Falconator

Who would have imagined, fleeing to 30 C Thailand so that you can escape the 40 C European heat? The world is totally upside down now! Who are the real climate refugees now?

I never really realized that the baht was that strong. It's only declined slightly against the dollar, so I didn't notice any big changes.

Sorry Euro-friends.

It's more like the euro and pound aren't doing so well.

All about digital nomads 101

Not everyone on ThaiVisa is a pension-receiving 50+ white dude on a retirement visa who had worked 30-40 years for only a few companies and then cashed out with nice retirement benefits.
 

The world has completely changed since the good old 70s and 80s where you just get a corporate job for life and they take care of you. Contingent work, remote work, and location-independent work are now the new norm. Millennial digital workers are now migrating all over the world to take advantage of new opportunities.

Like it or not, this is strikingly similar to the collapse of the Soviet Union, when stability suddenly collapsed and entire societies were suddenly thrown into new capitalist free market environments.

The old days of baby boomer tenure and stability are now over. We are now in the new world of mass migration, extreme connectivity, contingent work, online opportunities, and very unpredictable times. It's called the new gig economy. Optimists call it flexibility and entrepeneurship, but pessimists - well, just read the comments here.

Many of us millennials don't even expect that the Social Security system will be fully functional when we hit retirement age. Our rapidly changing environment is causing mass migration on an unprecedented scale. Extreme connectivity means that freelancing is becoming the new norm. We're in a totally new world that even our parents can't fully comprehend.

Successful millennials are striking it big. Others will be worse off than their parents. Welcome to the brave new world.

Thai immigration is run by Thai baby boomers who don't quite understand this new phenomenon.

So we have this thread here because we're trying to figure out practical solutions and advice for a new generation of people living lifestyles that would not have been possible 20 years. Government policies have not responded fast enough to this because technology, by nature, adapts and changes far more rapidly than bureaucracy.

2 minutes ago, sanemax said:

They could become nomadic and not live anywhere long term ?

As mentioned in my edited response, the term "digital nomad" can be a bit of a misnomer.

It's a cliche term used to refer to people who are location independent, but not necessarily location unstable. Just so that our baby boomer friends here can understand, perhaps we should use the term "digital expat."

To thrive, you still need a stable place that you can call home, because many of us have clients that we have to work with in a stable, regular manner. We can bounce around from place to place every few months, but only for so long.

I almost feel like this should be a "millennial-only" thread, since we are utterly incomprehensible to the baby boomer pension-receiving retirees who are dominating this forum. Just kidding man. Gotta be nice to all the retired old gramps who are occasionally helping us out with good tips, even though the rest may be sporadically leaving sarcastic comments here.

2 hours ago, Thaidream said:

The solution to your problem is to go with your fiance to a Thai Amphur and legally register  as married.  Once this is done- travel to either the Savanakhet Laos Thai Consulate or the Thai Consulate in Ho chi Minh Vietnam and apply for a Non O Multiple Entry Visa based on marriage-  You will get a  1 year Visa with 90 day entries- so you make a border run each 90 days.  The Fee is 5,000 Baht- No financials need to be shown.

 

What you really need to think about is how you are going to support a family when you are Age 35, 45, 55 and then retire at Age 65 with no Social Security from the US Government or any pension.  A Digital Nomad Salary doesn't pay very much compared to working at a lucrative job in the USA and being vested in retirment options. To be honest- there isn't much future in being a digital nomad except being poor when you get old.

 

You are young enough to make good choices- but you  won't have many options as you age.  Thailand is really not a place for opportunities for  foreigners with minimum incomes but at the end of the day- it is your choice.  Good luck.

Thanks for the advice, but baby boomers don't seem to realize that the gig economy has now taken over the US. Location-independent freelancers have to move abroad in order to thrive. Plus I'm already supporting my Thai family very well, thank you very much.

Please check out nomadcapitalist.com to get a taste of the new nomad lifestyle. They're not backpackers, but rather serious capitalists.

3 hours ago, jackdd said:

It is probably bulletproof in Thailand, because the army boss has connections with immigration.

The problem is that the army boss doesn't have friends in the consulate in Hanoi (yet).

I think the guys in Hanoi want their share, as all government workers want. The brown envelope didn't arrive in time so they demonstrate their power.

Probably they will sort this out in the near future.

 

I didn't know that raiding co-working spaces is nearly impossible.

Near future means how many weeks or months?

They used to direct all applicants over to Vientiane, but it changed this year and they told applicants to go to Vietnam instead. Now this just happened.

9 hours ago, buick said:

have you considered an ED visa for learning thai language ?

 

if you get married, you could likely use an agent to obtain your non imm O based on marriage.  that would include converting your visa exempt or tourist visa entry into a 90 day non imm O, then a 12 month extension based on marriage.  some agents can get this done w/o you having the 400,000thb in a thai bank.  try calling some agents in CM.

