Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

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RLTrader
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Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by RLTrader » August 26, 2019, 9:41 am

Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates
New regulations require foreigners report to police each time they leave town, a security measure that could send investors for the exits.

Even as Thailand confronts stiff global economic headwinds and declining international tourist arrivals, immigration police have ignited a widening furor by enforcing a tough new monitoring regime on the kingdom’s large foreign business and expatriate community.

Besieged by long queues, software glitches and rising ire, the controversial reporting rules appear sharply at odds with the government’s ambitious promotion of “Thailand 4.0” as a burgeoning, foreign investment-friendly hub for high-tech and new generation industries at its flagship Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) initiative.

Justified on grounds of shadowy threats to national security, the new monitoring system revives a decades-old law requiring long-stay foreigners or their Thai landlords to report to the Immigration Bureau within 24 hours of returning to their place of residence from a trip of one night or longer elsewhere.

The reporting law, centered on a now-notorious form known as ‘TM30’ (or Immigration 30), was first passed in 1979 but until early this year it only involved hotels automatically forwarding foreign guests’ passport details to immigration authorities.

Its extension to all residences now means that Thai landlords or property-owners accommodating several hundred thousand foreigners, ranging from businesspeople, technical experts, teachers, expatriates married to Thais and retirees, are now required to report their return both after travel abroad and after week-end visits to the beach or business trips to another city within the kingdom. ...

Widespread and apparently ongoing confusion in the months since the new enforcement of the law in March this year has morphed into frustration and ire in business circles and approaches to immigration authorities by several international chambers of commerce anxious for at least clarity and possibly a revision of the restrictive new regulations. ...

A mid-August circular to international clients from a Hong Kong-based political and economic risk consultancy reported a more forceful response: “Some foreign staff of local businesses are considering relocating, as the existing requirements for reporting after traveling abroad are already overbearing, time-consuming and expensive. Piling on requirements for reporting domestic movements appears to be a bridge too far. “

An irate Canadian businessman with a Thai wife, two Thai children and 15 years of residence behind him reflected the anger of many unable to pack their bags and leave: “It would actually be simpler if they issued all of us with ankle bracelets to enable 24 hour tracking.” He added: “If I wasn’t married here with kids I would have already moved to Cambodia or Myanmar.”

In attempts to mitigate the angst, Thai Immigration officials have pointed out that reporting can be done on-line or using a mobile-phone application. In the words of the bureau’s Police Colonel Thatchapong Sarawanangkul, who recently addressed a crowded forum of concerned foreigners organized by the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT), “It’s easier than telling your wife you’re (back) home.” But a daily stream of letters to Thailand’s main English language daily Bangkok Post and a torrent of far less civil social media postings suggest that in practice accessing and then using the online reporting system is less “Honey, I’m home!” and more “What about divorce?” ... More at link

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/08/artic ... patriates/



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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by newtovillagelife » August 26, 2019, 10:04 am

If I did not have a kid here, I would be divorced, and living in some more welcoming part of Asia.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by Giggle » August 26, 2019, 10:27 am

report to the Immigration Bureau within 24 hours of returning to their place of residence
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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by tamada » August 26, 2019, 8:25 pm

Good to see a regional media presence picking up on this.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by tamada » August 27, 2019, 10:40 am

newtovillagelife wrote:
August 26, 2019, 10:04 am
If I did not have a kid here, I would be divorced, and living in some more welcoming part of Asia.
I'll indulge your fantasy,

Your fairy Godmother has granted your wish and you are suddenly single and unencumbered... where would you chose to live now?

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by Raoul Duke » August 27, 2019, 11:35 am

"It would actually be simpler if they issued all of us with ankle bracelets to enable 24 hour tracking.”
Mmmmm Yeah.Nah.
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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by UdonExpat » August 27, 2019, 2:50 pm

I think I'll continue to get a one year multiple entry family visit visa when I return to the US each year. It also gives me incentive to renew my alcohol supply at the duty free in Laos as I do my 90 day visa runs. Always try to take several Thai people so each can return with one liter.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by newtovillagelife » August 27, 2019, 3:53 pm

tamada wrote:
August 27, 2019, 10:40 am
newtovillagelife wrote:
August 26, 2019, 10:04 am
If I did not have a kid here, I would be divorced, and living in some more welcoming part of Asia.
I'll indulge your fantasy,

Your fairy Godmother has granted your wish and you are suddenly single and unencumbered... where would you chose to live now?
The Philippines.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by RLTrader » August 27, 2019, 4:12 pm

Been thinking about and started Looking into Vietnam, like I had said in an earlier on topic when all this s h i t started flying and the end of US Embassy Income letter.

