Transcript of the above video: 

I have had a lot of folks ask me over the past year or so who I think is ultimately responsible for making determinations on Thai Immigration Policy. Well I think that often happens in a consensus basis. The Cabinet meets, they discuss these things, and they iron things out but some things have come up, I have noticed a number of occasions recently, various discussions talking about Immigration Policy and there seems to be some input from for example Public Health Officials, and the CCSA, as well as obviously from the Prime Minister and the Interior Ministry, the Head of Immigration himself.

But I thought this was really interesting. This came up in a number of different things that I have read, research and things over the past few weeks and so I decided to go ahead and make this video. This first article is called: Government Mulls Visa Rule Overhaul for Expat, Tourists, Investors. This is from April 12, 2021, in the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com. This particular excerpt I thought was interesting, quoting: "Quote “Immigration rules are the key pain point" for foreigners working in Thailand." That is quoting this individual, Chayothid Kridakorn, 54, a former head of JP Morgan Securities (Thailand) who is leading a Government task force to smooth investment into Thailand said in a phone interview from Bangkok: “we want to make it easier for foreigners to live and work in Thailand." Then I found this in another article. This came from Asia Times, that is asiatimes.com, the article is titled: Thailand Lures the Rich as Tourism Revival Hope Fades. Certainly the news regarding the future of Tourism at least throughout the forthcoming few months has not been great. Quoting directly: “Quote: "You are not going to see 40 million tourists back anytime soon so we need to make some changes there." said Chayothid Kridakorn, 54, former head of JP Morgan Securities (Thailand) and current advisor to Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow the Government's Chief Economic Chief Economic Policy Director. In January, Chayothid quit the private sector to head a government task force set up by Supattanapong to facilitate foreign direct investment and promote foreign exchange earning sectors in Thailand's post-COVID economy." So interestingly enough, there appears to be a task force on this that seems to have some bailiwick pertaining to Thai Immigration in a general context, at least from the standpoint of things like Immigration. So interesting. I noticed that in more than one periodical, not just these two but these two I just went ahead and quoted because they provided the most insight. 

It remains to be seen exactly how this is going to pertain and play out with respect to Immigration but I thought it was interesting. There does appear to be certain groups out there that are trying to smooth out the overall Thai Immigration process. We will certainly keep people updated on this channel as the situation progresses.