Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Immigration. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Latest Thailand Visa news: what we are waiting to hear. Quoting directly: "The mammoth question for the 93 countries is now extensions and repeat performances. In other words, can these tourists extend their 60 days for another month of local immigration and can they do a border hop to start all over again? Nobody can confirm either possibility and a phone call to 1178, the Immigration hotline, brought no clarification. That's not surprising as the new visa rules for visitors were introduced by the Foreign Affairs Ministry whilst internal extensions are the responsibility of the Immigration Bureau, a totally separate and fiercely independent Government Bureaucracy." 

Okay. Yeah we've done videos on this in the past where we have talked about how Ministry Foreign Affairs, which can issue visas, is a different Ministry from the Ministry of Interior which issues visa status specifically oftentimes extension status, here in the Kingdom; they are two different entities. If you want to look at it through an American lens, the way to look at it is it's somewhat analogous to the way Department of State, specifically Embassies and Consulates can issue visas abroad, but Department of Homeland Security deals with Immigration matters internally within the United States. So that's kind of the analog if you will of how these two systems sort of operate. 

Now that said, is Thai Immigration fiercely independent? I don't know if that's exactly the right word. I think the way to look at Thai Immigration, specifically Immigration here in-country under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior is to understand that their mandate is very specific. It's law enforcement-like but it has Immigration obviously, implications so there are sort of Foreign Affairs implications insofar as how it can impact a foreign national here in Thailand. They also have enforcement functions and they are dealing with people in a much different legal posture than Thai Law enforcement would be dealing with Thais here in Thailand. Thais here in Thailand have certain inherent rights and liberties that are associated with their Thai nationality. Foreign nationals are not accorded the same posture under Thai Law as evidenced by the fact that you need visa status to remain in Thailand as a foreigner, and you do not if you are a Thai. It's just the inherent difference of being a foreign national in Thailand versus being a Thai.

So it may look sort of fiercely independent; I would just simply say they just have a different mandate. And Ministry of Foreign Affairs may view it as more of a priority to for example maybe increase tourism as an example. Meanwhile Thai Immigration has an enforcement component and they are boots on the ground here in Thailand having to deal with illegal immigrants, folks that have overstayed, folks that completely come in illegally etc. and they have different priorities. So I could see where from the outside they look "fiercely independent". I think the reality is they just have a different mandate from other aspects of both the Immigration apparatus and the rest of the Government here in the Kingdom Thailand.