Title of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing due diligence associated with younger foreigners coming to Thailand looking to live and work here. This is a very different analysis than the one that would be given to for example retirees. If you are over 50, don't really pay attention to this video; if you are under 50 you really probably should have a look at this.

First things first, come here, do your own looking around a little bit and have a look at the system as it sets on the ground as to whether or not you actually want to live and work here. The second thing is and I cannot stress this enough, do not try to intuit your own way around thinking that you understand the system because of a) how it appears or your own presumptions brought from your own country. One of the biggest problems I see people have is for example importing Common Law notions into Thailand as if they operate here. They may even seem to operate here; they probably don't. Your presumptions and assumptions will get you into more trouble than they will help you when you are operating here in Thailand. I am not trying to talk down to anybody, this is 15 years of hard-earned experience here telling you 'you don't know what you don't know'. 

There are a lot of folks here recently, I made some videos regarding YouTubing in Thailand which seemed to get a lot of attention, made some videos regarding work authorization for various types of occupations, people kind of poo pooing me on that kind of stuff or trying to come after me in comments, which whatever, I don't really care one way or the other.  Long story short, yeah there is a lot of work restriction in Thailand and the definition of work in Thailand is quite broad and the fact is enforcement is not something that comes about overnight so just because enforcement has not come around, doesn't mean it won't and the last thing you want is to spend some substantial amount of time, notably years, under a false presumption only to have the rug pulled out from under you and now you are detained, and your business is dissolved, and you are losing money and you may be deported and now you have wasted a large portion of your life because you didn't set yourself up correctly at the outset. 

Yes there are costs associated with doing things legally in Thailand. They are worth it because long-term you are in proper status and long term no one is going to hassle you. But if you don't set things up correctly and you try to do everything on the fly, slap dash, try to do everything super cheap or ‘I heard some guy tell me I could do it this way’, that's the wrong way to look at it because long term when you do get up and going especially if you get a little bit of exposure in things, you can have some real problems down the line because again you set something up based on a false presumption and now you are in real trouble and again you may lose your business, you may be deported, you may be blacklisted, you may never be able to come back to Thailand so again do it right the first time. Do your due diligence, set it up correctly and go from there.