Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Citizenship by Investment here in Thailand. This isn't the first video I have done on this topic. We have discussed so-called "Citizenship by Investment" sometimes called "Passports by Investment", sometimes called "Golden Passports" whatever. Basically it is a program wherein a foreign national comes to a given country, they invest a certain amount of money or donate it; there are certain programs that do that as well where you just donate to like a Government run benevolent fund or something and if you meet the requirements, they will give you a passport, you will be a national of that given country. There has been some talk about whether or not Thailand should do that. I've discussed  it in other videos. I thought about it again after reading a recent article in the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand's 10-year Visa and property proposals "won't entice many". There's a lot of information in there, I urge those who are watching this video check out that article. Quote: "International Investment Companies seem to be unanimous that the best way to attract the super-rich is to offer them a second passport. Business Insider lists 23 countries where a cash donation or an investment, between US$100,000 and US$3 million, can buy immediate or post entry citizenship. Such a proposal would be laughed out of Court if proposed in Thailand where there is an enormous sensitivity about foreigners "taking over" the country. Nonetheless, that's the way to rake in the high-value visitor we hear so much about these days."

Yeah I don't think it would just be laughed out of Court for that and as a naturalized Thai I can say with some degree of understanding and discernment on this that it is not just to be laughed out of Court because of the notion of foreigners "taking over" the country although there is an element of that and look I have got to admit I have my own biases being sort of an adopted Thai that I think people that come to Thailand need to kind of for lack of a better term, earn it to become a Thai citizen. It is not something that should be handing out lightly. There is a lot to go through to become Thai which brings me kind of to my second point on this and really the more coherent one or the more cogent one. A lot of the countries you are talking about that do Citizenship by Investment, a couple of things they tend to have in common although not all of them, some of the higher end, the ones that are more than a million dollars to be able to do it, those tend to be pretty wealthy countries actually in a lot of cases but the vast majority of countries that do it for like $100,000 or something like this kind of investment, you are talking about countries with pretty, I hesitate to say depressed but not overly largely prosperous economies. They are also oftentimes not very populous countries although that depends, depending on the circumstances. They are not usually very large countries. A lot of small Caribbean Nations oftentimes, certain places in South America will oftentimes have these kinds of programs. Thailand just doesn't really fit into any of those molds. It isn't the type of country that really either needs to do Citizenship by Investment nor do I think it would be overly conducive to the country in the sense that if it was Citizenship by Investment and there was like some sort of I don't know, expertise being brought in, I think that maybe those at the policy level would view it a little differently but merely where it is a situation of somebody investing a certain amount of money and then they just get to be Thai, I just think that's a tough sell on a lot of different levels most notably and I think this truly not to put too fine a point on it here, but I think this is really where the rubber hits the road is, Thailand's economy is pretty substantial, it's not a Caribbean Nation economy that's entirely dependent on the export of one staple crop and then otherwise tourism. Although it seems that way to many westerners, it looks to me like it seems that way to many westerners from an outside perspective, that is not really the case with Thailand. Thailand has a major export base; it is industrialized. Thailand doesn't necessarily need Citizenship by Investment.