55 minutes ago, Hakuna Matata said:

ED visas should be completely stopped for language schools in Pattaya, Phuket and Samui. They have been abused by foreign criminals for years.

Guessing you don't like foreign criminals?????????

This has nothing to do with current visa criteria. It was all about corruption in the upper ranks of immigration officers. Tightening criteria isn't going to do anything about that.

12 hours ago, Sharp said:

ED visas will be hard hit or more costly no doubt!

What is an  ED  visa? A visa for long stay in some Urology department?

How long can you stay on an ED visa anyway ? I mean how long does it take to learn Thai or whatever, is there no limit ? 

12 hours ago, RandiRona said:

Hell Yeah!!! Make them wear Ankle bracelets as well while you are at it!!!

So you approve of people, including Triad gangs, obtaining permission to stay on false pretenses?

20 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

I'm going to change my Marriage Visa to a Retirement Visa next year in order to reduce the amount of photocopying. The process is much simpler for a Retirement Visa.

I've been thinking about that. But tying up an extra 400,000 for the sake of getting a few photocopies together once a year? Nah.

5 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

What is an  ED  visa? A visa for long stay in some Urology department?

Are they extracting the urine ?  ????

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

it would have a working group

An oxymoron when applied to any sort of Thai police.

 

easily done with a tick box; are you a criminal? if answer no, get extension, if answer yes, no extension. job done. next!

6 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

So you approve of people, including Triad gangs, obtaining permission to stay on false pretenses?

No, if they fix their internal corruption, there wont be any criminals bribing their way into the country. Charity starts at home.

10 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

a result of the visas who are offered for the wealthy quality tourists....The whole visa system should be revisted.. Make it easy for immigration, foreigners, and lot of problems wll disappear.. Now there are too many different visa and too many rules and requirements..

And criminals should be stopped at the borders

I think we all know how much simpler the system could be particularly with the use of computers and scanning documents rather that needing multiple paper copies. 

However that would result in a considerable reduction in the number of Immigration staff. No need for agents and a reduction or elimination of the under the counter money received. 

If they want to see an efficient system at work they have to look no further than the Thai passport office operated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

A very quick and efficient service, the few documents needed are scanned and the passport arrives in three days at about half the cost of what you pay in Australia or the UK. 

However we know that will never happen for the reasons above. 

1 hour ago, Mike Teavee said:

Took a walk down Wongamat beach yesterday & it was busier than I’ve ever seen it, absolutely packed with Farangs who looked/sounded Russian to me

 

It got to the point where the GF commented that she was the only Thai on the beach. 

wow i was at wong amat a week or so ago at about noon time  and walked entire beach from end to end....there were very very few people there and the condos looked empty....in fact the whole area looked pretty deserted with lots of real estate companies offering rentals at dirt cheap prices..

 

..not doubting your experience but mine was different...it does appear that they have bulldozed almost all of the older bungalow properties back from the beach a block or so like east sea resort which seems to mean more high rises on the way....

13 hours ago, Sharp said:

ED visas will be hard hit or more costly no doubt!

why not when it's being abused?

24 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

What is an  ED  visa? A visa for long stay in some Urology department?

You can see how this might be confusing to the older guys.

2 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Took a walk down Wongamat beach yesterday & it was busier than I’ve ever seen it, absolutely packed with Farangs who looked/sounded Russian to me

 

It got to the point where the GF commented that she was the only Thai on the beach. 

The horror, a tourist area filled with.... foreigners and tourists, whatever next!!! 

11 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

And criminals should be stopped at the borders

IO to criminal at entry point `are you a criminal?`

Criminal to IO `of course not`

Okay just asking.  Chop, enjoy your stay in LOS.

31 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

I've been thinking about that. But tying up an extra 400,000 for the sake of getting a few photocopies together once a year? Nah.

I understand what you're saying. The Immigration official spends 50-60 minutes each year working through the photocopies, stamping them, etc. That's the issue for me. There are much fewer copies in the case of a Retirement Visa, so the process will be faster. 

So, now people that actually wish to come to Thailand for live and study, will get a really hard time. Just because of all the criminals and overstayers I am posting about on a basis in this forum. Many times with the dislike and comments from a lot of members. Maybe now, we are starting to understand and see the light. Here we are looking at what happens when we get too many bad apples and overstayers as well as foreign criminals coming to Thailand.

44 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

How long can you stay on an ED visa anyway ? I mean how long does it take to learn Thai or whatever, is there no limit ? 

18 years and counting! (Learning Thai, not using an ED Visa). 

