Superstar cop 'Big Joke' on his rise and plans for expats, visas

[snoop1130]

Superstar cop 'Big Joke' on his rise and plans for expats, visas

By Teeranai Charuvastra, Staff Reporter

 

 

BANGKOK — The announcement that Thailand’s best-known police officer had arrived sent gasps of shock across a news conference at Royal Thai Police headquarters.

 

“Whoa, he’s not late this time?” one reporter cried aloud, to the laughter of those familiar with his inhuman schedule.

 

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2019/01/16/superstar-cop-big-joke-on-his-rise-and-plans-for-expats-visas/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2019-1-16

[heybuz]

Sounds good,but

[lazygourmet]

“I would be in an NGO.”

555!!!

[Maejo Man]

He must have been reading Thaivisa and all the moans regarding 90 day reporting!

[fruitman]

Well his latest invention the special lanes for chinese at immigration is a real big joke.

 

Yesterday there was 1 lane for foreign passports open and 3 for chinese.

 

But there were blond  people in the queue for chinese so another asian behind me asked if we also could use that lane for chinese, sure the official lady said....so that's what we did.

 

 

[darksidedog]

Proposed changes include abolishing 90-day reports and introducing 10-year visas for foreign retirees, Surachate said.

Well losing the 90 day report would be nice. I will be interested to see the fine print on the 10 year visa though.

Funny that he is talking about making staying here easier, at the same time that it seems to be getting much harder. Coincidental timing no doubt?

[fruitman]

1 minute ago, darksidedog said:

Proposed changes include abolishing 90-day reports and introducing 10-year visas for foreign retirees, Surachate said.

Well losing the 90 day report would be nice. I will be interested to see the fine print on the 10 year visa though.

Funny that he is talking about making staying here easier, at the same time that it seems to be getting much harder. Coincidental timing no doubt?

10 year visa would be nice but wait for the conditions....

 

Anyway, we're going to set up camp in another country as well, i'm tired of all the hoops..

[ThreeEyedRaven]

19 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Superstar cop 'Big Joke' on his rise and plans for expats, visas

Well, glad to hear that we are not all going to get kicked out after all then. I suspect a few extra hoops for us to jump through in due course, but if as he says, it will get easier in time and the 90 day report goes, I think many of us would be a lot happier.

[Lipoman]

I'm making my plans for immigrating and retiring in Thailand in the next two years.  

 

I look forward to Big Joke's ambitious change to current immigration legislation wrt the 90 Day reporting and a 10 Year Visa.  I hope the proposed changes become a reality for all concerned. 

[Andrew Dwyer]

“Surachate was born in 1970 in Songkhla. His father, also a policeman, based his son’s nickname on his favorite playing card: the joker.”

Haven’t heard that one before !

Let’s hope abolishing 90 day reports isn’t one of his “jokes “ !

[NCC1701A]

14 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

seems to be getting much harder.

for some but not all. there has been no change for me in five years. and no more 90 day reporting and a ten year visa would only make things better.

Edited January 16, 2019 by NCC1701A

[bluesofa]

"“The amendment process will take probably about two or three months,” Surachate said – an optimistic assessment when at least half a year is usually needed to pass legislation."

 

I hope he's not been listening to Pawit. Eleven months ago he swore a new foreigner database and system would be ready in six months. We're still waiting. It comes under Big Joke's jurisdiction:

 

[observer90210]

A 10 year visa sounds nice. But if it requires having US$ 100'000 in a Thai Bank, even those with the ca$h flow,  will definately get deterred.

 

The Hon. General should stick to the 800k THB requirement for the 10 year visa, no more reporting 90 days, possibility to freely enter and leave with multiple entries ....... just maybe an annual reporting and that's it !!  Why not with compulsory clause for medical insurance,  contracted either in Thailand but also accepted if from a foreign medical insurance company abroad.

 

Thank you, Sir.

Edited January 16, 2019 by observer90210

[bluesofa]

15 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Proposed changes include abolishing 90-day reports and introducing 10-year visas for foreign retirees, Surachate said.

