6 hours ago, cooked said:

Immigration police regularly (every few years) starts checking up on Farangs, especially those on Spouse visas, when they find that abuses of the visa rules are getting out of hand. Clever Farang always find loophole. Seems to me that you are being overly paranoid.

I have been here full time since 1999, the last ~7 years on a marriage extension from CW and have never been checked on, not even for the first marriage extension.

Been here since June 2025, immigrations has been to my house 3 times, 1st time pictures were taken of me and one of them at my gate with the house number. The other 2 times they just looked at my passport and talked to the wife. I am on a Retirement Visa.

Have refrained from posting in this thread.

This is not a first. Years ago there were random visits to USA, citizens.

Think it was, HH office.

Some sort of conflict at that time.

Suggest take a chill pill..

Two police visits in the past few years. We arrived in 2008.

A Captain and two sergeants asked to see my passport and driver's license. Second visit I call the "music police". They were in civvies, plainclothes, and no ID produced when asked. They were selling tickets to a Carabao show near Hua Hin. My wife told them we were well past caring about music. They finally left.

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I've never had a home visit. 3 years on retirement, 5 years on marriage and the last 2 years on LTR visa.

On 3/3/2026 at 12:04 PM, John Drake said:

Are they visiting Iranians in your village or elsewhere, too?

Irianians didnt send their military to fight and kill in another nation like the Americans did. You need to read a history book or two.

On 3/3/2026 at 6:59 PM, John Drake said:

Welfare check? Still seems sort of odd, especially for those of us on retirement extensions, although I guess the guys in their 50s are still capable of a brawl.

Or at the very least, an aggressive post.

On 3/3/2026 at 4:19 PM, Briggsy said:

Upon arriving at the house, what exactly did the police "check"? Did they interrogate you? Did they search the property for armaments? Did they take away your phone and computer?

Or was it just a totally pointless box-ticking exercise that has been filtered down through several layers of bureaucracy until any possible benefit, if any ever existed, has long since been discarded and now the only purpose is the photo which will be passed back up the chain as proof the American has been "checked" and the order has been followed.

At my visa extension last month in Pathum Thani; my document packet instructed me to take my own pictures (4) both outside and inside the house. Guess the imm. police have perfected malingering down to an art form.

I live in a remote rural area in Loei Province. 1/2 an hour ago five police turned up at my gate looking for the falang. They initially encircirled me in case I cut and run despite my age of 77 and the wheelchair. None spoke English which I would think would hamper their investigations.

They visibly relaxed upon finding out I was not American nor planning to join the war. They took photos of me, my passport and the house before departing.

Even knowing I was in full compliance with visas etc it was a disconcerting experience for me..

It seems the police have their instructions from the ministerial level and now proceeding like chickens with their heads cut off. This shows that many immigration offices do not know who lives where, that is, whether American or Irani. Pathetic.

23 hours ago, cooked said:

Immigration police regularly (every few years) starts checking up on Farangs, especially those on Spouse visas, when they find that abuses of the visa rules are getting out of hand. Clever Farang always find loophole. Seems to me that you are being overly paranoid.

It wasn't immigration and most likely had nothing to do with immigration. The police seem to be getting instructions to know where foreigners live in their jurisdiction. They have been given a list and in our case it looked to be about 50 foreigners to visit at their homes. Nothing wrong with this and best to comply. THe OP's family seems quite volatile and complicated a simple process for what reason I ask?

I got a similar call from the place station a couple months back. A group of police and their friends showed up and laughed with my wife for 10 minutes and took pictures and left. I bet they don't know why exactly they are being told to do this and just guess at the real reason. This type of thing happens all over the world in regards to non-citizens. Why get bent about it?

Maybe they are tracking down the Xenophobic expats on this forum that incessantly call Thais Xenophobic and Racist. With any luck they will go black ops and execute them.

17 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

I have been here full time since 1999, the last ~7 years on a marriage extension from CW and have never been checked on, not even for the first marriage extension.

Varies from province to province. We had a police visit 7 and 9 years ago, likely because a jealous neighbour didn't like my building a wall. However, they did explain that there had been a wave of spouse visa scams, mostly organised from Nigeria, in the general area. They don't receive given instructions to investigate Nigerians, they are told to investigate everybody. + of course, Farang will be generous with tea money, just to get rid of them.

2 minutes ago, atpeace said:

It wasn't immigration and most likely had nothing to do with immigration. The police seem to be getting instructions to know where foreigners live in their jurisdiction. They have been given a list and in our case it looked to be about 50 foreigners to visit at their homes. Nothing wrong with this and best to comply. THe OP's family seems quite volatile and complicated a simple process for what reason I ask?