Found this as interesting site, come end of year will need to do runs, so why not check out Vietnam? Have not found a reason not to yet.

https://alittleadrift.com/cost-of-living/vietnam/
Last edited by RLTrader on August 27, 2019, 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

the-monk
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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by the-monk » August 27, 2019, 5:10 pm

Mr. Newtovillagelife, you say << The Philippines>> please tell us why and how it can be done.
Same questions to you Mr. RL Trader. Thanks all. Have a nice evening.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by RLTrader » August 27, 2019, 5:33 pm

the-monk wrote:
August 27, 2019, 5:10 pm
Mr. Newtovillagelife, you say << The Philippines>> please tell us why and how it can be done.
Same questions to you Mr. RL Trader. Thanks all. Have a nice evening.
Hmm, sense I just started looking, that is a question that I cannot answer. Just maybe sometime after the 1st of the year, just might have an idea.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by dragonz » August 27, 2019, 6:53 pm

newtovillagelife wrote:
August 26, 2019, 10:04 am
If I did not have a kid here, I would be divorced, and living in some more welcoming part of Asia.
same here . nothing left for me in thailand . wife is always for her alcoholic drug taking 30 yr old son and her ex prostitute lazy daughter and against me . Laziest 2 people i have ever met .Always arguing with my wife because daughter will not help me to look after her own sons .
When i first came to thailand people in khon kaen were so polite and big smiles . All children wei to me and smile and giggle . When i first went to my teacher wifes school , walked into a clasroom and all the kids stood to attention.
Walked pass my sons christian school recently and all the kids were giving me the finger through the fence a shouting eff you . Same when i was behind a songtawe full of kids.
Now cannot afford retirement visa and could not afford the new health rules if they come in. Will never fill in a tm 30 , just pay the fine if i have to.
I stay in thailand because of the 2 boys i look after but even that is getting hard with no help from my wife or daughter so i have been looking at the philippines for months and am really thinking about it. I had 5 farang friends around my village but 4 have left this year . 2 gone back to uk , 1 to philippins and 1 to vietnam with his thai wife . They came for a visit and she told me she loves vietnam and did not want to come back to thailand.
With the exchange rate this country has now finished except for those with rose coloured glasses

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by saint » August 28, 2019, 5:27 am

So are you blaming Thailand and its people because you have made the wrong choice .
Did you do any homework at all before you took the plunge ?
I learnt a long time ago the grass is not always greener over the fence , and you can run as much as you want , but not from yourself .

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by newtovillagelife » August 28, 2019, 7:38 am

saint wrote:
August 28, 2019, 5:27 am
So are you blaming Thailand and its people because you have made the wrong choice .
Did you do any homework at all before you took the plunge ?
I learnt a long time ago the grass is not always greener over the fence , and you can run as much as you want , but not from yourself .
Give the guy a break, maybe it was the right choice at the time. Thailand has changed and will continue to.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by GT93 » August 28, 2019, 8:16 am

Yes. Just the movement of the baht alone will be putting the heat on some folks.
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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by fatbob » August 28, 2019, 8:36 am

There is no doubt Thailand has changed, the attitude of the people since the last military coup and dictatorship is having an affect, the anti western attitude is promoted at the top levels. I have an income from rentals in Bkk so the exchange rates have no bearing on my thoughts, purely visa regulations and more so the change in the people. I would also bail out now if not for son, wife and house, the Philippines would be my place of choice, been there many times and have friends there who used to live here, after nearly twenty two years full time I have even contemplated home for the first time ever.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by Giggle » August 28, 2019, 8:58 am

Probationers and parolees have more freedom of movement than foreigners.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by tamada » August 28, 2019, 12:22 pm

newtovillagelife wrote:
August 28, 2019, 7:38 am
saint wrote:
August 28, 2019, 5:27 am
So are you blaming Thailand and its people because you have made the wrong choice .
Did you do any homework at all before you took the plunge ?
I learnt a long time ago the grass is not always greener over the fence , and you can run as much as you want , but not from yourself .
Give the guy a break, maybe it was the right choice at the time. Thailand has changed and will continue to.
No argument there. But the place is littered with old guys who didn't adapt and change with the times or adapt to their changing personal situations. There's a lot of them rely on forums to let their friends know the symptoms but very, very few seem to work out the cure. If they have financial stresses living in Thailand, it's not going to be a whole lot easier in either Vietnam or PI.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by tamada » August 28, 2019, 12:25 pm

The Philippines... it's a fiscal, moral and cultural basket case compared to Thailand.

Unless one is planning only drinking beer and chasing pussy of course. Then it still takes the biscuit.... but only just.

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Re: Police state squeeze for Thailand’s expatriates

Post by RLTrader » August 28, 2019, 12:26 pm

but one could have a nice night out, on just 1 of those tm30 fines. :D

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