Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing proposed long-term Thai Visas and a 10 year "cap" placed on these. As I have discussed in other videos, there is a lot of misconception out there about 1) whether or not these are Residence Visas, and No, Permanent Residence is a status here in Thailand. These Visas do not comport with that status, they are what we could call long-stay visas. In a lay person's sense, yes they provide what can be described to say 10 years residence possibly. Again, all of this is only approved in principle. We don't know what the regulatory structure is going to look like but what is interesting and what we do know, it was well articulated in a recent letter I believe, a recent correspondence to the Post Bag at the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, and the correspondence was titled: It’s not just visas.

Quoting directly: "It may be of interest to any foreigner who is intending to apply for these new visas if further clarification was provided as regards: 

a) There is a 10-year "cap" on the renewability of the LTR Visa. (Long Term Resident) Quoting further: "Where is the logic in this? 

How will wealthy foreigner workers or retirees deal with a "cap", after 10 years? Does it mean these people can only live in Thailand for 10 years? 

Why limit the length of the validity for wealthy people? 

What happens after 10 years?" 

Well I think to sort of sum up my thinking on the answer to those questions is at root it is a Non-Immigrant Visa. Residence is an Immigrant Visa. In fact you get Immigrant visas in order to come and go from Thailand once you are in Residence status here in the Kingdom. These newly proposed visas, they are all Non-Immigrant. They may be really long Non-Immigrant visas similar to for example the Thailand Elite Visa, the so-called Smart Visas, these are also further longer term Non-Immigrant visas but at the end of the day they are Non-Immigrant visas. Those who are in non-immigrant status, they do have a time horizon just sort of built in to their Immigration status. 

So, the thing to take away from this video and to understand about this notion of a "cap" is I suspect that it is not impossible to get a second 10-year Visa but yes your status will come to an end at a certain point. Again, we don't know exactly what this is going to look like but based on what we are seeing, just some speculative analysis, you get 10 years and then possibly you could get another 10 years down the road after you have used up your initial Visa. Again, the thing to take away from this is at the end of the day, they are all Non-Immigrant visas.