Transcript of the above video: 

For those who wonder if I keep a finger on the pulse of what is going on in expat Thailand, a few of you now have sent me links to this. There is apparently a video floating around YouTube now talking about some “secret plan” to destroy the dreams of expats in Thailand blah, blah, blah.

Okay, yeah, every now and then if you can't tell, I'm almost 8,000 videos deep now. I've been doing this for free now since October of 2016. Yes, there's a promotional element, yes, it's for the firm but I hope who people who watch my channel know, profit motive is not solely the reason I do this. I do this to dispel nonsense, and I'm hoping that this video will do that. So over on this person's channel where they are talking about destroying the expat dreams - and apparently this thing has gone semi viral, and everybody is watching it - oh because he took some photos of Thai Immigration or whatever. I didn't watch the whole video; I don't care that much. I did read in the description and yeah there is some of this coming together that I can see where it looks like a plan, but I have heard it said many, many times, never ascribe to malice what can be blamed on incompetence, okay, and that is I think primarily what we are seeing here. 

Now if you have been keeping up with my channel, you know that we are in definitely a major state of flux politically here in Thailand. We have just seen the Prime Minister suspended; this is the second prime ministerial suspension - well in one case removal - by the Constitution Court here in Thailand in about a year. It just is what it is; Thai politics is what it is. Meanwhile, for the last two years we have had this rather interesting Coalition insofar as at the Ministry of Interior there was sort of one faction and then over at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there was another faction. These two things, their policies were not always aligning, so the notion that there's a plan on the part of the Thais to somehow destroy Western dreams, expat dreams is pretty nonsensical: they're not thinking of that, okay? What we are seeing here is policies operating at cross purposes and we are also seeing things in a dramatic state of flux at the moment due to political considerations. So I'm not really wanting to point more attention at the video because I think it's really getting people whipped up about something that I don't really think is something to get all that whipped up about. That said, they are pointing at specific developments that I have been talking about at length for a long, long time now, most notably things involving banking which I have gone into - I have made videos contemporaneously with this one - going specifically into that which will be released in the forthcoming couple of days. Also again as I've discussed in other videos, the prior prime minister seem to be under some kind of influence of the World Economic Forum; there seem to be some enthrallment with this OECD stuff regarding international tax and banking compliance and things. I think frankly we have turned a corner here seeing the suspension of the Prime Minister and likely, I can't say for certain how that's going to play out, but I think she's probably not going to be in the picture in the longer term of things at least in terms of Prime Minister. Again, I can't say for certain but that is what it looks like from this vantage point at this moment. I also think this low season is really, really bad. I think the policy of doing an abrupt about face on cannabis was not a good idea and we will likely see major fallout in both the real estate sector and tourism and even in the business community as a result of that, and we are all still dealing with a very low, low season. All of this I expect will culminate in the powers that be within policy-making circle saying “whoa, whoa, whoa”, we need to do some things to attract foreigners back to Thailand and not the way we were trying to do it before, which I'll get into in a minute. Things like the Destination Thailand Visa were ill-conceived and frankly not well executed under the circumstances and they have resulted in these problems that we are seeing.

But that said, I am going to go through this and do it from the description in the video, rather than the video itself, so quoting directly: "A British retiree did everything by the book." Well what does that mean, first of all? I mean there are ways to do things and ways not to do them. As I have discussed in the past, people got into the Destination Thailand Visa thinking it was one thing and I was talking about it at the time, it was not all that it looked to be. Now I am not saying that is what this person did but again it depends on context. Meanwhile also, something else to bear in mind and this was a classic, what do you want to call it, a classic misnomer if you will or source of miscommunication in the old days of the Forum days here in Thailand  -Thai Visa was especially, it wasn't a culprit - but this phenomenon would occur on Thai Visa and I now see it because all these YouTubers have now showed up and they know everything about how everything works and they present individual cases as if they are a bright line or broad rule, okay?

Look the exact facts of a given case of how someone showed up to Thailand, how they tried to get into a sort of Visa status, how they tried to deal with banking, it varies from case to case. So saying "oh this one guy has this horrible problem, that means everybody is having the problem," it is not necessarily the case and it's the reason I started making these videos and frankly I don't know why, but now other YouTubers seem to think that this is a way to gain likes and clicks and hits and whatever, and they talk nonsense frankly, or they use very precise language to describe fuzzy mechanisms, or they use very precise scenarios and then apply it on a broad basis and say this is what everyone's going through, and it's just not always the case.