Well losing the 90 day report would be nice. I will be interested to see the fine print on the 10 year visa though.

Funny that he is talking about making staying here easier, at the same time that it seems to be getting much harder. Coincidental timing no doubt?

Last "talk" about the ten-year visa (that hasn't happened) was that it would require renewing every five years.

[Thaidream]

54 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

“The amendment process will take probably about two or three months,” Surachate said – an optimistic assessment when at least half a year is usually needed to pass legislation."

 

I hope he's not been listening to Pawit. Eleven months ago he swore a new foreigner database and system would be ready in six months. We're still waiting. It comes under Big Joke's jurisdiction:

 

The devils in the details- there already is a 10 year Visa- O-X- it comes in two five year issues.  However, it comes with heavy qualifications starting with medical insurance purchased from only a Thai Company unless one already has the proper health insurance from the home country.

There is also a 3 Million Baht needed in a Thai Bank. Once can find the exact qualifications on the Thai Embassy website in Washington; London and Sydney.

I will believe him when I see the possibility of a 10 year extension of a normal visa without added qualifications.

I will believe him when I see people married to Thai citizens allowed to use their wife's income; land acquisitions; houses; and other fixed assets.

The 90 day  reporting is simply a straw man - it is all the other things that will require large amounts of money in the bank that will count. 

I hope I am wrong but I really don't see  Thailand being a preferred destination for retirees in the future unless they are very wealthy

 

I would also add that if he really wants to do something fair for foreigners- how about a 10 year permanent residence- without quota- allowing a long term retiree or a foreigner married to a Thai to get a form of PR good for 10 years- without the huge cost- and without all the  onerous requirements currently needed. For a person who is successful during the 10 years- no problems with police; payment of taxes etc- the PR then becomes permanent.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Thaidream

[Dumbastheycome]

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

Proposed changes include abolishing 90-day reports and introducing 10-year visas for foreign retirees, Surachate said.

Well losing the 90 day report would be nice. I will be interested to see the fine print on the 10 year visa though.

Funny that he is talking about making staying here easier, at the same time that it seems to be getting much harder. Coincidental timing no doubt?

Exactly what is  making it harder? 

I think this individual as his  head screwed on the right way despite his obvious ambition.

[humbug]

why are so many taking his word as future facts! Didnt recently people pour scorn on the 10 year retirement visa with its financial and insurance requirements.

 

What about when there is a new government, maybe they might have a say in changing the immigration act or hiring a new imm. chief, oh wait a minute wrong thread, thats the rigging votes thread.  

 

20 year strategy on immigration by Mr Joke et al, lets see if the nationalists keep looking to reduce 'foreigners' living in siam as a national security concern just like good olde 2018

[Eligius]

This guy is NOT a 'superstar'. He is a sickening narcissist. He is only labelled a 'superstar' because the foolish media keep sucking up to him and giving him the oxygen of publicity.

 

For Goodness' sake: media, just ignore this bloated, strutting moron. He is all talk anyway. He has NOT got our best interests at heart - that is for sure.

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by Eligius

[Briggsy]

1 minute ago, Eligius said:

He is only labelled a 'superstar' because the foolish media keep sucking up to him and giving him the oxygen of publicity.

 

For Goodness' sake: just ignore this bloated, strutting moron.

I am not sure you have fully grasped the relationship between the media and the authorities here. I don't mean this as a criticism or slight. The media don't enjoy press freedom and don't really have a choice in terms of content and style when covering government (in this case, immigration police) press briefings. They are allowed to do the hard work of actually writing the copy though.

[Eligius]

3 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

I am not sure you have fully grasped the relationship between the media and the authorities here. I don't mean this as a criticism or slight. The media don't enjoy press freedom and don't really have a choice in terms of content and style when covering government (in this case, immigration police) press briefings. They are allowed to do the hard work of actually writing the copy though.

