Transcript of the above video: 

Boy I wish I wasn't making this video. Man! Let's just get into it. Quoting directly from a recent article in the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Don't give to beggars Varawut says. Quoting directly: "Arrested foreign beggars are being deported back to their countries while Thai beggars are sent to the Ministry's home for the destitute where they receive career training and are encouraged to find work, said Mr Varawut." Who is that? The Social Development and Human Security Minister Varawut Silpa-acha.

So we discussed this previously. It is possible for Thais to get some kind of permit to act as beggars in various precincts; under the last Government they created that program. I made a video on it at the time. But this whole thing of foreign so-called Beg-Packers and foreigners coming over here to like beg, and this happens. They beg on the street or they try to act as I don't know buskers or like street touts to get some money off the street, yeah that's a big no, no. The Thais really dislike it, myself included. It's, yeah I don't know why, especially westerners, that's always been the one that just really sort of galled me no end. You would see Westerners who would travel all the way here to Thailand and then act as beggars, and the thing that really bugged me about that is there were legitimate Thai beggars that really needed the money and these westerners would come in and sort of get in between them and their money. Not only that but why would you come half way around the world from your own country - which presumably has enough wealth to sustain you - to come to a foreign country, which I'm not saying Thailand doesn't have the ability to sustain foreign beggars here, it probably can. Does it want to? Does it want to expend its resources and have its own resources sort of depleted by foreigners coming into Thailand in order to beg? I doubt it. 

So the thing to take away from this video, if you are a foreign national looking to come to Thailand, if you're a tourist great, we welcome you with open arms. If you're a would be expat who is looking to come to Thailand to do business and live here full time, great, we welcome you with open arms. Go through the process, deal with your visas and Work Permits the way you need to. If you're looking to come to Thailand just to beg on the street, maybe look somewhere else.