So, “he moved to Thailand for comfort and adventure, only to see his life unravel - his bank account frozen, his visa in jeopardy, and his savings wiped out.” Well, first of all, “savings wiped out”. We haven’t seen any situation involving banks taking anyone’s savings. I don’t know where they are getting that.  Maybe, again you go through deeper in the video, and he personally had to spend a lot of money to try and maintain himself here. Well I know a lot of folks that think they know something about coming in to Thailand, they don’t consult anybody and they come in here and they make a lot of mistakes that cost them a lot of money and I am not saying it’s a bad thing to do it yourself but sometimes it is not a terrible idea to gain some insight before you start going down these various roads. That said, we have been talking at length in many prior videos about anecdotal evidence and stuff we have been hearing about directly from clients of folks who come in here and have their bank accounts, they set up a bank account on a Tourist Visa or even a Destination Thailand Visa, and the banks have turned around and said, “we are going to close that account.” That is happening.  We have talked about that. Again it is a by-product oftentimes of people coming in who haven’t talked to somebody before they get here, gotten their ducks in a row correctly; they have instead made assumptions and presumptions by looking at stuff that hyperbolically or otherwise is describing things a certain way here in Thailand, that may not be the way that they are working or using a very precise example to say that that applies to everyone. Again one-size-fits-all analysis is a hallmark unfortunately of stuff you see on YouTube now these days and it can get people into real trouble. It is one of the reasons I formed this channel to begin with.

That said, quoting further: “But as you’ll see, his story is part of a much bigger collapse.” Well calm down. Quoting further: “Here’s what’s really happening. Banking Apocalypse: - I have already done the videos on this banking stuff, so I am getting a little... that said, quoting further: “Major Thai banks are freezing and restricting foreign accounts at record rates, making it nearly impossible for retirees to access their own money or meet visa requirements.” No. They are not freezing people’s accounts and taking their money. We are not hearing about any of that, okay? We are hearing about them contacting people who did not come in on proper visas and saying “hey, what are you now doing?” and if you are not in a proper visa, we are going to go ahead and close your account. Come get your money.” Is what we are hearing a lot or “we are going to wire it back to wherever it came from.” And again, I stress, this is coming from people making assumptions of things they are hearing on the internet without talking to someone before they come in. That is a big one. I have just made videos on that; I just did an ALERT on that specifically. That said, quoting further: “Over 12,000 expats have already lost their legal status this year alone.” Well, what does that number mean? We have done the video on 4,400 arrests in the past 9 months for working illegally. That could account for part of that 12,000. I would really love to know where these numbers come from because quite frankly, a lot of times these numbers come from sources that okay, it’s not exactly the most precise at the best of times and frankly, Immigration is not wont to release their own data. That is just a fact. Anybody that has been around this for a fairly long period of time kind of knows that. That said, quoting further: “Digital Bureaucracy Trap: New electronic travel systems are being used to screen, track, and ultimately filter out anyone who doesn’t meet ever-tightening criteria for residency and financial stability.” No, I mean, yes and no. I have done the videos on this. Yeah, the APPS system, The PIBIC system. They know people coming in with criminal records. As far as are they able to check you banking on the way in? No, that’s not possible right now. That said, quoting further: “Healthcare Crisis: Medical costs are soaring with aggressive debt collection and insurance requirements that most retirees can’t afford.” That is hyperbole, frankly. Look, we have talked about the insurance requirements, especially for the O-A Retirement Visa, that exists. There is an alternative to that. You can do an O Retirement Visa that doesn’t have insurance requirements. Meanwhile, “medical costs soaring”, I don’t know where they are getting that from. Quoting further: “Hospitals now routinely deny treatment or freeze accounts for unpaid bills.” Hospitals don't have the ability to freeze bank accounts per se. Now again, are you in a lawsuit with somebody and there's a judgment and then the judgment freezes a bank account? Going through that process is cumbersome to say the least.  Immigration Crackdown: "Operation Expat Exodus” is targeting not just illegal workers but long-term residents - making it harder every month to renew visas, prove income or even participate in community life without risk.” Well first of all, what is this “Operation Expat Exodus”? I've never heard of this from Thai Immigration. Maybe it's in the video somewhere he cited, I don't know.

