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In Defense of...Myself

Transcript of the above video:

Every once in a while, I take a minute to do an op-ed and every once in a while, very occasionally, I don’t think I have done one of these for a number of months, I kind of take a minute to defend myself against some of my more vocal critics either in the comment section or as in the case in the video we are going to talk about today, from emails I get from random people that watch my videos. I certainly appreciate our subscribers; I certainly appreciate folks that watch our videos. We hope it does provide some information.

Major criticism I always see in some of these meaner emails is “You are only doing this for promotional purposes”. Yes, there is an element of this that is promotional certainly but there is also an element of this where we have been trying and I think rather successfully, especially over this past summer, to get out timely information regarding Immigration to Thailand, and the United States for that matter, and other matters pertaining to travel in both directions to provide some insight for folks that are stuck in really difficult, really bad situations. I deal with these folks every day and I hope people understand, Yeah, certainly the brand of the firm is on these videos and things but at the same time I hope people see that we are trying to provide some valid and genuine information that can be insightful to people who are just trying to get from point A to point B.

A recent email that came to me, and I don’t know who it came from; I am not even going to quote the email address, I will just go ahead and quote from some of the content in here, the vast majority of it actually.

Quoting directly: “Hello, Sorry but your video hit a nerve. I have held my tongue. I watch you all the time but this exact issue is mine as well.” The title of this is Video: Insurance Documentation Issues and Thai Visas

Quoting further: “You defend Thai Immigration way too much.” I will get to that in a minute. Quoting further: “There has been a simple form for the last year that a foreign insurance company fills out and it was acceptable. I have used it 2 times. Now it is no longer acceptable. Thai Insurance is sub-standard and excessively expensive. I have to buy 2 insurance policies to live here now. That is a slap in the face to any retiree here. A huge loss of income at 35,000 or higher. Start viewing these items from a foreigner’s point of view.” I will get to that in a moment. Quoting further: “If you are too scared to view a retiree situation dealing with Immigration, don’t talk about it.” I will get into that in a second, let me finish quoting, “but for God sakes stop defending this iron rule of law with retirees. I have done everything required. They just keep changing the rules, not us”.

So, going back, it says “YOU DEFEND” all in capitals. “YOU DEFEND Thai Immigration way too much.” Let me be clear. I am not defending anyone. What I am trying to provide is insight in how the Thai Immigration system works. Part of that insight is understanding the policy behind why they are doing what they are doing so that you can understand how to deal with it in a practical sense. When you understand the “why” of something, when you understand the policy behind a given law, it makes it, I hesitate to say “easier” but it gives you a framework in which to then deal with the practical applications of that law. Once you understand the “why” you can then understand a little bit better what they are looking for, okay?

Getting further down here, “Thai Insurance is sub-standard and excessively expensive”. I have heard this a lot. I am not going to get into all that. The fact of the matter is, it is a current requirement right now. Going further, “that is a slap in the face to any retiree here.”  I think you are viewing this from the wrong angle. Again, it is the “why”. You need to look at why there is this policy. From Thai Immigration’s perspective, they are looking at a situation where folks who wish to come here and retire are in a higher age range than folks that are less than 60 years old and therefore cannot apply for a Retirement Visa. Those folks are actually far more susceptible to the most negative of consequences associated with the Covid-19 infection; most notably death. I don’t really wish to get macabre in this video but Yeah, it is a possibility that foreigners could come to Thailand, they could get really, really sick as a result of a Covid-19 infection and that can cause hospitalization for a prolonged period of time. It can even cause death and there are costs associated with that. The policy reason for instituting insurance for retirees had to do with the cost borne by the Thai medical system for folks of an older age who were living in Thailand and came down with health issues. A lot of those folks actually didn’t have insurance prior to the requirement and that was putting a great strain financially on the medical system here. To take it a step further, now that we have Covid-19 to deal with, again the Thai Government’s policy reason behind this is “We need to deal with these foreign people who are coming into our country and possibly getting infected with something that could have a drastically negative impact on them that could require a great deal of medical care associated with it or it could even unfortunate as it is, it could kill them and there are costs associated with all that”.  So, I am not defending this. What I am trying to explain is the “Why” so that you can better deal with your own visa situation.

Quoting further: “Start viewing these items from a foreigner’s point of view.” I like to think I do that. I was a foreign national in Thailand for a number of years. I have been through the entire Immigration process. I have become a Thai citizen. I try to view this stuff through the lens of a foreigner and I hope that the viewers of this channel will see that as best I can I try to provide as much insight as I can from a foreigner’s perspective. Again, the “why” behind the policy, to me will provide you with the insight necessary to make rational, informed decisions regarding your Immigration status here so as to give yourself the smoothest time possible once you are in Thailand.

Quoting further: “If you are too scared to view a retiree situation dealing with Immigration, don’t talk about it.” Well, I hope that this video will show you I am not too scared to talk about retiree situations. I have talked about retiree situations for a fair amount of time now. The fundamental fact of it is I am not in the business of making commentaries all the time about what the Thais are doing or if what they are doing is bad or good. Unfortunately, in what I do, we have to deal with the situation as it stands. I can’t make a bunch of videos that just sit around complaining about the situation because I don’t see how that serves anyone. It doesn’t get anything done and moreover, it doesn’t provide any insight to folks who actually watch these videos.

Quoting further: “But for God sakes stop defending this iron rule of law with retirees.” I don’t know what that means. The rules are the rules. They have changed them frequently. I know it can be frustrating, the changes that they have made with respect to retirees, but I don’t know exactly what you are talking about here.

Finally, “I have done everything required. They just keep changing the rules, not us.” I do feel for you. It is a difficult situation to be in. Unfortunately, the Non-immigrant Visa framework is something that is subject to a substantial amount of discretion, especially the Retiree Visa. The Retiree Visa is entirely a creature of regulation. It is not specifically stipulated in Thai Immigration Law, namely the Thai Immigration Act of ’79 and so yes it can be much more a victim of the vicissitude of the regulatory changes and it can seem to change at the drop of a hat. It is unfortunate. Again, I sympathize.

Long story short, I am not too scared to talk about this and moreover, I hope people see that what I am trying to do is at least provide some insight to maybe give you a little bit of a heads up, a little bit of advantage in dealing with your own visa situation here in the Kingdom of Thailand.