He now has a 60-day tourist visa, despite having been in the country for six years.

After a new government guideline went into effect on March 21, foreign journalists face new hurdles when applying to renew their media visas. The guideline aims to reject media-visa applications for freelance journalists and force them to apply for business or other visas.

“They don’t consider me as a journalist anymore, because I’m freelance,” the photojournalist, who did not want his name to be revealed, told The Nation.

Starting a business was a reasonable solution for him as he could get a business visa and work permit to remain in Thailand, he said.

However, he was worried whether he would be eligible for a business visa. If he cannot get it, he will move to Cambodia where it is easier to qualify for visas.

Singapore and Malaysia, despite their relatively well-developed infrastructure, were not favourable choices for journalists, he said. Costs in both countries were higher and there are issues in regard to freedom of expression.

Apart from living expenses, press freedom is a major concern among foreign journalists. Media organisations have decried tough regulations and pressure on foreign media in those countries.

In Malaysia, the threat of legal action has become a common danger for foreign journalists.

Last month, two Australian journalists – Linton Besser and Louie Eroglu – were arrested under Section 186 of Malaysia’s penal code for allegedly breaching a cordon when trying to question Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak over a huge corruption scandal.

The Malaysian government’s action came under fire from human rights groups, who said it underscored a government plan to crack down on foreign journalists.

Singapore has the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act of 1974 to regulate foreign journalists who enter the country.

According to the law, foreign journalists who are eligible to cover news in the city-state must work for state-approved news agencies, otherwise they could be charged with an offence.

Meanwhile, foreign journalists in Myanmar have witnessed a roller coaster of media regulation.

Although the country carried out media reforms in 2011 and revoked pre-publication censorship the following year, the Thein Sein government in 2014 imposed new restrictions reducing visa holders’ length of stay from three months to one.

Visiting journalists have also been intimidated by arbitrary arrests.

For instance, Australian journalist Angus Watson was arrested in May 2014 for allegedly violating a business visa. The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) journalist was accused of involvement in a rally but it was later proved that he was covering the demonstration, according to reports.

Since then, Myanmar has again created a climate of fear among foreign journalists.

In Indonesia, two British journalists – Becky Prosser and Neil Bonner, working for a London-based production company – were sentenced to two and a half months in jail last year following allegations of violating immigration law.

At the time, they were filming a documentary funded by National Geographic TV about piracy in the Malacca Strait.

The island country also has a “clearing house” state agency that functions as a gateway screening visiting journalists, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report in 2015.

“The government rarely approves foreign media applications or delays processing them,” HRW said in a letter to Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Other hostile environments for foreign media are in Laos and Vietnam.

In Vietnam, foreign journalists’ independence has been hindered by red tape and bureaucracy. Under a 2012 decree imposed on foreign media, |visiting journalists can cover only certain topics specified in permits approved by the government.

In Laos, visiting journalists are required to apply for a unique type of visa and must be accompanied by government officials throughout their stay. They must also pay for the expense of an official escort.

Amid this hostility towards foreign media in the region, journalists have flocked to the “relatively safe” country of Thailand.

“Thailand is ideal. A pool of foreign journalists [is] here. We [foreign journalists] are allowed to do a great deal,” said Jonathan Head, former president of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.

But the current government has brought in new guidelines to reduce the number of foreign journalists, notably freelance operators, based in Thailand.

“The trend has been really negative,” Head said. “Before the coup, it was freer. This is a restrictive environment for media.”

Edgardo Legaspi, head of the Southeast Asia Press Alliance, said: “[Compared to other countries] it’s not that bad – but it’s getting worse. That’s the problem. Thailand will lose [its |status] as a hub for foreign |journalists,”