Transcript of the above video:

Today we're going to talk about work permits specifically a recent article in The Nation newspaper which is the major English speaking newspaper here in Thailand. The headline of this article is "E-Work Permits Plan for Migrant Workers in Phuket" and to quote just quickly on sentence from this "Phuket officials have announced the launch of an electronic work permit a.k.a e-work permit for migrant workers from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos to become effective on November first this year.

Okay so a couple of things, clearly this doesn't really directly impact our English-speaking audience on this channel but I do think there's a possibility that this might be a hint of things to come for most of people who would be watching this video. Because I think when they rule something this out, first of all it needs to be understood the Cambodian, Laos and Burmese migrants that work in Thailand, the numbers of them are very staggering. In fact, at Suancu which is one of the main immigration offices in Bangkok metro area, that basically that entire office is dedicated to dealing with migrants wishing to work in Thailand and maintain status in Thailand. Those three nationalities, they don't deal with anybody else.

So that kind of gives us a hint to the overall numbers of these folks that are in the country in looking to maintain status. I bring this up because I think it's very probable that we're going to see an e-work permit regime at some point if for no other reason than the fact that the paperwork associated with this stuff is rather staggering. Now the question becomes "How soon will this be happening?" And I don't think it will be happening any time within the next 18 to 24 months but I think it's rather promising that this is being implemented for these kinds of migrant groups because it might just be seen at one point that "Well, look we can digitize this entire process thereby making it easier for everyone."

Now what I find interesting is I suspect the actual paperwork book itself will probably be maintained because it's easier for one to identify one's self with a paper book rather than some sort of digital card or maybe it's some sort of receipt or something like this. I don't think that's very probable. I suspect the book will continue to exist at least in the foreseeable future, three to five years. That being said, all the back end stuff could possibly be digitized. Now what does this mean for the average person here in Thailand? What it means is that the process could become quite a bit faster at some point in the near future. If that was to happen and everything was dealt with online, it might become even more convenient as one may be able presumably, if most of the documentation is digitized it may be possible to file such stuff online.

Again, this may be sort of high in the sky fantasies at least for our staff to avoid having to deal with a great deal of paperwork associated with this stuff. But I don't think it's improbable to think at some point relatively in the near future, we could be seeing a digitized form of work authorization here in Thailand.