Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Work Permit applications and processing going forward into 2022. I oftentimes make these videos where I do a roundup associated with a given topic and what I foresee being the issue going into the forthcoming year or some things that just pop into my head as far as things to look out for in the forthcoming year. 

Now something to keep in mind with respect to Work Permits and we have done a number of videos on Work Permits is in the past, especially here in Bangkok, all Work Permits at one time up until about 2 years ago were all processed at a central location, at the Labour Ministry. In the past couple of years though they have devolved the adjudication and the processing of Work Permit applications to local employment offices which have jurisdiction over various districts or in some cases maybe just one district but over various districts, they have sort of created these Labour Department districts here in Thailand. They have created their own sort of internal district system. 

I don't see that going anywhere in 2022. That looks like that is pretty well in place. I remember folks talking about going on the past year they may sort of reconsolidate all that and bring that back under the central processing authority. It doesn't look like that is going to change anything. As far as Work Permit applications, something to think about is I think due to some backlogs we may see WP3 work pre-authorization taking a little bit longer in 2022, not a lot, but we have just noticed that there has been a little bit more case load associated with people getting work pre-authorization in order to Thailand in Business Visa status with a Work Permit. So I could see things maybe moving a little bit slower abroad for people who are trying to come to Thailand with work pre-authorization already sort of set up. As far as in Thailand though, overall processing has been relatively efficient and fast with respect to Work Permit applications. I don't see any reason to think that is not going to be the case going into 2022.