Rob Browder

The MFA spokesmen did several interviews. Here are a couple: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goyZSHfJlc0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfy6zvvekkE Bangkok Post interview podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thailands-new-visas/id1656654945?i=1000663277504 I remember the 24-hour-out discussion in one of the interviews, but it was related to DTV re-entries. Edit: On the "how many times" visa-exempt - he talks about it at ~9:20 in the podcast, above - have to be out for "at least a day." (yet some borders now demanding 2 days) ... "I have to stress, the final decision depends on the discretion of the immigration officer." Removing the 2-per-calendar-year land-border limit on Visa-Exempt is not the same as "unlimited." There was never a hard-limit by air, but plenty of folks got locked-up in airport-detention and forced to fly back where they came from. You CAN get "unlimited," but have to pay off immigration for each entry, after some vague, non-defined "too much time in Thailand as a tourist" period. They keep it vague, and randomly / inconsistently enforced, to maximize agent-partner revenue.

Yes - have heard a MFA spokesperson quote this for DTV border-bounces, required every 6 months. Unfortunately, there is no defined "safe" amount of time out-of-country between tourist-type entries. The policy varies by your past history over years, the entry point, the IO you get at the entry-point, and/or whatever marching-orders they were given for their work-shift.

Unlimited use of visa-exempt? Agree, unless you pay for it via Immigration's agent-partners, in which case it is unlimited, as long as you pay each time. By land, if willing to spend a couple nights out, one can repeat-entry at several crossings - even without the "van agents" - per existing reports. But, the only way to rest assured re-entering on visa-exempts or TR-Visas will be "no problem" is to pay for agent-service. If under 50, the best option is the DTV - both in terms of trouble and cost. If over 50, a retirement-based Non-O extension is the winner hands-down.

Yes, and the only reason immigration would block entry, is if coming / staying often / longer. Even then, it's just a small "fee" through an agent, to buy them off for repeated tourist-entries. There is no "insurance requirement" for tourist-entries - though not having insurance at all is not wise.

I haven't seen any recent reports about the Nakon Phanom / Laos crossing. I also doubt any border-run agents do that route. It is possible that due to not many foreigners using that crossing, they have not instituted a multi-night stay rule - but no way to know without a recent report. You would be looking at a fairly long trip to get to where agent-assisted same-day runs would be guaranteed - Cambodia probably the closest. Unless a 2-night stay in Laos be a deal-breaker, it might be the easiest way to go. You can ask on your way out of Thailand if it is OK to return that evening - see what they say.

The politicians lie, people vote for the lying promises, then they betray us. It's the same for both the right and left flavors of the Uniparty. All the "outrages" created for both "sides" seem manufactured, fake, and designed to keep people's attention off of the things that actually affect the quality of their lives. J6 - you mean the honeypot-sting riot Trump helped arrange for his "fans?" Where his "enemy" (sic), the speaker of the house, refused the required personnel for an event of that size? Where the guy caught on-video inciting illegal-activity to the crowd got a slap on the wrist, while people who walked in used the bathroom, and left, got a felony-charge and prison-time? And, where Trump could have pardoned them all on his way out, but didn't? And, yes, there is court-precedent for the latter.

If it were me, I'd buy safe-entry, if that much - even if the "odds" of denied-entry were low. This is the lowest quote on it I've seen: https://aseannow.com/topic/1336926-setv-metv-still-around-now-that-visa-exempts-are-now-60-days/?do=findComment&comment=19217493

They "learned" it was very profitable for Raytheon, Bechtel, Halliburton, etc. It's wrecking OUR future with massive-debt and lost / broken lives, but they don't care about us lowly types.

Folks love to make these pronouncements - but always leave out AT WHAT WAGE? They "forget" that when America was booming, a construction-worker made the equivalent of ~$40/hr, in today's dollars. Factory workers made significantly more. Even food-packers were sold middle-class, in the Great America days, before illegal-alien employment laws stopped being enforced on employers. Labor-cost is a TINY FRACTION of the Retail-Cost of most manufactured-goods. it only "adds up" at-scale - to create board-room bonus money - not significantly cheaper products. Technology advancements are the primary reason why TVs and such are cheaper now - not "labor cost savings." Lastly, Trump wants CHEAP imported workers - not well-paid Americans - and has said this clearly - along with his buddies Musk and Vivek. Musk fired American Tesla workers to hire cheaper foreign workers. Trump uses H1Bs, etc - and has a history of hiring Illegal-Aliens for his golf resorts.

What is that? How is it calculated - and, more importantly, by WHOM? If you mean making sure our tariffs cover the "cost savings" of being able to dump toxic crap in other countries, to eliminate that perverse "comparative advantage," then I agree. If you are buying the "global warming" nonsense, then I don't.

