Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the list of people not allowed to enter Thailand, sometimes referred to as the so-called Blacklist, but yeah it's basically yeah "is there a list of people not allowed to enter Thailand?"

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Khao Sod English, that is khaosodenglish.com, the article is titled: American Arrested for Stabbing Norwegian Tourist in Chiang Mai. I am going to quote a couple of excerpts here but there is a lot of information in that article. I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail, quoting directly: “Mueang Chiang Mai police station announced on October 12th that their investigation team in cooperation with Chiang Mai Tourist Police had successfully arrested an American tourist who had allegedly attacked and injured other tourists. The suspect was arrested at a hotel in Chiang Mai with a knife as evidence.” Quoting further: "The owner of the entertainment venue expressed relief that the police were able to arrest the suspect. She hopes that he will be expelled from the country and put on the list of dangerous persons who will not be allowed to enter Thailand in the future." 

Yeah at the end of the day, especially Thai Immigration depending on the circumstances of one's presence in Thailand, they do have the discretion to exclude folks from re-entering the Kingdom, putting them on The Blacklist, and as we discussed the Blacklist can be 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, all the way up to, in fact 90 days, it can be 90-day blacklisting associated with overstaying by 90 days in Thailand, but it can go all the way up to 99 years, effectively infinity if you will of being blacklisted. So again, when do we see this?

Generally speaking, as noted in this article, it's in connection with some kind of underlying criminal case. But yeah, it's not uncommon. I have seen multiple folks who have been placed on The Blacklist for various, sometimes violent activity here in the Kingdom. Another thing to keep in mind with regard to the Blacklist is notwithstanding the fact that one may be on The Blacklist so-called for a predetermined period of time so they may say "you are now blacklisted for 3 years". You may or may not be able to re-enter after that period and bear in mind that once you are in the system, once you are on the Blacklist system that can be seen by Immigration Officials when you are returning to the Kingdom. Especially now that we are utilizing biometrics, especially in deportation proceedings, the minute your fingerprints for example hit the fingerprint scanner at the Immigration checkpoint, they are going to be able to see your entire record and just because a Blacklisting has "expired", does not mean that you are automatically from that point entitled to return to the Kingdom. In fact, Immigration Officers, I have anecdotal evidence proving this, yeah Immigration Officers will often say "Yeah we have seen your history here. Due to National Security for example, we are not going to let you back in." And there are multiple citations they can make under the Immigration Act of 1979 to that effect. So again, criminal activity in Thailand could lead to a prolonged if not an indefinite Blacklisting here in the Kingdom of Thailand.