Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing whether or not the Destination Thailand Visa is similar to the old Multi-Entry Non-Immigrant Visas? What are we talking about here? Well this is going back a while. Multi-Entry Visas, Non-Immigrant Visas specifically, were effectively phased out when COVID came in, although it kind of started a little earlier; we talked about it at the time when they started phasing out visa applications being processed through Honorary Consulates. 

In the past, Honorary Thai Consulates were quite popular with the expats for processing visas, because quite honestly it was a rather straightforward processing. Very rarely do I use the term "easy" in the context of any kind of Immigration, but the Honorary Consulate days it was pretty easy to get a Multi-Entry visa. How did they work? Well they had a sort of what I call a face value back when they would issue stickers or stamps. You would have a one year validity so we did a lot of one year Multi-Entry Business Visas here in Thailand. The Visa was valid for a year so the sticker had a one-year validity but every time you came into Thailand you only got 90 days of lawful status. It necessitated Border Runs on a quarterly basis. We are now seeing the new introduction of the Destination Thailand Visa and it's similar, it really is. The validity if you will is 5 years or so they say. As I have discussed in other videos, we don't know exactly how all this is going to play out. Go watch those other videos; I don't want to dive back into that, I just want to do this comparative video. But presently, the way the DTV is structured is it's 5 years but then you have to leave it looks like every six months. As I've discussed in another video and it's based on inferences based on the data I have, not on conclusive citations but inferences, it looks to me like these Destination Thailand Visas are not going to be extendable in-country, you're going to have to do Border Runs on them. Okay, so you have the ability to do a Border Run and possibly get six months over the course of five years. But as discussed in many other videos and as I have cited in other videos, we don't know what the requirements are going to be; Immigration has been completely silent on this. 

So what exactly is going to be required if anything or if they even allow Border Running and then continuous lawful status in 6-month increments utilizing the DTV remains to be seen, but we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.