Toosetinmyways

Why would anyone who has doubts over a country's banking system choose to retire here.

There is one thing that all these topics and posts have confirmed to immigration is that a lot of retirees here dont even have a pot to piss in. 

1 hour ago, Becker said:

Why don't they mull a gag order on Trump himself. I think everyone could do with a break from his verbal vomit. 

And Rudy G.

I have not read all the previous posts so sorry if this has been said before. 

I have a theory regarding immigration tightening up. Just a gut feeling.

The Thai government/immigration/police are getting fed up being portrayed in the foreign and local press as a safe haven for pedos , mafias, scam artìsts, criminals on the run etc. They put this down to lax vetting of people entering. To vet everyone entering would require a vast amount of manpower and time. The easy way is to make people self prove. You have to prove to them you are not a bad guy out but a good guy in.

Anyone staying more than a certain length of time on a tourist visa will have to convince the IO that they are real tourists.

Look what happened to mariage extensions. Before it was a trip to immigration with the wife and mariage cert for approval. Then what happened, scam mariages. Now you have to prove you are in a real marriage with all the hoop jumping involved.

Income avidavit. People using sham offshore companies paying them a paper income. Immigration clamps down. Need to see real money in Thai bank.

When retirement extensions started agents deposited real money inthe bank account in your name for the required seasoning. Now it seems that no money at all is shown. Immigration assumes that all retirees as using this method or the fake company way and it is up to you to prove otherwise. 

Perhaps the Thais look upon visa misusers as bad guys and want them out. After this major clean out I can see immigration returning to normal but with a strict following of the law.

Just got non o marriage visa multi now from Savannaket. Every thing same as last year. Arrived embassy yesterday 0830 with all paperwork pre written. Number 2 when gate opened at 0900. Out at 0910. Collected passport at 1405 today.

Application form.

Original mariage cert.

Copy both sides signed by wife

Wife copy id and house paper signed.

Copy detail page my passport.

Nothing else except 5000 baht.

I am a believer, that starting years ago, if people had followed the rules perhaps immigration would not have started taking the hard line that appears to be the case at present. Surely if your stay in Thailand is dependent on a visa you should be in the position to obtain a visa to match your lifestyle. Nobody forced you to resettle in Thailand if you are visa dependent.

I spent a year in Thailand on SETV from Vientiane and from the 4 visa van runs I did I guarantee that at least 3 people out of the 10 passengers openly admitted they were working in Thailand on SETV. So if you look at that statistic from an immigration point of view, someone with a bunch of SETV and VE in their passport there is a 30% chance of catching an illegal worker. As it is hard for the IO to prove that, they can just use a convenient excuse to ban entry. Of course innocent travelers will be caught up by accident.

My gripe about extensions , was the fact that using the lump sum the money had to be in a Thai bank, but using income method the money could stay offshore.  It should have been either funds offshore or funds in Thailand. Good to see that both systems look like it will be the funds in Thailand method.

Regarding income affidavits from embassies, how could they confirm true income, when one of the methods used was forming an offshore company in the UK , transferring the equivalent of 65000 baht in and out every month then taking your audited accounts to the embassy to be signed of as true. Another way that a workaround system affected  genuine people.

My prediction is next it will not be a restriction on number of SETV issued but length of stay in Thailand. Maybe 4 months per calendar year?