If the media here are just mouthpieces and puppets of the illicit powers - then they should shut up shop right now and get out of the business and do something useful for the country, if they have any shred of moral and ethical principle -

which of course they DO NOT!

 

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by Eligius

[holy cow cm]

Well he better present a 5-8-10 year visa for my category of Thai Family. But normally all their super ideal immigration visa offers are deluged with high Thai bank locked in deposits and so forth. 

[Briggsy]

7 minutes ago, Eligius said:

If the media here are just mouthpieces and puppets of the illicit powers

That's pretty much a fair summary, up to a point. I think you are using the word illicit because they are not elected. The same applies to any Thai elected government, I should add.

 

7 minutes ago, Eligius said:

then they should shut up shop right now and get out of the business,

The owners of the major newspapers and tv channels (obviously not the government ones) are very much players in the political field. The last thing they want to do is get out of the game. The journalists want their salary and undeclared payments and their own little slice of influence but they wouldn't mess with a Big Joke story.

 

7 minutes ago, Eligius said:

if they have any shred of moral principle -

which of course they DO NOT!

No, they don't. I do have a theory that moral courage is in short supply throughout South East Asia and it very much shapes the societies within it.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Briggsy

[Eligius]

1 minute ago, Briggsy said:

That's pretty much a fair summary, up to a point. I think you are using the word illicit because they are not elected. The same applies to any Thai elected government, I should add.

 

The owners of the major newspapers and tv channels (obviously not the government ones) are very much players in the political field. The last thing they want to do is get out of the game. The journalists want their salary and undeclared payments and their only little slice of influence but they wouldn't mess with a Big Joke story.

 

No, they don't. I do have a theory that moral courage is in short supply throughout South East Asia and it very much shapes the societies within it.

Great post (above), Briggsy. You state it really well.

[humbug]

i have a horrible feeling about this! Last few weeks many mentions of immigration act changes by joker home boy.

 

I am sure this is the start of a public negotiating tactic to get embassies onside, sure they dont have to care but its better than having embassies offside, and any initial changes would be luke warm but the longer this nationalist gang stay in power then we know over years the changes will become more earth shattering for many foreigners. 

 

Just looking back last year shows me that these guys have already laid some twisted plot for the future reduction of many of us

[DrTuner]

It's not the immigration act that expats should worry about, it's the police orders that can basically be changed at a whim. Like adding nasty clauses to requirements for extensions of stay. I feel a new set of orders coming up.

[Orton Rd]

42 minutes ago, Eligius said:

This guy is NOT a 'superstar'. He is a sickening narcissist. He is only labelled a 'superstar' because the foolish media keep sucking up to him and giving him the oxygen of publicity.

 

For Goodness' sake: media, just ignore this bloated, strutting moron. He is all talk anyway. He has NOT got our best interests at heart - that is for sure.

 

If he scraps the 90 day and brings in a 10 year visa with reasonable financial requirements he will be a superstar in my book. People moan about immigration hoops then when somebody plans to make things easier- they still moan! I don't think personal insults towards the officer are of any help.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Orton Rd

[Eligius]

1 minute ago, Orton Rd said:

If he scraps the 90 day and brings in a 10 year visa with reasonable financial requirements he will be a superstar in my book. People moan about immigration hoops then when somebody plans to make things easier- they still moan! I don;t think personal insults towards the officer are of any help.

It's all talk, empty words - in other words, typical Thai 'official'. Don't trust any of it. All vacuous blather. One cannot trust a single 'promise' from these folk - when the head of the lot of them breaks more promises in a week than you or I break eggs in a year!

[janclaes47]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

at the same time that it seems to be getting much harder.

When was it that it was getting much harder?

 

I read he did away with the embassy letters, which makes it easier for most, unless they have been using the embassy letter in the past because that way they could bypass the actual rules.

 

I also read a post just today about someone in Chiangmai who did his retirement extension and didn't have to take post at the door at 4am as usual, so I assume it was also much easier for him.

