Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the addition of another 200 Immigration Officers here in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: 200 more Immigration Officers to help over Chinese New Year. Busy times ahead for tourism as Thailand-China Visa deal takes effect in March.

Yes, as we have discussed in other videos, Thailand and China have inked a deal wherein both countries will now provide Visa exemption to each other's nationals traveling to each other's country.  So Thais going to China can now enter China Visa-free; Chinese coming to Thailand, specifically mainland Chinese coming to Thailand can enter Thailand Visa-free for 30 days. That was initially a temporary thing that was set up in order to take us through high season here in Thailand but it now appears permanent beginning in March. So the temporary Decree goes through March, it ends and then the permanent if you will Decree continues from that point forward. Quoting directly: "The Immigration Bureau is planning to recruit 200 additional Officers to help speed up services at international airports ahead of an expected influx of Chinese tourists this month. The Immigration Bureau will recruit 200 more Officers this month to ease the workload and speed up the Immigration process especially at arrival halls at International Airports he said." Yeah, that is a fair point. If there is going to be a major influx of foreign nationals coming in, in this case for Chinese New Year, it stands to reason we would need some more Officers. Quoting further: "Volunteers will also help Immigration Police and checkpoints will be increased he said. Technology including body cams and drones will be used to improve safety, he added." Interesting, okay. "Quoting further: "Safety protocols will be stepped up in popular areas including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Phuket, Pol Maj Gen Siriwat said." Quoting further: "A new "One Destination" scheme - a collaborative policy proposed by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin during a recent ASEAN meeting - would allow tourists to travel to any country in the region, adding more economic value and spurring tourism." 

So yeah, a lot going on here, but long story short, they are definitely adding Immigration Officers here at Thai Immigration. So again, this will probably be a good thing for folks coming and going through airports because it will mean there are going to be more staff on hand to handle the workload. At the same time, Officers that get hired into Government don't tend to go anywhere, so when high season subsides what is going to happen to those folks? It has been my experience in the past that oftentimes they are rerouted to Inspection Divisions and we actually see heavier scrutiny on Non-Immigrant Visas in sort of the low season after we have had a major spike in hiring at Thai Immigration. I remember some years back that is what occurred. There was a major hiring thing right before a high season, high season hit and then in the aftermath especially that summer in the low season, we saw a lot more scrutiny, a lot more scrutiny associated especially with the Blacklist as I recall at that time. Whether or not that is going to happen here remains to be seen. We will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.