Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Residence in Thailand. In a recent article, this is from the print edition of the Bangkok Post, this is from the Wednesday, February 10th, print edition 2021 and there was a letter written into the Postbag. The person who wrote this letter seemed to be talking about the vaccine roll out plan and things associated with distribution of vaccines. I thought that this one paragraph was noteworthy. Quoting directly: "The shiny new plan only applies to Thais and migrant workers. There is no mention of the 100,000 to 200,000 foreigners who presently RESIDE here." and emphasis on "reside". 

I made other videos on this channel discussing both this specific letter as well as Residence more generally and I thought it was noteworthy to make this video. Residence is a legal notion under the Immigration Act. As we have discussed in multiple videos, those who are considered Lawfully Permanent Resident in Thailand, those folks are treated very differently under the Immigration Act than those who are considered Non-immigrants in Thailand. Non-immigrants by definition are not considered to be permanent. They are not considered legally resident for Immigration purposes here in Thailand. There are a number of ramifications of this most notably a Permanent Resident will be placed in a blue Tabian Baan, a blue House Book as opposed to at best a Non-Immigrant can get into a yellow Tabian Baan or more likely be in no House Book at all. There are also other benefits most notably the Lawful Permanent Resident in Thailand does not need to do 90-day reporting for example. They don't have to deal with things like TM30 and also they don't have to deal with renewing of Visa, presumably on a yearly basis. As we have noted in other videos, Permanent Residents, if they wish to work in Thailand, may need to get work authorization in the form of a Work Permit but again for Immigration purposes, they are considered permanent, they are considered resident. Non-immigrants are considered, as I said perhaps long staying for a very prolonged period of time but legally they are not considered resident for purposes of Immigration. 

So and not to get into the vaccine thing, this is more just on the topic of Immigration, it is important that you have your paradigm correct when you are analyzing where you stand with respect to the Immigration Act in Thailand because there is a very big difference between someone who has been “residing” or just living in a place for a long time and someone who is legally resident in the Kingdom of Thailand.