Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thailand Privilege Visas, so-called Thailand Elite Visas. They seem to be kind of changing that name; they want to call themselves Thailand Privilege now rather than Thailand Elite. I use the terms interchangeably, I am kind of used to calling it Thailand Elite so for purposes of this video, if I use it interchangeably, that's what we are talking about. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Khao Sod English, that's khaosodenglish.com, the article is titled: Thai Police counter alleged Chinese content attacking Thailand. Quoting directly: "The Thai Police have responded to Chinese individuals creating content that portrays Thailand as dangerous. This comes after the Thai Government concluded that such content negatively impacts Chinese tourist visiting Thailand." Quoting further: "Law enforcement informs that the woman," - this was a content creator, this has been out in the news, it has been pretty big news here recently, just to sort of recap a little bit. I did another video where I directly talked about this; I made that video contemporaneously with this one. But long story short, this person came to Thailand; they got on social media; they basically were saying, they were on some street corner and they thought that this wasn't safe for a woman basically. They said Thailand was somehow dangerous or something. Again I think this is kind of nonsensical stuff. I think outsiders sometimes don't really understand just how safe Thailand is. It's one of the safest places I have ever been, truly, I'm not trying to be an apologist or something. At the end of the day, I think it is pretty safe to say Thailand is an objectively safe place. So to quote further, this is kind of how it happened. It came from somebody creating content and they were saying stuff about Thailand. But I want to get into the issues with regard to Thailand Elite. So quoting further: "Law enforcement informs the woman that her online selling activities, live streaming in Thailand, violate regulations governing the work of foreigners without permission." 

Now if you go in and read that article and I urge folks who are watching this video go check that out, khaosodenglish.com, check out that article in detail. They go into the fact that this person was apparently here on a Thailand Privilege Visa, Thailand Elite Visa so-called. And the purpose of this video is to explain yet again I guess, Elite Visas are not work authorized. The Thailand Privilege Visa system, it's like a really long Tourist Visa, that is the best way to look at it. Now for those who truly are like retired or they are just of a level of wealth that they don't have to work anymore and they just want to live here in Thailand and just not have to be hassled with visas, yeah Thailand Privilege can offer a lot of benefits in that regard; the Thailand Elite Visa can be highly beneficial when it comes to that. Now that said, it isn't work authorized and as pointed out in this video, this person apparently got into, let's say gained the attention of relevant authorities by posting certain content on the internet but from a legal standpoint, the issue that they have with this person is the fact that they were conducting online business activities here in Thailand without Work Authorization; that appears to be sort of the issue. 

So the reason for this video is to again reiterate, know the parameters of your Visa status. If you obtain a Thailand Privilege Visa, understand its limitations and one of those limitations is that it is not authorized for any type of employment or work activity here in the Kingdom of Thailand.