 

Because of foreign criminals the visa document requirements have increased exponentially over the years. In 1984 the Marriage Visa process was so easy and fast. Now there are 2  piles of documents plus a home visit that includes an interview with a neighbour and even more documents. 

4 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

Because of foreign criminals the visa document requirements have increased exponentially over the years. In 1984 the Marriage Visa process was so easy and fast. Now there are 2  piles of documents plus a home visit that includes an interview with a neighbour and even more documents. 

It was more about fake marriages!

13 hours ago, Karma80 said:

Here in Phuket, the number of Russians arriving is quite insane over the last few weeks. Many are looking for long term rentals, so would have a visa to match that intention. I would think a proportion of those are provided through an agent.

Some of the long term renters really only want to stay for 90 days in the winter.  First & Last rent deposit forfeited  and 3 months rent ( 5 months total) can be cheaper than a hotel in high season and a kitchen to cook their food a bonus. If I was renting a unit long term I'd want to make sure the renters had a bonafide visa so they wouldn't skip out after 90 days. 

1 hour ago, Derek B said:

Convicted criminals should show up on Immigration's radar surely.............perhaps no real checks are made. However not all criminals have convictions.

Than the question is what is a criminal??

1 hour ago, NorthernRyland said:

That doesn't make any sense because the crime being committed is they are staying too long in Thailand without the proper visa. For young people under 50 who aren't married the only realistic option is the elite visa which is too expensive for most people. Thailand continues to have no good options for young people who want to stay long term (more than 1 year) and work online.

But are you a criminal if you are overstaying??? question remains what is a criminal??

1 hour ago, KhonKaenAde said:

Shock, horror let’s make life a whole lot more difficult whilst ignoring the root cause, these dodgy visas, no matter what their initial purpose was, volunteer work, ED visas etc, all were facilitated by corrupt & greedy officials, so if Thai Immo are going to make application criteria’s tighter, surely their first step should be to remove & make examples of the corrupt officials discouraging others from profiteering from wealthy foreigners?

That won't happen, it would mean the government would have to pay their employees a decent wage, far cheaper to let the police rely on corruption.

Just now, ikke1959 said:

But are you a criminal if you are overstaying??? question remains what is a criminal??

The people in question were basically committing fraud in the eyes of immigration but I don't think they were overstaying. The government thinks people are planning to commit fraud using these various visa categories so they're going to crack down on them.  Same story with people "staying too long" on tourist visas. It's all technically legal but immigration sees potential for fraud.

13 hours ago, Karma80 said:

With the rise of the remote working capability driven by covid, I imagine the amount of people on fake volunteer and dodgy ED visas has accelerated to the point it's no longer something that can be swept under the brown paper carpet,

Here in Phuket, the number of Russians arriving is quite insane over the last few weeks. Many are looking for long term rentals, so would have a visa to match that intention. I would think a proportion of those are provided through an agent.

Of course, being seen to do something and actually doing something are two different things.

 

 

The Russians must be trying to avoid the 'draft' ? If I was a Russian in Russia, i would be moving to Phuket too? Plus winter is on its way there, gets very cold!

I am everytime surprised when I read the reactions on this kind of topics. Looks to me a lot of people wants a lawless coutry,

We all know very well: a volunteer and ED visa are the most missused Visa.

I don't say they are all missused by criminals but in fact missusing is equal to break the law. Nobody forced you to stay in Thailand, it is your own choice, so stop all this nonsens.

In case you want an easy country to stay and cannot fulfill the Thai requirements: go to Cambodja. No financial requirements for a one year stay at all. You can find everything you find in Thailand: bars where you can drink all day and cheaper as in Thailand, women cheap for one night stands, cheap streetfood......... but, or this will improve your way of living is another question, but just 'up to you' is the answer.  

29 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

I understand what you're saying. The Immigration official spends 50-60 minutes each year working through the photocopies, stamping them, etc. That's the issue for me. There are much fewer copies in the case of a Retirement Visa, so the process will be faster. 

Last time mine took 10 minutes, making sure all was in order before sending everything off to the regional office in Khon Kaen. When I was there recently about wanting a 60-day extension (complicated, which I wrote of in another thread) he suggested I get a retirement extension. I said I wasn't retired and he said I didn't need to be retired to get a retirement extension. Funny, and very Thai I suppose ????

3 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

The Russians must be trying to avoid the 'draft' ? If I was a Russian in Russia, i would be in Phuket too? Plus winter is on its way there, gets very cold!

What?