That said, we have talked about this. Look Thailand has always been serious about working illegally; we did a video on it already. 4,400 have been arrested in the past 9 months; the Labour Minister has said, look based on that, we're sort of increasing our efforts to go after people who are working illegally. If you're looking to work in Thailand, you should not be coming in on a Destination Thailand Visa. I knew this was going to happen when they created that visa, so-called Visa. It's not even really a Visa; it's like a status. And all these people came in thinking it was one thing, and it didn't turn out to be what it was sort of billed as. That's what really, I think a lot of this is coming down to. Misnomers that were pushed out regarding the Destination Thailand Visa at the time it was created and now we are seeing misnomers being pushed around about there being some kind of concerted conspiracy on the part of the Thai Government to go after Western expat dreams, as if the Thai Government runs on expat tears or something of this nature, and it's kind of ridiculous. Quoting further: “Frozen pensions & Tax Squeeze: British and other foreign pensioners are seeing their incomes eroded by frozen rates,” - well first of all a frozen pension, that implies like the bank account is frozen. We have talked about this in other videos. Thailand happens to be one of those countries - I have talked about this with regard to British pensioners - it is one of those countries where they don't have like a cost-of-living adjustment associated with it, other countries may have that, that's a British policy, you can't put that on the Thais. Quoting further: “Currency Drops” - well look the currency rate is always going to be fluctuating, okay? I've discussed in other videos, look at the end of the day the West more and more has relied on its financial industrial complex if you will, frankly to the expense - in the case of the United States due to what we call the Triffin Dilemma - at the expense of their industrial base. Meanwhile the East has been industrializing at a rapid rate; Thailand is in the East. They've been doing the same thing. Part and parcel of that is we see fluctuations in the exchange rate. If these countries have a problem with the exchange rate may be make some stuff people out here want to buy. That would be the best way to fix that, and you can't put that on Thailand. This is all being sort of attributed as if there is some Cabal in Thailand that is trying to do this. And let me be clear, I have my issues with OECD, and I have my issues with these banking policies and things. I've made the videos on that, but there is no conspiracy in the Thai Government to I don't know live like some vampire off the tears from expats from their dreams being destroyed. That's not what's happening here. Again, don't attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence. And when I say that, I am not saying the Government is incompetent per se, what I am saying is recently we have had disjointed policy and now we are in kind of a political state of flux at the moment, and we are just kind of seeing a situation where things are not as smooth as they have been in the past. 

That being said, if you got into an O Visa 6 months ago, an O Retirement Visa, you are fine. If you have got your bank account, everything's hunky-dory, I'm not hearing any problems from those folks. Yes, in the past 6 weeks we have seen policy changes, this happens. By the way, where were all the videos of people being up in arms about all the COVID policy we had to deal with out here, because as I recall, I was the only one that was making anything that was saying “hey what are we doing here?” I find this kind of disingenuous hyperbole very disturbing. That said, quoting further: "..and looming tax changes that threaten to make retirement here unaffordable." Well no, there are not looming tax changes. If anything, the looming changes may make it easier on people, although we have yet to see it. At the end of the day and I have talked about this since Quarter 3 of 2023, yeah, they did a memorandum where they changed the rules regarding accessibility of taxable income. As I said, most people did not need to worry about that; some people did, depending on the circumstances of your case. That said a bunch of foreigners got out on YouTube and ran around talking about it as if the sky was falling and it resulted in people getting all whipped up into a frenzy and in many cases, in specific people's cases, it was much ado about nothing, and I think that it's fair to say that this particular piece is very similar. That said, quoting further: “Social Credit for Expats: - I don't even know what they're talking about here – “A new scoring system is quietly being rolled out, tracking every aspect of foreign residents’ lives - from finances to healthcare to social activity - to decide who can stay and who must leave.” I've heard of none of this. We deal with Thai Immigration on a regular basis. There is no “social credit score” being rolled out and by the way, anybody that watches my channel, you know, I would be the first person decrying a social credit score here in Thailand. I could be wrong; I may have missed this, but I highly doubt it. That said, quoting further: “The message is clear: Thailand's “Paradise” is being systematically dismantled for all but the wealthiest newcomers. If you're planning to retire here, or are already living the expat life, you need to see what's really happening - before it's too late.” I got to want to, are you being paid by the Vietnamese Government to like encourage retirees to go over there? Look, I'm not saying everything's just perfect at the moment, okay? I've done the videos, and I have tried to keep people up to date and up to speed on what's going on over here. There are solutions, there always are. One of the wisest guys I know of, one of the oldest hands out here, a guy that actually helped me along and taught me how to become Thai once told me, he said, “all problems in Thailand have solutions”. It's sort of like, “there are a million ways to skin a cat”, very similar. That is kind of the same as we are seeing in this situation. Yes, there are certain rule changes popping up. My presumption right now is some of the worst of this is going to get rolled back because frankly it's bad policy. Also we are in a very low, low season, the world's in a recession. I can see where this incoming government may say, “whoa, whoa, let's pump the brakes on all of this, let's put in some policies that are going to see people coming back in.”

So the thing to take away from this video more than anything, there may be some truth to different aspects of the things they are talking about here, but no, there is no concerted plan on the part of the Thai Government to destroy Western expats’ dreams here. In fact what I think is going on is we just have a disjointed policy, we are in a state of flux. I think things are going to get back on track here sooner rather than later. That being said, it doesn't help anybody when there are all of these folks out here who are basically getting everybody worked up into a frenzy over something. I mean we saw this with tax, and it resulted in nothing good for the Expat Community. Everybody just chill out.  If you are already here on a Retirement Visa, and you are extending your status, as I have discussed in other videos, you should be fine. If you came in on a Tourist Visa and you have got a bank account and you are worried about it, maybe give us a call, we can talk to about your options. And there are ways to get proper Visa status so that you can maintain your bank account. It's not the end of the world, the sky is not falling and by the way out there to the ether of YouTube land, it does not help anyone to run around causing panic.