General Reports

[HorseTrader]

Option 3: 6-month, multiple entry E-Visa. I've been informally told that this still exists, which will be my choice.

There are other longer term options, but these are the 3 quick and easy options of which I am aware.

To stay in Thailand for longer than 30 days, you must either apply for a Tourist Visa (TR) before arrival or extend your current visa-exempt stamp at a local immigration office.

Option 1: Tourist Visa (TR).

Apply for a Single-Entry Tourist Visa at a Thai embassy or via the e-Visa portal before traveling.

Grants an initial stay of 60 days, which can be extended once for an additional 30 days at a Thai immigration office for a fee of 1,900 THB.

Total potential stay: 90 days without leaving the country.

Option 2: Extend Visa-Exempt Stamp.

If you entered under the visa exemption program you can apply for a 30-day extension at any immigration office.

Requires a passport photo, completed TM. 7 form, and the 1,900 THB fee.

This allows a total stay of 60 days.

I have done Option 2 twice without a problem.

[SubCmdr]

To stay in Thailand for longer than 30 days, you must either apply for a Tourist Visa (TR) before arrival or extend your current visa-exempt stamp at a local immigration office.

Option 1: Tourist Visa (TR).

Apply for a Single-Entry Tourist Visa at a Thai embassy or via the e-Visa portal before traveling.

Grants an initial stay of 60 days, which can be extended once for an additional 30 days at a Thai immigration office for a fee of 1,900 THB.

Total potential stay: 90 days without leaving the country.

Option 2: Extend Visa-Exempt Stamp.

If you entered under the visa exemption program you can apply for a 30-day extension at any immigration office.

Requires a passport photo, completed TM. 7 form, and the 1,900 THB fee.

This allows a total stay of 60 days.

I have done Option 2 twice without a problem.

[SubCmdr]

Island raids become a nationwide foreign business crackdown as 112 Koh Phangan firms face land probes and 30-year leases come under scrutiny. Yet Thailand grants billion-baht investors faster approvals while actual foreign investment fell 19.5% in the first quarter of 2026. The drive follows a 2023 Supreme Court ruling voiding prepaid extensions beyond the first registered 30-year term. Yet, Thailand is simultaneously handing billion-baht industrial projects tax holidays and accelerated approvals to such investors.

https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2026/08/26/crackdown-on-smaller-foreign-investors-across-thailand-has-wider-implications-for-external-investment/

This is an example of how what people may think of the law does not matter. What matters in the end is how the controlling legal authorities enforce the law.

[Mogwai]

Is anyone else besides EihTooms and SubCmdr still reading this never ending debate about the legitimacy of prostitution in TH?

[SubCmdr]

In the entire history of ISG, no one has produced a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that prostitution is legal in Thailand.

This remains a undisputed fact!

No, I say and point out with links to every legally enforceable legislation that exists that prostitution between consenting adults 18 years old and older is not a crime in Thailand, nor is it punishable by any penalty at all. Your one-man mission to Prevent and Suppress the perfectly non criminal act of 18 year old and older girls in Thailand to consent to the exchange of sex for money isn't supported by any criminal citation or section in any legally-enforceable Code or Act anywhere. Obviously.

You comment on me playing clever word games while engaging in them yourself.

Why don't you just admit things can be legal and illegal at the exact same time?

I could provided many examples of this and already have. I think everyone one reading our exchange understands exactly what you and I are both saying. Produce a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that supports your position. Ask any of your Thai High Society friends what they think of prostitution? Ask the police why they enforce laws that are related to prostitution activities? Ask them if they want their 18 year old daughters to enter the entertainment industry? I cannot say here what I think of your personal assertions in this particular forum. But let me tell you that plain talk description would not present a very good image you should it become public among them. Finally, show your Thai Friends our exchange? I would be interested to know what the reaction would be. Given the number of profiles highlighted in blue that say new with the age listed at 18 that appear everyday on Thai Friendly. I would say that your worry about our exchanges discouraging them are misplaced.