 

edit:  does savannakhet still issue multi entry non imm O's based on marriage w/o financial proof ?

 

 

Sure. Which ones though? I'm already quite fluent in Thai, so hope they have advanced classes.

5 hours ago, Tony125 said:

Marry her then aply for a non-o (marriage)Visa in Savanaket ----no financials needed. Also you don't need 400,000 baht in a Thai bank for marriage visa at other places just need to show monly deposits to Thai bank from overseas of 40,000 baht .

Also: You can go to the thai consulate in Savannakhet and apply for a year-long, multi-entry Non-Immigrant Type O visa based on marriage to a thai national with NO proof of financials at all.!!!
You need copies of;
-both thai marriage documents (Kor Ror 2 & 3)
-thai wife's thai i/d card 
-thai wife's house book listing
-data page of your passport[/li][/list]

You sign anything with your name on it and your wife signs anything with her name on it.

Take the original Kor Ror 3 (the one with the rose border) because they wanna see it in person as it has a stamp on it.
Those things along with your passport and 5000 baht 

You'd have to "border-bounce" every 90 days <- go to the border, stamp outta thailand, in&out of another country and back into thailand for another 90 day stamp but you can wring 15 months in country out of that visa. 

Really you can wring 17 months out of it, IF you bounce just before the enter before da????te o????n the visa getting the last 90 days entry (taking you to 15 months) and then applying for the "visit family" 60 day extension at the immigration office (which requires NO financials either) for 1900baht.

Sweet deal! Time to "Thai" the knot?

9 hours ago, donnacha said:

Wow, that seems unnecessarily nasty. Some of you people, what the hell has gone wrong in your lives that you act in this mean-spirited manner?

To the OP, don't panic, just accept that, for the time being, you may have to spend a few weeks out of the country every three months. Find small, cheap cities that you like in countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines etc. You might actually find that the time away makes you enjoy your relationship more, and you will certainly get a lot more work done.

Having to travel a bit is not the end of the world, it won't be forever, you will have more options when you have accumulated a bit more money.

TV trolls tend to be jaded retirees with lots of failed relationships. I laugh at their cranky comments and move on.

The real focus here is about the combat ED visa so that we can potentially offer alternative solutions to others in the same scenario. I mentioned my family situation just as an example case, but everyone seems to be jumping on that, not about the real issue that I'm talking about.

Immigration is concerned about criminals and people illegally taking tourism and teaching jobs.

Digital nomads are not a practical concern to them, as mentioned in dozens of threads here.

Thai Elite looks good.

But I just need to stay here for 1-2 more years, and then I'll have all that money.

Thanks for the suggestions. You guys are picking on my family, but given that this forum is full of trolls, that was totally expected.

But let's stick to the main topic. The main topic of this thread is, how can us digital nomads deal with this issue.

Most students at the combat school are digital nomads who just need a place to stay, and they are taking absolutely no jobs from local Thais. We are not "working" in Thailand. US companies pay us for US projects and deposit into US bank accounts. And then we spend it all in Thailand. No digital nomad has ever gotten into any serious legal trouble in Thailand.

But really, I think the best way may be to do the marriage visa option. I just need to think of ways to stay for 1-2 more years while saving up for the 400,000 baht deposit, which won't really be that easy to do if I'm living in a high-cost Western country.

2 hours ago, elcaro said:

Not needed everywhere. Unless you want to ditch your fiance and child, I suggest to register marriage and get multiple entry non-o. 

How does that work?

I need to save up 400,000 baht first and get married and do all the paperwork. It'll take 1-2 years, but I need the combat ED visa first while I get these things in order. I can't do it overnight with this visa rejection fiasco happening.

2 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

you adopted the child prior to marriage?, no judgement just curious..

Fiance's stepchild, not actually adopted. On paper, I have no relation to the child at all, but the two of us are inseparable.

Has anyone tried Core Combat Chiang Mai for visa options? Are there any other schools out there that offer good ED visas?

This week, a student at the Hand 2 hand combat school in Chiang Mai was rejected at Hanoi when he tried to apply to get a 1-year ED visa for the school. They were not even allowed to submit their visa application forms. The previous years, the 1-year ED visa was always done at Vientiane, but this year they changed it to Hanoi.

The consul met with the combat school ED visa applicants and accused them of being visa runners. The consul said that over 100 people were rejected this week due to visa policy changes. He also said that they will not be able to get their visa anywhere in Southeast Asia and must apply for back at their home countries. But if they do apply back in the UK or most other Western countries where they are from, they will not be able to get the ED visas since Thai embassies in Western countries have also been cracking down on ED visas.
 

My visas expires at the end of this month, so I will be leaving Thailand for 2 weeks and then coming back by plane.

