Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the possibility of a Schengen style visa system. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Visa differences impede progress towards a Schengen-style south east Asia. So this notion of Schengen Style, let's get into that. Europe, specifically what is called the Schengen area, has this system whereby the participating countries allow folks who have a Schengen Visa to enter their country even if they entered another country via that Schengen Visa. So what are we talking about? It's possible to apply for a Schengen Visa with one of the Schengen members and then upon admission to that member state, if you then want to go ahead and cross the border and go to another Schengen state, you are allowed to do that in Europe. 

They have been talking about possibly promulgating rules and creating a plan here in Thailand to replicate that - not Thailand but here in Southeast Asia - to sort of replicate that in an ASEAN context; ASEAN being the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 

So again Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Visa differences impede progress toward a Schengen-style south east Asia. Quoting directly, I'm going to quote a small excerpt, I urge those who are watching this, video go check out that article in detail for more insight. Quoting directly: "Chief Executive of VietSense Travel, Nguyen Van Tai, said that the ASEAN Block should not rush into a common visa as political insecurity issues had not yet been resolved." Yeah I talked about this in a video made contemporaneously with this one. Look these different nation states here in Southeast Asia, trying to make an analogy to the EU is really not completely appropriate; it is apples and bowling balls, we are talking about two different things. Look, the economies of the various countries of ASEAN are wildly different; the political structures in many of these countries are wildly different; they have entered into ASEAN, it's kind of a loose Confederation if you will insofar as they have certain things that they mutually benefit from by working together primarily in a foreign policy and a foreign trade context, but with the exception of somewhat freer movement amongst those who hold the passports of the countries in this region, foreign nationals aren't granted any major benefits by dint of being within ASEAN, and I think it is rather unlikely that we will see anything akin to a Schengen-style program in Southeast Asia anytime soon because again quite honestly many of these nations are just too dissimilar. 

Now could we see some kind of an agreement between certain countries within ASEAN that then grows over time to encompass the whole block? Maybe. But again I think it is going to take a long time. The other thing to remember is different Immigration Authorities have different mandates; they have different laws, and the Immigration apparatus in each of these countries, I heard them once described or the Thai Immigration Apparatus I should say, once described as being fiercely independent. I have to presume many other Immigration apparati if you will, apparatuses, throughout the region, are probably going to be similar. So again, I think it's possible we have some sort of pan-ASEAN Visa way down the line, but I think it's a long time coming so don't hold your breath.