Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Immigration and whether or not a more “laissez-faire” approach would be better all-around in many ways. Better for tourism; maybe a better approach just generally.

I started thinking about this as a result of reading a recent article from ASEAN NOW, that's aseannow.com, the article is titled: PM Drops the ball again as "unfaithful" Thailand demands better. There is a lot in here. This is kind of an excerpt. I urge those watching this to go and check that out. Quoting directly: "But who wants all this aggravation when taking a holiday - shouldn't everything be as simple as possible for visitors? Yes people coming to my house should remove their shoes and I may well direct them to a part of the sofa to sit on. But do they need to be told about how they sit, when they can get up, what they can say, where they can walk around, what they can and can't touch? Of course not; a guest is a guest and they should always be made to feel at home. Thailand needs to remember that and stop all the rules and regulations and hark back to a simpler time when people were attracted to the country because of its laissez-faire attitude." I couldn't agree more with the author of this, again the article is titled: PM drops the ball again as "unfaithful" Thailand demands better, aseannow.com.

One of the reasons that I first came to Thailand, was truly attracted to it and staying here was the laissez-faire approach. Now, I am not saying that everything about that needed to be maintained in perpetuity. There were certain in my opinion drawbacks to that. There were a number of criminal elements in Thailand years ago that simply aren't here basically because of a more assiduous approach by Thai Law enforcement, Thai Immigration enforcement that you don't see. But the relaxed atmosphere, If you were qualified, if you had the means to come to Thailand and you weren't somebody that was trying to, essentially trying to be a ne'er-do-well or trying to exploit the system here to negative ends, you could basically live your life and go about your business in the very relaxed manner and I think in many ways this was one of the primary attractions for many foreigners who would come to Thailand some years ago. So maybe, and I am not saying across the board but maybe there is something to be said for perhaps streamlining some of this immigration stuff and maybe essentially cleaning out the clutter of all of these requirements and all of this just essentially nosiness and almost standoffishness by the Thai Government with respect to bringing people here into the Kingdom of Thailand who want to be tourists.