1) Use our own rare-earths - stopped mining-processing them, but are still there. Russia is another huge source, if we can pry the Neocons out of power, who are still angry their oligarch-buddies were removed from power in Russia. 2) We had no problem paying for products "Made in America" when tariffs kept out cheap products, before - and when wages were much higher than they are, today. Back then, one paycheck supported a family of 5, easily - plus vacations, higher-ed for the kids, and a retirement fund. 3) Re-establishing the supply lines and restoring our factories will take time. This is why it would have been better to raise the tariffs incrementally, over a longer time. 4) Those products will be produced domestically, if people want them, and a local product can be sold at a lower cost than an imported product + tariff. You globalists really think no one remembers how great things were in the USA before, when we had tariffs to protect domestic-production - When America Was Great? That said, I emphasize AGAIN, I do not trust Trump to do what he is saying. It is probably all a lying sales-pitch for some ulterior motive(s). At best, some manufacturing returns, but with 99% foreign-hires on visas, to make darn sure the Great American Middle-Class never returns. I don't see him EVER facilitating a tight labor-market, which would make Trump, Musk, Lutnick and their buddies pay Americans a decent wage.

Immigration's favorite type - a rich source of the brown-envelope money they crave. He will probably need to pay them "safe entry" money via their agent - which is a much better guarantee of no-hassle entry than a TR Visa.

Yes - having to put over a year's Thai living expenses "in the bank" for 3-months can be difficult, unless one has a work-history and life-luck which allowed for savings. But, if you have 40K/mo income, maybe the Japanese embassy still provides "income letters," which Thai-immigration will accept - so would not need the 400K "cash in the bank" for ~3 months. If not possible, I would do what others have suggested - Non-O Visas from the Thai consulate in Japan, depending on their financial requirements - or tourist-type entries (TR Visa or Visa-Exempt).

I did this before. It is far superior to a work-based permitted-stay, because your job ending doesn't effect / immediately-end your permitted-stay. BUT, use the 400K seasoned method - not the "salary" method - or it is a huge PITA, essentially combining the work-based AND marriage-based paperwork.

Online, you have 1-week, officially, 14-days to 8 days before the report is "due" - though some report success up until the due-date. By mail, it should be mailed (registered mail) 7 days before the due-date. In person, you are "allowed" to report up to 2 weeks before it is due - no earlier - plus a "grace period" of 7 more days after the report-date. I have read reports where IOs refused to honor the "in person" 7-days-after grace-period, but this is rare, as it is a published rule.

There is no guide. They keep it ambiguous, so people pay for their "safe entry" program via their agent-partners, out of fear of denied-entry - versus knowing published-rules, and simply following those. I would say it is very unlikely you would be denied, if you only had 2 60-day stays in 2024, and this is your first trip in 2025 (under 60-days), and the 2nd trip/entry this year is 2+ months after you leave from this visit. Just in case, have 20K baht worth of cash (can be in another currency), a flight out within 60-days to show (or 30, if they change-back to 30-days before that trip), and proof of where you will stay in Thailand. They are unlikely to ask for any of this, but good to have as backup.

I carried 20K Baht in Travelers Checks (from Bangkok Bank) until I stopped using Non-O-ME (marriage) Visas. I also carried proof of the reason for my visa (in my case, marriage-cert copies - KR2 and KR3, but DTV folks would use related-docs for their visa-type), and a copy of my condo-contract to show I had accommodation. I was never asked for any of this upon-entry, but i only ever used known-friendly land-borders, and it's RANDOM when IOs mess with people, so why take chances?

Good info. But note - when BKB were mass-closing branches, they "moved" my account to different branches 2x. My account number stayed the same.

This can still be done via-agent. Usually, this requires one use the agent's services for the retirement extension. The "money fix" agents will offer some discount on their service, if you use your own 800K. In what area is your friend living? Availability of this varies by area. Hopefully, someone with recent (last few months) experience can recommend an agent who can do it. There was a recent / further "tightening" of obtaining bank-accounts, so older reports are useless.

Where this will potentially be a problem, is if you try to get another visa-extension from immigration. It will not prevent coming back visa-exempt or with a visa from a Thai consulate. Some report managing a new extension without the issue "coming up," but others report having to pay overstay-fines, even when they weren't in the country on a work-based stay during the "overstay" time - max-fine 20K Baht. Best advice to anyone whose work ends, while on a work-based extension-of-stay: First, try to get the termination letter immediately. But, if that fails, leave that day or ASAP. Then, work on getting that letter, dated to the day you left, so you can fix things with immigration after-the-fact.

