16 hours ago, RandiRona said:

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

It's gunna be a hell of a high season.????????

Would it not make more sense to leave the present visa situation as it is and focus on those allegedly taking money to allow fraudulent visas.?

4 hours ago, pomchop said:

wow i was at wong amat a week or so ago at about noon time

Yes, I regularly walk down the beach as I live there & normally there are only a handful of people in the beach but yday it was rammed along the stretch between Surf & Turf & Centera 

 

Unfortunately the GF only thought to take a pic past the Centera which whilst a lot quieter than the other stretch still had a lot more people than normal…

 

4 hours ago, PremiumLane said:

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

I wouldn’t classify  Wongamat a tourist area but my point was that there are a lot more Russian tourists around than I’ve ever seen before, even prior to Covid. 
 

no prizes for guessing why & I can’t say I blame them not wanting to be in Russia at this time. 

Maybe Bout will plan a holiday trip here…

Phuket is loaded with young Russians. They're all here dodging the draft, no?

Do away with visa agents. Problem solved. That gets rid of farangs without the appropriate funds etc. to fulfill visa criteia.

Wait for the whinging from all those people on this forum.

8 minutes ago, CFCol said:

Do away with visa agents. Problem solved. That gets rid of farangs without the appropriate funds etc. to fulfill visa criteia.

Wait for the whinging from all those people on this forum.

Go for it Col... Might be a good time give up your skydiving hobby tho!.. lol

Yes, We retired expats are indeed a dying breed, Part of Mother Natures recycling program. We all had pensions, but things have changed since our time, Many don't have enough to raise kids and have a 401K program. 

15 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Don't get too comfortable. These things are cyclical and attention eventually focuses on retirees as that's how cycles work.

 

You did bring up an interesting point about the Russians. They are now flooding Jomtien and an unknown percentage are here to flee Putin's Russia (not on a holiday). Staying long term here will be very difficult for many of them. 

It would be time to focus on retirees who don't have the required money in the bank.

2 hours ago, Gandtee said:

Would it not make more sense to leave the present visa situation as it is and focus on those allegedly taking money to allow fraudulent visas.?

You expect them to stop doing what makes them loads of money.... 

 

12 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

It would be time to focus on retirees who don't have the required money in the bank.

If they have an Extension, they are completely legal. I would go as far as to say, they are preferred!

10 hours ago, Orinoco said:

Not required,   as most people already, willingly carry one in there pocket,   it's called a smartphone. 

 

 

Most people would object to being made to wear their phone on an ankle........????

16 hours ago, kinyara said:

You'd be surprised how few retirees are actually here and how irrelevant the number is in the overall scheme of things. You surely saw that in Jomtien during Covid, you could almost recognise all the expats you saw on a daily basis. I read an interview with the Head of Thai Immigration during Covid and he commented on how the number of retirees had declined in the last few years, I'm sure the figure he quoted was only 60k nationally, it really was surprisingly low.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If true it is shocking but I am not surprised. I/we left for many reasons in 2019 but the straw that broke the camel's back was immigration rules changing almost monthly, the 800k deposit and that big target on your back when criminals/desperate people realise (people have been tortured and murdered for 100k). Then there was the over hanging threat of compulsory insurance and having looked at those costs years before I had decided to buy vehicles cars and big bikes that could be sold in emergencies. When you start getting on in years stability ranks high so the treat of getting kicked out of a country looming over your head because you now don't qualify regardless of the years you've brought 10's of millions of foreign currency into the country matters not!!! No wonder we left by the tens of thousands. Years ago I'm sure I saw a figure of 150000 retirees in Thailand.

20 hours ago, Onerak said:

So, they are targeting Ed-Visa, Volunteer visa, and Medical visa extension? How many criminals did they catch using these visas to extend their stay?

I know for a fact, from my own circle, that the  ED has been routinely used illicitly for many years, same with medical and charity visas.  It has been a well known scam by some less than trustworthy agents, to get younger people into the country.  I am not at all surprised that the authorities are clamping down. 

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

If they have an Extension, they are completely legal. I would go as far as to say, they are preferred!

No, not necessarily, there are people who committed a crime by letting somebody bribe immigration.

40 minutes ago, BritScot said:

If true it is shocking but I am not surprised. I/we left for many reasons in 2019 but the straw that broke the camel's back was immigration rules changing almost monthly, the 800k deposit and that big target on your back when criminals/desperate people realise (people have been tortured and murdered for 100k). Then there was the over hanging threat of compulsory insurance and having looked at those costs years before I had decided to buy vehicles cars and big bikes that could be sold in emergencies. When you start getting on in years stability ranks high so the treat of getting kicked out of a country looming over your head because you now don't qualify regardless of the years you've brought 10's of millions of foreign currency into the country matters not!!! No wonder we left by the tens of thousands. Years ago I'm sure I saw a figure of 150000 retirees in Thailand.

Got to be an element of natural wastage, older people I know directly or by association from a long time here seem to be passing away on a fairly regular basis in the last couple of years. I've just seen someone post on a Pattaya facebook page that Darren the owner of Key Visa here in Pattaya has died which is a big shock, I'm sure a fair few on here will have used his services over the years. Very sad, nice, professional, helpful guy.

3 hours ago, Pinot said:

Phuket is loaded with young Russians. They're all here dodging the draft, no?

Its awful isn't it, the Immigration overstaying sweep currently going on should make its way down here soon and clean it up....

