Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing work authorization in Thailand. I received some correspondence recently where somebody told me, they said, I can't remember the exact context but basically they said "well I am working online which is clearly legal in Thailand." and I said to myself: "apropos of what?" Like “where did you come up with that?” I've been doing videos on this for a very long time. Foreign nationals are not inherently work authorized in Thailand, in fact there is no inherent work authorization in a standard Business Visa. There may be work authorization in other types of visas for example the so-called Smart Visa, but for the most part, work authorization is not even inherent in travel documentation here in Thailand; we have even discussed it in the context of Permanent Residence as well. Only Thai nationals have the inherent right to work in Thailand. Nobody else does. 

And as I have discussed in other videos, most notably the video regarding the definition of work in Thailand which I will try to go ahead and put in the description below, we discussed that work is broadly defined as anything. Breathing could arguably be considered work. I mean I am being somewhat facetious but the definition is extremely broad, I have explained it in multiple videos including that video even if I don't put it in the description, if I forget or something, just go over to the search function of Integrity Legal's YouTube channel Friday's definition of work you are going to find that video and you are going to see that the definition of work is virtually any energy expended for any reason, with or without compensation; it is as broad as it gets. So no, in point of fact there is no inherent right to work online or otherwise in Thailand.

Now I am well aware that many folks sort of skirt the line and they may work online because it is pretty hard to detect that, but that said, that does not mean there is an inherent right to work at all and one could find themselves in some pretty deep problems if they are caught working illegally in Thailand. And let me just go on and say this: Thai Immigration and the Employment Department under the Labour Department, they are not unsophisticated; they are not unaware of the digital economy. Now as with everything, law looks backwards; bureaucracies have a tendency to do so as well and they get into their ruts and they do things the way that they do but when they change, especially here in Thailand, the change is pretty darn sudden and when that change occurs you are looking at a situation wherein you could see everything just change on a dime, just switch on a dime especially from a policy standpoint, maybe not practical application quite yet. 

The thing I am trying to impart to people, and I have been accused of this many times, trying to scaremonger people to get them to go get a Work Permit or something. Well they should be scaremongered to go get a Work Permit because they are doing something illegal in Thailand. I have seen people get deported for work authorization violations and more importantly, this isn't for scaremongering purposes, it is for informational purposes which is yes Thailand clearly restricts foreigners working in Thailand and that means all work, working online is no exception. If you want to work in Thailand, you have to seek work authorization.