Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the TM6 Immigration Form. For those who are unaware, this is the so-called arrival/departure card. In the past, when people travelled into Thailand they would come down the plane, as you were getting ready for departure and they would hand out - they looked like old school bus tickets or plane tickets - they would hand it out, you had to fill out your address, where you are going to be staying in Thailand and then they would affix that to your passport; you would need to keep that in your passport while you were here. They suspended that - I think it was back in April they did that - and we have started seeing they're bringing online the Electronic Travel Authorization; they digitized a lot of the process. Quite honestly the TM6 was pretty antiquated in a lot of ways. That said, it was one of those things that just kept going and then they finally decided to suspend it. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Suspension of TM6 form for travellers extended. Quoting directly: "Use of TM6 Immigration forms will remain suspended until April 30th next year to facilitate cross border tourism while the new Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system is being developed, which could integrate tourism fee collection officials said." Yeah notice that. Tourism fee collection seems to be a major priority. Quoting further: "The suspension which first took effect on April 15th was due to expire on Tuesday, is aimed at improving Immigration Services, reducing congestion at checkpoints and boosting tourism to help economic growth." And on top of that we have seen visitation of the Immigration System and also the creation of the biometric system that allows for biometrics at every checkpoint when coming into Thailand. Quite honestly it begs the question of whether or not the TM6 is even necessary anymore. This is also even more acute, especially in light of the use of APPS, the Advanced Passenger Processing System as well as the PIBICS system - that's p - i - b - i - c - s. As we have discussed in other videos, those are Immigration enforcements, sort of key mechanisms for ascertaining whether or not someone's inadmissible to the Kingdom of Thailand. 

So at the end of the day, I think this is overall a good policy idea continue suspending this TM6, because frankly it's kind of an antiquated document at this point and probably something that isn't even all that efficient and really the benefit of it to Thai Immigration for example, really doesn't exist anymore so probably a good idea to see it continue suspended. That being said, as we have discussed in other videos, and I'm discussing in a video I made contemporaneously with this one, this Electronic Authorization on the other hand really needs in my opinion to be re-thought for a variety of different reasons, most notably I think it could have a negative impact on tourism here in the Kingdom of Thailand.