Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking ‘what is the Thailand Immigration System going to look like in 2025?’ Let me be clear, this is not a general video; this isn't just me talking about Thailand's Immigration System. No, I'm talking specifically about something they talked about rolling out within the past month or so - TIS - that's the acronym. It's this digitized version of Thai Immigration System that is being rolled out apparently at airport checkpoints and then seemingly it may have broader implications here in the country although it remains to be seen. 

Now again I bring this up because it's all occurring in sort of a larger context. They are talking about bringing out the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), which I have discussed in other videos. Also, Thai Embassies and Consulates throughout the world are now saying, "hey we are going only to E-Visas, so Digital Visas starting in 2025". This TIS system seems to be in line with sort of a broader policy shift if you will. Now that being said, exactly what it looks like remains to be seen.

My thinking on this is as I have discussed in other videos, at least in the initial stages, I think it's safe to say this, digitization never makes bureaucracy easier or more efficient to deal with. That's never been my experience, if anything it makes it worse. Case and point, the National Visa Center in the US Immigration System is just a perfect example of in my opinion, really just redundant bureaucracy, digitized. I often call it a neo-Soviet system. Again I worry that this is going to be imported if you will into Thailand in the form of all this digitization of all these different components of the Immigration System and to make lay people have to deal with all of this stuff just to be Tourists here, I think it's folly of the highest order; I think it's a bad idea to make investors and things have to deal with all of this stuff. It's already difficult enough to deal with the Business Visa and Work Permit process and now they are tacking on the TIS System, the ETA System, dealing with the E-Visa system. And again, all it does is it pushes effectively the accountability and the momentum of having to do anything on to the public. It takes away any accountability from the bureaucracy or any need for them to have any momentum to do anything. It's left to the individual and the public to have to deal with all of this stuff. That's never a recipe for a particularly efficient system.

That being said, the TIS and its exact implications remain to be seen, so we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.