Would you classify the tariffs we had until the 1980s/90s in the same way? Our middle-class was a heck of a lot better off, in those times. Regardless, there are other questions at-hand: 1) National Security and self-reliance of the nation - especially for critical industries. 2) Reliable employment for the citizens of the nation, producing for their fellow citizens. 3) Related to #2 - keeping the wealth of the nation flowing WITHIN its borders - between citizens / local-businesses - vs being siphoned-away via mercantilism. 4) "Financialization" (playing tricks with money) replacing tangible production of goods and services as the driving-force of the nation's economy. That said, the MANNER in which this policy is being implemented is insane - and I have my doubts it is well-motivated, to address the above concerns. Especially regarding #2, "work visas" are being utilized to PREVENT benefit to Americans from new jobs - almost all net-jobs-created post-covid going to the foreign-born.

If you are not familiar, do some digging into what happened when Sam Walton (greatest generation) died. He had insisted on a "Made in America" section for appliances, etc - because that generation's propaganda included teaching this as "patriotic." Upon his death, his spoiled (boomer) kids ripped that out, given they were taught "globalization / free-trade" propaganda. They FORCED suppliers to move operations to Chinese factories, or lose their access to Wal Mart shelf-space. Given the size of their operation - a massive % of domestic retail - companies would be ruined if they did not agree. A proper trial and punishment is too good for such people - but I guess we would need to follow the Constitution, vs dusting-off the thumb-screws, rack, etc. Next-up for trial - those who made billions off of the covid "lockdown" psychological-operation / terrorism. One oft-missed lesson here, is that "propaganda" and "conditioning" is not always "bad." Most people don't "think things through" to an extent they can make "good" decisions with regard to national-policy. The dumbing-down of education has only made this worse - no "civics," and not even solid math, physics, chemistry, and biology required for a HS Diploma - or, even many "college degrees" (= why they could get-away with their scientifically-insane Covid policy). So, it boils-down to a question of who the rulers are, and their intentions. Do they care about the well-being of your people and future - or just money, or some other group's interests?

HK was a different situation. The Brit-lease ran out after 99 years. The CCP then "got it back," unless Britain decided to violate their agreement, and go to war for it. But, the CCP didn't want to stop it making money (for them), so we got the "two systems" compromise. But, after the CIA/USAID started running "freedom" (sic) operations there, the CCP said to hell with "two systems" - in the context of the judiciary - and started rounding-up and disappearing HK "color revolution" protesters. Two things can be true at the same time - sometimes many related and seemingly-opposing things. The USA's foreign-policy is a force for evil in the world (coups, death-squads, etc), and so is the CCP's ("dash-line" territorial-robbery of its neighbors) - as was the USSR's. See also, the European colonial powers' actions in their former colonies, which was evil (note: Patrice Lumumba) - but so were the communists who opposed them. Both "sides" pretend they support freedom, regularly kill anyone "good" - those who care about the interests of their own people/nation - when they won't "play ball" with them. Picking one or the other "side" usually means you have to ignore 1/2 of the lies and atrocities.

Note that China does not have the ability to project military power to USA shores - so there is no justification for the USA to take a war-footing with China. Nukes? Sure, but that is a 2-way street and mutual-suicide, so not part of the equation. That said, we also should NOT be financing a dictatorship's military - as we have since the 1990s - with anti-American trade-policy. As to Taiwan - which is at the focal-point (though not the whole picture) - we should try to get the same thing needed for Ukraine - a neutral country solution. This would involve removing it as a pawn for USA-power in the region, in exchange for China agreeing they may remain independent, indefinitely.

I know with certainty that the gain-of-function research was funded by NIAID - paid in a contract to "Eco Health Alliance" - after the DOD declined fund the SAME research project, due to their involvement vis-a-vis the biological-weapons convention. This is all from declassified records. I also know that the spike-protein found on the Covid virus (original strain), with the tell-tale "furin cleavage site," was an exact-match for one developed for gene-therapy purposes by Moderna - patented in 2016. The paper showing that is here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fviro.2022.834808/full Are you suggesting US-Gov "didn't know" about the quality of the lab - or Chinese building practices in general, until after Covid? The lab's poor-quality was noted by the French who helped build it - warning the US State-Dept years before covid. https://dailycaller.com/2021/07/26/france-wuhan-lab-david-asher-state-department/ The USA decided to do the research there, anyway, because Obama had banned the research in the USA (for the most part - some limited-exceptions). AND, they didn't even use the highest-rated facilities in the lab for that work, per some reports (level 2 was used, vs level 3 or 4). Corruption leads to all sorts of things, which both separately, and sometimes in a "bi-partisan" fashion, implicate both halves of the Uniparty. What happened with Covid is firmly in the bi-partisan - and global corruption - category.