Transcript of the above video:

Not exactly the most popular topics that I talk about on this video but we are going to be talking about work authorization as it pertains to so-called nomads. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Ten arrested and two illegal hostels shuttered on Koh Phangan as fierce crackdown continues on the island. 

Yeah, I've been kind of discussing this at length in various videos recently. Authorities are not messing around both in Phuket, now on the islands in Surat Thani Province. We are also seeing folks up here; there are raids here in Bangkok, there are raids in Pattaya. Thai Police are serious about restriction of foreign occupations especially. The Thai labour pool is to be protected and there are law enforcement functions at play being executed as we speak to that end; I think it's important to point that out. That said, quoting directly: "12 foreigners busted as Thai Police stormed illegal hostels on Koh Phangan. Locals furious over noise, parties and unfair competition" - important to point that out, ‘unfair competition’ – “sparked raids. Two rogue hostel shut. Officials warn: follow the law or face arrest, deportation and more crackdowns ahead." Quoting further: "Another day in Koh Phangan, another foreign-run business crackdown focused on hostels. Police arrested 10 foreigners on Tuesday in raids across island, exposing unlicensed properties packed with young Western backpackers. Neighbours tipped off authorities, fed up with sleepless nights, loud music, and blatant disrespect." 

Yeah look, respect is big in Thailand. What we call "Greng Jai". That's important to understand. If you are new, if you are a backpacker, or you just want to live here, look up G-r-e-n-g J-a-i, would be the English transliteration; look that up. Respect, it's important here in Thailand. Quoting further: "Legitimate hotel operators also complain about unfair competition. The message from the police was blunt: follow Thai law or face arrest and deportation. All detainees were taken to Koh Phangan Police station where legal proceedings began. Two illegal hostels were immediately shut down. 

And then, quoting further and this is the point, and this more gets to the issue of work authorization, these so-called DTV visas, this notion of nomadism, which by the way was heavily pressed by the last administration especially when they were trying to create the impetus for Ms. Paetongtarn's rise to the Premiership here in Thailand. They started talking all this nomad stuff. Look up this Digital Nomad stuff in other countries. It's not overly popular. There was no mandate for this in the last elections here in Thailand and frankly, I think that the reaction here in Thailand has been ambivalent at best, if not downright negative as further evidence from, quoting further from the article: "Immigration rules in Thailand remain firm. Foreign Nationals must obtain proper permits before performing any kind of work. Even unpaid roles require permission. Police warned that social-media "digital nomads" and backpacker volunteers are not exempt." They're not messing around with this here in this jurisdiction. They're not exempt from this. I've talked about this previously. Unfortunately, and I don't think it was a good thing that this is how this was rolled out, folks that went and tried to get the DTV Visa oftentimes thought that they didn't have issues with work authorization. Well in point in fact they do because it was a brainchild purely of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which at that time was exclusively under the control of the Pheu Thai faction of the last government and it didn't have anything to do nor was any consensus gained, from the Interior Ministry here in Thailand and Foreign Ministry doesn't have the authority to grant work authorization; that lies with the Labour Ministry here in Thailand. So again, this whole thing was not very well set up, and we are seeing the blowback.

I want to be clear. I don't blame DTV holders. I get this weird kind of reaction from people where they say "oh I've got the DTV, you probably hate me!" I'm like no, I don't. I understand people wanting to get the best visa for them. The problem with this is this Visa was not really sold for what it actually was, and it really was, in my opinion, kind of haphazardly set up in the first place where everything is kind of nebulous and gray and it's all 'no big deal' and 'mai pen rai' when you actually get here and there are issues with it. One big thing, the other shoe I'm looking to see drop with regard to these type of basis, the DTV specifically, is if they start saying, "hey you can't use this to live here." Yeah, you can do one Border Run or one airport border run or whatever and come back in and stay here a year. After that it's not a visa to live here 5 years. Again it's presumed to be a nomad thing and again if you understand how it was rolled out; they were trying to create this pan-ASEAN Visa at the time, that didn't really go anywhere, but then this was kind of rolled out under the rubric of that where, oh they could use Thailand as a hub and then bounce out to other countries, and that was kind of done in lieu of this pan-ASEAN Visa. When you understand the history, you sort of see why it was done the way that it was done. 

But long story short, again it's for nomads. It's not meant for people to necessarily live here just as it's not meant for people to work in Thailand. Again anything that impinges upon the Thai economy - as the Interior Ministry themselves said - needs work authorization. If you don't have it, you're in violation. The other thing to remember, you can't get bank accounts on the DTV visa for exactly this reason because it's not work authorized, and the presumption is you would only need a bank account if you're working in Thailand. That said, quoting further: "Police warned that social media 'digital nomads" and backpacker volunteers are not exempt. Violators face fines, detention and possible blacklisting." Again, this is the police, during crackdowns, telling everybody in these Nomad visas, "hey you're not work authorized." Look, I'm sorry to be the one to be saying this. I know people get kind of angry at me when I make these videos, but I'm just trying to tell you the truth and give you the best information out there so that you know what you're getting, and you know what you’re dealing with. And unfortunately, I've warned of all of this when they rolled this out. I was promptly thrown under the bus, especially by viewers and things but I have been proven to be right, yet again. So something to bear in mind with respect to this. Again, if you're going to be working in Thailand, you need to have work authorization.