I understand that there has been a three year APEC business visa for some time now.

Last year at around this time, I read that the government were considering making this availavle to others also,... not just APEC nation passport holders .

Anyone know what happened to that proposal made by a government minister ?

As far as know, the mooted general three-year business visa went the way of most proposals by government ministers, i.e. never heard from again.

there is a lot of stuff about 3 year permission to stay for australians in the TAFTA (free trade agreement), but i thought the extension for 1 year was made based on the work permit being 12 months, how could a 3 year extension be made if you only have a 12 month work permit?

probably the main reason nothing has happened is the labour dept dont want to change the work permit side of things to line up with the permission to stay

Probably won't come into common usage. It will be used as a negotiation tool for the array of FTA's being negotiated at the moment.

When the Australian FTA was being negotiated, Australian business made a big song and dance about having better long term visa access.

Obviously this is an important point then, so Thailand ain't about to give it away to all and sundry as it can be used as a negotiation tool for something the Thai's want during FTA negotiations.

Anyone know what happened to that proposal made by a government minister ?

After an exhaustive search, I finally found it:

I did enquire at an honary Thai consul last year in Australia, when I was renewing my one year visa. They said that three and five year business visas would be available this year (2006) sometime between July and September. I'm due for a business trip next month, and it will be interesting to see if anything has materialised

Edited June 5, 200620 yr by Maejo Man

I did enquire at an honary Thai consul last year in Australia, when I was renewing my one year visa. They said that three and five year business visas would be available this year (2006) sometime between July and September. I'm due for a business trip next month, and it will be interesting to see if anything has materialised

I made the same enquiry with an honorary Thai counsul in the US last year when I renewed my visa. They had no clue about such a visa. They had only heard about the possibility of it on the horizon from people such as ourselves asking about it. Indeed, it'll be interesting to hear what the story is this year when it's time to renew but I'm not holding my breath expecting to hear any different...

Anyone know what happened to that proposal made by a government minister ?

After an exhaustive search, I finally found it:

Actually, it is here at the DFAT website. It is part of the Thai commitments as part of the Australian-Thai Free trade agreement. Scroll down and look at the Temporary Entrance of Business People Section.

As I said, these type of visas will probably only be available to nationals whose countries have a FTA with Thailand, as it is a useful negotiation tool.

As I said, these type of visas will probably only be available to nationals whose countries have a FTA with Thailand, as it is a useful negotiation tool.

That may well be what this mooted three-year visa has evolved into, for all I know that may have also been the original intention behind it, but that certainly was not how the visa was portrayed in the initial press release.