I do think it odd that a respected member of International Sex Guide would work so hard to try to make 18 year old or older Thai girls who might hear about or even be directed to read your repeated assertions on this site that "prostitution is not legal in Thailand", probably miss the supposedly clever word game you're playing with the issue and consequently abandon the idea of earning much needed higher income that way and to instead stay in their rice paddy job in their province. I would have thought that is antithetical to the purpose of ISG. But, hey, you do you.

I disagree with your characterization of my comments. But it is your opinion. I do not have a laser like focus on girls that are barely legal entering the entertainment industry. But hey we all have our preference and desires.

Engaging in Ad hominem attacks is a logical fallacy and in no way makes your opinion superior to mine. In no way am I trying to influence anyone's decision (male or female) to participate or abstain from the entertainment industry in Thailand. I stick to the facts. You may continue with your personal attacks. That is the final sign that you have lost the intellectual argument. Since you have shown that you are intellectually bankrupt. Be assured, I will not be meeting you in court.

Why not just quote in full the citation or section in the Code or the Act that you think would be most effective in convincing 18 year old or older Thai girls to abandon the P4 P option in Pattaya, Bangkok and elsewhere and race back to their rice paddy work in their province or simply never arrive in Pattaya or Bangkok at all for utterly misunderstood and non-existent legal reasons?

I don't need to do that because the motivations you assign to my portion of the conversation that we are having do not apply.

My opinion holds no dominion over an individual who has reached the age of majority and is considered an adult.

My motivations are clear. I am not focused on 18 year old girls. I am sharing information with my fellow International Tricks for them to be fully informed.

Then the rest of us can see what it is that so motivates you to repeatedly try to do that here on ISG.

I choose to stick to the facts and the truth.

In the entire history of ISG, no one has produced a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that prostitution is legal in Thailand.

[EihTooms]

My opinion holds no dominion over a individual who has reached the age of majority and is considered an adult.

My opinion holds no dominion over a individual who has reached the age of majority and is considered an adult.

https://www.cannabisregulations.ai/c...land-marijuana

Plain reading of the law: In other words you can no longer legally walk into a dispensary and buy cannabis flower without a prescription. I am not a member of the bar in Thailand. Does that make weed legal or illegal?

Proof Prostitution is not legal in Thailand

Wait, Wait

You finally admit that I am right. Prostitution is not legal in Thailand Activities related to prostitution are a crime is that what you are saying? But prostitution itself is legal. If prostitution itself was legal, there would not be all of these requirements that specifically address when it is not legal.

You say prostitution is legal in Thailand. It is not. Produce the legal opinion from a member of the bar that confirms your assertions. You won't, because you can't. Because you are simply a lay person giving your opinion and do not have the legal right to advise anyone on the law in Thailand. That also means I have a right to my opinion and that yours is no more valid than mine.

End the end it is up to each International Trick to make up their mind and act in their own interests.

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

From the article above:

In the history of ISG, no one has produced a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that prostitution is legal in Thailand

Driving a car while smiling is not legal in Thailand either. Unless you have a valid drivers license. If you have a valid license to drive I suppose you could drive while engaging in endless mental masturbation (like this Prostitution is not legal in Thailand discussion) as long as you were not distracted while driving. Walking while smiling is legal. As is running while smiling. Along with engaging in mental masturbation while smiling. None of which have anything to do with if prostitution is legal in Thailand.

In the entire history of ISG, no one has produced a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that prostitution is legal in Thailand.

Don't ask for quotes and links and then attack the source. Make the logical argument. Produce a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that backs up what you have to say. If you cannot, feel free to explain to us why you cannot or will not do that.

Check Ball!

No, I say and point out with links to every legally enforceable legislation that exists that prostitution between consenting adults 18 years old and older is not a crime in Thailand, nor is it punishable by any penalty at all.

Your one-man mission to Prevent and Suppress the perfectly non criminal act of 18 year old and older girls in Thailand to consent to the exchange of sex for money isn't supported by any criminal citation or section in any legally-enforceable Code or Act anywhere. Obviously.

