Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Thai Smart Visa Program. For those who are unaware, this is a fairly new program. It is designed to attract entrepreneurs, certain types of talent, especially digital nomad types have been discussed with respect to this.

Basically it is kind of an investor visa or an entrepreneurial visa, tech sector, the so-called S-Curve as they call it and essentially it is there to attract these folks. Part and parcel of that is it is a longer term visa. Generally speaking it can be issued in longer term increments than just the standard one year under most Non-Immigrant Visa schemes. In fact, I believe it is a maximum of 4 years.

The thrust of this video is the question has been posed to me: "Does it provide Permanent Residence?" The answer to that is NO. It remains a Non-Immigrant Visa. However it is a slightly different one, it is a new creation. It has different attributes most notably it can be issued in longer duration and it can also be issued without the need to maintain a Work Permit so the work authorization is essentially inherent to the Visa itself not unlike certain Business Visas associated with Representative Offices here in the Kingdom of Thailand.

So the thing to take away from this video is yes Smart Visas provide a lot of status, a lot of long-term status but they do not necessarily provide Permanent Residence here in Thailand as that is an entirely different Immigration designation from the Smart Visa status for those who are looking to live and work here in Thailand.