Transcript of the above video:

In a comment on a recent video we did regarding Identification for Foreigners in Thailand, this was a discussion of Driving Licenses versus Pink ID cards. Thai ID cards for those who are unaware, there is a national ID card for Thai nationals. It is a blue card; it is an ID that Thais have. Non-Thai nationals depending on the circumstances but basically if they get a Yellow House Book, non-Thai nationals may be able to get what is called a Pink ID card which is an issued ID Card by the Government here in Thailand.

In some comments on some videos I did on this, I saw one thing where they were talking about, a lot of Thais that you see on the streets, they kind of look askance and think that the Pink ID card is like fake or something. I can see why. One is, I think a lot of people especially folks that are immigrants, expats, whatever you want to call it that live in a foreign country, folks living in a foreign country have a very different perspective on that country from those who are native to that country. For example, I am pretty sure that 90 to 98% of the American population does not know what an I-551 stamp is or what a Green Card looks like maybe. Now maybe a Green Card, what it looks like maybe more people know than that but people that live in a place are not overly familiar with the Immigration documentation associated with it. In the case of a Pink ID card, it is Immigration documentation per se, but it pertains only to foreigners. If you are a native born Thai you would never deal with that kind of documentation and so it would be very foreign and you just simply would not be familiar with it.  

The thing to take away from this video is 1) No, is not a fake ID. A Pink ID card is a genuine ID. However it is simply that. It is kind of interesting because when the Civil Registration Act was amended I believe in 1991 and allowed for Yellow House Books and then there were regulations promulgated that allowed for the Pink ID card, they were promulgated sort of pursuant to those changes which allowed for Yellow House books, it was just that. It is just ID. Whereas a Thai ID Card is actually a million pieces of documentation all rolled into one, in a sense and it is functional, very functional. A Thai Pink ID is just an ID. I know a lot of folks that have talked about "well I still carry my passport even though I have an ID. I have a driving license too." My opinion is I don't think you need that much ID to just live in Thailand. I think, driving license or Pink ID, I mean, it is kind of six of one, half a dozen of the other. That stated, Pink IDs stem from a Yellow House Book; Yellow House book has some connotation to it. Again it basically just is what it is. It is a document that says where you live. That is really all it boils down to. Meanwhile the Driving License actually does confer the right to drive. So compared to a Driving License, the Pink ID does not confer the ability, the license to drive in the Kingdom but it is not a fake ID, it is a genuine ID and it is just very unfamiliar in my opinion to street level Thais that you will just deal with. Yes probably Government folks will know what it is; some banks, especially those banks that deal with a lot of foreign nationals are probably going to know and be somewhat familiar with it but for the most part, yeah your average person on the street that is a Thai probably has never even seen a Pink ID card before.