Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing TM6 forms. For those who are unaware, this is the  sort of arrival/departure card form that people have to fill out coming into Thailand and then if you are a foreign national they go ahead and oftentimes staple the card into your passport; you have to have it in order to leave Thailand. So it has kind of been over the past well the time I have been here but decades to my understanding, it has been kind of a staple of the Immigration process when being admitted to Thailand. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: TM6 Immigration form shelved for now at airports. Quoting directly, and I urge those who are watching this video, check out this article. There is a lot more information in there. Quoting directly: "The Government will temporarily halt the need for international passengers to fill out TM6 Immigration forms to ease passenger congestion at International airports. Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday this would reduce the process for foreign visitors as they were already required to fill out many forms upon arrival." You can say that again. Quoting further: "It will also help alleviate congestion as international arrival numbers have increased, he added." 

The question posed by this video is “will this be permanent? Is this truly temporary?” It remains to be seen but it has been my experience when you see kind of policy changes like this, especially in light of the fact that they oftentimes have better enforcement, or data recovery mechanisms than the TM6 can provide in this case, they oftentimes they might just phase it out altogether. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Now I am engaging in a level of speculation here, we may see it come back but my question would be “why?” especially when we have got biometric readers here at the airport in Thailand so what is the purpose of really doing this TM6 card at the moment?  I mean, it is pretty redundant; it is just an extra piece of paper and getting rid of it certainly streamlines in-bound flights, in-bound tourists, in-bound passengers, just in-bound people coming to Thailand. Frankly in the state that the tourism sector is in, I think that streamlining that only can help. 

So it remains to be seen if the TM6 is gone forever. I think there is a decent chance it might be gone forever. However I don't know that to a certainty. We will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation progresses.