Big Joke: Promises easier, faster and more "watertight" Immigration rules

[smedly]

9 minutes ago, Groodman said:

I would gladly keep Baht 400000 in my bank all the time and pay Baht 100000 every year for my Retirement Extension if I could use the Government Hospitals on the same basis as Thais.

 

Would this not solve the problem

very sensible idea 

[gunderhill]

1 hour ago, Lovethailandelite said:

There is a whole raft of measures coming

Please enlighten us  all instead of complete vagueness.

[Khaeng Mak]

17 minutes ago, Groodman said:

I would gladly keep Baht 400000 in my bank all the time and pay Baht 100000 every year for my Retirement Extension if I could use the Government Hospitals on the same basis as Thais.

 

Would this not solve the problem

Farang sickness differlent!

[Khaeng Mak]

2 hours ago, emptypockets said:

Nothing has changed for people married to a Thai.

Oh really... I will bookmark your post so that it is easier to say I told you so.

[evadgib]

3 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Says absolutely nothing other than a load of waffle about doing "something" while reinforcing the blatant racism Thailand has towards black people.

You could throw sexism into the mix too, given Thai males with foreign spouses are exempt many of the hoops families are exposed to when the genders & nationalities are reversed. I'm surprized no one (group of Thai females) has ever challenged this.

[moe666]

I keep hearing they have made it harder and I have to ask harder how. Other than tighting up the proof of your income and now requireing it to be shown in a Thai Bank, only for the 4 lazy Embassies, also longer stay of your lumpsum in the bank money. What is harder folks, O forgot only harder for the fools who have been fooling themselves with lies about their income or using a agent to deposit money for them. Many times here on Thai Visa have seen the Brits complaing about the US folks who only had to raise their hand and swear my income. Well, now they are in the same boat even though they showed paper work their Embassy can not be bothered to actually prove it was correct. Get over it boys changes are coming and people do not like it, especially those who have been lying and cheating

[GeorgeCross]

5 minutes ago, moe666 said:

I keep hearing they have made it harder and I have to ask harder how. Other than tighting up the proof of your income and now requireing it to be shown in a Thai Bank, only for the 4 lazy Embassies, also longer stay of your lumpsum in the bank money. What is harder folks, O forgot only harder for the fools who have been fooling themselves with lies about their income or using a agent to deposit money for them. Many times here on Thai Visa have seen the Brits complaing about the US folks who only had to raise their hand and swear my income. Well, now they are in the same boat even though they showed paper work their Embassy can not be bothered to actually prove it was correct. Get over it boys changes are coming and people do not like it, especially those who have been lying and cheating

and what about those depositing 800K in a bank every year and then spending it once their visa has been extended. they now have to keep the money in the bank for a further 3 months and then are only allowed to spend half of the remainder before once again topping up and seasoning again. their only option is to bring in more money to spend a kind of stealth way of raising the 800K requirement to a minimum of 1.2M but more realistically 1.6M (to cover emergencies)

 

they lived by the rules

 

they didn't lie

 

to them the rules are now "harder"

 

the worst bit is by not "grandfathering" the changes in retirees are losing faith in thailand as their final resting place. i mean if they can do this why not double it again in 3 years or once again in 5 years. how long can YOU live in faith before the changes bite you too?

 

 

[Ctkong]

6 minutes ago, evadgib said:

You could throw sexism into the mix too, given Thai males with foreign spouses are exempt many of the hoops families are exposed to when the genders & nationalities are reversed. I'm surprized no one (group of Thai females) has ever challenged this.

Maybe the reason is this. Thai males and foreign spouses normally have the Thai male going overseas for further studies and then netted a foreign spouse home. Meaning this is upper middle class Thai family. Whereas the situation of normal foreign males and Thai spouses is the other way around. Thai spouses are normally not from upper middle class families but are instead from the issan or other rural areas. Thais are class conscious. Making things easy for the lower class to them is not in their book. Their view though skewered but true about farangs who took these women (some with kids)  as spouses do not rate high in their xenophobic scale. 

[Odysseus123]

8 minutes ago, moe666 said:

I keep hearing they have made it harder and I have to ask harder how. Other than tighting up the proof of your income and now requireing it to be shown in a Thai Bank, only for the 4 lazy Embassies, also longer stay of your lumpsum in the bank money. What is harder folks, O forgot only harder for the fools who have been fooling themselves with lies about their income or using a agent to deposit money for them. Many times here on Thai Visa have seen the Brits complaing about the US folks who only had to raise their hand and swear my income. Well, now they are in the same boat even though they showed paper work their Embassy can not be bothered to actually prove it was correct. Get over it boys changes are coming and people do not like it, especially those who have been lying and cheating

The embassies declined because legally they could not verify the information requested of them by Thai Immigration.

