Who we are and why this page exists
Thai Visa Services is an independent, reader-funded editorial site about Thailand's visa and immigration system. We are not a visa agency. We do not sell visas, file visa applications on behalf of clients, or receive referral commissions, kickbacks, or affiliate fees from any visa agency, law firm, GSSA, or third-party visa-processing service. Our business model is reader trust.
Because we publish review and analysis content on named Thai visa agencies and named commercial sites, we operate under Thai law on defamation and online publication. This page sets out the standards we follow and the rights any named party has to respond. We publish it so the standards are public, specific, and enforceable against ourselves.
The legal framework we operate under
Thai law on defamation and online speech is materially stricter than equivalent law in many other jurisdictions. Our editorial process is calibrated to that reality, not to the looser standards common in US-style consumer journalism. Specifically:
- Sections 326–328 of the Thai Criminal Code create criminal — not just civil — liability for statements that impute facts damaging to another's reputation, with enhanced penalties under Section 328 for statements made through publication.
- Section 329 provides the good-faith defences we rely on: (1) self-defence or protection of a legitimate interest; (2) statements made in the course of official duty; (3) fair comment on a matter subject to public criticism; and (4) fair reporting of open court or public-authority proceedings.
- Section 330 provides the truth defence, which under Thai law requires the publisher to prove both that the statement is true and that the publication serves the public benefit — truth alone, on a purely private matter, is not a defence.
- The Computer Crime Act B.E. 2560 (2017), Section 14 applies to online publication of false information endangering public order. The 2017 amendment removed ordinary defamation from this section, but the section continues to apply to demonstrably false data published online.
For background on this framework, see the Thai Criminal Code defamation provisions and Article 19's research on Thai defamation reform.
Our sourcing rules
We publish review content on visa agencies only where it serves the public interest of Thailand-bound travellers and only where the underlying facts are anchored to the public record. In practical terms:
- Allegations are always attributed to their public-record source. We do not republish forum allegations as if they were our findings. When a TripAdvisor thread, Hucksters thread, or Reddit post is the source of an allegation, we identify that platform, link the thread, and frame the allegation as the platform's content — not ours.
- Criminal allegations are sourced to mainstream Thai press or government announcement. We will not state that an individual has been arrested or charged with any offence unless the arrest or charge has been reported in established Thai press (Bangkok Post, Nation Thailand, Thai Examiner, Khaosod English, Thai PBS, Coconuts Bangkok, or comparable) or announced by an identifiable Thai government authority.
- Government advisories are linked, never paraphrased into our voice. When the Thai Immigration Bureau, Tourist Police, Cyber Crime Suppression Centre, or other authority issues a warning, we cite the underlying news coverage and link to the official source.
- We do not invent sources. Every numeric claim and every named source on this site is tracked in our internal audit log; the count and links are public on every review page.
- Outcomes we cannot verify are stated as such. Where an arrest or allegation is on the record but the final court disposition is not publicly verifiable, we say so explicitly. We do not speculate.
- The subject's own response is included where it exists. When an agency has published a response to allegations against it — even a partisan one — we link that response and summarise it in the agency's own framing.
Our public-interest posture
Visa agencies marketing services to foreign nationals are commercial actors selling a service that touches the applicant's legal status, finances, and ability to enter or remain in Thailand. The agency-services market is one in which the buyer is typically a one-time customer, has limited language access to Thai regulatory information, and cannot easily evaluate the operator before paying. These are textbook conditions for consumer protection journalism.
Our review and analysis content on named visa agencies is published as fair comment on a matter subject to public criticism under Section 329(3), and in good faith for the protection of the legitimate interests of the Thailand-bound traveller community under Section 329(1). We do not publish negative commentary on agencies as opinion-only material; we publish it as sourced reporting on entities engaged in the commercial provision of services to the public.
Right of reply
If you are an agency, law firm, individual, or entity named in any of our published content and believe a specific factual statement is inaccurate, we will review the statement promptly and either correct it, append your response, or explain why we believe the existing statement is supported by the cited source.
To request a correction or submit a right-of-reply statement:
- Email: [email protected] with the URL of the page, the specific statement at issue, and any supporting documentation (court records, news articles, regulatory filings).
- Response time: We will acknowledge a right-of-reply request within five business days and respond substantively within fifteen business days, including any correction or appended response.
- Published responses: Where we append a party's response to a page, we do so verbatim and in a clearly identified block. We do not edit the response for tone.
- Standing: The right of reply is open to the named party itself or to its authorised legal representative.
If you believe a statement on this site is defamatory under Thai law, the right-of-reply process is available to you and is also faster than litigation. We treat correction requests seriously and act on them.
What we do not do
- We do not publish material designed to coerce commercial concessions from any agency. No agency has paid us to remove or alter content, and we will not entertain offers to do so.
- We do not take referral commissions, affiliate fees, or direct payments from visa agencies. If we ever do, we will disclose it on the relevant page.
- We do not publish on private individuals except where they have voluntarily entered the public agency market as named founders, directors, or public-facing representatives of a commercial entity, and where the statements concern their commercial activity.
- We do not publish allegations whose final disposition is private — including private personal disputes, relationship matters, or matters that have no public-benefit dimension under Section 330.
Corrections log
Substantive corrections to published material are logged on the page where they occur. Where a correction materially changes the meaning of a published statement, we note the date of the correction at the foot of the page.
Independence statement
Thai Visa Services is editorially independent. We do not represent the Royal Thai Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Thai Immigration Bureau, or any visa agency. We are not affiliated with any government-partnered visa GSSA, Thailand Elite reseller, or law firm. Our independence is the foundation of the editorial standards on this page.
For our broader agency-review coverage, see the index. For policy reporting, see the Thailand visa news tracker. For the full list of visa types, start there.