Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing passport issuance and we did another video here recently talking specifically about US passports that those are taking quite a little while to go ahead and get processed and get issued but the US isn't the only one. I saw in a comment on there which I thought about quoting but I went ahead because I have something else I want to analyze here but yeah I noticed there was somebody who mentioned yeah the UK is taking quite a while as well. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Pattaya tourist numbers zoom amid political crisis fears. Quoting directly: "Chinese arrivals nationally have been sluggish because of a shortage of aircraft and delays in issuing new passports by Beijing Authorities." So I would urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail, a lot of information in there. But I found that interesting. It's not just the West that is having issues associated with passport issuance, it appears the People's Republic of China and the Passport Authority in Beijing are also having issues in getting passports issued for their nationals. Now exactly what that can be attributed to remains to be seen. I can take some educated guesses, most likely the after effects of COVID policies and lockdowns and things might have something to do with it. Long story short, it looks like this is kind of a worldwide problem where many national governments are having issues associated with passport issuance.

Silver lining for Thailand, for Thai folks quite honestly, I just got my passport renewed, my Thai passport renewed here recently and the process of getting a Thai Passport done is the same as it has been for a long time which is it is quite straightforward and it is issued in under a week. We got it done pretty darn quickly, so here in Thailand it doesn't seem to be an issue. And just point of reference, Thailand upgraded its passport facility some years back and honestly, credit where credit is due, the Thai Government when it comes to issuing passports they are really good at it actually, they actually are quite efficient for Thais that need to travel abroad so something to mention there, but notably this does not seem to be the case in many jurisdictions outside of Thailand including but not limited to the United States. Apparently based on anecdotal evidence, it is my understanding that the UK, the United Kingdom as well and then now Beijing. These are all major jurisdictions if you will that feed, especially tourists, into Thailand so the ramifications this has on the recovery in terms of tourism remains to be seen but we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.