 

They were correct and I am proud that I am a citizen of one such country that did so.

 

Plain and simple.Even a plenitude of Thai shills cannot gloss over this ineluctable fact.

 

I am astonished by the amount of obfuscation,denial and displacement shown on this thread.

 

But then again,why should I be?

 

Truth is definitely not immutable in Shangri-La.

[gunderhill]

22 minutes ago, Khaeng Mak said:

Oh really... I will bookmark your post so that it is easier to say I told you so.

Just did my extension last week , same same 400k.

[lust]

Here we go again. New rules, layered on top of old new rules, layered on top of incompetent government employees. 

 

 

[DrTuner]

When somebody says the immigration act is out of date, time to revisit the exit plans. Any changes to the laws here are opportunities for monumental cock-ups.

[Ctkong]

11 minutes ago, GeorgeCross said:

and what about those depositing 800K in a bank every year and then spending it once their visa has been extended. they now have to keep the money in the bank for a further 3 months and then are only allowed to spend half of the remainder before once again topping up and seasoning again. their only option is to bring in more money to spend a kind of stealth way of raising the 800K requirement to a minimum of 1.2M but more realistically 1.6M (to cover emergencies)

 

they lived by the rules

 

they didn't lie

 

to them the rules are now "harder"

 

 

 

 

You have got to think ahead and allocate the 800,000 as ‘untouchable ‘ for visa extension. The rest of spending money amount is at your discretion. Indirectly the immigration is raising the bar by these rules as now you have got to have a higher level of  disposal income to follow the new rules. Regarding the 800,000 lump sum in the bank as the last resort which you are able to withdraw if you ever decide to terminate your stay here is also a good fallback plan.

At least it is nothing like the elite visa where you get nothing back if you ever terminate your stay here.  

[eggers]

Ok, let's wait & see how long before see any signs of improvements???

Plus, with the changes, are foreign expats opinions or suggestions being taken?

Or, as usual just more Gov't edicts prepared without due consideration of or input from those affected, i.e. Foreign Expats, Visitors, etc??? 

[ThaiBunny]

1 minute ago, eggers said:

Plus, with the changes, are foreign expats opinions or suggestions being taken?

Is that what happens in your home country? USA, Australia, UK, NZ - I don't know of a single country where "foreign expats opinions or suggestions {are} taken".

[SweetStickyRice]

This is just a small introduction to the Big Joke Era. Everyday of my life I take a glimpse in the mirror. And I see mofos trying to be like me. Every since I put it down with the B-I-G.

[Ctkong]

7 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

When somebody says the immigration act is out of date, time to revisit the exit plans. Any changes to the laws here are opportunities for monumental cock-ups.

Looking at new immigration laws is an acknowledgment that Thailand is changing her focus on long stayers. Maybe raising the level, tightening the loopholes, all these procedures to eliminate what in their mind are undesirables... regardless the situation of  existing Thai-farang families. Immigration should give a head up to these families if they do not want to make them a broken family. 

[DrTuner]

3 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

Is that what happens in your home country? USA, Australia, UK, NZ - I don't know of a single country where "foreign expats opinions or suggestions {are} taken".

Many countries the legistlative bodies first have a round of advisories, which includes expert groups and advocates. So yes there are representatives of expats in the process.

[dotpoom]

When I read the headline I thought to myself...."How many replies will I have to read before I reach a positive one"....I gave up (par for the course). I think a lot of people here are never happy unless they have something to moan about?

[GeorgeCross]

18 minutes ago, Ctkong said:

You have got to think ahead and allocate the 800,000 as ‘untouchable ‘ for visa extension. The rest of spending money amount is at your discretion. Indirectly the immigration is raising the bar by these rules as now you have got to have a higher level of  disposal income to follow the new rules. Regarding the 800,000 lump sum in the bank as the last resort which you are able to withdraw if you ever decide to terminate your stay here is also a good fallback plan.

At least it is nothing like the elite visa where you get nothing back if you ever terminate your stay here.  

 

oh yeah i totally agree with you and am lucky enough to be young enough i can make those plans now - its the poor guys in their 70s and 80s (like my parents) who having to bring even more money over to make the new rules work for them in the long term. a kick in the balls to them after living here peacefully and abiding by the rules for the last 10 years

 

not grandfathering these changes in has meant a loss of faith in any long term prospects of living and investing further here for me, i'm just going to wait for my parents to pack up and then i'll move my family to a more civilised country.

