Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Domestic Immigration matters and why would anyone seek advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding Domestic Immigration. Now this video is not meant to seem like snarky or sharp or anything but it is a serious question. I'll get into why, hold on just a second. I thought of making this video initially after reading a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Thailand's July 15th visa revolution offers radical benefits for travellers to and from the Kingdom. First off, not really. If you go back to the old Honorary Consulate days we had these things called multi-entry visas which effectively are the same thing as this. That kind of got torpedoed and then we had, well it slowly kind of faded out and then COVID happened, so for roughly like the past 4 years there has effectively been nothing like it but we have been under a totally different Immigration regime, so the notion of this being like "revolutionary" is a little bit silly.

Meanwhile yeah, look Thai Immigration changes from time to time; policies change. It's not a revolution, it's just a change in the way that things are done. That said, again Thai Examiner, thaiexaminer.com, the title: Thailand July 15th Visa revolution offers radical benefits for travellers to and from the Kingdom. Quoting directly: "Thailand July 15th Visa changes offer so much for travellers in and out of the country. Not so much for traditional long-term Visa holders. New 60-day exemption for 103 countries extendable to 90 days, plus a DTV visa for freelancers and Digital Nomads. The changes, aimed at boosting the economy, mark a significant departure." Yeah it does mark a significant departure I think from the past 4 years for sure but we were dealing with COVID; that wasn't the standard Thai Immigration System. Actually the entire body of Immigration Law completely changed for two and a half years due to the Emergency Decree which we discussed and remarked on at length on this channel. 

Quoting further: "A senior Thai Civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the last week has brought home the significance of the crucial Visa changes ushered in on July 15th." I've seen this sort of meme if you will going around the ether of the internet in the past few days. I am making another video contemporaneously with this one where we will drill down further into it. But I wanted to get this video out rather quickly just if for no other reason to get people to understand the paradigm of what is going on here I guess, and that is this. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs doesn't have anything to do with Domestic Immigration matters. Thai Immigration matters here in Thailand are handled by the Ministry of Interior, specifically the Immigration Bureau under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior. Ministry of Foreign Affairs is its own Ministry. Now it is my understanding that they are going on some sort of a PR blitz if you will with regard to this visa and that is great. I think that's a good idea, it could help the Kingdom. But understand, we are talking about two different things and I've seen a ton of people out there, forums, just in the ether of the internet, emails, comments - always love some of your real helpful friendly comments out there folks, people saying all sorts and nonsense about how precisely internal immigration protocols are going to work under this new Visa regime. And the fact the matter is we just don't know exactly how this is going to work. For example with the new 60-day exemptions, we are not going to know how the extensions are going to work precisely until we get to the 60-day mark at which people are actually undertaking those extensions. Meanwhile, talking about the Destination Thailand Visa; we're not going to know how internally for example extension of that status may or may not work here in Thailand until we get out to the 6-month mark. More importantly and something I really don't think people are really understanding is again Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not handle internal Thai Immigration and let me put a fine point on that. Much like in the United States system where there's Department of State and Department of Homeland Security and under the Department of Homeland Security, there are various offices including for example US Customs and Border Protection, who deals with actual admission of people. The issuance of a Visa by, in the case of the United States, Department of State, does not necessarily mean an automatic entry to the United States because US Customs and Border Protection can deem a person even with a valid visa, inadmissible to the United States. The same thing can be said for Thailand. You could have a fully valid, totally issued, completely done Visa issued by Ministry of Foreign Affairs abroad and for whatever reason, when you get to a checkpoint here in Thailand an Immigration Officer may deny you entry. Is that a common occurrence? No, but it can happen and it's why I think it's important to make this video, because people do not understand or seemingly do not understand the way Immigration works. Again different places have different systems but generally speaking, the Ministry responsible for issuing visas in the case for example of the United States and Thailand, Department of State and Ministry of Foreign Affairs respectively, they issue visas. In the case of the United States Department of Homeland Security specifically US Customs and Border Protection; here in Thailand the Immigration Bureau under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior; Immigration Officers at checkpoints in the Kingdom actually deal with admitting people to Thailand or the United States respectively. Again Immigration does not answer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so whatever the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says is going to happen, well that's great but when they deal with it here in real time practically on the ground here in Thailand, you are going to be dealing with Immigration and Immigration does things differently and they also have adjudicatory discretion; they can make a determination whether or not to grant a given Visa. Also the same thing can be said for Border Running and I will get into another video that I am making contemporaneously with this one talking about Border Running specifically but again Immigration can make a determination that "hey you are living here, and we just don't want you living here on this type of Visa” etc., etc. Again I can't foresee every single thing, but what I do know and what people need to be aware of is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not the Immigration apparatus that you are going to be dealing with as a practical matter here in the Kingdom of Thailand.