I got a similar call from the place station a couple months back. A group of police and their friends showed up and laughed with my wife for 10 minutes and took pictures and left. I bet they don't know why exactly they are being told to do this and just guess at the real reason. This type of thing happens all over the world in regards to non-citizens. Why get bent about it?

Maybe they are tracking down the Xenophobic expats on this forum that incessantly call Thais Xenophobic and Racist. With any luck they will go black ops and execute them.

Ah, that's a different story. Theoretically, the police are supposed to do this, it's the law. I haven't heard of this being done in a long time, but it's considered normal.

My visiting cops were from my local district town and had nothing to do with Immigration.

5 hours ago, thjames007 said:

Irianians didnt send their military to fight and kill in another nation like the Americans did. You need to read a history book or two.

Just more uninformed America hating from someone who clearly doesn't know the history of the medieval, barbaric, Iranian theocracy's actions in Thailand.

Iranians have a history of trying to launch bombings in Bangkok.

A man thought to be Iranian has had both legs blown off after attempting to throw a bomb at police in the Thai capital, Bangkok, officials say. Two other explosions were reported in the same busy commercial district of the city, injuring four other people. Police said one blast took place at the house the injured man rented with other Iranians. One of those men also threw a bomb at a taxi in the capital. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-17026007

Khyron,

[ Reviewing only info you provide this is what I interpret and how normal interactions with authorities occur.

Thailand phone number (can be spoofed) called with No Called ID to authenticate Caller.

The process and communication was not performed at the proper standard or method. (This caused someone to Not Trust the info was authenticate)

Only when something is very wrong, scammer, or someone continuing to bother a Thai person do they raise Vocal Level and talk angry. (The level is reduced when dealing with Government and Authorities, additionally Thai people generally want to mediate a problem.) [ You support this theory with the when Authorities arrived everything was Calm, Cordial, and orderly)

Understand this is a corrupt person, criminal, etc. Causes discomfort, added work, questions about privacy to All.

Thailand at least for next couple of years will continue to make Banking, Financial Changes/Requirements, investigate reports to Authorities of Lavish, Large Purchases, changes in a community, CIB Division does excellent work, highly effective.

Why, Global Standards and Pressure, Most of the criminals share little Morals or Attributes that many Thai people value.

Advice, We all probably can be better managers of important documents, requesting copies or photos with officials of your specific important document. Filing and being able to retrieve important documents easily, in reasonable amount of time.

3 hours ago, atpeace said:

It wasn't immigration and most likely had nothing to do with immigration. The police seem to be getting instructions to know where foreigners live in their jurisdiction. They have been given a list and in our case it looked to be about 50 foreigners to visit at their homes. Nothing wrong with this and best to comply. THe OP's family seems quite volatile and complicated a simple process for what reason I ask?

I got a similar call from the place station a couple months back. A group of police and their friends showed up and laughed with my wife for 10 minutes and took pictures and left. I bet they don't know why exactly they are being told to do this and just guess at the real reason. This type of thing happens all over the world in regards to non-citizens. Why get bent about it?

Maybe they are tracking down the Xenophobic expats on this forum that incessantly call Thais Xenophobic and Racist. With any luck they will go black ops and execute them.

How do you know it wasn't immigration police that visited the op ?

https://media1.giphy.com/media/NUzbb4EGC7y6SE0pjI/200.gif?cid=d9f52f32ltjrueiz8svcnpuztmv5i9pyts36kw4wxzm3pjis&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200.gif&ct=g

5 hours ago, J Branche said:

Khyron,

[ Reviewing only info you provide this is what I interpret and how normal interactions with authorities occur.

Thailand phone number (can be spoofed) called with No Called ID to authenticate Caller.

The process and communication was not performed at the proper standard or method. (This caused someone to Not Trust the info was authenticate)

Only when something is very wrong, scammer, or someone continuing to bother a Thai person do they raise Vocal Level and talk angry. (The level is reduced when dealing with Government and Authorities, additionally Thai people generally want to mediate a problem.) [ You support this theory with the when Authorities arrived everything was Calm, Cordial, and orderly)

Understand this is a corrupt person, criminal, etc. Causes discomfort, added work, questions about privacy to All.

Thailand at least for next couple of years will continue to make Banking, Financial Changes/Requirements, investigate reports to Authorities of Lavish, Large Purchases, changes in a community, CIB Division does excellent work, highly effective.

Why, Global Standards and Pressure, Most of the criminals share little Morals or Attributes that many Thai people value.

Advice, We all probably can be better managers of important documents, requesting copies or photos with officials of your specific important document. Filing and being able to retrieve important documents easily, in reasonable amount of time.

