General Reports

[EihTooms]

The arrests are not being made for independent violations. They are being made because the law has specific language about the conditions that make Prostitution Illegal.

Those conditions don't "make Prostitution Illegal" any more than speeding makes driving a car illegal, as was brilliantly explained by another poster previously. It's the conditions that are illegal. None of your linked reports cite a section of any law or ACT that state prostitution to be illegal or a crime but only for the tangential, independent conditions that are illegal and crimes.

From your April 2026 report link:

Police detained 16 foreign women, primarily from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uganda, for allegedly breaching Section 5 of the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act 1996, which prohibits contacting, soliciting, or approaching individuals in public places for the purpose of prostitution.
..........
One woman was found to have overstayed her visa and was handed over to Pattaya City Police Station to face additional immigration charges. The remaining three women are in the process of having their visas revoked and are being held ahead of deportation to their home countries.

Your first December 2025 link appears to be the same report as your April 2026 link.

From your second December 2025 link:

Eight foreign women were arrested early Wednesday along Pattaya Beach Road for soliciting sex in public. The operation targeted the entrance to Soi 13-13.4, following multiple complaints from local residents and tourists. Chon Buri Immigration officers led the crackdown, citing concerns over public nuisance and violations of Thai law.
..........
A total of eight women were apprehended during the operation. Among them were five Ugandans, two Uzbeks, and one Madagascan. Subsequently, the suspects were transferred to Pattaya City Police Station for questioning and formal charges. Authorities charged all eight under Section 5 of the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act 1996.
The statute criminalises contacting, soliciting, or pestering individuals in public spaces for prostitution. Furthermore, it includes provisions for public nuisance caused by such acts. Each woman was fined ฿1,000 immediately following the arrest.

Your December 2024 report linked is very brief and vague, does not cite the section in any law or ACT for which the foreign ladies were arrested but all indications are they were arrested for the exact same tangential, independent reasons the foreign ladies in the above linked reports were arrested for and not "for Prostitution", for which there is no citation in any of your linked reports for which section in any Thai law or ACT that could possibly be applied to it.

The arrests followed complaints made by locals and tourists about a group of foreign women standing at various spots along the beach and offering sex for money, police said.

Police monitored the women's behaviour until they confirmed that they were offering sex for money. The officers arrested 20 suspects, nine Ugandans, eight Uzbeks, two Madagascans and one Rwandan aged between 26 and 51.

Note that no locals or tourists complained, was pestered by or felt victimized by a public nuisance of any Thai ladies soliciting sex in a public place, only by foreign ladies. And in none of your links is there a report of so much as one customer, potential customer or any man anywhere near or engaged in conversation with those foreign ladies arrested "for Prostitution".

[SubCmdr]

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-ne...o-be-deported/

When will the individuals claiming that prostitution is legal explain to me the framework being used to arrest foreign nationals for prostitution in Thailand? I guess a plain reading of the law by lay people and ivory tower observations do not stand up at the street level.

Then we have this:

Sex Worker Protection Act The draft would repeal Thailands prostitution law and recognise sex workers as employees with labour and social security protections.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-ne...hailand-legal/

Thailand wants to make something that is already legal, legal?

ROTFLMAO!

[SubCmdr]

The arrests are not being made for independent violations. They are being made because the law has specific language about the conditions that make Prostitution Illegal.

Despite the occasional typically lazy and culturally preferred simple news headline that arrests or round ups were made "For Prostitution", and actually one of those headline writers did put in the extra work by describing it as "Prodtitution Activity", every one of those cases is for the usual addendum and qualifiers clearly cited in the Thai Penal Code, that ACT, by me and others here and not For Prostitution.

Foreign workers with possible visa violations.

Conducting it as a business openly and publicly.

Your last link provides the "tell".

By the way, did you know that the term "solicitation" as it pertains to a crime and specifically to Prostitution is actually fairly specific about it being done "in a public space" where casual passers-by or observers can tell exactly what is being said and offered and not about a discrete conversaion? That is obviously the way Thailand sees it too.