3 hours ago, CFCol said:

Do away with visa agents. Problem solved. That gets rid of farangs without the appropriate funds etc. to fulfill visa criteia.

Wait for the whinging from all those people on this forum.

Doing away with visa agents though does not solve the problem. The problem is corruption within the immigration service that allows (and probably promotes) the use of agents and 'gifts' from their customers. 

 

The tightening of rules will make no long term difference to the root issue here  which is the endemic corruption within the Immigration bureau. Until corruption is eradicated from the Immigration bureau people will always have the 'grey' option to circumnavigate any rules, no matter how tight they are. 

 

This is not about foreigners flouting the rules. This is about the immigration bureau and its officers allowing (and possibly encouraging?) foreigners to flout the rules. There is a difference. 

 

To use an analogy. If a teacher knowingly and actively allows and encourages a capable, intelligent student to fail school. Do you give the student more work (aka tighten the rules) and allow the teacher to continue without correction? Or do you remove and punish the teacher for allowing this situation to be created? 

 

The vast majority of foreigners comply with rules. Punishing all foreigners with tighter rules is a dreadful idea as you are punishing everyone for the actions of a few.

 

This tightening of rules  (in my opinion) is clearly a knee jerk reaction to deflect from the core, unanswered issue of this situation (corruption within the immigration bureau) and is aimed cultivating a more positive public image for the immigration bureau when they are faced with a PR nightmare. 

19 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Don't get too comfortable. These things are cyclical and attention eventually focuses on retirees as that's how cycles work.

 

You did bring up an interesting point about the Russians. They are now flooding Jomtien and an unknown percentage are here to flee Putin's Russia (not on a holiday). Staying long term here will be very difficult for many of them. 

I stayed in Jomtien and often wondered how whole families could  stay there, kids don’t go to school, elderly grandparents, obviously not rich, so what visas are they getting ??

4 hours ago, Pinot said:

Phuket is loaded with young Russians. They're all here dodging the draft, no?

In many cases, yes. Another reason for the high numbers is that Russians are now prevented from visiting most of their popular destinations of the past. That means that good remaining options are inevitably heavily used.

9 hours ago, d4dang said:

Ironic isn't it...Russians fleeing a dictator finding refuge in a country run by a dictator

He single handedly ( with a little help from the army plus Suthep Thaugsuban and the PDRC, the Yellow shirts and a few hangers on) saved Thailand from an elected democracy to a Thai military democracy.

 

The PDRC,  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Democratic_Reform_Committee

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

It would be time to focus on retirees who don't have the required money in the bank.

Did you forget the marriage income requirement of 40K or retirement income of 65K thb per month? Perfectly legal provided it can be proved.

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

It would be time to focus on retirees who don't have the required money in the bank.

There wouldn't be any such issues if they understood how the system works and proceeded to seek the "alternatives" that have been around since time immemorial. 

 

I've always been baffled as to those old hands and long term residents that bend over backwards to play the forced upon game of the terribly complex and frustrating [even corrupt] non-imm visas. Akin to be dependent on an imprisoned soul. 

9 hours ago, skatewash said:

The retirement extension doesn't require that you be retired (i.e., not working), it merely requires that you be at least age 50 and meet the financial requirements.  You cannot work in Thailand under a retirement extension, but you can certainly work outside of Thailand.  In practice, some people work from home in Thailand and while perhaps technically not allowed if done without any fanfare is likely to go undetected.

Until someone grasses one up and yes one wonders about teching at home, need a WP and also a freelancers but how to the former get paid and very dodgy to give out bank details etc but some can lay low and probably get away with it.

So Paranoid. 

 

The majority of scoundrels and crooks are the immigration and police.

 

 

3 hours ago, jwest10 said:

Until someone grasses one up and yes one wonders about teching at home, need a WP and also a freelancers but how to the former get paid and very dodgy to give out bank details etc but some can lay low and probably get away with it.

If you have a Thai employer, or Thai customers (including customers who are foreigners, but resident in Thailand) there is a substantial risk.. The true digital nomad, working exclusively remotely with overseas employers/customers, is running essentially zero risk. This activity is tolerated and there has never yet been a prosecuted case.

16 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

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

 

Source: https://consular.mfa.go.th/th/content/80306-non-immigrant-visa?page=5d68c88b15e39c160c0081e2&menu=5d68c88b15e39c160c0081e3

13 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

No, not necessarily, there are people who committed a crime by letting somebody bribe immigration.

First they committed it, then they let it happen? And yet they were never involved and perhaps never even went near immigration.... I could live with it.

14 hours ago, billd766 said:

He single handedly ( with a little help from the army plus Suthep Thaugsuban and the PDRC, the Yellow shirts and a few hangers on) saved Thailand from an elected democracy to a Thai military democracy.

 

The PDRC,  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Democratic_Reform_Committee

The General saved Thailand from anarchy. The government at the time (that moron Yingluck) had ceased to function. The General asked them to work it out, they were incapable of doing anything, so he threw them out. The government has worked well under Prayut and I think he does a good job. Remember, there is no alternative. If the General goes we will soon be back in the middle of anarchy. That's just the way it is. 

48 minutes ago, Pinot said:

The General saved Thailand from anarchy. The government at the time (that moron Yingluck) had ceased to function. The General asked them to work it out, they were incapable of doing anything, so he threw them out. The government has worked well under Prayut and I think he does a good job. Remember, there is no alternative. If the General goes we will soon be back in the middle of anarchy. That's just the way it is. 

Can,t wait for your crop to mature!