Tomtomtom69

It is. Sending an email that has nothing to do with Thailand is hugely different from selling jewelry presumably to clients within Thailand. The latter is clearly working from Thailand. She got caught for making Thailand look bad. As you probably know, defamation is a criminal offense in Thailand and foreigners that make the country look bad are deported. The easiest way to do so, is find something else to charge them with, because it's an automatic and quick deportation that way. She was also blacklisted by the way. Essentially all for saying bad things about the Kingdom.

The Chinese vlogger defamed Thailand in one of her YouTube videos. She also sold jewelry online and hence that was the easiest way of getting rid of her. I don't know if she sold the jewelry to Chinese living in Thailand or only to those in China but this activity clearly goes beyond what a digital nomad is supposed to do as she was physically involved in carrying out tangible activities that would be considered work (such as mailing items to clients) and accepting payment for them. VERY different to someone working from their bedroom or home office on a desktop or laptop, writing emails and holding Zoom meetings for a foreign company, not otherwise getting into trouble with Thai law and obviously NOT engaging in illegal activities such as operating an online gambling operation.

I don't think anyone has ever been deported for online work based outside of Thailand for a non-Thai company UNLESS there were other circumstances involved. For example, an illegal boiler room, scam center, illegal online narcotic sales, illegal gambling operation that sort of thing. Or if you are a YouTuber and defamed Thailand but were also caught selling jewelry online, some of it within Thailand (which is clearly working here) that sort of thing..

Based on what? There's nothing to suggest a DTV holder won't be able to secure a certificate of residency through immigration (although some embassies still issue these) or more importantly given what I just stated, obtain a drivers license renewal. Of course I can't be 100% sure, but I don't think they'll treat the DTV like a tourist visa especially with its long validity.

Why? Have you ever heard of an immigrant working in the west being replaced by a local down the line? Nope, immigrants stay forever, bring their families and eventually push us natives out of a job. Not saying that's how Thailand should do it, but this notion that an expat should only be able to work here for a limited period and then be replaced by locals is pretty sad. You wouldn't be able to have a future here. Wouldn't be able to have a family unless you brought them all to your country.

Thais don't live in condos. They live in these great dwellings called houses.

Chinese citizens barely use cash anymore. It's all QR codes now. Very difficult to use cash in China these days.

I doubt it. The fact it's a 5 year visa indicates they are happy to have people use it for de facto residence. With the non-O or non-B multiple entry 1 year visas, you can effectively live in Thailand by doing border runs (or better yet) spend a couple of days out of country every 2-3 months then return (you get 90 days on each reentry). Has never been an issue and no questions asked. Only Ranong is sometimes a little fussy (they'll let you in, but might at first ask for 20000 Baht but if you pushback and show them your non O or non B they'll stop asking). I think it will be the same with this visa, especially if you're spending a few days out of country every few months with the occasional 2 or 3 week absence.

WHY did you fail? Surely they would have told you what documents you were missing?

Why were you rejected? Assuming you had the 500000 Baht or equivalent in a foreign or Thai bank account and could meet the other easy to meet requirements, it sounds like a piece of cake.

Point 2 - I do. Agree with you on point 4 only. Point 5 - that's a strange one. One would think that the more you can speak the local lingo, the better.

Depends. It's almost never that bad unless you're heading into the city on a Friday afternoon.

I don't like either but I'd prefer the second one. Sitting in the comfort and privacy of my own car is far superior and preferable to being stuck in a metal box with thousands of sweaty strangers.

How do you watch Thai TV if you can't understand Thai? How do you go for a massage if you can't speak Thai? If you want to live here, learn the language. Same as Afghan refugees do when they migrate to Sweden. They learn Swedish (OK, not all of them, but surely many of them do). If you can't speak Thai, you'll never be able to communicate effectively with those you live amongst.

Foreigners cooking food for Thais, even during Covid and for free, is illegal and we know how that went down. Foreigners were threatened with deportation.

You need glasses and to do a simple Google search. Jackie Chan is Chinese born and clearly Asian. His accent is NOT American. Yes, perhaps there is a hint of an American accent but it's still largely Chinese. His English is of course, very good.

That's the case in ANY country, in theory at least. No, only the government can decide whether a foreigner can come and stay or not. Thai citizens who don't work for immigration have no say in the matter. Just like we in the west have no say when it comes to whether we want to be replaced through mass immigration. No one asked for our permission. No matter what our opinion is, and how unpopular mass immigration is, it continues because governments do what they want, irrespective of what their citizens want. It's the same in Thailand. The government allows masses of foreigners to come in as tourists and some of these become expats. The Thai people have no say in this. I'm pretty sure a lot of Thais don't want 40 million tourists a year, nor do they accept the presence of millions of migrant workers. Yet every year there are more tourists, more expats and more migrant workers.

Her English isn't that good. It's about average for a Thai person. I realize he may have been a bit out of line but she clearly didn't want to listen to what he had to say.

Jackie's English is very good but his accent is NOT American. That is the point. I'm responding to this ridiculous notion that according to this story, the man looked Chinese but spoke in an American accent. In other words, he was probably one of the millions of Chinese-Americans.

Err...he doesn't have an American accent and neither is he an American citizen to the best of my knowledge (or even if he is, his accent is still quite Chinese). Try again...

What is that supposed to mean? Ever heard of a Chinese-American? 5% of the American population is of Asian descent (this probably includes Eurasians, though the vast majority remain "pure" Asians) and this percentage is growing fast. Thais must be extremely ignorant if they aren't aware of the fact America is a multicultural country. In fact, in barely 5 years from now, Whites will no longer be an absolute majority any more (which is both sad and shocking) but this is happening in every western country. In just a few decades from now, claiming to be an American if you're white might attract some strange glances (I kid you not) that's the direction we're headed in. So this man may be ethnically Chinese, but based on his accent and fluent use of the English language is very likely a native born American citizen.

You really have no idea. Imagine a day in the future (this already happened during Covid) when you won't be able to pass an immigration auto gate because you didn't get vaccinated. Or because you didn't pay your taxes. Or you said something you shouldn't have on social media? All these things can be overridden by a manual officer, but with a machine it's one size fits all. You either meet their requirements or you don't. Also, auto gates are slower than manual processing. Case in point is at Brisbane in Australia, where even babies are forced to use the auto gates on departure and it takes like 3 minutes to process each child because being children they're not going to be looking at the camera the way an officer wants.

Yes, new dystopian things. Cashless payments using QR codes are dystopian. So are auto gates. Fortunately, Thailand will take years or even decades to perfect them so I will continue to have an officer stamp me in and out.

Another made up claim. Imported food and drinks regardless of what it is or how popular it is in the local market will be more expensive than locally produced goods unless the country of origin is Malaysia or China, then all bets are off. Chances are that whiskey you refer to is made in Thailand.

I've compared the two and found imported cheese is even more expensive in Cambodia than in Thailand. Only alcoholic beverages are cheaper... No tax on imports in Cambodia? ROFL!!