exexpat

Even the H1B visa is hard to get as programmers from India, nurses from Philippines fill the quota very quickly, and there is a long backlog.  You'd have to compete with the likes of HP, Microsoft, Google, Kaiser Permanente, etc.

The immigration "amnesty" bill is gonna have a tough time.   Liberals and Conservatives both hate it...

Even if it passes:  

No Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants: Illegal immigrants who come out of the shadows will be given probationary status. Once the border security and enforcement benchmarks are met, they must pass a background check, remain employed, maintain a clean criminal record, pay a $1,000 fine, and receive a counterfeit-proof biometric card to apply for a work visa or "Z visa." Some years later, these Z visa holders will be eligible to apply for a green card, but only after paying an additional $4,000 fine; completing accelerated English requirements; getting in line while the current backlog clears; returning to their home country to file their green card application; and demonstrating merit under the merit-based system. 

http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1179511978687.shtm

This is a topic that just won't go away.   Month after month, another farang is murdered by his so called lover...as reported in Bkkpost or Nation.

In Thailand, you're an immigrant, and immigrants rights are taken for granted here.  But the story is the same in every nation. People who aren't expressly protected are always marginalized. Murdered black youth in the ghetto in the US don't get investigated properly either, nor do Burmese or Hmong in Thailand.

What is an immigrant/expat/minority to do? Just sit in the back of the bus and complain? Inflaming online does no good...as they just counterattack, making us more angry. From the Thai point of view, we are just a bunch of complainers, because tourists seem "to love" them.  If you say it, they think you're just a complainer, or worse, that you deserve it as "what goes around comes around".

Well, as any immigrant group has, form an organization to protect our rights. That's the only way we will get any respect and be heard (with one voice)...

Japanese-American murders, on the other hand, get investigated in US throughly, even before Japan was a powerful nation.  Why? Because of the powerful Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), formed in the early 1900's to counter forced detentions of Japanese in World War II and forced seizures of their businesses, and other discrimination and racism.

Ok, its not that bad. But we have rights that are being taken for granted, and we need to feel safe and secure, and have equal opportunities where we live...

Farang are not the only expats in Thailand. Japanese in fact number more than all farang, and there are other asians as well. Many of them are also unhappy with the way things as more and more rights and priviledges are being taken, some regarding business and politics, other personal.  If it really bothers you, then don't bitch online, form a association to protect expat interests.   Remember, Embassies aren't an alternative, as they only handle international incidents, personal things you are on your own. If you have to, meet in like minded people's homes.

With all these postings, this clearly hit a nerve...

I think there is a major disconnect here, and I can only reflect 

rationally because I'm not in Thailand...

The *real* issue here is not his death.  Tourists are murdered too but somehow they don't invoke the same reaction...we just write it off as bad luck. The real issue is how divergent expat Farang and Thai points of view have become...

Having travelled elsewhere, I notice some of the same issues of citizens vs permanent foreign residents...in Japan, Taiwan, and even the USA.  

For one, I do notice Farang tend to bad mouth other nations, even developed ones, simply because they fail to understand their system.  (I am farang, btw).  However, as a decent American, I would never tell someone to "go back to their country".  I feel this is unrealistic and extremely insensitive.  Also, in US, foreign immigrants are allowed and do protest (a lot). 

For Farang to understand Thai better, we need to:

1. Respect their ways of doing things, not be so nitpicky

2. Not get "spooked" by gossip regarding Thailand.

3. Understand your position. Your actions can "ruin" other people, especially young people, by making their expectations unrealistic or reinforcing bad behaviours by spoiling them.  Many young are trying to escape the hard realities of life...but escapism will never help Thais or Thailand.

4. Understand that "bad" people will naturally attract to those who

have more and can least protect themselves in ANY society.  It's your job, not others, to avoid any "dangers".

5. Learn Thai language well.  Yes, Thailand is one nation that does a lot so you don't have to notice they have a language.  But if you plan to make Thailand your home, it would behoove you to 

learn the language well, as hard as it may be.  It will defuse suspicions and allow you to express communicate (and defend yourself) on a higher level.  It would be silly to move to China without learning Chinese, why do we move to Thailand without learning Thai?

For Thai to understand Farang, they need to:

1. Understand the difficulty of living abroad, in terms of language, discrimination, lack of rights and recourse.

2. Understand that farang who settle don't have many choices...

Farang have invested and given up so much to just come here...and cannot simply just "get out".  It is also extremely insensitive to say this.

3. Farangs have a much harder time telling who is good or bad, 

and they need to be protected and taught how to "defend themselves".

4. Thai must understand their own nationalism, and theirs or any other's for that matter, can trample other people's rights.

5. Farang concerns should not be brushed off as "farang baa" (crazy westerners).  We may ask disturbing questions, but thats because we need to feel secure here in your country.

As for the murder, it disturbs us to the core because its wrapped up with who we want to love, the fact that we can't trust the legal system, and we don't understand/trust the Thai system, and our judgement isn't so good, and many of us do 

things in Thailand that we wouldn't otherwise do back home.   This makes us feel vulnerable because everything revolves around money, even murder, and we are seen as having money.  But we must be level headed about this.

I know this brings up a lot of questions like...did these people do something to instigate the murder or was it just plain greed?   Of course, we think the Thai just shrug it off, and they probably do, but then again most murders are shrugged off (even in our own nations)...

nobody wants to dwell on that kind of stuff.