Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing advice for would-be expats especially younger; this is for younger folks. I am not talking about folks that are up over the 50-year threshold for Retirement Visas. You guys are in a bit of a different category with respect to the analysis on your overall situation. I am talking to younger guys and primarily men, although there are women that expatriate to Thailand.

For those folks, I think a lot of people come in to Thailand looking to well I think they come in to Thailand with a lot of preconceived notions. That is a bad idea. I have done a lot of videos on preconceived notions with respect to Thai Law. It is a different kettle of fish. I was watching a film the other night, “Brokedown Palace”. Well parts of it I really didn't like and I didn't feel like it put the country in the proper light. There were a few nuggets in there that were interesting and most notably they were dealing with the Thai Legal System. I have thought about doing a video, maybe a movie review on that film because there are big swaths of it that are really off I think. They captured a really distorted view of Thailand in my opinion but then there were some other things, there was some insight and it is because of the interaction between a foreign paradigm and the Thai paradigm. For example, they made a lot of presumptions about the way the Thai Legal system works. Believe me in many ways it works very differently to the Western system and I have made videos on that. 

But again to get back to the main point of this, advice for younger expats, a lot of guys come in, folks come in and they seem to come in with a lot of preconceived notions; things they have read on the internet and they think it just works. That is the way America is or wherever they come from. You just go down and fill out a piece of paper and you get your XYZ. Well oftentimes that is not particularly the case. The other thing is, I have heard it said "sometimes you have got to go a long way around to come a short distance, the way back". There is a lot of that that can go on and if you are thinking ahead when you come here, it is a very good idea to put yourself in a position where you will be on a good long-term track rather than just a short-term expedience. What am I talking about? Well and I am not using this as an example to cast aspersions at Thailand Elite for example, but Thailand Elite does not confer Permanent Residence; people think that it does. It also does not confer Work Authorization and people think that it does.

There is a path if you will to Permanent Residence in Thailand; there is even in a way a path to Citizenship in Thailand wherein if you get in the right status, for example you get work authorized; you have the right non-immigrant status; you may be self-employed; you may be working for someone or some company, but if you keep an eye on your Visa status long term, you can put yourself in a position - true Permanent Residence in Thailand in my opinion is qualitatively better than for example Elite Visa status insofar as you are a PR. You are done dealing with your Visa. You have a long-term Visa; you are a resident in Thailand, you are finished with that. You are covered under a different section of the Immigration Act you are not dealing with things like 90-day reporting and TM30. Now yes there is kind of a long distance to go around in a sense to get that insofar as getting into Business Visa status; perhaps having your own Company, Work Permit etc. and then doing your time before you can apply for PR, but long term it is a far more secure option especially for younger guys in Thailand where again you are getting up around the Retirement Visa age that may be the long-term solution but if you are younger, in your 20s or your 30s, you have got time before you are going to get to 50 you might as well get into PR status in my opinion in many cases. Every case is different obviously. Again one of the big reasons for that is and retirees will tell you, renewing and Retirement Visa can be a little bit of a stressful endeavour. Whereas if you are just a PR in Thailand or for that matter a citizen if you get to that point, yeah you are done worrying about those issues on a regular basis.