Thailand News Today | Immigration Police to Revise Visa Extension Criteria

The Immigration Bureau will revise its criteria for visa extension to prevent foreign criminals from citing their “study or foundations” as an excuse to prolong their stay in the country.

The commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said it would have a working group to revise criteria for visa extension and the revision would concern the foreigners who reported their necessity to work for foundations, receive medical treatment or pursue their study. Thailand news

The criteria would be stricter, he said. Thailand news

The Immigration Bureau made the move after former politician Chuwit Kamolvisit said that three former immigration police officers facilitated the longer stay of members of Chinese triads who set up foundations as their fronts in the country.

On the issue, the commisioner said deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn supervised legal action against Chinese criminals. Immigration police from 26 branches were questioned about their approval for Chinese people’s visas and the Immigration Bureau was also investigating the visa approval. Thailand news

Yesterday, Immigration Police arrested a Polish man in Koh Samui, southern Thailand, wanted on an Interpol red notice for assault and illegal possession of firearms.

He had overstayed his student visa by 36 days, which was cancelled by immigration on November 3 because he didn’t attend classes. Thailand news

Surat Thani Immigration Police were patrolling the island in their Smart Control Cars, which use facial recognition technology when they spotted a suspicious-looking foreigner in a Big C car park.

Upon inspection of his passport, police found that 37 year old Michael Karim Wielebinski’s name was included in their list of foreigners whose permission to stay in the kingdom had been revoked.

Wielebinski entered Thailand from Malaysia via the Tak Bai Immigration Checkpoint in Narathiwat province on October 10, 2019, with a non-immigrant (NON-90) visa. Thailand news

In 2017, Wielebinski was accused of assault and illegal possession of firearms in Poland. He did not attend court so Interpol issued a red notice for his arrest on October 15, 2017

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Thailand’s broadcast and communications regulator, has demanded the return of 600 million baht, granted to the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) to purchase the World Cup 2022 broadcast rights for Thailand from FIFA, for alleged breach of contract.

According to a member of the NBTC, she said that they voted unanimously to send a letter to the SAT, demanding the return of the 600 million baht within 15 days.

The 600 million baht came from the NBTC’s Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund. The remaining 1 billion baht for the broadcast rights came from corporate sponsors.

She said that the SAT is obliged, under the contract, to comply strictly with the “Must Carry’ rule, which means that members of the public in Thailand should be able to watch all 64 matches on all free TV platforms, including Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), otherwise the SAT must return the 600-million baht to the NBTC.

He said that the SAT was warned in writing in November to follow the “Must Carry” rule, but the warning was not heeded, so the NBTC board had to take action and demand the refund.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the Royal Thai Army, and WBC Muay Thai will host their first Amazing Muay Thai Festival in Prachuap Khiri Khan province to promote the Thai combat sport to tourists and foreigners.

Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Narongpan Jitkaewtae stated that the Amazing Muay Thai Festival will be held at Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Hua Hin district from February 4-6, 2023. The festival includes local and international competitions, training lessons from famous boxers, seminars, an exhibition on famous boxers, and the history of Muay Thai.

According to Gen Narongpan, one of the biggest highlights will be the wai-kru ceremony, a traditional ritual in which students pay respect to their teachers. The ceremony on February 6 will be performed by 5,000 Muay Thai boxers which will be the world’s largest wai-kru ceremony, setting a Guinness World Record.

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