I do think it odd that a respected member of International Sex Guide would work so hard to try to make 18 year old or older Thai girls who might hear about or even be directed to read your repeated assertions on this site that "prostitution is not legal in Thailand", probably miss the supposedly clever word game you're playing with the issue and consequently abandon the idea of earning much needed higher income that way and to instead stay in their rice paddy job in their province. I would have thought that is antithetical to the purpose of ISG. But, hey, you do you.

Why not just quote in full the citation or section in the Code or the Act that you think would be most effective in convincing 18 year old or older Thai girls to abandon the P4 P option in Pattaya, Bangkok and elsewhere and race back to their rice paddy work in their province or simply never arrive in Pattaya or Bangkok at all for utterly misunderstood and non-existent legal reasons? Then the rest of us can see what it is that so motivates you to repeatedly try to do that here on ISG.

[SubCmdr]

Sorry. There is no "gotcha" there for you to frighten 18 year old farm girls from Isaan and their customers into the false belief that merely exchanging sex for money or money for sex as a private matter between consenting adults is a crime.

My opinion holds no dominion over a individual who has reached the age of majority and is considered an adult.

You might have only unnecessarily frightened one or two 18 year old Isaan farm girls out of the P4 P option and back to the knee-deep rice paddy with that post. Could have been worse, I suppose. But they might have been really cute and their babies needing the food and shelter money badly. Oh well.

My opinion holds no dominion over a individual who has reached the age of majority and is considered an adult.

The 25 June 2025 Notification on Controlled Herbs, signed by Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin, restricts cannabis flower to medical use. Purchase requires presenting a Thai ID or passport at a licensed outlet and a PT33 prescription valid up to 30 days. Rules effective January 2026 require a registered medical or traditional-medicine practitioner on site at every dispensary.*

https://www.cannabisregulations.ai/c...land-marijuana

Plain reading of the law: In other words you can no longer legally walk into a dispensary and buy cannabis flower without a prescription. I am not a member of the bar in Thailand. Does that make weed legal or illegal?

Proof Prostitution is not legal in Thailand

1. Don't sell sexual services in your go-go bar, massage parlor or bathing club.

2. We all know very well that series of*sex-related*crimes cited in Plan Language in the Code, such as soliciting for prostitution promiscuously, openly and shamelessly in a public place blah blah blah. The discrete agreement and engagement in prostitution between consenting adults isn't one of them. If there is such a law then Siam Legal and that Massage godknowswhat site ought to be able to pool their time, money and man hours together and come up with a quote in either the Code or the Act that says THAT is the behavior that is forbidden without any mention whatsoever about it needing to be done "promiscuously" or that go-go bars, massage shops and bathing clubs can't run ads, hang signs and sell it commercially the way "legalized" weed shops sell weed. But they obviously can't.

3. There is no such thing as a legal "prostitution establishment" in Thailand as there are now "weed purchasing establishments. "..

Wait, Wait

You finally admit that I am right. Prostitution is not legal in Thailand Activities related to prostitution are a crime is that what you are saying? But prostitution itself is legal. If prostitution itself was legal, there would not be all of these requirements that specifically address when it is not legal.

You say prostitution is legal in Thailand. It is not. Produce the legal opinion from a member of the bar that confirms your assertions. You won't, because you can't. Because you are simply a lay person giving your opinion and do not have the legal right to advise anyone on the law in Thailand. That also means I have a right to my opinion and that yours is no more valid than mine.

End the end it is up to each International Trick to make up their mind and act in their own interests.

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

From the article above:

The raid is part of ongoing operations in Bangkok targeting public prostitution. Authorities confirmed that complaints from residents and tourists are the primary triggers for enforcement. In addition, surveillance and social media monitoring were used to locate and confirm suspects before the operation.

Police emphasised that Section 5 of the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act applies to solicitation in public and semi-public areas. The law aims to prevent public nuisance and maintain urban order.

