Just now, dbrenn said:

When I first came to Thailand, it was a great place for small potatoes. The interesting mix of people you used to meet here was one of the good things about living here. Rule changes over the past few years are driving most of them away.

I understand if they are trying to protect themselves from people who would come to Thailand and work illegally or make dodgy business. They do a better job than most European nations to protect their people. Also they may have decided to remove the cheap long stay tourists who live on 5000 baht per month and who, in their mind, bring the image of the country down for the upscale tourism they want. It is their choice, their country after all. But in my situation, far from everything except Chanthaburi, I really feel trapped in the cross fire and it's very frustrating. If they have Asean, then they have to recognise the legality of work permit holders in other Asean countries and not handicap us. My competitors are also buying products in Thailand and this ends up being unfair practice... "no, the Farang has the right to work here but can't get supplies like his counterparts". 

The multiple entry tourist visa could be a temporary solution but there is a limit of how many you can get per year right? And it's also a bother we don't need... only to go shopping a couple of days per month... And the Embassy is 600km away, it's a week lost and unnecessary expenses. 

I wish I could find the right person to explain the case withing the Thai authorities because this is a life changing measure for no reason at all from our point of view here. They would just need to allow holders of an Asean work permit to enter Thailand as many times as they want as long as we stay under X number of days per year, like it was until now without having to show anything. They never bothered us as long as we stayed in Thailand less than 90 days per year... which was even too long... I think I stay 20 to 30 days in Thailand every year... and only to go shopping... what the heck!! 

I live and work in Cambodia, next to the Thai border, and last week the Thai immigration told me that next year we can cross the border by road only twice. 

I have sent an email to the Thai immigration (see below), but about this I have 2 questions for the community: 

1/ Do you know the right people to contact and their email address? The contact form on the immigration website is not working and there is no obvious way to contact them. 

2/ What do you think about this case and if you know people who are connected to the immigration authorities could you engage conversations about this topic?

Here's what I wrote to them using email addresses I could gather on google (most of which returned errors): 

"Greetings from Cambodia, 

I would like to contact Immigration authorities in order to explain the problem that the new laws next year give me and a few foreigners who live in Cambodia and need to go to Thailand for short stays. 

I am French and I live in Cambodia, in Pailin, 15km from the Thai border (Ban Pakad, Chanthaburi). 

I have a work permit here and I need to go to Thailand by road in average once per month, for periods of stay from 1 to 3 days Max. I go to Chanthaburi to Post office (better than Cambodia), to the Bank to get money from overseas (because I used to live in Thailand over 10 years before, now 6 in Cambodia, I have bank account there), to buy things I need for me and for my job in the Chanthaburi market or in Makro... etc...

Now I am told that next year I can go to Thailand only 2 times by road and it is a big problem in my life and for a few other Expatriates here. 

Of course we can't make business visas because it is very expensive and also we should not need one, we don't go to work or make money in Thailand, only to spend, and we stay max 3 days per months or every 2 months. Also we live near the border so it's not easy to go to Phnom Penh and make visas each time. Same problem to go from here to Chanthaburi by plane, Chanthaburi is only 95Km from here. 

I was wondering if I could suggest Thai officials to make special rules for foreigners who have a work permit in Cambodia to have the possibility to go 3 days per month to Thailand by road. 

If you are interested in looking into this issue I am happy to provide you with copies of my Cambodia work permit and of my passport stamps to show you that I don't stay in Thailand more than 40 days per year, but need to go each month. 

It'd be great if there was some special rule for people in my case who can prove that we don't try to cheat the system to stay in Thailand, but we need to go buy things there and use post office and bank (that's where I get my money from France, that's where my clients send me the money). 

I hope this letter will help make better immigration rules for us who  are honest and legal residents in Asean and need to conduct normal and legal activities. 

Hoping to read you, 

Kind Regards, 
Françoise Dupont (That is not my real name, I changed it for public posting on Thaivisa.com)" 

To conclude, I guess they won't care about our particular cases, but it can't hurt to pass the subject around, by extreme luck it may fall in the ear of somebody who has a sense of equity and the means to do something about it. 

Merry Christmas and Happy new year to you all!!