 

 

[Odysseus123]

Just now, DrTuner said:

Many countries the legistlative bodies first have a round of advisories, which includes expert groups and advocates. So yes there are representatives of expats in the process.

No there isn't...Cloud Cuckoo Land again..

 

Can you tell me which expats took part in this process?

 

Have the Thai listed them?

[DrTuner]

1 minute ago, Ctkong said:

regardless the situation of  existing Thai-farang families. Immigration should give a head up to these families if they do not want to make them a broken family. 

The standard procedure is nothing, then something gets published in gazette without warning in Thai, TVF scrambles to translate it, huge confusion ensues, then haphazard implementation, more confusion, until it finally settles into something where brown envelopes can be extracted.

[ThaiBunny]

2 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Many countries the legistlative bodies first have a round of advisories, which includes expert groups and advocates. So yes there are representatives of expats in the process.

Yes, but they are organised lobby groups. The poster appears to think that Big Joke should be following the discussions on TV intently

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

With all due respect sir to your opinions and the black people in Thailand, so far most of the times when you hear about a nasty scams perpetrated by foreigners on both foreigners and Thai people , black people were somehow involved and big time, so black people in thailand has not endeared themselves in the eyes of the law nor the people of this country... 

I am not black but by being South African I am condemned. He did not quote any statistics to base his assessment on fact. I have stayed here many years without a problem but being called a problem makes me feel unwelcome. I will start to work on plan b and c. By the way they Thai attitude towards people of colour is racism and your comment is supporting their bias/view. The truth is that their attitude to people of colour is based on their perceptions of people comming from the south of Thailand and not on Africans. They are however now taking this too far. What do you think the reaction would have been if he was the head of immigration in a western country? He would have been fired on the spot. By the way Thais are the worst nation for breaking other countries immigration rules. In Korea alone there are 120 000 Thais overstaying their visas and that is after 30 000 used the amnesty to get back to Thailand. 

[DrTuner]

2 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

The poster appears to think that Big Joke should be following the discussions on TV intently

You think he's not? ????️‍♂️

[Odysseus123]

3 minutes ago, Ctkong said:

Looking at new immigration laws is an acknowledgment that Thailand is changing her focus on long stayers. Maybe raising the level, tightening the loopholes, all these procedures to eliminate what in their mind are undesirables... regardless the situation of  existing Thai-farang families. Immigration should give a head up to these families if they do not want to make them a broken family. 

Well..one of the most interesting posts on this thread...

 

The vast majority of the expats I knew were elderly men (German,Scandinavian,Dutch,British and Australian) who had a vast sense of responsibility toward their Thai families even to'-in most cases-they were not biologically related.

 

They paid for houses,transport,schooling and also set up businesses so they were gainfully employed-with mixed results.

 

I have never seen their contributions acknowledged on ThaiVisa.

 

And rarely saw the Thai acknowledge that input either and,most certainly,not within the last 5 years.

[Moonlover]

2 hours ago, emptypockets said:

4 hours ago, Khaeng Mak said:

I have been saying for months that long stay expats in Thailand are currently under siege. 

 

Most were mocking my comments.

 

But anyone that can't see what is afoot here is entirely deluded.

I was saying for many months following the demise of the embassy income letters that the monthly income method will continue and was consistently mocked for my comments.

 

Now it appears that much effort has been put into ensuring that it will continue and it is the capital sum in the bank that is under siege, especially for retirees. 

 

Rumours come and rumours go. I've spent over half my adult life as an expat and I think I've heard them all now. Some several times over and nothing's ever fazed me.

 

And this little 'storm in a teacup' won't either.

[spidermike007]

This man, the biggest joke, is at the very root of some of the issues plaguing the ex-pat community in Thailand, and diminishing the tourism industry. The inconsistent policy, the extreme xenophobia and fear of foreigners, the constant crackdowns. 

 

Hopefully, the opposition can form a coalition and get rid of the joke and Prayuth. Thailand cannot move forward with such incompetents in control. 

[Lupatria]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Defense Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan was keen to put his own ideas on the table. 

Announcing the founding of a "future backward party" with apirat kongsompong and big joke at the helm?

 

[Odysseus123]

4 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

This man, the biggest joke, is at the very root of some of the issues plaguing the ex-pat community in Thailand, and diminishing the tourism industry. The inconsistent policy, the extreme xenophobia and fear of foreigners, the constant crackdowns. 

 

Hopefully, the opposition can form a coalition and get rid of the joke and Prayuth. Thailand cannot move forward with such incompetents in control. 

Bang on.