ukrules

Why are they doing this?

They face the usual problem faced by authorities around the world. People only become branded criminals once they've been convicted. It specifically states in the terms and conditions that anyone applying for the Thailand Elite visa is not eligible if they have been sentenced to 1 year or more in prison, unless it's for negligence in which case I guess they are eligible for the visa - which is a little odd. If the Chinese in question has been sentenced to more than 1 year and they find out about it they will revoke the membership and visa. Some of the biggest gangsters out there have a squeaky clean record.

The pandemic is not over yet so what's the problem? Flights are double or triple what they were from a lot of places, give it a year or two. Also Tourism was on the way down in the years prior to 2020 so why would anyone expect that trend to change during a pandemic?

It is illegal to bribe an official / pay a bribe isn't it?

Maybe they will ban them twice?

It sounds like they want to arrest her for bribing a police officer.....and the electric cigarette posession.

They introduced a diversionary tactic by suggesting that there was some kind of electronic cigarette present. As far as I'm concerned they were digging their own grave at that point. Two wrongs don't make a right, if she had an e-cig then so what - nobody in nearly all the world cares about this. Why even mention it? If the Thai police find an e-cig they demand money, everyone knows that - and that's extortion unless it's an official fine - which I'm going to take a guess that it wasn't.

If I were her when they arrive in Taiwan I would hold a press conference and tell them all to eff off very publicly and on TV or something.

Not me, I never, ever go in the morning and I've been here for about 15 years (I think) so I've been many times over the years.

The Big Joker needs to take on this case

Give it 2 months and then lets look at it once the 'high season' is over. It will be a sorry tale of woe again.

Never

I don't have running drinking water, I just order 30 cases of Nestle every time I'm running low and use it for everything from coffee, cooking and just general water drinking. 30 cases = 1650 Baht - pocket change but a whole load of space taken up by the bottles when they arrive.

Try buying a new colour laser printer, I checked with my local supplier and they have none available at all. Which is really odd.

People seem to think this won't affect non Chinese based on the other thread a week or so back. I'm pretty sure it will

How do you know this? Did they do an autopsy?

At the age of 48 an autopsy is absolutely vital.

This is not the streamlined process it's supposed to be.

Oh I think it is, I'm going to be very surprised if this ends up being less than 500 Baht per person if it's introduced.

But you did provide bank statements. This kind of treatment is nonsense, that immigration officer should be fired for unprofessional behaviour.

Elite visa owners still have to do 90 day reporting, or not and pay the 2000 Baht per year. I have a feeling that not doing the 90 day reports is going to be 'stepped up' like overstay was a few years back.

So what happened with this case?

If you leave the country then the days stop accruing. They only count when you're in the country and don't leave.

I may be wrong but wasn't this supposed to be for airport arrivals only when it was first mentioned?

I don't know about different visa types or what type of visa this guy has but for the Thailand Elite visa they are quite specific on the application forms - if you've been sentenced to more than 1 year in prison for any crime other than negligence then you're not permitted to get the visa. I guess if you've been sentenced to less than 1 year in prison at any point in the past then it's no problem. However, there is no way they can check this as they don't require a 'police report' so you just sign the form which I guess is a legal declaration - I imagine if they later found out you had indeed done a decade or so in prison then they might kick you out and revoke the visa. I wonder if something similar happened here. Is there any similar kind of declaration for retirement or other types of visa?