Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing developments regarding visas under an Anutin Government. And as we have discussed in another video made contemporaneously with this one, it's looking like in the aftermath of Ms. Paetongtarn's removal from the premiership here in Thailand, and the Cabinet sort of being frozen in a caretaker position thereby, it is looking like we are going to see a reshuffle and a new Government here in Thailand. It seems to be shaping up that Mr. Anutin and his Bhumjaithai Party will sort of be at the helm of it in a rather interesting kind of coalition, but I am not going to get into deep analysis on that. 

For those who are interested in that kind of information, you can check us out at our basically, you can email us to get my paid news service, Integrity News Service. You can go ahead and email us [email protected] where I will do deep dive analysis of where I think this stuff is going, how I think it's going to impact expat land including Banking and taxes in a more detailed analysis. You can check that out by emailing us, [email protected]. While I'm talking my book, I think it's worth pointing out, my better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok. We have American Diner style food and breakfast anytime. It's called Pancake Palace, as the name implies, breakfast anytime as well as American Diner style food, cheeseburgers, buffalo wings, chilli bowls, grilled cheese sandwiches, glass bottle Cokes; what you'd expect from American Diner style type of food. Come check us out; link is in the description below; we'd love to see you there.

Now this is going to be one of the few videos I have probably ever made where, I am not really disagreeing with Mr. Kenyon, this is Barry Kenyon, a writer for Pattaya Mail, and hats off to you sir - not really disagreeing with him, but I think maybe he hasn't quite thought of all nuances of this possible shift in government and how this may impact Immigration Policy. Let's jump in here. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Pattaya Mail, that is pattaymail.com, the article is titled: Foreigners wonder what's in store if Anutin becomes the next premier. Quoting directly: "As regards subjects of particular interest to Thailand's expat community, Anutin has said little over the years. It is unlikely there will be major developments on visas for example, as the next administration will likely be short-term pending a general election next year. The preoccupation for now will be on domestic issues such as a deflated economy, the high level of household debt, tariffs and a possible referendum for a new Constitution to satisfy Coalition partners." Going back to this specific line, I just want to quote this one more time. "It is unlikely there will be major developments on Visas." So Mr. Kenyon is saying it is unlikely there are going to be major developments on Visas. I would say that is probably overall true as he notes. I don't imagine this Government will last very much past the first year. I think that's reasonable to presume based on what I am understanding the deals being made with regard to putting this coalition government together in the first place. So let's set that aside. But that said, I think there is one issue in an Immigration context that could see major changes and that pertains to the Destination Thailand Visa.

As I have discussed in other videos and I was roundly hated for it when I brought it up at the time, I thought the Destination Thailand Visa was bad policy to begin with. It was also in effect badly implemented and it has frankly led to like “Brand” Thailand being sort of harmed someone in my opinion in the aftermath of the rollout of the Destination Thailand Visa. Let me go into some background. The DTV was created - Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) - was created when Paetongtarn was coming into the Government and I think that the thinking behind it was they wanted to basically goose tourism numbers; they wanted to get tourism numbers up real high so that it could be sort of spun if you will as a win for that incoming government held by Ms. Paetongtarn. Now the problem with the thing was there was virtually no consensus between the two, and I stress two, institutions if you will, Ministries if you will, which are responsible for administering Immigration and enforcing Immigration Law in a Thailand context. They had one Ministry creating these visas, namely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because that Ministry at the time, was effectively if you will “controlled” by members of the Phue Thai Party. Meanwhile, Mr. Anutin, who seems to be the putative incoming PM if you will, was at that time the Minister of Interior. They created the Destination Thailand Visa entirely as a brainchild and entirely within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and it was handed out by Embassies and Consulates outside of Thailand, oftentimes in a digital format through the E-visa portal. To my understanding, they didn't really even seek consensus from Ministry of Interior notwithstanding the fact that Ministry of Interior is ultimately responsible for administering Immigration Policy within the Kingdom. It's Immigration Police under Interior Ministry who deal with all the checkpoints for example both land, sea and air, or I should say land, sea and air checkpoints throughout Thailand. Meanwhile it's under the auspices of Interior Ministry that Immigration in-country deals with things like extensions and issues like that. Meanwhile, Interior Ministry shortly after this whole thing was rolled out, was asked basically what are the rules regarding; this was another big, huge problem with the Destination Thailand Visa. Labour Department is the one responsible for administering labour policy in Thailand and issuing work permits but yet it was announced that the Destination Thailand Visa had some magical work authorization so long as you weren't working in Thailand, which how exactly that can be the case when you are on the ground in Thailand doesn't make any sense to me; I don't think it makes any sense from any logical perspective. But again, the thinking seems to have been at the time to just get people in, just create this Visa, use it as a means and method of getting a bunch of people into Thailand and we'll worry about the fallout from it later; sort of a "shoot first and ask questions later" as we would say back in Kansas. It just didn't make a lot of sense. Interior Ministry subsequently came out and said, hey look if you do anything that "impinges upon the Thai economy" which is anything in Thailand, as I have discussed the legal definition of work here in Thailand, then you are subject to needing work authorization in Thailand. So it's been in this kind of weird limbo. On top of that, as we've seen all this banking stuff rolling out, Destination Thailand Visas are finding their bank accounts being closed and they are not able to open new accounts or any accounts at all, again based on the fact that this Visa was not designed to work in Thailand. So what was it designed for? 

Well the fundamental fact of the matter is it was poorly designed and it was designed in such a way that it was being done for basically political expedience in the form of gaining instantaneous sort of political capital by dint of the fact that a lot of people would sort of grab onto it, use it to get into Thailand, and then cause the numbers of supposed tourists to go up and make that incoming Administration sort of look good. But in the aftermath of it, as we have seen, it has actually caused problems and it has been damaging to the brand of Thailand because it doesn't really do what it says it's supposed to do, because it is not really based on any of the legal framework that the Immigration System is based on, and it has resulted in in my opinion, blowback in terms of sort of public perception of the Thailand's Immigration System generally. Well it results from that because of the fact it was poorly designed to begin with, and it was only administered and created by one Ministry, when it's two Ministries that actually have authority over those issues. 

So on that score, even though this could only happen in the first three or four months or the only three or four months of this possible incoming government, I think it's very, very possible if not probable, that we will see major changes as it pertains to the Destination Thailand Visa. Now exactly how that plays out remains to be seen: if it's positive, negative or net neutral, or whatever, again remains to be seen, but we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.