Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing retirees here in Thailand working illegally. Now to be clear, there are certain types of Long-Term Visas which may grant work authorization, but for the vast majority of people here in Thailand as retirees, work authorization is a requirement and even in these newly created so-called Long-Term Residence Visas, I have never seen the authority where they have the ability to grant work authorization and I have talked to other folks who have combed through even with the issuers of the LTR they have combed through where they get the authority to grant work authorization and they have never been given a clear answer, so I am just going to let that hang. I am not going to get too deep into that, I have done videos on that before.

That said, work authorization is required in Thailand for those foreign nationals who wish to undertake any type of employment and there are penalties associated with working illegally and retirees, folks that are seeking Retirement Visas often ask me about this and so I thought I would go ahead and quote directly from an MOL, that's Ministry of Labour, that's mol.go.gh under the title: Labour Minister warns employers of heavy penalties for illegal employment of foreign workers. Quoting directly: "The Ministry of Labour Warns Employers of Heavy Penalties for Illegal Employment of Foreign Workers. Quoting directly: "The Ministry of Labour warns employers about the violation of illegal employment of illegal immigrants to work without a permit. There is a fine of 10,000 - 100,000 Baht per foreigner. Repeated offenses are punishable by imprisonment of not more than one year or a fine of 50,000 - 200,000 Baht, or both. Foreigners working illegally are liable to a fine up to 50,000 baht and deported to their country of origin." 

So, the original part of that is sort of talking about more migrant labour but that last sentence, let me quote again: "Foreigners working illegally are liable to a fine of up to 50,000 Baht and deported to their country origin." So, as you can see, deportation is an integral factor in the punishment of folks working illegally in Thailand. Now this is anyone, but it would apply to retirees as well. I do get a lot of inquiries from folks who say "well I am going to do this as opposed to that", look I think the rule of reason generally applies here, there is some commonsensical understanding. You know if you are working illegally in Thailand or not, you just do, for lack of a better term. I mean again, the whole getting into the semantics and sometimes the pedantic of, "well what if I move, if I am hanging a picture in my own home or if I am painting my own wall or something inside of my own house, or my own condo"? Again, we have discussed what employment means and the definition of work here in Thailand in many other videos and it is highly broad. That said, again it's sort of a rule of reason, common sense kind of thing and most people know when they are crossing the line. Again, working in businesses openly, openly engaging in employment, that's pretty clear. But again, when you get into "well my wife owns this place, and I am in there," and you know. At the end of the day, you have got to use your own rule of reasoning and you sort of know when you are operating outside the lines. 

So again, the thing to keep in mind is yes working is illegal in Thailand if you are here on a standard Retirement Visa, it is not work authorized and if you are caught engaging in work, it could lead to deportation from the country.