Police believe criminals are to blame
The country's top police official, General Surachate Hakparn, has published an interview where he called for a review of the current procedure for processing and renewing "retirement" visas for foreigners.
According to him, the current criteria for obtaining a retirement visa are outdated and allow entry to individuals who do not actually have a stable source of income. In particular, the requirement to open a bank account with a certain amount of money or to receive regular remittances from abroad is not enough to confirm a person's solvency, according to the general.
Moreover, according to Surachate Hakparna, there are not rare cases of fraud, when visa agencies or corrupt employees of the Migration Service used their official position and helped to arrange other people's bank accounts. Recall that to obtain a retirement visa, you must have at least 800,000 baht in your account. This law has been in effect for more than 40 years. In this way, the general argues, unreliable individuals circumvent existing laws and gain legal status in Thailand.
To justify his proposals, Surachate Hakparn cited the problem with tourist bikers, who have recently become active in tourist destinations such as Pattaya, Phuket and Samui. According to him, these gangs are terrorizing the local population, staging fights and disrupting public order. The general believes that tightening the visa regime will help prevent potentially dangerous individuals prone to antisocial and criminal behavior from entering the country.
However, some experts are critical of these proposals. They believe that the strengthening of restrictions will affect a wide range of law-abiding pensioners who simply want to live peacefully in Thailand in their old age. After all, most of the holders of such visas are people over the age of 65 who pose no threat to society. According to critics, the general's approach could lead to "increased deviancy," with completely innocent people suffering because of crime problems in one segment.
Gen. Surachate has rich experience in tourism and migration. He has been in charge of the Tourism Police and the Migration Service of Thailand. Now Surachate wants to change the 1979 Migration Act, which regulates entry into the country.
It is not yet clear what specific changes will be proposed and when they might take effect. It is likely to take months of government approvals and discussions. But already now there are fears that tightening the rules will create difficulties for all foreign pensioners in Thailand, even those who are law-abiding and do not violate the order.
Thus, the initiative of the head of the police caused a contradictory reaction in Thai society. On the one hand, there are indeed problems with individual pension visa holders. But on the other hand, the tightening of requirements may affect the majority of law-abiding elderly migrants who simply want to spend the rest of their lives in peace in the warm climate of Thailand. As some commentators have noted, it is important to strike a sensible balance here when updating the rules.
Author of the article: Ekaterina Antonova
