Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the fact that a Member of Parliament here in Thailand seems to be very concerned that foreign nationals are taking it upon themselves to basically settle in Thailand in such a way that does not comport with Thai Law. Let's jump in here. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from The Phuket News, that is thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Phuket MP urges Parliament to end Visa-free entry. 

Before jumping into the content here really quickly, I've had folks ask me over the past couple of weeks especially, look, we watch a lot of your videos. I don't necessarily need to avail myself of an attorney at this time, but is there anything else we can do to support you? Look, at the end of the day, as I've discussed in other videos, my better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok, it's called Pancake Palace. As the name implies, it is breakfast anytime, but it's American Diner style food if you're interested in that. We also have an English breakfast on the menu; it's not just pancakes as well, we have other things: French toast, again bacon and eggs, that kind of stuff. We also have hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chilli bowls; we've got buffalo wings, we have Coke in glass bottles, grilled cheese sandwiches. If you like American Diner style food, you may find yourself having a good time, having a good bite down at Pancake Palace. Links are in the description below. 

That said, back to The Phuket News, thephuketnews.com, the article again titled: Phuket MP urges Parliament to end visa-free entry. Quoting directly: "After presenting his address in Parliament, MP Chalermpong said in a post online that reducing Visa-free stay from 60 days to 30 days was "not enough" to resolve underlying issues, arguing that Thailand should prioritise quality over quantity in its tourism strategy." And who we are talking about there is Phuket MP Chalermpong Saengdee. Quoting further: Quote: "Visa measures are the first hurdle in screening tourists," he said. "Accepting just anyone may cost more in the long run than the revenue figures being highlighted." Quoting further: "His remarks follow a recent government decision to shorten Visa free stays to 30 days after feedback from tourism stakeholders. While supporting the move, MP Chalermpong said the policy should go further by returning to stricter pre-existing entry criteria. Phuket, often used as a testing ground for national tourism policies, has borne the brunt of unintended consequences, he said." Quoting further: "He warned that some areas are already seeing foreign groups settling long-term, competing with local workers and placing pressure on resources. Quote: "This is a new problem that must be monitored before it escalates," he said. "Otherwise it will become increasingly difficult to resolve."

Yeah, and look, to the foreign community out there, this is going to probably gather momentum politically. I personally as a naturalized Thai, have some concerns about the, in my opinion, rather lax policies that well implemented by what I can only describe as the Rump Coalition Government that existed up until the end of last summer, going into the last fall and we saw all kinds of things where sort of the floodgates were let open. In many ways it was good. As I discussed, I didn't really see where going from 60 down to 30 days would do very much, but other policies significantly change the landscape here in Thailand. New visas were created that was so nebulous nobody really understood their criteria, their parameters, and we are seeing a number of folks now in Thailand, large influx of foreign nationals getting into all sorts of trouble that we never saw in the past. 

I remember when I first started doing "Foreigners Behaving Badly" videos, it was an anomaly. It was why I started making those videos because it wasn't really all that frequent, and frankly from time to time we need content; something that's sort of pertinent to the channel. Now it's like you can go out on Twitter or some of the other social media and things, platforms, and this stuff is seemingly everywhere and it's a lot of foreign nationals that are just completely disregarding Thailand's customs, norms and laws, one of the biggest being working in Thailand requires work authorization. A lot of foreign nationals seem to be disregarding that and they are doing so at their peril. As I've discussed in other videos, the late great Barry Kenyon last summer said that he thought it was highly likely that we would see some sort of Bill in Parliament to see some sort of comprehensive Immigration reform here in Thailand. I disagreed with him at the time; I don't now. I think that this is becoming more likely and an MP, especially with, think this through for a minute. This is a member of Parliament from a Tourism centric province here in Thailand, Phuket. They make a lot of their money in that problems off of Tourism and this person is noting their concerns about this stuff, noting their concerns about foreign nationals just moving in, really that not being their proposed purpose for coming here to begin with, and this person is saying, "hey this needs to be monitored. This needs to be dealt with or we are going to see bad consequences down the road." 

Again, the Thai in me couldn't agree more. I do get that the expat community doesn't exactly want to hear that, and for those that find themselves constantly in line with the law, I get it. Being hassled unnecessarily isn't pleasant, nor is it particularly warranted. But I think many folks that are here in Thailand be them Thais or expats - the foreign community - can see the influx of a lot of folks coming in who seem to be perfectly happy to disregard the rules on remaining in Thailand. So it remains to be seen how this plays out, but we will certainly be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.