By Barry Kenyon

[Gaybutton]

Some applicants for Thai elite visa are wannabe criminals

By Barry Kenyon

May 13, 2024

Thai Privilege Card, formerly Elite, has been told to step up its security checks on applicants by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB). This follows the arrest of a Chinese national who, having obtained a five year visa which allowed him to enter and leave Thailand at will, laundered huge sums of money for call center scam gangs. CIB chief pol Lt. Gen. Jirabhop Bhuridej said that investigations into other gang members were underway whilst others are believed to have fled abroad.

There have long been concerns that the elite visa, which is issued by the Thai Privilege Card Company Ltd, can be misused by criminals. Although the immigration bureau is consulted prior to granting the visa, its role is limited to checking if the applicant is on the blacklist or is wanted by the Thai courts. For a five year, multiple entry, visa the applicant pays 900,000 baht but there are no compulsory checks on his or her financial sources.

The Tourist Authority of Thailand, which is ultimately responsible for this visa, said that some applications are refused after investigation. No public reasons were given but it is known that some nationalities, such as Iraq or Iran, are particularly at risk of denial. The CIB also operates an online scam operation center which tracks down illicit financial transactions and blocks illicit websites or fraudulent pages.

Scammers are now extending their strategy to use of cryptocurrency in an attempt to outwit the police. Critics say that the current Thai government’s policy of admitting tourists from more countries (including Russia, China and India) without a prior visa is just as serious for national security as the elite visa scams. Police Lt. Gen. Jirabhop said, “Our system makes it easy for anyone to do business here so giving a loophole for criminals to use Thailand as a base for money laundering.”

The Thai immigration bureau points out that neither tourist visa exemptions nor the elite visa allows foreigners to partake in work as defined by the alien labor legislation. Officers also stress that the establishment of trading companies by foreigners, using nominee Thai partners, is also illegal and is currently the subject of a national crackdown. The question, however, is whether sufficient resources are being devoted to visa abuse.

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... als-460371

[Jun]

There have long been concerns that the elite visa, which is issued by the Thai Privilege Card Company Ltd, can be misused by criminals.

Surely the elite visa is a red herring here ?

Anyone interested in running some scam operation would simply use one of the other visas, e.g. education, or going to an agency and paying the tea money. So they need to stop the scam operations, rather than looking at immigration rules.

The Thai government might also look at which countries the scammers and mafia types come from. If anything, perhaps those countries are the ones for which Thailand is relaxing entry requirements the fastest.

[Gaybutton]

So they need to stop the scam operations, rather than looking at immigration rules.

That's the problem. There are articles nearly every week about how some scam operation was caught. What I wonder about is how many are out there and haven't been caught. Even I get one or two calls every week from what is obviously some sort of scam attempt. I block those numbers, but more get through all too often.

There are three things I do when I know it's a scam call coming in. One is I immediately ring off. Two is I say nothing and just let them talk until they ring off. Or three - my favorite - is I answer the call in the loudest voice I can conjure up and yell "Who the FUCK is this?!?!"

[Jun]

There are three things I do when I know it's a scam call coming in. One is I immediately ring off. Two is I say nothing and just let them talk until they ring off. Or three - my favorite - is I answer the call in the loudest voice I can conjure up and yell "Who the FUCK is this?!?!"

If they ask for the home owner or something like that, my preferred solution is to say, "oh yes, I'll get him now" & just put the phone down and leave it.
Or if not that obvious, just start tapping on the phone. Anything to make their miserable job even more miserable.

I've actually disconnected my landline, as most of the calls that came through on that were sales or scammers. Also, blocking calls on landline phones is far more difficult than on smartphones.

I don't get an excessive number of scam calls.
Every couple of years or so, I might invest £1 in a spare SIM card. So when some website asks for my number, unless it's a very reputable site, they get the number for the spare SIM. Which rarely, if ever goes in a phone.

[Gaybutton]

I don't get an excessive number of scam calls.

Years ago, long before I moved to Thailand, I played a dirty trick on my brother. I received a cold call from a salesman trying to sell me a new roof. I did live in a house, but I lied and told him I live in an apartment building. Then I said, "Wait a second. My brother has been talking about getting a new roof (not true). Would you mind if I give you his phone number?"

I could almost see his eyes light up over the phone. I gave him the number.

About 15 minutes later my brother called. "You son of a bitch, what the hell's wrong with you?!?!"

[Gaybutton]

It seems a bit strange to me that Thailand is seriously considering opening casinos, but being caught in the privacy of one's room with a group playing cards for satang still ends in arrests and fines. It is perfectly legal to buy playing cards, but don't get caught actually playing.
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Thai casinos could be limited to 5 percent of the total space of the complex

By Barry Kenyon

May 14, 2024

The Thai government is investigating how much space should be given to gambling in the entertainment zone where they are based. According to the Bangkok Post, the deputy finance minister Julapun Amornvivat said casino operations should be only a small part of an integrated resort to include a shopping zone, family entertainment, hotels and restaurants.