[EihTooms]

April 2026

https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/...ion-activities

Police detained 16 foreign women, primarily from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uganda, for allegedly breaching Section 5 of the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act (1996), which prohibits contacting, soliciting, or approaching individuals in public places for the purpose of prostitution.

December 2025

https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/...ion-activities.

Despite the occasional typically lazy and culturally preferred simple news headline that arrests or round ups were made "For Prostitution", and actually one of those headline writers did put in the extra work by describing it as "Prodtitution Activity", every one of those cases is for the usual addendum and qualifiers clearly cited in the Thai Penal Code, that ACT, by me and others here and not For Prostitution.

Foreign workers with possible visa violations.

Conducting it as a business openly and publicly.

Your last link provides the "tell".

The arrests followed complaints made by locals and tourists about a group of foreign women standing at various spots along the beach and offering sex for money, police said.

By the way, did you know that the term "solicitation" as it pertains to a crime and specifically to Prostitution is actually fairly specific about it being done "in a public space" where casual passers-by or observers can tell exactly what is being said and offered and not about a discrete conversaion? That is obviously the way Thailand sees it too. Otherwise, there would be sting operations set up all over the country with plain clothes officers waiting for the magic words to be whispered by a consenting adult into the microphone hidden in their shirt pocket.

But there are not any of those kind of sting operations going on anywhere in Thailand. They don't even care about pursuing a reasonably presumed private conversation about it digitally / online. Instead, they have to wait until there are public complaints about prostitutes crowding the sidewalks, blocking entrances to nearby businesses, saying the words loud enough for the Anderson Family to know what is being offered as they stroll by to have dinner at Hooters and so on.

Solicitation meaning

https://share.google/aimode/3VRX9CXKdNxwQnU43

Legal and Criminal Meanings

Prostitution: Offering sex for money in a public space.

Solicitation for prostitution.
How the Offense Occurs:
In-Person: Approaching someone on a street or in a public place to propose a trade.
Digital: Using text messages, dating apps, or websites to arrange a paid sexual meeting.
Sting Operations: Police officers posing online or on the street as buyers or sellers to catch individuals making an offer.

[SubCmdr]

April 2026

https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/...ion-activities

Police detained 16 foreign women, primarily from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uganda, for allegedly breaching Section 5 of the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act (1996), which prohibits contacting, soliciting, or approaching individuals in public places for the purpose of prostitution.

December 2025

https://thethaiger.com/news/pattaya/...ion-activities

December 2025

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-ne...r-deportation/

December 2024

https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning...ion-in-pattaya

[SubCmdr]

One Stop Visa & Drivers License - located on Soi 6.

[SubCmdr]

If a place where you are partying gets raided you need to have valid ID in Thailand.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand...hon-pathom-pub

Pro Tip: Get your photo page copied (front) and the page that has your current valid visa stamp (back). Have it laminated same size as your passport or wallet size. Carry that with you. No reason to be on vacation and get hassled over violating an administrative law when it is so easy to avoid it.

Just saying.

[Turgid]

Refusing to answer a question is fine. Telling a lie is low life. Giving a hooker your bogus negative HIV test report to achieve BB services is pond scum.

A monger infecting a hooker is not something other mongers will take kindly to.

[SubCmdr]

Cash. How easy is it to find legit ATM's? I've gotten ripped off by small ATMs so prefer ones in bank lobby. Easy to find? If I want to pull out say 15 k baht can I or do they limit amounts for a single withdrawal. Should I bring a lot of baht with me by buying at a NY bank?

Thailand is a modern country with a mature banking system. The only way you won't be able to find a ATM is if you are blind.

Krungsri bank (yellow) ATMs allow up to 30,000 THB withdrawals per transaction. There will be a fee. Make sure to decline conversion during your transaction to avoid a unfavorable exchange rate.

[Explorer8939]

My LINE was registered on my India number. Suddenly I am getting a message on LINE that India number is no longer supported. Does anyone have a solution for this? My account is not linked to any email or apple ID.

Alternatively, I bought a tourist esim from True, the Thai carrier. The esim is not getting activated outside Thailand since the carrier is not sending an OTP for login into the app. Any alternate solution to having a active Thai number for the purpose of LINE account?

