Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing passport numbers on Thai driving licenses. For those who are unaware, yes it is possible for a foreign national to obtain a driving license or as we call it back where I am from, a driver's license here in Thailand, that's a possibility. Also some folks who come in for a temporary period of time oftentimes prefer to use an International driving license but if you are here in Thailand long-term, oftentimes it is a good idea to go ahead and get a permanent license, an actual Thai driving license.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent comment in one of our prior videos on this channel. Quoting directly: "Hi Ben, thank you for all your information. I really appreciate it."  (You're welcome.) "I have a question for you. If my passport number is on my Thai driver's license, isn't that enough if I get stopped?" What we are talking about here is I think that if I recall correctly that comment was on a video about being stopped by Thai Immigration carrying your passport or at least carrying a photo or photocopy of one's passport and one's Thai Visa. With regard to the Thai driving license, one of the reasons I am kind of in favour of foreigners getting it, I think it's even in many ways kind of more useful than the Pink ID card. I've done videos on that in the past discussing the Pink ID card and its relative value vis a vis Thai driving licenses and in my opinion, the driving license confers the ability to drive in Thailand, you have an actual driving license. But one thing that is not often known is that yeah your passport number is on there. Before I was Thai, I had a driving license for a while even though I never drove and the reason I had the license was because it had my passport number on it. So it was useful as a piece of ID and they could cross reference me in their system with regard to Immigration if necessary. 

So yeah long story short, a Thai ID card is a pretty darn good piece of ID. It in many ways could be viewed as good as carrying your passport around. However it may not be the same thing as carrying your Visa around. This is kind of one of the reasons I do believe it's not a bad idea to have like a soft copy, a digital copy of your passport and visa in your phone. That said, yeah a Thai driving license is pretty darn useful. In any situation where I have ever provided it, it was considered as good as any other ID. I have never seen it be treated anything but.