Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Destination Thailand. This has been a hot topic in the expat circles. People have been talking about it like it's a revolution in visas and things; it's really a lot of hyperbole. I said from the outset this will have an impact, it will be useful for some and it will not be as useful as it is currently being touted as I've discussed in many other videos. But yeah, it could have some use for some folks; I think it's going to be far more narrowly useful than is currently being envisaged. That being said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Visa policies threaten soft power hippos, gay marriage and gambling. I like the soft power hippos, that was kind of a good title. That said, quoting directly: "The DTV is notably weak on details, especially whether documentation will need to be updated over the notional five years tenure. Since the Immigration Bureau which will actually implement the system has been silent, it's all guesswork."

Yeah to some degree, all of this talk about the Destination Thailand Visa is a bunch of speculative nonsense in many ways. Quite frankly, I'm really upset about the people who are out there just talking about this and have gotten a lot of attention on to this in such a way that they are not explaining all of the possible nuances and how it is not possibly the end-all be all of all visas for Thailand. As we have discussed many, many times, and noted in this article, and I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article, it goes a couple of different directions than we are talking about here; very interesting stuff. But as noted there, Immigration is silent on this and it's my understanding - I'm not saying I have any backing, I can't cite any sources for this, this is just my intuition after 17 years of being here and doing what I do - it looks to me like these things aren't going to be extendable in the country. So you're going to have to do Border Runs, it looks like. Again it's all sort of guesswork to one degree or another but Immigration hasn't implemented any new policies with regard to extending these things. 

So okay, Ministry of Foreign Affairs created it but okay they don't have any authority over Immigration under Interior Ministry's bailiwick to deal with extensions in country. So it doesn't look to me like it should be at least treated as a foregone conclusion that these will be extendable in country. There has been nothing that I have seen to show that that is necessarily the case. Now as noted in that article and as we have noted it in other videos, these things have sort of a five year duration if you will; they have a face value. Old visas used to have stickers or stamps - now they've gone to the E-visa system, we don't really see that anymore - but the sticker used to have or the stamp, especially what were called multi-entry visas, the sticker or the stamp used to have an underlying validity. So on a multi-entry B Visa for example, it would be good for a year but you'd only get 90 days of status each time you stamped in, but the underlying validity was good for a year. But you would still have to do Border Runs and that meant that Immigration would still adjudicate whether or not they would let you back in on those Border Runs. This Destination Thailand Visa looks even more complex as you have this whole digital system that is sort of underlying it or sitting off to the side of it that's going to be utilized to interact with getting this thing. Then Immigration is completely silent as to how those on the border, the Border Security Officers or at an Immigration checkpoint for example in the airport, how they are going to deal with that, they have said nothing, okay? 

So how exactly this is going to work out remains to be seen. I think for now it's prudent to presume these are not extendable in-country. Again, I don't have any data points that say that conclusively, but based on my own inference, based on what I'm seeing right now, I think it's prudent to presume these will not be extendable in-country so  you're going to have to do a Border Run. As we have discussed before, there a new Border Run rules coming into place that are requiring things like you can't just do it all in one day for example, in fact you may have to stay a day or two outside the country in order to be re-admitted. How exactly that would play in with an ongoing DTV lawful status here in Thailand remains to be seen, but we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.