Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are comparing Long Stay Visa options here in Thailand. Something I do have to say, and I can be highly critical of the Government at times and Lord knows I am, if anybody watches this channel. But one thing I do have to give this current government credit for: one, high season this past year.  Kudos everybody that carried water to make this past high season come off, that's good on everyone involved. It's not just the government or anybody. I think all Thais really kind of got together and just carried that over the finish line if you will. At the same time, I do have to say this Government seems to be trying to encourage a lot of foreign investment; a lot of people to come here and one of the things they're doing to try to encourage that is creating more categories of Long Stay Visas. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand expands the range of 10-year visas once again. Quoting directly: "In recent years, Thailand has diversified its Long Stay Visa regulations to encourage the overseas wealthy to make a base here." Quoting further: "These include the Elite Visa introduced in 2003, which has had a controversial history." Yeah the evolution of the Elite Program has been interesting to say the least. Quoting further: "The O/X 10 year visa for retirees from 2016 (not popular because of its bureaucracy)". Yeah, very good point. That O/X Visa, we talked about it when it came out. To this day I've never seen anybody who actually got one, so it's kind of in disuse. Quoting further: "And the Long Term Residence started last year." Yeah as we've discussed, the LTR Visa was created last year; it's a relatively new visa. For those who are unaware, it really is not a Residence Visa in the sense that it does not confer Lawful Permanent Residence here in Thailand. PR is a different type of category but it is a long stay visa. Quoting further: "The new EEC Visa also illustrates the growing involvement of government agencies such as the Board of Investment, in addition to the Immigration Bureau, in the granting of long-stay visas." Well that's interesting that they bring that up. There was a promulgated law associated with the EEC which makes sense to me. As far as the BOI, I have read the Immigration Act of 1979. I do understand that they do have certain legally codified Visa prerogatives noted therein but I've never been able to figure out where BOI claims they have authorization to grant work authorization which is not necessarily; work authorization in Thailand is a separate matter from your lawful status, your lawful Visa status here in Thailand. 

Setting on a side though it's interesting to watch that yeah, at the end of the day it looks to me like the Thai Government is wanting to encourage folks with foreign expertise, foreign investors to come to Thailand and be able to be granted a long-term Visa that allows someone to have the peace of mind of knowing they have long-term status here in Thailand with work authorization.