they don't 'need' to do anything. They don't need to answer to anybody, other than their superiors, and that is done privately, unless in exceptional circumstances. They don't care who has been put out by this (and the truth is, who actually has ? If anybody.) A couple of farang booked flights immediately and only got 30 days ? Who cares ? You get what your given. I think they're more concerned with how much this might affect their tea money, cause that gonna make a serious dent in it. Its the press who've published info, badly translated as always. They know it is required to be published in the gazette. We know it needs to be published in the gazette. Those that don't know, don't really matter. Immigration don't care about Revenue/income from visa holders/visitors, they care about policing their policy's/laws/requirements. Its top level government want these changes to drive revenue, and they seem to not care so much about who and where this revenue comes from. So a slight conflict of interest.
I think 'LIE' is a very strong word, and not the right word. The press published the 'news', whether they were informed in a press briefing, or simply leaked by a government official with knowledge of discussions to a single news outlet that everyone else followed and copied, I don't know. But the press seem to do what they like, and publish sensationalist stories to draw attention. And you should know that nobody will speak out of turn, unless told to do so by their superiors, and nobody undermines their superiors, and nobody thinks outside of the box, that's the thai way It does seem to be above the top brass in immigration, which is odd to have no input from those with a greater understanding of which countries citizens are most desirable to accommodate, and which could possibly be problematic. And when public/press and immigration themselves seem to be quite anti-foreigner currently, its odd to suddenly open up the doors to the likes of Albania for example, and doubling all countries visa exempt period, while they are all complaining about foreigner's working illegally, running businesses etc, Criminal enterprises, abusing visas, and business structures, and land ownership. And to rush any announcement and start date of these odd policy changes, just even more bizarre. Ultimately, nobody wants lose face, hence the quiet, and hence things didn't change as quoted. The whole thing is just odd.
lol. Well everything is down to the immigration officer that you face. Literally 'at their discretion' - some people posting that they managed to get this amended at their local/regional immigration office, where others have had to travel 800 miles back to their port of entry to get it amended. So always dress well, and don't be a dick. Every rule of entry or denied entry can be overlooked by one officer, and played by another, often based on whether you have used/paid an agent to facilitate.
ah OK, a standard 30 day extension to a tourist or excempt stamp is possible now, but if your planned stay is over 60 days, then you need to bounce out/in to get a new visa beyond the 60 days stay, but you can then utilise the unused 60 day tourist visa. It's 'potluck' whether a local immigration office will amend that 30 day exempt stamp to a 60 day tourist stamp, but the majority of cases have had to return to point of entry to get that amended, which is a ball ache if you're swinging in a hammock on koh Lipe, having arrived in Bangkok. 'All depends on the immigration officer on the day'.
And Gregory Sheard is one of the 9300 people that (a) didn't know Holland is the Netherlands, and vice versa, and (b) didn't bother to read any comments to see if anyone had said the same already...🤣
They definitely said changes "in effect 1st June". But why this rushed announcement, and rushed through policy changes. It will all be scrapped in a few years when they realise there was a reason they were so stringent with these countries visitors. Like when the Albanians have taken control of everything, from drugs distribution, prostitution, smuggling of any contraband and people, taxis, security, motorbike rentals, carwashes, language schools, whats left of visa agencies, even convenience stores. It will be a mighty tear up with the Russian and Israeli organised crime gangs.