In the history of ISG, no one has produced a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that prostitution is legal in Thailand

Driving a car while smiling is not legal in Thailand either. Unless you have a valid drivers license. If you have a valid license to drive I suppose you could drive while engaging in endless mental masturbation (like this Prostitution is not legal in Thailand discussion) as long as you were not distracted while driving. Walking while smiling is legal. As is running while smiling. Along with engaging in mental masturbation while smiling. None of which have anything to do with if prostitution is legal in Thailand.

In the entire history of ISG, no one has produced a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that prostitution is legal in Thailand.

Don't ask for quotes and links and then attack the source. Make the logical argument. Produce a legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that backs up what you have to say. If you cannot, feel free to explain to us why you cannot or will not do that.

Check Ball!

[EihTooms]

Only 2 women held during late-night prostitution investigation in Pathum Thani.

Read the original article at: https://thethaiger.com/news/central-...n-pathum-thani

Are the following facts correct? You are not a citizen of Thailand. You are not a member of the bar in Thailand. But you cannot produce a single legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that says prostitution is legal in Thailand. In other words, you are smarter than every individual that is a member of the bar that I have produced that says Prostitution is not legal Thailand

I get it!

You are right because you say you are right. But if someone gets arrested under prostitution law that has read your opinion of it, they are not going be able to use your advice as defense. Are you saying no one will ever get arrested for violating The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act? Reference is made to the article at the beginning of this post.

From your linked report:

Residents of the Rangsit neighbourhood in Pathum Thani urged police to investigate prostitution after a group of women was seen gathering on the roadside and waving at passersby. Acting on a tip-off, officers arrested two sex workers yesterday, August 20.

Well, I guess we know what those "relevant" fines will be for and, guess what, the private agreement to engage in prostitution between consenting adults and them engaging in prostitution isn't one of them.

And how about that? I didn't even need to be a Thai citizen or a member of the Thai bar to understand what the words "waving at passersby" means as related to openly and shamelessly soliciting for prostitution in a public place. Pretty good, huh?

You might have only unnecessarily frightened one or two 18 year old Isaan farm girls out of the P4 P option and back to the knee-deep rice paddy with that post. Could have been worse, I suppose. But they might have been really cute and their babies needing the food and shelter money badly. Oh well.

[EihTooms]

https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-...s-in-thailand/

https://thaimassagekhaolak.com/happy...ourism-impact/

In the history of ISG no one has provided a legal opinion from a individual who is a member of the bar in Thailand that says prostitution is legal in Thailand.

Siam Legal is a law firm.

Thai Massage Khao Lak is a godknowswhat.

Neither one is the Thai Penal Code or the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act.

Even Siam Legal can't get past the brick wall everyone inevitably hits when they cannot find and quote a single Plain Language sentence in either document that makes Prostitution between consenting adults a crime punishable by any penalty at all.

From your quote of Siam Legal:

While go-go bars, massage parlors, and bathing clubs are not illegal, the sale of sexual services are illegal. Title IX of the Thai Criminal Code outlines a series of sex related crimes that may place those who commits the offenses in Thai jail.

The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996 defines prostitution as any act in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person in a promiscuous manner in return for money or other benefit. Any person who for the purpose of prostitution, solicits, induces, or introduces themselves in a public place shall be liable for a fine of up to one thousand baht. Any person who associates with another person in a prostitution establishment shall be liable for imprisonment for up to blah blah blah.

1. Don't sell sexual services in your go-go bar, massage parlor or bathing club.

2. We all know very well that series of sex-related crimes cited in Plan Language in the Code, such as soliciting for prostitution promiscuously, openly and shamelessly in a public place blah blah blah. The discrete agreement and engagement in prostitution between consenting adults isn't one of them. If there is such a law then Siam Legal and that Massage godknowswhat site ought to be able to pool their time, money and man hours together and come up with a quote in either the Code or the Act that says THAT is the behavior that is forbidden without any mention whatsoever about it needing to be done "promiscuously" or that go-go bars, massage shops and bathing clubs can't run ads, hang signs and sell it commercially the way "legalized" weed shops sell weed. But they obviously can't.

