Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing working in Thailand while on a Retirement Visa. I thought of making this after reading a recent comment on our channel, quoting directly: "What about "working" retirement? Exclusively remote work bringing foreign dollars in; no working for Thai companies; not taking work from Thai citizens, for example web software development with existing clients in different countries, doing non-Thailand related projects?" 

So first off, major misconception here. Going back, quoting: "No working for Thai companies," this one though "not taking work from Thai citizens". I constantly see this on forums out there; I hear this from expats, Tourists, all kinds of folks who think they sort of understand the underlying policy behind Thai rules and regulations regarding foreign work. I often see this "well I am not taking a job from a Thai national." That's not the point. That's actually not the point of Thai Immigration's policies on foreigners working in Thailand. The point is, Thai nationals are inherently allowed to work in Thailand, that's just one of the privileges and immunities if you will of Thai citizenship. Non-Thai nationals are not, that's it. It doesn't have anything to do with whether they are taking Thai jobs or whatever, it's just foreign nationals don't have the inherent right to work in Thailand. That is it, that is all. There is no further analysis there and I think people really get into kind of a feedback loop, they are sort of spinning their wheels if you will intellectually by even bringing that up because you are getting yourself kind of caught on this notion that, "well I am not taking Thai jobs." That's not their analysis. They do care on a certain level about that but from a law enforcement perspective, Thais have the right to work in Thailand, non-Thais do not without authorization, that's their analysis. So you are really spinning your wheels by looking at whether or not you are "taking Thai jobs." 

Meanwhile work authorization, No. Under standard Retirement Visas here in Thailand and that includes to the best knowledge the so-called O-X Visa, I actually heard from somebody who said they actually got themselves an O-X Visa; I've never seen one issued so I can't speak to it but we have discussed that on this channel. Long story short, the standard Retirement Visa categories do not have work authorization in any way, shape or form, it doesn't matter what type of work you are doing here. 

As we have discussed in other videos, there are some visas that they are claiming are retirement oriented so-called Long-Term Residence Visas which only really apply to a relatively narrow subset of folks that are coming to Thailand, supposedly they have work authorization. As I have discussed in other videos, I don't even see where they get the authority to claim that they can grant work authorization; I also don't see the authority where they can claim that you don't have to do 90-day reporting; the Immigration Act of '79 is pretty clear on that. But okay, that is what they are saying, they are saying yeah certain types of "wealthy retirees" and again proving up the "wealthy" factor in the retiree analysis is its own kettle of fish and we have dealt with it a little bit here, quite honestly it's cumbersome; we have seen people deny for LTR status based on their documentation or based on their inability to "prove up" their financials and again we have assisted folks with the LTR. I think it is being bandied about as sort of a magic bullet and it is not one quite honestly. It does have certain functionality, again for a narrow subset of possible expats. 

But long story short, for the vast majority of folks that are coming to Thailand and retiring on a standard Retirement Visa, no, work authorization has nothing to do with that type of Visa document.