 

Or you probably meant to say, makes it much harder for the undesirable?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Quote

 

Under his command, the bureau whose slogan proclaims “Good Guys In, Bad Guys Out,” will undergo several changes. Surachate said he’s drafting suggested amendments to the 1979 immigration law to make things smoother for expats seeking to reside, retire or work in the kingdom.
 

“I can guarantee it will be easy to apply and live here,” Surachate said. “[But] bad people will have a hard time.”
 

Proposed changes include abolishing 90-day reports and introducing 10-year visas for foreign retirees, Surachate said. A data link between the immigration and Thailand’s consular affairs around the world was recently established. Experts will also be consulted to see what restricted professions should be open to foreigners.

 

 

I always worry when they start talking about potentially good things, like abolishing 90 day reports, because you have to figure what they finally come out with is likely to be worse or more troublesome overall than what exists now.

 

--Sure, a 10-year retirees visa would be great, except the last supposed 10-year one they came out with wasn't 10 years, it was 5 and then maybe another 5, and required health insurance from only 3 little used Thai insurers that few if any farangs use or want.  Thus that visa has basically been used by almost no one.

 

--A few months ago, BJ was quoted in one of the Phuket media outlets talking about planning to give consideration to allowing husbands and wives (such as if the Thai wife earns a good salary) to pool their incomes for purpose of qualifying for marriage extensions. Since then, not a peep more about notion, and it isn't mentioned at all in the Khaosod article here.

 

--When the article talks about his reversing course on the Saudi refugee girl, what it nicely fails to mention that it was HIS own Immigration staff who denied entry to the girl in the first place... and he only changed course AFTER it became a world publicity debacle.

 

--Nor is there any mention at all in the article of his handling of the KT English alleged rape victim, which by most western standards was horrible treatment, and probably a pretty shoddy police investigation into the woman's allegations.

 

--Nor is the any mention in the article of the recent case of his folks arresting 5 Africans for having obtained fake visas -- visas that they paid off a crooked Immigration officer to provide, the Immigration officer involved was caught and confessed, and yet, from news reports, hasn't even been arrested or charged. While the Africans were arrested and the subject of an Immigration press release.

 

So until I see something real, I'm calling the whole article B.S., not B.J.

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Eligius]

5 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I always worry when they start talking about potentially good things, like abolishing 90 day reports, because you have to figure what they finally come out with is likely to be worse or more troublesome overall than what exists now.

 

--Sure, a 10-year retirees visa would be great, except the last supposed 10-year one they came out with wasn't 10 years, it was 5 and then maybe another 5, and required health insurance from only 3 little used Thai insurers that few if any farangs use or want.  Thus that visa has basically been used by almost no one.

 

--A few months ago, BJ was quoted in one of the Phuket media outlets talking about planning to give consideration to allowing husbands and wives (such as if the Thai wife earns a good salary) to pool their incomes for purpose of qualifying for marriage extensions. Since then, not a peep more about notion, and it isn't mentioned at all in the Khaosod article here.

 

--When the article talks about his reversing course on the Saudi refugee girl, what it nicely fails to mention that it was HIS own Immigration staff who denied entry to the girl in the first place... and he only changed course AFTER it became a world publicity debacle.

 

--Nor is there any mention at all in the article of his handling of the KT English alleged rape victim, which by most western standards was horrible treatment, and probably a pretty shoddy police investigation into the woman's allegations.

 

--Nor is the any mention in the article of the recent case of his folks arresting 5 Africans for having obtained fake visas -- visas that they paid off a crooked Immigration officer to provide, the Immigration officer involved was caught and confessed, and yet, from news reports, hasn't even been arrested or charged. While the Africans were arrested and the subject of an Immigration press release.

 

So until I see something real, I'm calling the whole article B.S., not B.J.

 

We are of like mind, TallGuyJohninBKK.

It amazes me how anyone who has lived here for many years can take ANYTHING these people say about the future with any degree of confidence.

Breaking promises and coming up with 'proposals' that vanish in less than a fortnight is standard practice here.

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by Eligius