I am a US citizen under the age of 30 with a fiance and adopted child here in Chiang Mai, and work remotely via online freelancing platforms (most combat school students are digital nomads too). No jobs are being taken from Thais, and we are good guys who follow all the rules. What options are left?

1. Marriage visa (400,000 baht deposit needed)

2. Iglu digital nomad visa (very expensive option, since 30% of $2,500 USD monthly minimum income needs to be paid to Iglu), which will make my stay in Thailand as expensive as being in a developed country)

3. Be forced to ditch my family and have to move to another Asian country like Vietnam, Cambodia, or the Philippines

I would simply like to stay legally to be here with my family, and not blatantly violate any laws of the land.

Which provinces or districts in Thailand have the most dirt roads?

Goal: off-road biking and trail running

Development is our worst enemy because we don't like asphalt and concrete.

My friends and I, who are very mobile people, are looking for training spots where we can have access to endless dirt roads without having to run into annoying concrete roads all the time. I think some areas in Isaan can be good, but many of those din daen / red earth roads have been getting paved up in recent years.

Again, Thailand is the only place where women sell themselves to foreign men AND still feel superior to them, and actually have a great deal of advantage over them.

Not so with Myanmar brides.

I'm not trying to generalize ALL Thai women or Western men of course, and many TV members have been posting similar opinions here without many adverse reactions.

There are many happy Western-Thai couples out there, and I applaud them. It's just the rising trend of money-based relationships that we need to be more careful of. Same with Western-Western relationships in Western countries.

1 hour ago, georgemandm said:

That ????  W Is why thailand is so ???? Up .

not the first  and not the last .

mate I agree with you one million % .

but it will never stop so I just look and laugh at them .

you think he is alone no way lots of them come here sell the lot back home and throw it at Thais .

do you thank a thai woman would do the same sell the lot in thailand and move to the west no way .

you see on this tv sit you tell it how it is and most of them get up set with the truth and the truth hurts them , so they try to put you down by having a go at you in anyway they can .

like lambs to the  slaughter most western man in thailand.

Of course, the Western NGO's and PC media have it all backwards. Many Thai women are exploiting Western men, not the other way around. There are definitely some women who truly love their Western husbands and not for their money, but the business side of things tends to overshadow such relationships.

Thailand is the only country where you go to some rural village seemingly in the middle of nowhere - and voila - there are over 20 big houses built by foreign men for their Thai wives and girlfriends. Inevitably, this causes a frantic rush among everyone to try to catch up with the Siriporn's, so many ladies (bar and non-bar alike) will find ways to leech off foreign elderly people's $1,000-per-month pensions as much as possible. These villages are mostly in Khon Kaen, Roi Et, Srisaket, Buriram, Surin, Udon Thani, and all the other likely places in Isan.

The husbands almost all come from Germanic-speaking countries (NW Europe + Anglosphere), for whatever reason. Nordic and Anglo men tend to defer to their women a lot more than men from other cultures, and many Thai women are keen to take advantage of this. Men from many East Asian and Middle Eastern countries who visit Thailand are actually financially better off than the average NW European and Anglosphere man, but they tend to avoid marrying these women.

Of course there are exceptions to this trend, but this trend is so widespread that is it just getting downright scary. Thai women just aren't worth that much!

Found this Thai news article trending. I've translated about half of the article.

Obviously, what made this article appear newsworthy was all the money, jewelry, and real estate that was offered to a 44-year-old baan nok woman.

http://www.siamok.com/s/165650

Ms. Charatpharakun of Tambon Nok Mueang, Amphoe Meuang, Surin Province, 44, who runs a mobile phone shop at the local market, is set to marry Richard McAllister, 64, an Irish national who works in London on computer networking.

They have a new single-story detached home at No. 442, Moo 18, Tambon Chai Niyong, Meuang District that is worth millions of baht.

The engagement ceremony is performed in the local Surin Khmer dialect, and is attended by many family members, relatives, and friends.

A diamond ring, gold, and cash have been dedicated, as well as a new house. There is also a bride price (sinsot) of an undisclosed 7-figure amount (i.e., over 1 million baht), which will be made known next year.

At the end of the engagement ceremony, the couple would be able to kiss each other on the cheek and embrace each other. The was atmosphere warm, cheerful with many guest, relatives, and friends from different countries.

This was a Thai woman who had found love with a foreign man because of the Internet. They had previously communicated by e-mail before deciding to go with each other, and had occasionally met each other on and off for 5 years.

It's mainly due to the ridiculous rat race among many Thai single mothers and divorcees to get their Farang cash cow. They think it's easy to get foreigners to end up doing this. Now who's the "easy" person here.

Note that it was most likely not the Farang's own idea to do all this.

http://www.siamok.com/s/165650

And the ultimate irony is that many Farang men love to quip about how Thai ladies don't want Thai men.