Transcript of the above video:

I have gotten a lot of feedback, most of it negative, here recently about my coverage of work authorization in Thailand specifically as it pertains to things like the LTR Visa and the DTV Visa. I want to be clear as to why I have been covering this. 

It's because one of the biggest areas, one of the biggest vectors of problem if you will, for foreigners here in Thailand who have issues that cause them to be deported or have overall problems with their Immigration status in Thailand, stems from work authorization and a misunderstanding thereof. It's oftentimes foreigners who think they are in lawful status who aren't, that end up in the biggest problems. And I have seen this recently playing out and I am starting to think it is going to probably be happening more and more as folks who think they are in proper work authorization in Thailand are in fact not and they are engaging in things that "impinge upon the Thai economy" to quote directly from the Interior Ministry here in Thailand, and as a result of impinging upon the Thai economy, find themselves in a situation where they might be subject to deportation or even arrest and then subsequent deportation and the problem arises again from a misunderstanding of the work authorization associated with their Visa status. 

This wasn't helped frankly by the last Government, who wanted to keep that whole issue seemingly nebulous in order to encourage what I believe to be was a sort of artificial spike in "tourism" to make the incoming Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra "look good". As a result, we ended up with this kind of nebulous thing where all these people have these expectations as to what their work authorization is, and it is not really in line with reality. And the result I think is going to be more folks ending up in issues associated with their Visa status here in Thailand that ends up problematic for them, even though they thought they were in proper status. 

This is my concern when it comes to work authorization. Folks can attribute other motives to me if they want, but that is the fact of it. I have dealt with these issues over time. I myself had to deal with work authorization; it's a serious issue. I don't think it is something to sort of scoff at and I don't think it is something to misunderstand and I definitely do not want to see a ton of people ending up in problems, possibly arrested and deported from the Kingdom of Thailand.