Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai driving licenses and “what role does Immigration play in that?” Well I got to thinking of making in this video after reading recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Immigration Bureau sees return of pre-pandemic numbers. A lot of good information in there, I urge folks who are watching this video go check out that article in detail because the thrust of that article doesn't really have anything to do with what we are talking about in this video. I am simply quoting a small excerpt.

Quoting directly: "There is also a big increase in the number of applications for Thai driving licenses. An Immigration issued certificate confirming a local address is part of the process." Yeah what's commonly referred to although I think that the name should probably be changed because I think it causes some confusion, what is commonly referred to as a Resident Certificate, basically a certificate from Thai Immigration which certifies a person's address in Thailand, physical address in Thailand. Essentially it's kind of the counterpart document to the so-called TM30 address reporting document. So basically you report your address to Thai Authorities via the TM30. Once that is reported, it is possible to get a document from Thai Immigration saying this is this person's address. That is basically what you are talking about here. Then that document can be utilized along with some other documentation in processing an application to be able to get a driving license here in Thailand. So again even though it is really doesn't seem like Immigration should have anything to do with the Department of Land Transport and the issuance of a driving license in Thailand, it does have sort of a tangential impact on that process by the dint of the fact that they do issue this Residence Certificate which is one thing you need in order to get a driving license. 

As with many things in Thailand, if you want to get one thing, one type of documentation, often times there is a bunch of prerequisite documentation that goes along with that so you sort of have to deal with other offices to get that all gathered up where you then go to the office you want to go to, to get the document you need. So again, while on one hand it wouldn't seem like you would be dealing with Thai Immigration when trying to get a driving license, if you are a foreigner in Thailand unfortunately or depending on how you look at it maybe fortunately, you will be needing to deal with Immigration for at least one aspect of the driving license process.