Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, well I hear this sometimes. It seems to come up about once a year either in the context of US Immigration or Thai Immigration. I also sometimes see it as, it's something out there that's kind of thrown around as if it is sort of the end-all be-all as someone who knows what is going on with Immigration in either context. I'll be talking to somebody and they will say "well so and so says this is how it will turn out”, and he or she is a former Visa Officer.

Okay, I mean every time I hear that it's like "yeah, and?" That doesn't give in my mind give me any real insight for a couple of reasons. One, different Officers have a different paradigm when it comes to adjudicating Immigration matters so what is deemed important to one Officer, may not be considered all that important to another one. Yes sometimes there can be some insight into how the bureaucracy works but quite honestly, especially over roughly the past 3 to 5 years, I don't know how useful that is because what the Immigration System for example in the United States looked like five years ago is radically different than what it looks like now. Thai Immigration is very similar and then honestly things just change over time. Practitioners see this, we do the best we can and we deal with things as they come up. I am not saying, I have dealt with lawyers and things that have worked for example in the State Department before and have some really keen insight into certain aspects of how that works but whenever I see it sort of as the definitive ‘this is the end-all, be-all answer to all questions’, 'so and so is a former Visa', I always kind of look at that or take that with a grain of soul because quite honestly it may provide some insight but again it is not sort of the end-all, be-all who knows what is going on with respect to Immigration Law. Quite frankly, especially with lay people that have been in the Immigration apparatus, I have actually seen them say things both on line and in real life that can cause real problems for folks because quite honestly the system changed between the time they were working in it and the time they are talking about it. So again this is something, it is good to gain the insight you can but do not view it as sort of a magic bullet that somebody previously worked in the Immigration System, whatever Immigration System that was, do not view that as a magic bullet as far as somebody who is a magician with respect to Immigration Law. That has not been my experience of how it actually works.