1. Certainly talk to a US immigration lawyer/expert. Believe he can find free services or at minimum a free consultation. Maybe his case could take years to resolve, or there is a stay solution, given the US is the only country he knows. Likely depends on the crime too. 2. Although I do not advocate this, I know several Thais on 20+ year overstays in the US (working at restaurants, cleaners, etc), living with legal family or friends, and fall under the radar until they are ready to return to Thailand.

I'm no lawyer but what I read said it applied to companies/entities that store or process personal information/data, not individuals. Modeled after Europe's GDPR. Someone told me I would not be able to take a picture of a beach if there were people in the background. I don't believe that is accurate.

If you are ready for a move like this, re-think keeping all your past possessions. Give away, sell, or trash everything and start life over again with a couple large suitcases. Clothes, a little tech, important documents, and personal items. Very liberating. Rent what you need or slowly build up your possessions over time.

@Srini *****

I have no idea what you are trying to say to me now. I neither write the immigration questions nor do I dispute the fact that the US is THE preferred destination for people with skills, like those you mentioned. Btw, they immigrated legally, somehow filled in the forms, and got in. That does not take away from the fact that the US has a high rate of multi-years (decades) overstayers and hence why all the hoops.

@Srini *****

In 2021, nearly 600,000 non-immigrant visa holders to the US overstayed. They often overstay for years. THAT is why there are so many hoops. The most overstays among nonimmigrant visitors were among Brazilians, Venezuelans, Colombians, Chinese, and the British. Nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors staying too long were most likely to be from China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.

@David ******

I believe the thinking would be, why do that when COVID extensions offered another, usually much cheaper, choice. It won't last forever, but even if it did, who cares. Its up to the government to change the rules not the traveler.

If you had made your concern that it is hard now to find relevant information about your visa, then that might be a concern (but you can just ask the question). Otherwise this is a unique time. Younger folks (under 50) have had a rare opportunity to stay in Thailand long-time (with COVID rules) and it makes sense that they want info on how to maximize their time. Once things get back to pre-covid arrangements, most of these posts will disappear too.

@Dave ******

In most countries, the passport number has absolutely no connection to any payment systems, insurance, credit accounts. In Thailand it would be your National ID number, in the US, your SSN. I have legally breached hundreds of payments systems and never wanted anyone's passport number.

@Dave ******

Yeah, but much more cost effective to hack a hotel reservation system and get hundreds/thousands/millions of files at once, IF you have skills. These guys don't.

The realty is scammers can do very little with your name,DOB, and last four digits of your passport number. This was likely an attempt to then get you to click a link in the e-mail, or followup e-mail. However, IF you followed a link to enter that information then they would have downloaded malware on your device. Now, in the US, if they got the last 4 digits of your social security number, with your name and DOB, then they can guess your other 5 digits and start do lots of things. In reality, any decent hacker could, if they so desired, hack into almost any hotel system and retrieve all that information if they wanted for past and current guests, including your full passport number, and likely a picture too if they scanned it. That data is available on the darkweb for $5-$50, with a completed forged passport costing about $5000, but high fraud detection rate. Its the link that is the concern not your last 4 digits of your passport.