Karma80

I'm down for this. Anyone who lives in Thailand and travels frequently watches their passport pages fill up pretty quickly. If I don't need to stamp exit and entry into my passport - that's a complete win.

Because a debit or credit card will cause the merchant to pay a fee. The Thai QR Promptpay system is free to use under 5,000 Baht and even then a sliding scale of 2 Baht for up to 30,000, 5 Baht for 30k-100k, and 10 baht for over 100k. It's incredibly cost effective for people to accept money, especially for those small merchants every day. The QR system in Thailand is awesome phenomenal advancement when you consider how much is being skimmed by bank fees, or card schemes elsewhere.

Dont think it really matters. This was Phuket airport immigration yesterday. Please enjoy your 3 hour wait.

If you throw enough made up <deleted> against a wall, some of it will stick.

As a Canadian, the rhetoric from the methlab Canada sits above is profoundly worrying to most people I know. The shameless lies about fentanyl, drugs pouring in from the north, and cartels, to make an executive order legal is truly a disgrace.

An open-door policy on visas to a low-cost-of-living tropical country, with no control of weed or prostitution. All promoted by the clickbait of YouTube. What could go wrong? Add a DTV visa so that you can effectively live in the country for 5 years, having booked a cookery course. Thailand's immigration policy might be ok, but couple that with absolutely zero enforcement and a corrupt police force, if they even show up, what did anyone really expect?

I'd fly Thai direct or Cathay via HKG in business. I prefer Thai to Qantas, but Cathay fares are normally very good in business and the extra stop in HKG is usually well timed and the lounges excellent.

It's one of the few benefits of living in Phuket. However, we're looking to leave because of the traffic and low end tourist dumpster situation.

I was in Bangkok last week on business and stayed at a 5* hotel. The lobby was full of Chinese who had checked out but were camping out, lying and sleeping across sofas and chairs with feet on the furniture. The staff were exasperated and repeatedly asked them not to do it, to no real impact. If Thailand doesn't clamp down on this rental behaviour now, the Chinese will continue to push boundaries. I am curious which buildings are heavily impacted by this in Bangkok.

I fail to see the uproar. Why should a tourist be able to open a bank account? They can't in any other country. Get a proper long term visa and you can walk into any bank in person with legit ID and open it. DTV isn't a long term visa and some people need to get over that.

Exactly this. The US was the leader in the global minimum tax drive and has moonwalked away, but it likewise has a stated intent to have the "lowest taxes"; whatever the mercurial administrations take of the hour is on that. It's time for Thailand to compete on taxation again and encourage the repatriation of funds.

This article aged like milk quickly.

Don't they want to tour the hubs of human trafficking and city pollution anymore?

The new US administration is not a reliable partner. Thailand will be smart to look to regional neighbours. Indonesia just became a full member of brics, and Thailand a partner member last month. Only a matter of time before full membership.

Remind me why the Kingdom of Thailand should care about the whims of the President of another country?