Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are talking about a major shift in my opinion is happening, or at least I would say paradigmatically is happening at Thai Immigration and when I say paradigm shift, the thinking within Thai Immigration. I've discussed this before and I will get into that after I get done with the citation, the analysis and everything, because this is a pretty big deal. Now for reasons that will be immediately apparent once I get into the citation, I have turned the comments on this video off, so you will see why here in a moment. 

That said I am doing deep dive analysis into this and other issues associated with Thai Immigration in our paid news service. If you're interested in that, please email [email protected]. Also while I'm talking my book, if you're interested in American Diner style food and breakfast anytime, come check us out at Pancake Palace, down here in downtown Bangkok. We will put a couple of photos of the food up on screen here, but the links are in the description below to come see us if you want to use ride hailing service or something, pick one of those links and you can get us that way. 

That said, okay, what are we talking about here? Well let's quote directly from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Princess launches fund to bolster border security, and as I'm going to get into in great detail in the paid news service, in a sense I think I'm going to call this upcoming episode that I will be making contemporaneously with this one for the paid new service, I'm going to call it The Two Immigrations because there's a history to Thai Immigration that outsiders might not be fully aware of. There are two very different sort of, if you were to look at it as an object, there is very different facets if you will to Thai Immigration, so something to bear in mind there. That said, quoting directly: "Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Krom Phra Srisavangavadhana has inaugurated the Hathaitip Fund with an emphasis on strengthening the security of frontline forces and communities along Thailand's borders. At the launch ceremony on Wednesday at the Chulabhorn Research Institute, the Princess contributed 1 million baht as initial funding. She underlined the urgent need to improve safety for both military personnel and civilians living near conflict-prone areas, stressing that the immediate priority is to construct fences and bunkers to provide protection." 

So first of all let's understand, when I'm talking about an ALERT here, I'm not saying this is a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. No. Frankly I think this is necessary. I think it's not unlike when I was urgently calling for the southern border of the United States, something to be done about that some one year and back ago. As we have seen recent developments along the Thai Khmer Border, the Thai Cambodian Border, I definitely think this is warranted but remember, it has an Immigration component. So let me get into that further after I get done with this. "The Hathaitip Fund, established under the Chulabhorn Foundation, was created by a Royal initiative to support the government, private and community efforts in preventing and addressing threats caused by unrest, natural disasters and other emergencies. It also aims to promote public security and enhance the quality of life for affected communities." Quoting further: "During the event, the Princess presented the first donation to Khunying Charatsri Teepirach, vice president for administration and director of the Office of the President at the Chulabhorn Research Institute. Additional contributions were later presented by Associate Professor Chusak Limsakul, vice president for administration, on behalf of supporters." Quoting further: "Donations to the fund will be used to support protective infrastructure, including the building of fences and bunkers in vulnerable areas, as well as other initiatives that ensure Public safety. Contributions can be made to the Hathaitip Fund Office, Chulabhorn Research Institute, or through Bangkok Bank, Lak Si Plaza Branch, account number 229-4-29977-7." I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article if you want any further information. further clarification, go check out that article in detail at Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com. 

Now okay, the initiative is what it is. We can kind of see it seems to be focusing on the border directly, ameliorating the suffering of Thais along the border, but getting protective barriers built up there which I think is great; I am very much on board with this. Now this has a component - it's border security - this has an Immigration component. Again as I get into the paid news service, there is sort of the Immigration Administrative side which I will get to in a moment, and then there is kind of the standard enforcement side, and then there is border security. And border security, that component of Immigration is a very different animal. It looks, if you want to say paramilitary, you are leaning more toward the military side of that statement or that word than the ‘para’ side of that because it is very much National Defense, okay. Again, I get into it more in the paid news service. I urge those who are interested in that, email us, [email protected]. 

Now for those that have watched my channel with any kind of frequency, call it the past really over a decade, going back I especially started talking about this during the ascendancy of "Big Joke", Surachate "Big Joke" Hakparn, former head of Thai Immigration. For those in the retirement community, if you were around during that time you likely remember him when he clamped down on Retirement Visas, especially the financing associated with that. I started talking about hey there has been a paradigm shift; at that time there had been a paradigm shift within Thai Immigration. It had gone from being thinking of itself if you will as an administrative sort of function, as an Administrative Office, to a Law Enforcement function, so it was less about paperwork and stamps and more about, "hey are you in status? we're going to be enforcing these laws, we're going to be enforcing blacklisting rules if you overstay in Thailand". It's not something that you can just fob off and shirk off. 

I would say that these developments may, I stress "may" because we can't predict the future, but it looks pretty likely to me that these developments are signaling a paradigm shift within Thai Immigration that is bringing to the forefront the idea of National Security and the understanding that National Security is directly entwined with Immigration including border security. This has a tendency, I've seen this myself in the changes to the Immigration apparatus in the United States both as a layman during the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and as a professional when I became an Attorney and watched Immigration Policy shift over the course of my career, especially in earnest during the first Trump Administration when we saw things shifting to a much more stringent attitude and they have continued today with the second Trump Administration. I think this is similar; I think these developments definitely would denote that we are going to see probably heightened scrutiny across the border in matters pertaining to Immigration. I think Immigration is going to think of itself much more as the first line of defense of Thailand, and as a result, they are going to have a different mindset and mentality when it comes to processing things like Visas, people coming through checkpoints, making sure that people are in the correct visas. There is going to be much more of a less, let's call it lackadaisical attitude within Thai Immigration I expect moving forward. That being said, nothing is a foregone conclusion, and we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.