Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking "is there a disconnect between analog and digital Thai Immigration?" I would say at this stage of the game there definitely is. Whether or not this remains the case remains to be seen. That said, let me just get into this article. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: 90 days Immigration reporting now needs update form. Quoting directly: "Expats who are reporting their 90 days stay in Thailand with a receipt and a barcode in their passport are now being asked to submit a new TM47 form (that is the traditional application form for the 90 days). This appears to be a new rule at Chonburi Immigration Bureau with the intent of “refreshing” the 90 days database." 

My question is come on I mean at what point, look I have been reporting on Thai Immigration matters for years now and I like to think that I keep a pretty objective countenance if you will regarding how I view Thai Immigration. It just it is what it is. Immigration always has forms. I have dealt with US Immigration for 16 years now, I have dealt with Thai immigration for almost as long. It is always going to require forms, I get that. The point I am trying to make here is these online applications keep coming up and then their analog counterpart in the real world doesn't seem to connect with it. Well then let's either scrap one or the other. I mean to my mind, what is the point of having an online stuff, as they note in this: "with a receipt and a barcode", so they are talking about someone has done their 90-day reporting online and if they show up at Immigration and say "hey yeah, I did my 90-day reporting 3 months ago, or whatever" and they say: "no, no, you need to still go ahead and fill out this TM47 form," well then what was the point of the online system in the first place?

Again, I am not trying to be hyper critical because Immigration has a function and bureaucracy just is what it is; you just sort of deal with it as it comes and you take it as it comes. But honestly between this TM30 and this 90-day reporting stuff, the Byzantine levels of redundancy are really getting a little bit beyond reasonable. Now this may be the result of just a transition we are going through right now and we may have, may look back on this video a year from now and say "well in hindsight they got that all worked out, we now have a really streamlined system". I very much hope that is the case but honestly, if it is going to continue like this it seems to be for lack of a better word, untenable.