Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Destination Thailand Visa. I got an email recently from a viewer and they said it's okay for me to share, but I'm going to keep some of the details obfuscated, for their own privacy. That said, I thought of making this video after reading this email, quote: "I am a (redacted) national, so a foreign national from, let's call it from the Anglosphere, and have held a Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) for approximately 18 months. I use Chiang Mai as my primary base and travel internationally on a regular basis re-entering Thailand multiple times per year. On my most recent entry into Thailand, I was subject to a secondary inspection at Immigration, during which I was questioned aggressively about my working situation and Visa status. I was eventually allowed entry, but the experience raised a number of questions." 

Yeah, look I have discussed this at length in other videos; I've gotten other emails similar to this, and I've actually talked to folks here in the office in the recent weeks about this. Look, as we're getting to the 18-month mark of the DTV, we are starting to see where these nebulous aspects of the DTV are going to play out; the rubber is hitting the road so to speak. I said this at the beginning. This Visa rolled out; it made no real sense; it was nebulous. It's supposed to last for 5 years, but then you can extend it, but you only get one extension. At the same time, you're not supposed to be living here; it's for Nomads. When you understand the background of it, they were trying to create a Pan-ASEAN Visa first and then the other sort of National Immigration Offices around the region just basically kind of said we are not interested in that. So then that particular - what I would call that faction of the old Rump Coalition Government - basically created this DTV wholly within the bailiwick of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, didn't really take any input from Ministry of Interior here in Thailand, just sort of foisted this on folks, and told people - to my mind there was a detrimental reliance from the public on this too - because they saw the terms and thought "Oh it's a 5-year visa", which it turns out it's not. As we are seeing from these multiple folks and this differing anecdotal evidence of different people trying to return to Thailand, now that we are at the 18-month mark and receiving heightened scrutiny. Basically it's a lot of stuff having to do with Work Authorization but it's also Immigration sitting there going, look one, this isn't a Visa that Immigration internally created, so there's already going to be, I hesitate to say animosity, but let's say ambivalence regarding the visa to begin with. On top of that, it's not - again this is the nebulous nature of this thing - it was not meant for you to live here on per se, but you can come and go on it, but what exactly that means isn't really specified. Meanwhile, things like banking; people can't bank here because they are not supposed to be living here. That's the weird thing about this Visa. It is like everything to everyone and nothing to nobody. It has no very well-defined parameters - either negatively or affirmatively - and I think more and more, we are going to start seeing more and more people getting held up in Immigration over DTV status especially as time goes on. 

Again, I find it very interesting we are now at the 18-month mark and it's people that are effectively, now in this person's instance they leave a lot, but effectively they are living in Thailand, and again Immigration is seeing this. Immigration has a mandate to deal with folks that are living in Thailand, and they have their own mechanisms, again Non-immigrant visas etc., for those who do live here. Ministry of Foreign Affairs just kind of imposed these people on internal Immigration and they are having to deal with it because their mandate is if you are not living here, if you are a tourist, you're a tourist. If you are a Non-immigrant, you are a Non-immigrant; you are somebody that's living here. If you are an Immigrant, you're an Immigrant. But what is a nomad? How is that defined? Again, I just don't think anybody was done any favours on any side of this Visa at the end of the day, because I think we are just going to see more and more hassles associated with it especially the longer the amount of time these folks are trying to continue to use it to maintain lawful status in Thailand. 

Again, it remains to be seen, but I don't think this is the last time we are going to be hearing about people with a DTV being held up at an Immigration checkpoint here in the Kingdom of Thailand.