How about using a VPN that says you are in Thailand?

[SubCmdr]

Yes but it's better to let the riff raff know somehow they're not welcome.

They are still welcome. The requirements for entry are not being tighten except for one country that I am aware of. I posted an article from the Bangkok Post below that detailed the official reason for the change. Individuals who are using the current immigration allowances to commit illegal acts are the individuals being addressed by the changes. Most pure tourists stay for less than 30 days. So, tourism is not going be affected at all. Long stay tourists will have a little more hassle. But the system is only returning to the same one I had to deal with when I needed a tourist VISA to stay.

You can still lie that you practice muay Thai and get your extension indeed.

I don't know where this information comes from or if it is valid. I welcome anyone who has more details to expand on it.

I have no dog in the fight!

My VISA details are handled by professionals who deal with immigration issues all the time. I will say that anyone who think Pattaya is Thailand is sadly mistaken. Get outside of the tourist / entertainment districts and you will find a very different vibe. It's funny, after I posted up here individuals challenged me to see other parts of Thailand. I did. They were right! It's different out there.

[HorseTrader]

The decision meant that the rules for all countries covered by the scheme would revert to the immigration regulations in place before the 60-day programme took effect,

Before 2024 and still today, I just apply for the 60-day tourist visa at the Royal Thai Consulate in LOS Angeles. It's all online now, requires a bit of planning and a small fee, but it's straightforward. Once I'm in the Kingdom, I add a 30-day extension. That's the process, and it works every time.

I hope that "revert to the immigration regulations in place before the 60-day programme took effect" means the E-Visa system and not the system where they paste the visa inside your passport. My last paste-in visa was 2020, which was a pain in the ass. My first E-Visa was early 2022, which was much easier. I've never stayed longer than 50 days, but I make multiple visits per year, hope that is still allowed.

[SubCmdr]

On various forums, some people are getting too worked up, claiming Thailand is kicking tourists to the curb and everyone's fleeing to Vietnam. Vietnam is a good place to visit, but it's a completely different vibeit's not Thailand.

Roughly 95% of visitors to Thailand stay under 15 days. So, that new 60-day visa exemption rolled out in 2024? It's overkill for the vast majority. Even the old 30-day rule worked fine for almost everyone. Thailand's peak tourism year was 2019, back when the 30-day exemption was the standard. The panic is mostly unfounded.

As for me, I've been spending winters in Thailand for 14 years. My routine hasn't changed much. Before 2024 and still today, I just apply for the 60-day tourist visa at the Royal Thai Consulate in LOS Angeles. It's all online now, requires a bit of planning and a small fee, but it's straightforward. Once I'm in the Kingdom, I add a 30-day extension. That's the process, and it works every time.

Vietnam would not even make my relocation list a Plan b if I needed one.

[BeachDrone]

On various forums, some people are getting too worked up, claiming Thailand is kicking tourists to the curb and everyone's fleeing to Vietnam. Vietnam is a good place to visit, but it's a completely different vibe—it's not Thailand.

Roughly 95% of visitors to Thailand stay under 15 days. So, that new 60-day visa exemption rolled out in 2024? It's overkill for the vast majority. Even the old 30-day rule worked fine for almost everyone. Thailand's peak tourism year was 2019, back when the 30-day exemption was the standard. The panic is mostly unfounded.

As for me, I've been spending winters in Thailand for 14 years. My routine hasn't changed much. Before 2024 and still today, I just apply for the 60-day tourist visa at the Royal Thai Consulate in LOS Angeles. It's all online now, requires a bit of planning and a small fee, but it's straightforward. Once I'm in the Kingdom, I add a 30-day extension. That's the process, and it works every time.

[TempStories]

My LINE was registered on my India number. Suddenly I am getting a message on LINE that India number is no longer supported. Does anyone have a solution for this? My account is not linked to any email or apple ID.

Alternatively, I bought a tourist esim from True, the Thai carrier. The esim is not getting activated outside Thailand since the carrier is not sending an OTP for login into the app. Any alternate solution to having a active Thai number for the purpose of LINE account?