Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thailand's new Destination Thailand Visa and whether or not it can shed some insight onto the so-called LTR, Long-term Resident Visa. Again I don't mean to sound like a broken record but they call this thing a Long-term Resident Visa; it does not imply Lawful Permanent Residence here in the Kingdom of Thailand. As we have discussed in other videos, there is a thing called PR, Permanent Residence. That has its own requirements. They are substantial but once you have them, you have Permanent Residence, you are handled under a different section of the Immigration Act of 1979; you're dealt with under the Permanent Residence section and different rules apply to you. The LTR is not a Resident Visa, it basically a Long-term Non-immigrant Visa but you are dealing with the same parameters of the Immigration Act and that has gotten a little bit murky as there is a lot of, in my opinion exaggeration as to the benefits of the LTR Visa, so let's dig into that.

Quoting directly, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Thailand's new visas: call for questions. Quoting directly: "A new Destination Thailand 5-year Visa will allow stays for up to 180 days, extendable for another 180 days." Now one thing here and again we are only just now dealing with this new Destination Thailand Visa but it's my understanding that you are only allowed 180 days out of each given calendar year. That is our understanding based on what we are reading thus far. That said, we could be wrong about that; we will certainly make videos for clarifying that but for now that's my understanding. Quoting further: "The requirements are 500,000 Baht in a bank account and proof of activity (such as Muay Thai course or remote work portfolio); the visa fee is 10,000 Baht; and working (except for overseas companies) is prohibited (effective immediately)."  

Now this is the point I want to get into is the so-called work authorization which isn't really work authorization associated with this visa. As we have discussed in other videos, the Labour Department is ultimately the one responsible for granting work authorization here in the Kingdom and there has been a lot of talk that the LTR Visa has inherent work authorization. I have never seen where they have the legal authority to make that claim and I am perfectly willing to stand corrected on that in the comments or something below. But everything and folks that I have talked to in our study has suggested that that notion is somewhat spurious, let's put it that way. Meanwhile though, the Destination Thailand Visa may be able to provide some insight into what they are talking about with regard to “work authorization” associated with the LTR visa, and that is as noted in that quote, it is still work prohibited - the Destination Thailand Visa - but if you are dealing with some sort of work that's occurring abroad, if you're dealing for example with some sort of remote work type of situation, then effectively there is an exemption associated with that type of activity. What are we talking about here? Well this has kind of been a nettlesome issue for years. People will contact me and say "oh I am here on a Retirement Visa or a Tourist Visa and I have to call back to the United States and do some sort of work type activity over the phone or online or something of this nature. Do I need a Work Permit for that?" In the past, we unfortunately had to say Yes, strictly speaking you need to be work authorized in order to engage in work here in Thailand. And as we discussed in other videos the definition of work in Thailand is quite broad. 

Now that said, it looks like they are lightening that stance via this Destination Thailand type visa and I think this provides some insight into what they are talking about with regard to work authorization associated with the LTR Visa. Namely, yeah if you are doing some sort of work type activity for a company or organization or whatever, outside of Thailand they are not going to be looking to give you problems for work authorization associated with that activity. That said, this should not be confused with working here in Thailand which remains prohibited to my understanding on either of these type of visas, you would need a Work Permit if you are actually going to work in Thailand. That is my understanding based on how we understand how labour authorization works as well as the explicit terms of the Destination Thailand Visa itself.