Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Ministry of Foreign Affairs and work authorization. So as we have discussed in other videos, there has been a lot of talk. Ministry of Affairs for whatever reason has done a PR blitz talking about all the ways in which it is easier to come into Thailand which I totally understand from the standpoint of encouraging tourism and things, I think that's a good idea; even long-term tourism, long-stay tourism. And they have introduced things like, they have increased the Visa Exemption stamp from 30 to 60 days; they are also introducing this Destination Thailand Visa which everybody is talking about as if they know exactly how it's going to work when in reality as I've said from the get-go, the way that things work in Immigration is they roll something out and then it takes a number of months to see how it works from a practical perspective and we are going to be seeing that over the course of the next year with regard to the DTV specifically. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that's pattayamail.com, the article is titled: The 60 days Visa Exempt and Destination Thailand Visa empower Immigration Officers. That is a key point as well. As we discussed in other videos, Ministry of Foreign Affairs has talked about this but at the end of the day, internal Immigration matters are dealt with by Immigration in Thailand under the authority of the Ministry of Interior, not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Thailand. Quoting directly: "The interview also clarified that if Visa Exempt tourists wanted to do ad hoc work - lasting fewer than 15 days - they needed to inform the Immigration Officer on entry or report to the Employment Ministry soon afterwards." Well yeah, that has always been the case; this doesn't mean that it's work authorized. I don't know why Ministry of Foreign Affairs is even talking about work authorization in the context of a Visa Exempt status. Yes theoretically it is possible to go to the Labour Department and obtain temporary work authorization. We've assisted a number of folks with it over the years. But that said, it's very exigent; they don't just grant that sort of willy-nilly at the Labour Department. And again this has sort of been glossed over because they're wanting to, I do get accentuating the positive. I understand that civil servants here in Thailand are trying to goose the Tourism Industry and to try to get more foreigners into Thailand - either for business purposes or just having them travel here and spending money - and I totally get that. But to sort of gloss over major issues like work authorization is in my opinion not overly prudent and it's not really doing much of a service to the general public because folks are going to come here presuming it's sort of straightforward to get work authorization, and then they are going to come to find out it's anything but. So the thing to take away from this video is if you are looking to work here in the Kingdom of Thailand, it's probably a good idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.

I'm going to do a quick bumper for a lot of these Immigration videos that we are going to be doing moving forward because there are a number of options that have come up here recently and unfortunately, there has just been a lot of nonsensical talk throughout the ether of the internet as well as in even like the mainstream press; the print press has been talking a lot about Immigration and quite honestly not all of the conclusions that they are drawing are correct. So the point of this bumper if you will, is for me to just kind of remind people, it's not a terrible idea to contact a legal professional who deals with Immigration on a regular basis because there are a number of options now available for foreigners looking to be in Thailand long-term. Some of them are going to be more optimal than others depending on your own circumstances.