Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking the question, should "visa agents" - I'm going to put that in quotes - need to be licensed here in Thailand. You'll hear that term a lot; I'm very ambivalent about the term Visa agent. One, the term "Agent" is massively misunderstood especially in the lay community, and that confusion and sometimes on the part of frankly scammers' conflation of terminology can, through its confusion of the public, cause benefit to a scammer and negative ramifications to the public. What am I talking about? 

People think they are hiring somebody legitimate, somebody reputable to assist them say in getting a Thai Visa, but the fact of the matter is - especially as it pertains to foreigners here in Thailand - there are restricted occupations. Agency and Brokerage is on the list of those restricted occupations okay. Now I know people don't want to hear this, but real problems and damage come when people that don't know what they are doing, get in the "services" of Immigration game and also real crimes can occur in Immigration and I'm talking about human trafficking here, okay. And it could be children, it could be a lot of different things, but long story short, Immigration is serious stuff, and it should be handled in a serious manner. 

I'm not saying I necessarily know exactly what some sort of certification would look like, but I don't think it's a terrible idea for Thailand to explore the possibility of licensing so-called “Visa Agents” to deal with things like internal Thai Immigration or external Embassies and Consulates abroad, because again one, you have got the restricted occupations issue, two, this stuff bumps right up against sovereignty stuff. And it's one of those things that like other areas of the law, a lot of people think they understand but do not in fact understand because it's subject to certain interpretive principles and things of that nature, as well as discretion and determining whether or not somebody should get status or should have status rescinded. The point I'm trying to make is, this is complicated stuff and at the end of the day, it's based on Thai law, so in any way that you can view it, it really is a profession at the end of the day because it's linked to the application on an ongoing basis, of relevant Thai Immigration Law. So again, in the American context due to 8 CFR 292.1, they have laid out the criteria under which for example American Attorneys can practice US Immigration Law, dealing with Department of Homeland Security, Department of State for example and our interaction sort of parameters associated with that; again 8 CFR 292.1 lays that out.

It might not be a terrible idea for Thailand to seriously consider perhaps promulgating some sort of legislation or maybe promulgating a rule within Thai Immigration that sets forth the criteria under which folks can be Agents, basically act as Visa Agents, for foreigners here in Thailand. And again, because it has this professional sort of nuance if you will or complexion to it, I think it definitely should apply the Foreign Restricted Occupations to it - again it is self-evident - Agents, Brokering etc., professions, law, again that's pretty clear. It makes sense to me to at least to be dealing with licensed Thai professionals in this context. And what I find interesting is how quickly reflexive Thais are on this issue when it's posed in the term of Travel Agents but when you hear the term Visa Agents it doesn’t seem to trigger the same mechanism in anybody's mind but effectively, they are the same thing. So again, shouldn't there be some sort of Certification, even though there's this minor nuance of difference in between these two terms. My personal opinion is obviously I think so.