Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing re-entry permits. I am not specifically discussing either Thai re-entry permits nor am I discussing specifically US re-entry permits.

I am simply discussing re-entry permits generally because I think as the title would suggest, I think they are redundant and annoying and I will tell you why I think they are redundant.

What is the point of a Visa honestly, if you need a reentry permit? It looks to me like a bit of a cash crap quite honestly. I think we are talking about a situation where the bureaucracy may have seen be it the Thai, the US whatever, I've seen that "hey this is another way we can get a little bit of money out of the folks that are immigrants and they don't really have any rights with respect to the Immigration system, so we are going to go ahead and do it."

The other thing is I particularly dislike reentry permits in the context of Lawful Permanent Residents in the United States. I can understand the argument for re-entry permits in the context of Non-Immigrant Visas here in Thailand because Non-Immigrant Visas are by definition non-immigrant. So when you have this status from an extension within Thailand, you need this re-entry permit to sort of keep that status alive if you will, to sort of maintain your status. I can understand the argument. I don't know of any other country in Asia to the best of my knowledge although there probably are other ones I don't know any country in Asia that actually utilizes re-entry permits the way in which Thailand does, so it is what it is. The system is what it is for Thailand.

On the US side I find re-entry permits really, really redundant especially in the context of Lawful Permanent Residents in the United States and this has only come about in earnest, when I first started re-entry permits generally will not a major concern. If you were returning to the United States on a regular basis nobody was really giving you a lot of hassle and then CBP, US Customs and Border Protection started really hassling folks coming in and out that had Lawful Permanent Residence status and I still to this day don't really understand why, what is the underlying policy of quite honestly bothering people about their status. They are a resident; they have residence, right of abode in the United States. Move on. Now I can understand extreme circumstances, you have been gone for 5 years, what are you doing? Yeah it makes some sense but I have heard of people, “Oh I was gone for 8 months and I'm coming back through and CBP is giving me the runaround." Did I ever want to abandon my residence? No, of course I didn't. I don't know why they are asking me all this stuff." Again, I just find re-entry permits to be very, very odd when you consider that you have already gotten a permit for lawful status in that country.