Transcripts of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing scrutiny with respect to Residency in the context of what some have deemed "sponsored" Work Permits. First of all, we have done a number of videos on this channel. This notion of “sponsored” work permits, it is kind of a euphemism out there. I view it as an illegitimate euphemism if you will. It is basically a term that is being used for someone who essentially buys their Work Permit as a pre-text or frankly as a pretense on a Company that really isn't employing them but basically goes through the motions, goes through the paperwork to get them a Work Permit. Again this is very different than those who are self-employed. They may have a small company who are maintaining their own status via their Company. These so called “sponsored” Work Permits is where a third party essentially acts as a pretensive sponsor. I made a number of videos on this channel; you can run into some real problems with that because it is not legit in a very real sense because if you are not really working there then that could be inferred to be a species of fraud. 

But we are talking about this in the context of possibly a future Permanent Residence application. One of the most expedient ways of applying for Permanent Residence in Thailand is by maintaining long-term Non-Immigrant status and Work Permit status in order to lodge an application for PR. The thing to understand is that there will be an intense amount of scrutiny placed upon the applicant for Thai Permanent Residence and these "sponsored" work permits, I can see this posing a real problem because if this work is not legitimate, it is going to have a hard time withstanding the scrutiny of the due diligence of the Immigration Department and the Ministry of Interior when they are adjudicating whether or not someone should be granted Permanent Residence status here in Thailand.

So this video is a word of caution. If your long-term plan is to be in Thailand and ultimately seek Permanent Residence, in my opinion, especially if you want to be essentially self-employed, it is better to go ahead and do that through one's own Company rather than going through one of these "sponsored" Work Permits because any level of scrutiny leveled at one of these, I think you could have some real problems including but not limited to be being deemed to be operating fraudulently and then possibly having one’s status canceled and even possibly being deported.  

So again, it is going to be very factually dependent but if you are engaging in this thing, have one of these Work Permits if you will as a sort of pretense to maintain status in Thailand that can pose you a real problem not only in the near term or at any time scrutiny is placed upon that document, but also possibly in the longer term when seeking Permanent Residence.