3. There is no such thing as a legal "prostitution establishment" in Thailand as there are now "weed purchasing establishments. ".

Yeah, yeah, we know all about those addendum and qualifiers that make certain prostitution-related activites a crime already. Where is the citation or section that makes a personal agreement between consenting adults to engage in prostitution and their engaging in prostitution a crime?

Sorry. There is no "gotcha" there for you to frighten 18 year old farm girls from Isaan and their customers into the false belief that merely exchanging sex for money or money for sex as a private matter between consenting adults is a crime. You'll just have to continue doing that by repeatedly announcing here that "Prostitution is not legal in Thailand!" and hope they don't do any research on where it is stated as a crime punishable by any penalty at all. Which they will never find the same as Siam Legal and Massage godknowswhat couldn't find and quote such a thing.

[SubCmdr]

Go into any thai city and you'll find brothels catering exclusively to the thai market. Prostitution has de facto legal status.

Do those brothels exist because prostitution is legal in Thailand or is it that there is selective enforcement of the Law?

In the history of ISG, no one has ever produced a legal opinion from a individual who is a member of the bar in Thailand that says prostitution is legal in Thailand. That is and remains a fact!

[SubCmdr]

Only 2 women held during late-night prostitution investigation in Pathum Thani.

Police later found two women sitting together near the railway station and questioned them. Both reportedly confessed that they regularly came to the area to wait for customers for prostitution.
One of the women said she had moved to Pathum Thani from another province and earned a living mainly by collecting and selling recyclable items. She said she came to the area at night to solicit sex, charging 400 baht or 300 baht per customer. She said there were also days when she found no customers. She attributed her circumstances to financial hardship, saying she had separated from her husband and had children to support.

Police accompanied the two women to a police station for a record and said they would proceed with relevant fines.

Read the original article at: https://thethaiger.com/news/central-...n-pathum-thani

There are no laws on the books that make prostitution a crime in Thailand. Whatever word games a lawyer or anyone else wants to play with the terms "legal", "illegal", "not legal" or "not legalized", there is not one word, phrase or sentence in the Thai Penal Code, the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act or any other legally-enforceable legislation or document that cites prostitution between consenting adults to be forbidden, a crime, a behavior subject to arrest or any punishment whatsoever. Nor that the clearly stated in Plain Language crime of, say, openly and shamelessly soliciting for prostitution in a public place that causes a public nuisance miraculously turns the exchange of money for sex, prostitution, between consenting adults into an additional crime.

Just as driving over the speed limit is a crime but that does not miraculously turn driving a car into an additional crime.

If you or anyone else has discovered a heretofore totally undiscovered missing "gotcha" for where and how that happens in the Code or the Act, please post a link and a quote of the entire sentence and / or paragraph that you think does it so we can all know what you think you know.

Are the following facts correct? You are not a citizen of Thailand. You are not a member of the bar in Thailand. But you cannot produce a single legal opinion from a member of the bar in Thailand that says prostitution is legal in Thailand. In other words, you are smarter than every individual that is a member of the bar that I have produced that says Prostitution is not legal Thailand

I get it!

You are right because you say you are right. But if someone gets arrested under prostitution law that has read your opinion of it, they are not going be able to use your advice as defense. Are you saying no one will ever get arrested for violating The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act? Reference is made to the article at the beginning of this post.

[Mr Enternational]

The property crackdown happening around Thailand is a wake-up call, these investors were no doubt advised by thai lawyers this was legal and the way things are done.

Legal? Sure, if it was done how the government prescribes. The way things are done to get around the law, more likely. The problem is they lied on the applications saying Thais who are not involved, would be involved, which would totally be illegal.

[EihTooms]

The property crackdown happening around Thailand is a wake-up call, these investors were no doubt advised by thai lawyers this was legal and the way things are done. Conversely, prostitution is ingrained in the culture. Go into any thai city and you'll find brothels catering exclusively to the thai market. Prostitution has de facto legal status.

