Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing long-stay visas. A lot of talk about this and, let me just jump in. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that's bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Phuket up in arms on long-stay visa. Quoting directly: "Phuket tourism operators oppose the Government's policy allowing foreigners who buy real estate worth 3 million Baht to qualify for a long-stay visa, arguing the investment threshold is too low and could attract "non-quality visitors" who may engage in illegal activities, as well as risking an increase in property prices making housing less affordable for local residents." 

Okay, a couple of things here. So back in October, we started hearing about this Long-Stay Visa possibility for folks who buy condos or rental of certain type of real estate here in Thailand; I have commented on it in prior videos. Yeah, it's theoretically possible, yes at this time. But as I have discussed in other videos especially in one where I was citing frustration with nomads in places like Mexico, this may be the harbinger that, look again, “Phuket Tourism operators”, so these are local people in the local economy who are Thai, are voicing concerns about this. Those concerns were such that it made - at least for me - the front page of the digital version of the Bangkok Post that I was reading that got me here. So this is definitely something that has invoked the Thai and now the English language Zeitgeist if you will here in Thailand. 

So what I'm trying to say with this video, and I'm not trying to poo poo or anything, any of the nomads or anybody that is trying to live here; that's not my point, never has been. I have made videos in the past where I got burned by the retiree community for pointing out things like this in the past. These types of paradigm shifts, if the locals are getting upset about the notion of these visas being issued and being issued to those who they deem are not folks who should have them issued, that's a constituency. That is a constituency that's probably going to be pretty heavily or carefully listened to by those who are going into this upcoming Parliament. 

So the point I'm trying to make is look, nomads out there, if you are looking to get into long-term status, get into it early and often, because things can change. Policies can change. And yes, there is a tendency that once you're in the system, that things tend to work better if you are trying to renew. However, that being said, remember I've seen the era when there was an O Visa associated with condo ownership in the past; it went away. It's just something that has been fluid in the past - actually fluid is the wrong word - it's something that proved fleeting in the past. The point I'm trying to make is under current circumstances where we're not in a new Parliament, this policy that was passed at the tail end of the rump, what I called the Rump Coalition of the last government and then this came about, and then we saw the new government have to come in temporarily sort of take control, right the ship if you will, get this election off the ground and then move on. This may be something that may be dealt with in this upcoming Parliament. It may or may not be to the benefit of those who may be detrimentally relying on it in the moment.

The point I'm trying to make is especially when it comes to issues of purchase of property anywhere, you really need to not make those decisions based on Immigration considerations. They should be independently made rather than making them purely based on immigration policy because as I have trying to explain in this video it can be fickle here, things can change, and it might not be the best of ideas to have relied on that in the past, and we have seen visas that were based on condo ownership go away. That's happened before. I have chronicled it on this channel. It was some time ago, it's like 7 or 8 years ago, but I have chronicled it. So something to keep in mind for the expat/nomad community here in the Kingdom of Thailand.