit. If you stay here for multiple years on the Non-O, it is be obvious that you're making money somehow. Do they simply look the other way? Or are these people paying their way to pass under the radar? Or am I wrong and have these people set-up their own companies in Thailand? I'm considering now to ask my wife and her family to create a Thai digital content creation company with me as shareholder and then get my work permit that way. Her family's well-off, so setting it up shouldn't be much of an issue, but I'm reluctant because it can get very complex when the company expands. Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers!

I'll just echo what others have said: play the long game. Problems are a part of life, and often times if you are willing to make some investment, those problem people can become good friends - and allies for any other problems that might crop up in the future. True, sometimes you're stuck with a psychotic <deleted> that's not going to budge, but I think that's the rare exception. 99.9% of people are reasonable and want to do what's right - even in Thailand. If you're willing to stick it out for the long haul after you've had your time off, I'd suggest being the nice guy. I know it's a bit of a bad word these days, but it works for me. Go to his store and ask him how he's doing, where he's from, etc. Bring the wife along if you need a translator. Invite him and his family and friends for a few drinks on the weekend. Cook him some desserts. Don't overdo it, however, and make no further mention of the issue. After a few weeks, bring it up, don't blame him, and talk about it in a matter-of-fact, no-drama way. In my experience, the problem will lessen, if not be resolved, after this. If you stop all of the favors after he improves, though, he'll probably feel betrayed and get back at you with a vengeance. Thus, you'll be stuck having to care about the person who lives next door to you for the long-term. I know, it's terrible, caring about your neighbors, but the alternative is paying a much heavier price. However, if someone's been a grumpster for most of his life or doesn't have good social skills and tries this, I doubt they'll be able to forge the kind of connection that'll make this work. The interest will be interpreted as manipulation and viewed with suspicion, if not outright scorn. In such cases, perhaps a mixture of diplomacy and war might be necessary. Which, brings me to the next point, if being nice doesn't work, then follows diplomacy/administrative action and, failing that, outright war. I liked the suggestions of playing scary ghost music at night. I was also briefly living at an illegal hotel and the neighbors were not happy about this. Each time guests were noisy, they'd blast nasaly Chinese Buddhist chanting for hours on end in retribution. After about a year, the neighbors won. I had moved on, but the guests kept complaining, their ratings tanked, and they eventually relocated. As a side note, it's good policy to make friends with your neighbors. Bake them cookies. Buy them a new plant. Bring some food back from your latest trip. Ask them about their family. There's a risk of being involved in their drama, but also it'll be a huge buffer against these kind of problems in the future, they'll be more likely to join you when there is another issue in the community, and they also can help out with informal security - ie, "Hey, I'm gonna be away for the weekend, can you help look after my property and make sure my dogs are fed." I see a lot of these dramas coming up and I think most of them could've been avoided if people had been more pro-active in the first place. They are your neighbors and you should see them as an investment in your community and your property, not as someone you can casually ignore until they annoy you. I do hope that you can get this resolved. Quite frustrating situation to have to deal with, especially with all the time and money involved.

@lopburi3 - thanks for that. @ubonjoe - Yes, I went to the website and looked through that very file already.

Hey folks, I'm a US citizen planning to get married in Thailand. Due to covid, my fiancee and I are going to hold off on the official ceremony until the covid situation settles down. However, we're planning to get legally married in anticipation of my move back to the US in a year and half. For the marriage registration (is that the correct technical term?), I had two questions: 1. Do I need to bring a witness for the affidavit? On the US Embassy's site, it says that you should provide your own witness to notarization only if it's necessary. However, in all the different documents that they notarize, I didn't see any with a place for a witness to sign other than an embassy official. I'm assuming this means I don't need to provide one, but I'd like to double-check before driving all the way down there only to learn I was wrong. 2. Does anyone have any experience with the other steps of the process in covid times and could offer some advice? I searched on the forum and repeatedly only came up with a few posts which didn't answer this question. I'm surprised this is so and guessing the search function's bugged, so if it's been asked elsewhere and explained already, feel free to just send me a link. If not, though, I'd appreciate any advice on this. Since I live in Korat and don't have a car, I'd have to rent one or hire a taxi to go down to Bangkok and stay at my second home in Bangkok. Any sense of what kind of rough timeframe is expected given covid would be useful, as well as any other unexpected issues - calling ahead to book translation services, issues with the MFA, etc., would all be extremely useful. There's nothing that I hate more than ping-ponging back-and-forth between officials or wasting a day because a signature was missed along the way. Appreciate your help in advance.