khunjeff

No, they really do mean beginning to end. They have repeated the claim of "45 seconds to process each passenger" on many occasions over the past year or two, each time a photo of an enormous queue finds its way onto social media. For departures, that claim may not be too far off. For arrivals, it's true for many/most passengers (I used to time each one while waiting to get to the head of the line), but more than a few pax take considerably longer.

"...why doesn’t Immigration just scrap the requirement? "...There are several reasons why this requirement may still be in place: "Firstly, it helps the government keep track of the number of foreign nationals in the country and their whereabouts. This is especially important in managing overstays and ensuring that visitors comply with the terms of their visas. "Secondly, it’s part of the national security policy and by keeping updated records of foreign residents, authorities say they can more effectively monitor and prevent illegal activities." Of course, it doesn't actually accomplish any of those purposes, but sure, whatever 🙄

Rutnin Eye Hospital on Asoke in Bangkok is the top ophthalmological facility in Thailand - they have dozens of doctors specializing in every aspect of vision and eye care

Correct. This is yet another in a long series of pointless press releases by CAAT that stir up lots of controversy, but seem to have been created only to remind people that the agency exists. No. The CAAT announcement never mentioned overstay, and the "new" policy has nothing to do with immigration or visas. The overstay angle appears to have been dreamed up by Nikkei and the outlets that have quoted their article. It obviously wouldn't make sense for the bored contract screeners at the airport - who somehow take several minutes to confirm that the name on the boarding pass matches that on the ID - to also be flipping through passports pretending to understand what the stamps mean. Airlines have been urging passengers to include middle names on flight bookings for over 20 years now, and have been serious about it for at least ten years. And yes, they can and do deny boarding if there's a middle name on the ID but not on the reservation. You've been lucky if it hasn't happened to you yet, but people in that situation are regularly forced to pay a name change fee or even buy a completely new ticket at a result of the mismatch. And to answer the posters who complained that Air Asia doesn't have a middle name field in its reservation system, well, lots of airlines don't - you're supposed to just enter all of your first and middle names in the "given name(s)" field. Some airlines will keep the spaces between names, others will delete the spaces and push the names together, and still others will tell you to enter the names with no spaces. Unfortunately, many carriers don't explain all this very well on their websites.

The announcement (which didn't make a lot of sense in any case) was only about domestic flights, so it has nothing to do with the TM-6 or other immigration procedures. It's been a requirement for over five years now, and signs above the Immigration counters clearly state that passengers should present their passport, boarding pass, and e-visa printout (if applicable). If you ignored the signs and the officer didn't bother to follow up, that doesn't change the fact that it really is an official requirement, and that people without a BP in their hands really do slow down the immigration queues.

Yes, what exactly does this decision mean, in practical terms?

The OP is trying to send Thai-made vitamins out of Thailand, not bring foreign vitamins into Thailand.

In other words, the headline is totally misleading and this is nothing but the speculation of one person who hasn't spoken with Thaksin. Got it.

There are no rules forbidding you from coming and going as much as you want, as long as you have a multiple entry visa or reentry permit. And there is certainly no "maximum number of exits" - Thailand isn't trying to force you to stay here against your will. Of course, if you're on an ED visa for a study program that expects you to attend courses every day, immigration might wonder how you're meeting your educational commitments if you keep missing class... If you ask a question which is specifically about how you can do your "business", people won't be able to help you unless they understand that "business" - in other words, what your situation is and what you're trying to accomplish. Being rude to the people who are trying to assist you isn't the best way of soliciting good advice.

Once again, they are arresting trafficking victims instead of providing them with assistance. This is exactly how a country ends up on the TIP watchlist (again).

This article and form are concerned with Vietnamese people applying for local retirement/pension benefits, not about foreigners getting retirement visas.

It's not just mail from the US - this is a "thing" that comes from companies or government agencies contracting with logistics companies in other countries. I received eyeglasses sent from China with a return address in Malmo, Sweden, and printer parts - also mailed from China - with a shipping address in Singapore.

They have been announcing a transition to digital lottery sales since Thaksin was PM, so I won't hold my breath.

The children acted like adults in this matter, and the adult, well, behaved like a whiny child. I'm sure the students are also just as aware as we are that in every previous case like this one, it has turned out that an administrator was siphoning off the school lunch money for personal use.

Various online publications have been posting these "Vietnam is one of the best places in the world to retire!!" articles regularly for years, and they somehow always manage to omit the fact that there's not actually any visa that would permit it. I know folks who lived in Vietnam for decades on tourist visas and bogus business visas, but the authorities began cracking down on that a couple of years ago, and it's no longer a realistic way to spend an extended time there. As noted above, marrying a Vietnamese is really the only option for an indefinite stay at this point.

Better yet, don't drive a motorcycle, period. No matter how careful you are, you will inevitably be the loser in any run-in with a larger vehicle.

Or shrimp, which is also dried on the road in some areas?

This is phrased to make it sound as though this is some silly excuse that these countries have invented, which it isn't. Unfortunately, the reality is that Thais have a long history of overstaying and working illegally in both western countries and wealthy Asian nations, and those countries are well aware of that history. For the US in particular, one of the requirements for joining the Visa Waiver Program is a visitor visa refusal rate under 3%. The refusal rate for Thais is closer to 20%, which means there's a long, long way to go before a mutual visa exemption has any chance at all of being implemented. As noted above, it's not "hubris", but reality. And yes, Thailand absolutely could decide to only exempt visas for nationalities whose own countries do the same for Thais, just as Brazil and Indonesia have periodically done in the name of third-world honor. That would be shooting themselves in the foot, though, and laying waste to a very lucrative tourism industry for no reason other than feeling a momentary glow of nationalistic pride.

This is all turning into low comedy.

BINGO 😁

I really wish the Thaiger would stop using Chat GPT to write its articles - the overuse of adjectives becomes exhausting to read.

The place appears to be the size of a football field, so the "secret" must not have been kept very well.

"The September 15th order imposes a clearer obligation in relation to tax reporting for foreign residents in Thailand. "In any case, this applies even if they are registered in their own countries and can take advantage of tax treaties with 59 countries that Thailand has agreements with. All foreign residents, in theory, must still account for tax on an annual basis." This rather dramatic interpretation of the new rule appears to be an invention of the writer, as it isn't what the actual text of the rule says at all. In fact, we still have no idea what the precise impact of the change will be.

Prior to reorganization, Thai Airways had many A330s in its fleet, but decided to stop using them. What has changed?

It was supposed to have moved back to its original location next to the Mo Chit BTS station once construction of the BTS was completed, but instead the land there has been used for...absolutely nothing. The planned high rise over the train depot was never built, and the land in front of the depot is used for free car parking.