I'm not sure why old mate can't simply answer your question. I think what he's trying to say is that when you use Wise or similar services they don't actually transfer the funds directly from your US bank to your Thai bank.
they bypass the old, slow and expensive SWIFT network and instead send the THB to you from one of their partner Thai banks.
I suppose this is why the "Head of Immi" doesn't like it, assuming that whole conversation wasn't just a dream ????