Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing issues pertaining to well Immigration Policy, and look, I have discussed this in other videos. There has been a lot that has happened in the last 18 months with regard to Immigration Policies; it has been kind of a roller coaster ride. On top of that, we have seen a pretty good high season overall I would say. We've seen a large influx of Western Foreigners, and as I have discussed in other videos, they have run the spectrum from yeah good, great tourists, or would-be expats coming in and maybe investing some money into the country and trying to set up something, or just tourists coming in and going to have a good time, and they have their good time, they leave, but we are also seeing a lot of folks coming and working illegally; we are seeing a lot of folks coming in and setting up all kinds of living arrangements that are not in line with Thai Law, for example in terms of trying to effectively own property, things of this nature. Working illegally has been an issue that has come up a lot from the foreigners, excuse me, that has come up from certain aspects of the foreign community that is concerning to Thai Policy makers. And I have been talking about this for over a year now going back into the old coalition government and then even into what I called the Rump Coalition Government and again Immigration Policy was, and kind of, there was a reason for it, it was sort of schizophrenic especially during the sort of Bhumjaithai-Phue Thai Coalition that began in 2023 and it just got increasingly in my opinion, kind of attenuated with the realities on the ground of what Thailand needs in terms of good Immigration Policy, and this is in many different ways, and the thinking was they were trying to up tourism numbers. If you go back when Paetongtarn Shinawatra was coming into the Premiership, not only the 30-day Visa exemption went from 30 days up to 60 days, but then we also saw the creation of the DTV which is sort of a very nebulous kind of visa that in my opinion, had issues since people started using it because it really wasn't explained exactly what the parameters were, and as I have explained to folks, I think that there will continue to be some issues probably in terms of them adapting it, but maybe not. We could see it even more sort of, I won't say "extreme" but even more fundamental changes possibly to that visa. 

And I think what is important for folks to understand is Thailand is coming under a new Parliament now that is arguably more unified than anything I have much seen since I have been here, and that is almost 20 years. And the ramifications of that could be significant, especially in light of the fact that locals here in Thailand - I did videos a couple weeks back, it was off of an article where I can't remember the full title, but basically was in the Bangkok Post where it said Phuket residents were "up in arms" over issues pertaining to foreigners staying in Thailand, their visa status, their activities once they were here - a lot of locals are concerned about that stuff. We are starting to see further commentary in the same vein from folks that are in an entirely different echelon of the sort of if you will power structure here in Thailand. 

What got me thinking of making this video was a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Extended Middle East War may see crisis security measures from government further lowering arrivals. But this is really to the point here. This video is being made in a different sort of thrust from that article, and I urge those who are watching this video, go check out thaiexaminer.com, to read that in full. That said, quoting directly: "On Saturday, Thailand's Immigration Bureau announced ramped-up screening of arrivals to address threats linked to the Middle East conflict. Around 30 people were refused entry over a 30-day period. On Monday, Nantiwat Samart, a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs Official and former Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Agency," - so that is something akin to the CIA in an American context. Now it is a little different because CIA strictly speaking isn't chartered for domestic activities although you can get into a whole analysis of the interpretation of all of that, but long story short, we are talking about somebody that worked for Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Intelligence Service for Thailand saying, "Hey, we need to be looking at this Immigration System, these Immigration procedures." That said, quoting further: "urged the government to shift focus from tourist numbers to quality and security." As I have discussed in other videos, there has been a major paradigm shift in Thailand over the past year, especially in light of the matters that have gone on especially last summer at the border with Cambodia where I have said look, there has been a paradigm shift. There was one about 12 years ago where Thailand stopped really thinking of Immigration as primarily an administrative function and began viewing it as much more of a law enforcement function. The era or tenure of “Big Joke”, Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn's tenure as the Head of Thai Immigration kind of marks the beginning of that shift, although it kind of started happening a little prior to that, and then we saw things occurring at the border which saw things ramp up even into a national security framework. And now, we are seeing some of the ramifications of this in light of the fact now we have a former Deputy Director of the NIA saying, "hey immigration, you need to be maybe refocusing away from volume and start looking at quality and security."

Quoting further: "Rising fears persist that a prolonged Middle East War could push Thailand to impose drastic measures despite falling tourist arrivals." Quoting further: "Nantiwat Samart issued the call on March 16 through a post on his public Facebook page. He previously served as Secretary to the Minister of Foreign affairs. He also held the position of Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Agency. In his message, he said Thailand must remain open to visitors. However, he warned that the current entry system exposes the country to criminal exploitation. Therefore, he urged authorities to strengthen screening procedures before travellers enter the Kingdom." Quoting further: "Former Intelligence Official warns Thailand's open tourist entry system risks criminal abuse and security gaps. Mr. Nantiwat criticised what he described as a permissive environment for illegality. According to him, weak screening can allow scammers, cyber criminals and foreign mafia networks to enter. Furthermore, he warned that some visitors arrive intending to work illegally or settle in Thailand."

I have been talking about this for a while. This isn't an "I told you so" video, it's a video because this is how momentum works in Thailand. If you have come here to work here, you need to get your ducks in a row with regard to work authorization because this is the kind of talk that happens before we have significant crackdowns; that's just a fact. I've seen it play out many, many different times. Now I'm not saying that anything is a foregone conclusion. I don't know what this is exactly going to look like, and no, I'm not engaging in doom porn or anything else, like a lot of people will say to me and burn me in the comments for bringing this up, but when a former member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and former Deputy Director of the equivalent of the CIA in Thailand is saying things like this, listen. 

Quoting further: "As a result, he said Immigration Authorities must verify tourist intentions before entry. In particular, he said the visa application process offers the most effective screening mechanism. Applicants, he said, should show a clean personal record. They should also demonstrate sufficient income to support their stay. In addition, authorities should confirm that travellers intend genuine tourism activities." Again, the crux of this is coming down to work authorization. And I know people, "ahh, it's no big deal and shirk it off and all of this"; the Thais take it seriously. I'm not voicing opinions that are out of line with Thai thinking on these matters. Quoting further: "He also criticize the focus on raw tourist numbers." - and I've been talking about this for a while because a lot of these policies were brought forth in an effort to goose if you will the tourism numbers in light of Paetongtarn Shinawatra coming into the Premiership about a year or so ago. That was purely the reason this all happened. If you watched what was going on - I made the videos at the time - that was what happened, and we saw the tourism numbers really heavily spike or at least ostensible arrival numbers heavily spike in the aftermath of the extension of the visa exemption from 30 to 60 days, as well as the creation of things like the DTV, it caused numbers to go up, but again among those numbers, as this person is pointing out, are probably folks and at least some, that Thailand may not otherwise really want here, especially on a long-term basis, and especially working or operating illegally. Quoting further: "Instead, he argued that Thailand should prioritize higher-quality visitors. These tourists, he said, should have financial capacity and legitimate travel plans. However, visitors who plan to seek work or residence should use proper Visa channels." 

That is what I have been talking about. I've been talking about it for a while and now that somebody for lack of a better term of that magnitude is also voicing similar concerns, that's a harbinger of a possible sea change coming with a new Parliament coming in, being convened as of basically the time of this video. I don't know what the outcome of this will be, but what I do expect is to see probably major shifts with regard to policy on Immigration here in the Kingdom of Thailand.