The minister said that there were ongoing discussions with government agencies about the social and environmental impact of casino resorts, gambling taxes and modernization of laws relating to betting. Parliamentary committees have already given a thumbs-up to the idea of casino resorts, but the details are not yet ready for House approval.

It is unlikely that existing buildings will be used in the proposed venture. A new entertainment complex, including a casino, would require investment of around US$2.7 billion. Because the casino issue is still a contentious issue in Thailand with many Buddhist groups opposed to the whole idea, the move to limit the size of the gaming tables and machines to 5 percent of the total area is clearly a compromise move. A Pattaya area casino resort, one of four sites initially under debate, would very likely be based near U-tapao international airport near Rayong.

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... lex-460468

[Gaybutton]

Some of these visa offerings, along with what is not offered, earn a spot on my "I Don't Get It" list. They offer all kinds of long stay visas to people wealthy enough to want to pay a high price for visas that are good for as long a 10 years. But for us expats on the retirement visa, we still have to extend our visas every year - and we have to go to immigration twice to do it - once to submit the documents and pay the fee and again the next day to retrieve our passports.

What would be the hard part about offering us longer term visas that only have to be extended every 5 years or every 10 years - at an affordable price? How about offering those of us who have lived in Thailand with clean records for 10 years or even 20 years some sort of permanent residency? But the only thing that ever seems to come our way are more complexities, difficulties, and inconveniences. Meanwhile expats probably inject more money into the Thai economy than all the other types of visa holders combined.

Much of what we have to go through supposedly is prevention of money laundering. How many retirement visa holders are involved in money laundering - enough to justify making things difficult for those of us in compliance and honestly obeying Thai laws? I don't think so. I love living in Thailand, but I'd love it a lot more if they would make things truly easier for us. But it seems to me to be the old story - make things more difficult for the innocent in order to make it easier to put a stop to the very few guilty.
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Thailand expands the range of 10 year visas once again

By Barry Kenyon

May 15, 2024

Newly added to the range of longstay visas comes the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) option for foreign investors in three eastern provinces which include Chonburi. The EEC visa, which allows multiple entries, offers automatic work permit procedures for targeted industries, and a discounted rate of 17 percent income tax for specialists, executives, professionals and (if necessary) dependents.

The EEC visa duration is actually linked to the life of the holder’s work permit and is considered an investor type. There is obviously overlap with LTR which, however, is not linked to certain provinces and is much broader covering wealthy retirees, digital nomads with contracts and world travellers as well as executives. The benefits are similar – reduced income tax, avoidance of 90 days reporting and airport perks – but the EEC visa is specifically linked geographically to investment in high-tech industries and sunrise initiatives such as robotics, petrochemical, healthcare, tourism and biotechnology.

In recent years, Thailand has diversified its longstay visa regulations to encourage the overseas wealthy to make a base here. These include the Elite visa introduced in 2003, which has had a controversial history, the O/X 10 year visa for retirees from 2016 (not popular because of its bureaucracy) and the Long Term Residence started last year. The new EEC visa also illustrates the growing involvement of government agencies such as the Board of Investment, in addition to the immigration bureau, in the granting of longstay visa

https://www.pattayamail.com/latestnews/ ... ain-460567

[Jun]

What would be the hard part about offering us longer term visas that only have to be extended every 5 years or every 10 years - at an affordable price? How about offering those of us who have lived in Thailand with clean records for 10 years or even 20 years some sort of permanent residency? But the only thing that ever seems to come our way are more complexities, difficulties, and inconveniences.

If everything were efficient and easy, why would people go to a visa agency & grease the wheels with tea money ?

[Gaybutton]

If everything were efficient and easy, why would people go to a visa agency & grease the wheels with tea money ?

But they are making it easy, for those who would have much more available to spend on that tea money than the average retirement visa expat would be likely to afford. I am not among those who attribute just about everything to tea money. That in and of itself is too simplistic for me.

All I know is the only thing I can think of where things were made easier for retirement visa expats was being able to do the 90-day address reports online. Tea money wouldn't have been behind that, would it?

[Jun]

I suspect some of the complexities, difficulties and inconveniences are local to Jomtien, in order to drive people to agencies.
Admittedly, the only comparison I have is for 30 day extensions, where the process was like night & day when comparing Jomtien with Hua Hin.
Plus the subjective assessment that Hua Hin were trying to make a visit to their office pleasant, whilst Jomtien immigration, were, for whatever reason, trying to make it unpleasant.

I agree that it's more difficult to fit a corruption explanation to things like the Elite Visa & the 90 day online address reporting.

But on the other hand, if they were solely motivated by trying to provide a good and efficient service, wouldn't they abolish or automate some of the other processes, such as those ridiculous re-entry permits ? What motivates them to provide a bad service ?

Even when one of the senior government officials mentioned the use of agencies who pay tea money last year, he followed up by proposing fee increases, rather than anything to discourage the corruption.
You follow the news more closely than me. Are you seeing the "new" government doing anything to reduce corruption ?