Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the illegality of working without a Permit here in Thailand. As I have gone on and on about in many other videos on this channel over the years, it is illegal to work in Thailand without a Work Permit.

There is a lot of ambiguity out there on the internet right now as the Destination Thailand Visa is coming online. I've made other videos contemporaneously with this one where I discuss some of those ambiguities and try to clarify those things. But long story short, those who are looking to earn their living in Thailand most assuredly cannot work in Thailand without a Permit. No matter what certain Immigration Authorities may say, at the end of the day, if you are working in Thailand you most assuredly need to have a Work Permit. And as evidence of this fact I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com article is titled: New arrest in passports-for-sale case. Quoting directly: "Ms Xu was sent to Bangkok North Municipal Court on Wednesday. She was accused of working without a Permit and is expected to be ordered to serve 4 months in detention, pay a 5,000-Baht fine, and be added to the Immigration Blacklist." So that is pretty serious for working without a Permit here in Thailand. And as I have discussed in other videos, whereas on one level they may be relaxing certain of the rules especially regarding remote working, which was always something that it was really difficult for me to tell people, "oh yeah well, you can't take a call in Thailand, that's technically working." Yeah I get it. They are trying to relax that back utilizing both the LTR and the Destination Thailand Visa. But the thing to bear in mind is if you want to work in Thailand, and let's be clear, people know what working in Thailand is. Let's not get into semantics, "well if I take a call from overseas and then jump up out of my chair, is that working?" Don't play games. You know the difference. There's working in Thailand, there's not working in Thailand; don't try to get pedantic about it. 

But long story short, you do have to have a Work Permit if you are going to be working in Thailand. And as you can see from that excerpt, failure to do so cannot only result in serious problems with regard to Immigration, Notably blacklisting, but it can also result in actual jailing here in the Kingdom of Thailand.