Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Work Permit rules. For those who are unaware, yeah in Thailand you have to have work authorization if you are a foreign national undertaking work in Thailand. The question I often get from sort of amateur lawyers, whatever you want to call it immediately after I state that is: "Well what's the definition of work?" As we have discussed in other videos and I have cited in relevant codified rules in Thailand, pretty much anything is work in the sense that people say, "well I'm volunteering, I don't get paid!" Still considered work. Basically, if you are breathing and undertaking a task it could be deemed to be work by a Labour Department Officer here in Thailand if they should so desire. So understand that at the outset. Then you have got to deal with work authorization if you want to maintain like a Business Visa here in Thailand long term, you have got to deal with your work authorization in whatever form that may be. They have created new visas recently where work authorization is built in, but I would argue that in a sense they just sort of built in the difficulties associated with work authorization rather than having to bifurcate a process, whatever. At the end of the day, getting work authorization in Thailand, can be a bit of a cumbersome thing. 

The reason I thought of making this video is I was reading a recent article in the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand to become a more popular destination for Russians fleeing Putin's draft. I really urge those who are watching this video, go check out this article, it's interesting. There's a lot of stuff going on and I always find it fascinating and people can call me a nerd if they want, I always find it fascinating that Immigration has implications in kind of the geopolitical and political realms. I mean it touches on it. It's law and it is policy and it is regulations but also it has geopolitical ramifications. 

Just as a quick preface, they are going to be quoting someone in this excerpt here, and I urge folks, read the whole article. I am going to quote a small excerpt. They are quoting a gentleman named Alexei who is apparently a Russian expat who has come to Thailand. Quoting directly: "Russians don't need a visa to come here for 30 days and extensions are easy to obtain. On the other hand, the work permit rules here are very strict." he said. He said he had been a waiter in both Kazakhstan and Turkey, but that was impossible in Thailand." Yeah good point. I will get to that in a minute. Quoting further: "Alexei complained that he had met some official hostility even in Pattaya." Well it's not hostility per se. It is not that they are hostile to a given person or nationality or whatever. Look, at the end of the day, Thailand has charted its own course for hundreds if not thousands of years and there is a level of protectionism of the labour market here in Thailand. It is just there and it is codified in both policy and law, restricted occupations. There are all kinds of things that are designed to protect Thai labour; just is what it is, so to say it's hostility I think is a bit of an overstatement, or at least hostility to any one given group or person, it is just a policy. I would say that's a better way to put it.

As far as like a wait staff, yeah and we have done videos on this talking about the food and beverage industry, trying to, you're not going to be wait staff in Thailand as a foreign national. I think the way that policy makers look at that is look we got plenty of folks in Thailand that can be waiters. Now if you want to bring in skilled expertise or even be an entrepreneur here, contribute to the tax space, great, happy to have you but as far as like jobs that Thai folks can do pretty simply or in a pretty straightforward manner, yeah that is going to be pretty protected stuff. That said, the notion that it is very strict Work Permit rules, it is in one sense. When you are used to it like me, I kind of almost take it for granted but yeah it is a bit cumbersome to try and get a Work Permit here in the Kingdom of Thailand.