That was the initial thought, that it was a scammer, my wife basically dared them to come over. That is why she gathered the Nieces to be a witness in case it was a scammer masquerading as a cop. I made sure they had ID, my wife kind of knew one of the cops, and he verified that was who he was. The assistant Puyabaan also came over as she had her bank account siphoned last year by a call center scammer. After the cops were verified, everyone had a good laugh and talked for about 10-15 minutes. I asked my wife if she apologized to the older cop for accusing him of being a scammer, that was a no. When we go to town again, we will stop by and apologize. The older cop did say to her that it was a good thing to be suspicious. This was NOT immigration, just local police. The other 2 falongs, not American, in the neighborhood didn't get a visit. I'm not paranoid, or a conspiracy theorist, just talking about an interaction I had and passing along the info.

14 hours ago, thjames007 said:

Irianians didnt send their military to fight and kill in another nation like the Americans did. You need to read a history book or two.

Iran rarely sends large conventional armies abroad the way the U.S. has but it has spent decades projecting power through armed proxy groups.

Iran has funded, trained, and armed groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis movement, providing weapons, money, and military training through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Those groups have fought wars and carried out attacks across Lebanon, Israel, Yemen, Iraq, and elsewhere. So while Iran often avoids deploying large regular forces, it absolutely exports violence and influence beyond its borders through proxies.

You can criticize U.S. interventions, including in Iran, and still acknowledge that reality.

34 minutes ago, SteeleJoe said:

So while Iran often avoids deploying large regular forces, it absolutely exports violence and influence beyond its borders through proxies.

You can criticize U.S. interventions, including in Iran, and still acknowledge that reality.

The chances of them exporting their violence to the US mainland and Americans worldwide has just grow exponentially.

29 minutes ago, Bannoi said:

The chances of them exporting their violence to the US mainland and Americans worldwide has just grow exponentially.

Yeah, that's a pretty safe assumption.

13 hours ago, Old John said:

At my visa extension last month in Pathum Thani; my document packet instructed me to take my own pictures (4) both outside and inside the house. Guess the imm. police have perfected malingering down to an art form.

Normal procedure. No malingering involved. If you use an agent; the agent will take the pictures.

4 hours ago, Khyron said:

This was NOT immigration, just local police.

Maybe they want you to instal and pay for a red box outside your house?

On 3/5/2026 at 4:57 PM, richard_smith237 said:

How do you know it wasn't immigration police that visited the op ?

I don't and assume he would have stated it was immigration police and not the police. It could have been maybe and I shouldn't have assumed :)

Several off topic posts removed

You were visited because Americans are so well loved all over the world!

On 3/4/2026 at 6:08 AM, cooked said:

Immigration police regularly (every few years) starts checking up on Farangs, especially those on Spouse visas, when they find that abuses of the visa rules are getting out of hand. Clever Farang always find loophole. Seems to me that you are being overly paranoid.

Yes- but it is easy to say that about me too- but you would be paranoid like me if every one was after you too!

On 3/3/2026 at 11:58 AM, Khyron said:

A few minutes ago, I received a call from an unknown number. Thinking it was Immigration coming to do a spot check, I answered.

The first call was a woman speaking Thai, I didn't understand what she said, and I heard other people laughing in the background, she hung up.

A few seconds later, same number calls, I pick up and they say "Hello, this is the police". I immediately give it to my wife, she asks them who it is, they say the police, and they are in the Ampur (the correct one, strangely enough) and want to come and investigate all falongs. They then ask what is the address, she starts yelling at them about they should know where we are and how they are a scam center and such. They just laughed all through her tirade and said they were coming anyway, she said come on, you should have our address.

Well 30 minutes later, 2 special investigation police from our Amphur show up, we were shocked. Before they came over, my wife called the Puyabaan assistant, a couple of nieces and her Aunt to come as witnesses. The cops all took picture with me, showed me a list of people they were going to visit today. They were very polite, and my wife kind of knew who one of the cops were, so they were legit with ID's and all. I asked why they were here and was told to ensure that I and other Americans weren't going over to fight Iran. (Weird)

I am almost 60, so no problem there. My youngest niece (13) was annoyed with them, and they got an earful from the ladies who showed up. All the ladies took pictures of their ID's, the license plate and such. I am a bit concerned as they knew where we are building a new house, only the Orbator and Puyabaan know, or so we thought. I have nothing to hide, but I have never been on any official radar before, so a bit disconcerting. Anyway, be prepared. It looks like they were tasked to do this by Immigration.

I had the same situation on Friday. I live down in NST province. Immigration sent the local police a list of foreigners and they called the village headman to confirm where I live and asked for me to stop at the station to confirm with them. I stopped in and chatted with them as we know many of them from our Cafe. They told me they are checking all foreigners' location and safety for certain countries involved in the current middle east situation. They asked me to let them know if anyone gave me any problems or caused trouble.

Some political posts along with replies removed as off topic.