Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing why would you be asking Banks about Immigration Policy? Now I initially thought of making twin videos for this, but I think it would be rather redundant; basically the two videos being one would be “why are you asking banks about immigration policy?” The second one would be but "why are you asking Immigration about Bank Policy? 

I thought of making this video after sitting in, let's just say one of the big banks here in Thailand, in fact in their corporate headquarters this past Friday and trying to get an ATM card. I had lost mine and it was just a whole run around that it really didn't need to be. Honestly banks, the bureaucracy you are putting on to people is really ridiculous, and again, it's just stifling the economy and things because especially foreign business. It comes here and you have got to dance a jig, and jump through hoops, and do all of this stuff and imperious officers acting like they are the Government. They are not. They are a private institution that by the way is taking your money and then re- loaning it out at interest. Now they could act a little better. But the point is I was sitting there waiting around for all this rigmarole to go on and next to me was a farang guy talking to this gal about setting up a bank account, and he's going through the usual Catch 22: "Well yeah, we can't set up the bank account because you have a tourist visa", this, that and the other thing, and then he starts talking about stuff with this person and this Bank Officer starts talking about Thai Immigration stuff. I almost intervened to be but - not my client, not my problem - I have got my own problem sitting in there dealing with getting an ATM card, which basically apparently like you need an Act of Parliament to deal with that but again, whatever on that issue. I didn't intervene but I was just listening and one, it wasn't exactly "yessing" to death, but it was one of these like, "how can I just talk until this person goes away?" That was basically the gist I got first from it. But also, this Banking Officer just was talking nonsense about Immigration - "Oh well, Immigration says that we have to do" - no, this came from the bank. This is Bank Policy. It is my understanding it comes down from BoT, and then it has led to all of this consternation because the banks are chiming in about what Immigration Policy is when it's not Immigration Policy, especially with this “big bank”, that is leading to these outcomes. They are doing it themselves; they are making the conscious choice to require people freeze up their accounts if they want to get an affidavit to extend their Retirement Visa for example, which came up in this conversation. This person couldn't even get an account because they were sort of having the door shut in their face because of their visa status which whatever, the bank can make policies regarding who they allow to set up accounts. And look it has never been very easy in Thailand to set up a bank account with anything other than a Non-immigrant Visa: Retirement, Business Visa with a Work Permit, O Marriage Visa for example - those tend to be a lot easier to deal with in terms of banking than Tourist Visas. 

But the point of this video is I'm just watching this person being essentially on one hand kind of managed and handled, and on the other hand just being given a bunch of erroneous information about Immigration because I think that person at the bank just wanted to get this person to go away. And so they just told him a bunch of stuff and on their way they went. 

This system isn't good, and the thing to take away from this video is don't go to the Bank asking for information about Immigration. It's not going to do you any good; they're not the relevant party for that. Meanwhile, he himself, this person that was talking to the bank and this is why I thought of making a second video was talking about how he was talking to Immigration, and they were saying all kinds of things about banking. Well they don't have anything to do with banking. They are Immigration, they are two different things. So where does that leave you as the person who is trying to figure this out? Sadly, and I do mean this sadly, because I have got to be honest with you. I don't want to live in this world particularly. It reminds me of Covid where people would say, "well it looks like you're making more money during COVID". Yeah, I don't want to live in the COVID world, what's the point of that? 

But the long story short, who do you go to? The whole thing is kind of a Catch 22. One side is saying one thing nonsensically, another side is saying another thing nonsensically. Frankly you need somebody who knows how to navigate the system. I'm an Immigration Attorney. I've been doing US Immigration work for almost 20 years. I became Thai 7 years ago. I myself have been through all the process of Immigration in Thailand from being a Non-immigrant all the way to being a citizen. Here at the firm we have got good insight on how this stuff works. Many of our folks in the Accounting Department, they do things interacting between Banks and Immigration so as to be able to solve these Catch-22 if you will snafus - to borrow a phrase from some of our servicemen who have been over here over the years - you need somebody to be able to cut the Gordian knot if you will and navigate you through. And unfortunately, the system has created an exigent need at this point, to utilize a third party like a representative, like a lawyer to be able to assist in these matters because quite frankly it's, really, Catch-22 sums it up. And on top of it, you have got banking officers talking nonsense about Immigration; you've got immigration talking nonsense about banking. You have to deal with somebody that can walk down the middle and knows how to deal with both sides of the overall equation.