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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawVisa NewsThe Hobgoblin of Thai Bureaucracy?

The Hobgoblin of Thai Bureaucracy?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests we are discussing photocopies. There is a quote from Emerson that says "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". It was actually quoted I believe also in the dicta to a Supreme Court Opinion by Justice Hugo Black if I recall correctly, this notion that "consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" and I thought of this when I was reading this recent article from Thai Visa, thaivisa.com, the article was titled: Netizens Debate- Why are People in Thailand Still Being Asked for so Many Photocopies? I am here to tell you, this one is vexing to me on a personal level as well. Quoting directly: "The habit in Thailand of people being asked for countless paper photo copies is once again in the news. Thais complain that they have Smart Cards but are still asked for paper photocopies wasting valuable resources for no reason. Expats in Thailand have similar gripes. They are often asked to reinvent the wheel by constantly being asked for the same copies of passports and the like despite the fact that they are all on record. Yet still people are asked for paper copies when doing Government business." 

Perhaps I should not have made this specific to Thailand because I am here to tell you, when we do filings for the US, and yes it is possible to do various things digitally, but it ends up in my opinion being better to go ahead and file on paper for a number reasons. Yeah the duplicative nature even in the US Immigration process of documents, you will just keep providing the same things oftentimes over and over. On top of that, Immigration now going to the US and coming from the US over here to Thailand, we just see stuff done in triplicate and quadruplicate, especially documentation, I have done videos about this if you are doing connecting flights into Thailand because all these different authorities want to see all this documentation. It kind of reminds me of the absurdity that people described in the Soviet system. I remember in law school there was I think it was a poem talking about the Chancery, the Court of Chancery in the UK, and how there were just stacks of paper everywhere, they were all mildewing and back to the point of this video, it really does beg the question as to "why do we need all these photocopies? it does seem rather redundant." I am here to tell you I have also seen at Immigration some of their storage facilities where certain Immigration case files on a given person are like bale practically. Also when you go to file for example Permanent Residence, I mean it is like a phone book, the documentation. Some of it is definitely necessary, it is definitely relevant but there are certain things like they note here passports, photo copies wasting time just constant copies, things that they have already got. It does seem a little bit over the top and I just thought I would go ahead and make this video. This is kind of more of an opinion piece but I think it is noteworthy and hats off to Thai Visa for bringing it up, the fact that you know just this never-ending stream of photocopies it seems to be rather ubiquitous across the bureaucracy in Thailand and the question really should be asked, “To what end?" "Why are we doing this?"