khunjeff

Did I miss something? What change is taking place on February 17 that will present "potential challenges"?

Startling, yes, as well as totally unbelievable. "You have a job opening for a professional scammer? And the benefits include being locked in a building and being severely beaten when I don't meet my quota? And there's no pay? Sign me up!!" The victims engaged "willingly" in the sense that they voluntarily came to Thailand to take what they thought were legitimate jobs in programming, hospitality, acting, or modeling - they were not kidnapped off the street. But the "willing" part ended when they were diverted to Burma or Cambodia and ordered to start scamming people. In fact, the 99% claim is so ludicrous that one has to wonder whether it's just being rolled out to divert attention from the possible involvement of the police and military in facilitating these operations.

Who exactly would be organizing nonstop flights to Roi Et from overseas, and why? I've been there, and have nothing at all against the place, but it's hard to imagine what the draw would be for direct international flights - even charters. Do they really handle that many, or is that the theoretical maximum capacity? Their own statistics show fewer than 1000 passengers per day - are 60% of those really concentrated into a single hour of the day? Improving airports is all well and good, but one has to wonder whether some of this is pie in the sky at best, or a boondoggle at worst.

This doesn't sound right - I read in a TAT press release that Pattaya is a high-end family vacation paradise!

Some form of parliamentary immunity exists in most countries. Otherwise, it would be easy to disrupt the legislative process by having opposing representatives arrested on trumped up charges. The immunity isn't absolute, though, and presumably police will eventually be able to interrogate and arrest him.

They did away with it in April 2024. https://thainews.prd.go.th/nbtworld/news/view/225858/?bid=1

The proposed 300 baht tourist fee is still postponed indefinitely. In fact, the government mentioned specifically that they didn't want to introduce multiple new systems at the same time in order to prevent confusion (though probably too late for that...). A more interesting question may be what ever became of the proposed ETA, which was supposed to start on Jan 1, was postponed, and is now no longer talked about at all.

That's suggested when preparing certain fatty foods to prevent spattering (and possible fires) as oil renders out and falls to the bottom of the pan - it's not necessary for most air fryer cooking.

An autopsy is typically mandatory any time a foreigner dies outside of a hospital, so we can assume that will happen without the family needing to request it.

The letter posted in that thread isn't actually accurate. Over 70s can use Fast Track on departure, but on arrival they instead use the "Priority" lanes located next to the Thai Passport counters. The plan will not "reduce paper work and improve processing times", because currently (and for the past 2+ years) there is no form of any kind to fill out on arrival. Replacing "nothing" with anything at all represents an increase in paperwork by any definition, even if the "paper" happens to be electronic. This is why the comparisons with countries like Singapore and Malaysia are inapt: both of those countries replaced paper forms with electronic submissions, whereas Thailand got rid of its paper form completely - like Vietnam and the US - and is now resurrecting it in a different form, for no obvious reason. Contrary to what is written here, the US does not have a similar process. The US did away with its arrival forms for air entries many years ago, and hasn't replaced them with anything. The poster may be confusing ESTA, the application form for visa exempt travelers which only needs to be filled out every two years, with an electronic arrival card. ESTA is analogous to the proposed Thai ETA, not to the TDAC. https://www.cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors/i-94

Many policies do include coverage for repatriation of remains in the event of death during travel.

Yes, these people are cheaters who should be dealt with appropriately. But let's be real here... Foreign tourists scam three Phuket taxi drivers: outrage! Press coverage! Tar and feathers! Phuket taxi drivers scam hundreds of foreign tourists every day: crickets

I've looked through my notifications, and don't see any message warning me of the change. It is of course possible that it came by some other means - Shopee sends so many emails, notifications, and Line messages every day that I tend to ignore them. I have almost 3k baht in my Shopee Pay wallet, and was able to use it normally until suddenly I wasn't 😞 The absurdity of the situation is that the only reason I have Shopee Pay in the first place is that they required me to open it several years ago in order to receive a refund...

The article seems to explain how she got out of Burma - permission from local strongmen, and Thai authorities who generously permitted her to cross the border without arresting her (as happened to Indonesian escapees recently) - but not how she got out of her lockup, which would seem to be the much harder part of the equation.

How exactly do you define "substandard goods"? And the shops are filled with them, so why is it a surprise that they're also sold online?

Amazing police work! Those vape vendors are almost impossible to find...other than on every street corner and in every market. And of course all the police officers publicly vaping all over the country are actually conducting secret research into the supply networks 😅

I'm pretty sure that the workers in question are fully documented, and are under the sponsorship of companies that need their labor. And I'm not aware of any evidence that Burmese laborers are committing any more crimes than Thais...

Since some victims of these gangs have reported being escorted through immigration, I'm not sure how effective this will really be. And what exactly will alerting embassies accomplish, especially since the victim is normally accompanied by gang members when crossing the border? Will immigration also deny entry or exit to these travelers with "unclear" plans?

Exactly. A "confused" emoji might mean "I don't understand what you're trying to say", or "I don't understand why you're saying it", or "I don't understand why the people you wrote about did what they did", or any number of other things.

"Thai airline" could describe any of the several Thailand-registered carriers, hence the confusion. "Thai Airways" is never mentioned in the article.

As usual, this seems like overkill to arrest one hapless low-wage illegal worker (while his Thai bosses apparently weren't touched). And though the authorities are acting as though busting a cannabis farm is a big deal, it appears that only license and permit regulations were violated - and even the officials acknowledge that getting the right permits is easy and cheap.

What a joke of a penalty 😔

The page you cited messed up the terminology - it should be "non-quota immigrant visa", not "non-immigrant quota". "6. NON-QUOTA IMMIGRANT VISA - This type of visa is granted only by the Office of Immigration Bureau in Bangkok to aliens who are domiciled in Thailand having as evidence valid permits to re-enter the Kingdom. Applicants shall submit their applications together with the Certificate of Residence directly to the Immigration Bureau in Bangkok." https://athens.thaiembassy.org/th/publicservice/17617-types-of-visa?page=5d74fae415e39c30ec0013f2&menu=5d74fae415e39c30ec0013f3 So yes, this does refer to permanent residence (whenever immigration says "residence", they're talking about PR). That is from the second of two paragraphs separated by the word "or". The OP was asking about the first paragraph, which did indeed mean PR. I imported all of my household effects when I came here on an OA - basically a container-load. The shipment was subject to duty, but that only came to about 20k baht, which was less than it would have cost just to replace my espresso machine. My employer paid for packing, shipping, and delivery as part of my retirement, so for me it made sense - for those who need to pay all the costs themselves, though, the math could be very different.

It's different because Thailand actually stopped using entry forms over two years ago, and over 50 million foreigners have entered without one - and without the kingdom collapsing. It's obvious that the system worked just fine without the forms, so why re-introduce them? Why not just emulate Vietnam or the US, and get rid of entry forms completely?

A lot of "mandating", "ordering", "directing", and "instructing", but nothing in the way of actual policies to stop the smoke.