Transcript of the above video:

I have been talking to lot of folks who are would be expats, they want to come to Thailand, they want to live here, they want to work here, and they are asking me questions of what kind of visa is the best way for me to do that.

Unfortunately over the past couple of years there has been a lot of talk, there has been a lot of frankly hyperbole and nonsense out there, especially now in the YouTube space, where you just have a bunch of people talking about things they have no idea what they are talking about, especially when you get into the details and the nuts and bolts of it because they don't deal with it all the time. They are not dealing with Embassies and Consulates daily like we are here at the firm; they are not dealing with Immigration internally daily like we are at the firm. So they talk about things in a very broad sort of perspective on they one time went to Immigration, and now this is how things are done. 

Long story short, yeah there are all kinds of seeming Visa options out there. The Smart Visa, the LTR, the Destination Thailand Visa, and there has been all kinds of frankly opacity. In my opinion I think it's been rather purposeful sort of frankly, pre-thought out obfuscation on the issue of work authorization because they are just trying to get people to get a Visa with them I think is a lot of it, and they are putting people into a detrimental position because as we have seen for example with the Destination Thailand Visa, people coming over here, they can't get bank accounts, or where they have gotten bank accounts, they are seeing their bank accounts closed because the policy behind the Destination Thailand Visa is you are not supposed to use it really to exactly live here. Which then calls into question the nature of it because of how it is set up, but whatever it is discussed in other videos. It was in my opinion, planned out in a kind of slap dash manner and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who promulgated it weren't going to be the one who administered it here in the country. 

That said, the point of this video is look, what's that great line from I may even make it the thumbnail of this video, there's a great line from the movie The Fifth Element, where he says, "old tricks are the best tricks". In a sense, that's how you kind of need to think about the standard Thai Business Visa and if you are looking to come here long-term and you want a path to Permanent Residence or even possibly Citizenship down the road, you want to know that you are locked into a Visa that is solid, the Standard Thai Business Visa is that option. Why? One, it is specifically mentioned in the Immigration Act of 1979; that is the underlying Law on all Immigration here in Thailand. And while we have seen all of these different agencies and things say they can create these visas out of whole cloth, I'm here to tell you as a practical matter, when you try to use them on the ground here in Thailand, they don't work out as advertised all the time. It just is the way it works. Meanwhile, the Standard Thai Business Visa it works the way it's always worked. It is what I used when I first came over here. Yes, it requires setup of a Thai Company but again for Americans, you can own your companies out right; different other nationalities may be able to avail themselves of other benefits. Long story short, as I have discussed in other videos, there may be tax benefits for Americans to the American Amity Treaty type setup of a company. But more to the point also it is far more certain. If you are looking to come here and you want to know, "hey I'm in the system, I've got a Work Permit, I've got a Business Visa and I'm on track for things like PR and citizenship," the Business Visa is the best way of ensuring that and how do you know? It's stated right there in the Immigration Act, Business Visas; it's there, you know it's there, it's under the law, there's no refuting it. These other type of visas that have been invented willy-nilly especially in the past couple of years, you are never going to know if you can fully rely on those especially if we have changes in government and things. And again what was the Visa that was the go-to Visa all during COVID, even in the worst of the lockdowns? The Standard Thai Business Visa along with the Work Permit attached thereto, that was the one that could get you in at the very earliest into Thailand and it ran all the way through all the COVID lockdowns and restrictions here in Thailand - you could always use a Business Visa and Work Permit to get into the Kingdom. 

So the thing to take away from this video is in all of this consternation and all of this talk about what's the best Visa, again depending on your circumstances, there may be other options for you, but the Business Visa to my mind, it really is a safe port in a storm.