Transcript of the above video: 

I have talked a fair bit about the Destination Thailand Visa, or the DTV Visa in the past few weeks. I know there are some folks that really have problems with my opinion on the thing. As I have noted in other videos, I think that it was primarily created as a political ploy in a way, in order to make Paetongtarn Shinawatra look good coming into the Premiership when she did. It created a sort of artificial "spike" in tourism, which again folks that don't understand what the DTV is, it's sort of like a long Tourist Visa. As we noted in other videos, you cannot use it for banking; it is not work authorized in Thailand. Anything that impinges upon the Thai economy is considered restricted from doing work in Thailand for Destination Thailand Visa holders. 

I also think it is problematic for a number of other reasons. One, I think it was one of the attempts or it was a component of the attempt by the last Government to bring us into this OECD inspired, totalitarian tax system essentially where people would get stuck at the Immigration man trap, have their days in Thailand counted and then cross-reference that with how many remittances came into their bank account, and then basically they would be able to hit people for that money at the airport. I think that is what was being designed in quarter one here of 2025 and I made videos on it at the time. And it looks to me like Mr. Anutin who was at the time the Interior Minister, took steps through rolling out the Thailand Digital arrival cards and forestalled that which he effectively did. But that was what they were trying nonetheless, and the DTV was a fundamental component of that, and I discussed that at length in other videos. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Just another week in Paradise: Taxes and cats. It is kind of an interesting entry from Pattaya Mail this time. That said, quoting directly: "The five-year Destination Thailand Visa was launched with pomp and ceremony in July 2024 with the personal endorsement of the then Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra. Nobody at the time said you couldn't open or maintain a Thai Bank Account with this particular Visa. But that has happened presumably on the grounds that this is a "Tourist" permit. Meanwhile, Thai Embassies abroad are getting much stricter about approving applications." - So they're not being approved with nearly the frequency - quoting further: "The DTV needs a review under the new government. Either reform it or cancel it." 

I tend to agree with that. I'm not against the DTV; I'm not against the DTV holders per se. But it was set up in a slipshod manner. Again it was set up as almost a political stunt. It was set up by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was purely their brainchild. There was no consensus from Ministry of Interior, the Labour Department, really anybody here in Thailand particularly. They just came up with it and then these foreigners started coming in on it with all these presumptions and quite honestly unrealistic expectations associated with their status here. Meanwhile we don't exactly know how it's going to work long term because it was supposedly again rolled out under the premise that you're not supposed to live here on it. That's the other thing. It's not a 5-year Visa. It is a Visa that can be utilized throughout the course of 5 years where when you come in, you just get 6 months, so you don't have to worry. Again it was done under the paradigm of bringing in this like pan-ASEAN Visa, so it allowed people to come in and travel around the region more. That didn't come off because local Immigration Officers throughout the rest of ASEAN, basically Heads of the national Immigration Systems in all these countries, were like 'no we don't want any part of that', so they came up with this is kind of a way, this DTV would then sort of act like a lily pad if you will for people to bounce around throughout ASEAN. Again it came about in a very again kind of slipshod kind of thrown together manner, and again without any consensus really from domestic immigration authorities. And as a result, it's been kind of at best, a mixed bag in terms of rolling it out and people using it. Now we are seeing a lot of blowback from YouTube of people who used it thinking that they had a Visa that would allow him to do XY and Z, it didn’t, and they are having problems with it and they are airing their grievances on YouTube. 

That being said, and the thing to take away from this video is it's still available. In most circumstances it may not be the best option. I would tend to agree with the author of the article; let's either reform the thing or get rid of it, but let's come up with a system that makes some logical sense. That being said, it remains to be seen how this plays out, so we'll certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.