Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Immigration policy.

A recent article which brought to my attention a very interesting point, I wanted to point out in this video. It didn't really have that much to do with the overarching theme of the actual article itself. It is just one small point that I felt warranted further analysis. 

A recent article from thaivisa.com, the article is titled: SKÅL Bangkok’s Wood Warns of a Deepening Thailand Tourism Crisis. Quoting directly: "I call upon our industry leaders and government to speak with one voice - avoid conflicting information and mixed messages. One official voice only. All statements to be made and sanctioned from this ONE source."  

It is an interesting concept but I think it fails to see some of the nuance associated with this whole thing. There are multiple different Government agencies associated with dealing with the response to COVID-19. For example Ministry of Public Health deals with one aspect, meanwhile Thai Immigration deals with certain aspects. Meanwhile even within an Immigration context you have got Ministry of Foreign Affairs and you have also got Thai Immigration at borders as opposed to Thai Immigration at the various Immigration Offices here in the Kingdom. 

Meanwhile, even within Ministry of Foreign Affairs as noted in prior videos on this channel, different Embassies and Consulates do things just a little bit differently. So while on one level I think it is definitely a laudable notion that everything be done unitarily so that it is monolithic; everyone knows what the rules are, I think that is a little bit simplistic to hope for because that is not fundamentally how the system operates. There are a lot of moving parts to this overall machine and so the notion of speaking with one voice with respect to all matters pertaining to Thai Immigration or all matters just pertaining to COVID-19 policy specifically as it pertains to foreigners, that is really a lot to ask for when you consider all the players involved as well as all the different policies in play at a Government, Ministerial and then Departmental level.