Also, as far as the Thai mindset on the issue of prostitution goes, one does not need to have dated several Thai ladies in the USA, married one that I dated for over a decade, was married to her for over a decade, lived with and knew her English-fluent immediate family very well, including successful Bangkok business owners and uniformed law enforcement officers, resided and mongered in Thailand for well over a decade as I have.

No, one ought to be able to figure this out after only a week or two of hanging around Thai people. And the conclusion about it becomes crystal clear by asking oneself the most obvious question regarding the issue and answering that question the only way imaginable.

Question:

Would anyone in authority in Thailand, elected or unelected, from the highest level to an entry-level clerk in the Thai government ever propose and get passed a law making it a crime subject to arrest and punishment for an 18 year old uneducated Thai farm girl from Isaan to give her consent to and earn in an hour of sexual activity, without 1 baht of initial investment or inventory expense, more money to feed, clothe and shelter herself, her babies and her family than she could earn in two weeks standing knee deep in a rice paddy under the blazing sun while also threatening her potential consenting adult benefactors with that same fate?

Answer:

No.

If you can't answer that question with precisely that same answer then you are not paying much attention to the Thai people and whatever Thai culture and mindset is all around you.

Once you know that is the only answer imaginable to that question, then when you read the Thai Penal Code and the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act it becomes abundantly clear that every word, phrase, sentence and paragraph in them pertaining to prostitution is designed to forbid behavior that might cause a loss of Face not just for the Thai people in a given public place but also and more importantly the loss of Face to the Thai girl herself who might find herself having to stand around on Beach Road in Pattaya or Soi 4 in Bangkok to meet her best prospects and even more importantly to walk wide circles around and avoid any and all Plain Language words that might mislead the girl or her potential customers into thinking they are committing a crime for the simple act of consenting adults exchanging sex for money or money for sex.

Those addendum and qualifiers sprinkled all over and around every citation and section in those documents that do indeed forbid activities that might cause a Thai person to lose Face in public or from pressuring or tricking the girl into the behavior are also there to make sure neither the girl nor her customer will read it as meaning she is forbidden to earn her money that way even to the point of forbidding any deadbeat third party who didn't perform the deed from raking off any of her earnings from it.

[SubCmdr]

While go-go bars, massage parlors, and bathing clubs are not illegal, the sale of sexual services are illegal. Title IX of the Thai Criminal Code outlines a series of sex related crimes that may place those who commits the offenses in Thai jail.

The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996 defines prostitution as any act in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person in a promiscuous manner in return for money or other benefit. Any person who for the purpose of prostitution, solicits, induces, or introduces themselves in a public place shall be liable for a fine of up to one thousand baht. Any person who associates with another person in a prostitution establishment shall be liable for imprisonment for up to one month or a fine of up to one thousand baht.

Any person who advertises or solicits through documents or printed material for prostitution shall be liable for imprisonment of six months to two years and a fine of ten thousand to forty thousand baht. If someone gratifies their sexual desire with a person over the age of 15 but not over 18 years of age shall be liable for imprisonment of one to three years and a fine of twenty to sixty thousand baht. A person who is the owner, supervisor, or manager of a prostitution business is liable for imprisonment from a range of three to twenty years and a fine of eighty thousand to four hundred thousand baht.

https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-...s-in-thailand/

Prostitution is technically illegal in Thailand under the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act of 1996. Engaging in or profiting from prostitution, including providing sexual services in massage establishments, can result in legal penalties for both the service provider and the customer. Despite this, enforcement of the law varies by location and circumstances, and in some tourist-heavy areas, illicit activities occur with varying degrees of discretion.

https://thaimassagekhaolak.com/happy...ourism-impact/

In the history of ISG no one has provided a legal opinion from a individual who is a member of the bar in Thailand that says prostitution is legal in Thailand.

[Philip Marlow]

Prostitution has de facto legal status.

In Thailand, the act of paying for sex between consenting adults, i.e, prostitution, has a de jure legal status.

Massage parlors, etc, usually have a de facto legal status, depending on what does on in and around them.