Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Visa extensions in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Virtually no Asian restrictions in place for the expected influx of Chinese tourists. Quoting directly: "There are also concerns in Thailand and some other countries about police corruption which has encouraged the granting of longstay Business or Student Visas to Chinese citizens not actually qualified to receive them. Thai Authorities have responded by transferring Immigration Officials, clamping down on the granting of bank accounts to Chinese Nationals and denying Visa extensions beyond the 30 days visa-on-arrival for Chinese passport holders. But for the moment, the sky's the limit as far as outward-bound Chinese tourism is concerned. As the Chinese Xinhua news agency delicately puts it, "We are teaching friendly neighbors how to smile again." Whatever that means. 

I thought this was interesting because again, I have discussed this article in another video and I think this is worth reiterating. People read these articles and things and they see "oh they are clamping down on Chinese, this or something blah blah blah!" These things have broader implications. Now do I think that overnight we are going to see all these Visa extensions being denied and things? No, unlikely. Do I think we are in store for some heavier scrutiny? Yeah. Do I think we are in store for more stringent rules moving forward through 2023? Possibly. What I can say though is when these things kind of happen and it seems to be targeted at one group or something, in the end, maybe not as acutely, but in the end pretty much anybody that is in the constituency if you will of immigrants is going to feel it; people that are foreign for example here in Thailand. I discussed this before regarding the so-called Muslim ban when they were talking about that with regard to US immigration which I didn't agree with at all but at the time I was looking at, people were saying "well if I am not coming from one of those countries, it shouldn't be an issue." Well there turned out to be broad ramifications to that even though it was supposed to be targeted supposedly at one particular group of people or one particular group of countries, it had ramifications throughout US Immigration. I am not saying we are going to see visa denials or extension denials en masse any time soon, far from it. But, something worth noting for foreign nationals here in Thailand is that I think Immigration is going to get much stricter moving forward.