how many farang/expats live in Ubon Ratchathani?

[rocket2]

How many expats/farang live in and around ubon city?  

[Lamkyong]

dozens  i would guess

[ubonjoe]

A lot more than most people would expect. Hard to put a number on it though.

[Michael Hare]

I was once told at the local immigration that there were well over 1,000. That may well have included the wider area to include Sisaket and Amnart. One thing is for sure, expats/farangs are everywhere in Ubon. 

[DILLIGAD]

I believe that a surprisingly large number live out in small villages and are hardly ever seen/noticed. I think that is the case for Sisaket province, at least.

 

 

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[MeMock]

6 hours ago, Lamkyong said:

dozens  i would guess

Hundreds of dozens you meant right?

[Lamkyong]

23 minutes ago, MeMock said:

Hundreds of dozens you meant right?

  i would guess

[SantiSuk]

My guess would be hundreds in Ubon province if you mean permanent residents (best guess 500-750?). Probably more than 1,000 if you include those that visit for more than 3 months, but don't permanently reside here. I could personally name 200 (mostly from hash house harrier records) in that latter category - and I don't even live in that province myself!

 

I once bumped into a lady in Bangkok (and I mean lady not bargirl). When she found out I lived in Sisaket province she said "let me guess which amphur". I was intrigued. She guessed Kantharalak correctly. More intrigued I asked how she knew. She said she worked in some local government agency in Sisaket that I didn't quite understand and it was known that over half the falangs in Sisaket live in that one amphur. It does partly tie in with personal observation - place is crawling with 'em! I think there must be a more-established than normal culture hereabouts of sending the young lookers to the flesh dens out west!

[rocket2]

i was expecting several thousand based on the numbers in udon thani and general growth of expats in thailand. 

 

is udon the magnet in isarn for farang/expats?  assuming ubon ratchathani shares many of the same attributes as udon thani such as:

 

thai wives come from the region

decent hospitals,

golf courses,

old us bombing bases from vietnam,

 

why hasn't ubon ratchathani taken off to the same extent?

 

[jayceenik]

I'm a senior retired Belgian and longtime LOS resident.

We moved  from our longtime Pattaya rental to Ubon early this year but I keep a BKK rental studio for occasional stays.

Bought a new house in Ubon for the TGF who wanted to be close to her family and native village.

In our new Sarin sub-division I'm told that a few farangs live there too. My neighbor is a German farang.

With some seven higher education schools in Ubon I'd think many teachers around.

Also retired or not guys like me who have been dragged there by the TGF.

Ubon is a pleasant green city with everything a farang needs (except girlie bars).

Cost of living is much lower than in BKK and Pattaya.  Our utilities bills are low too.

 

I went to CW for my yearly stay extension a couple weeks ago. Too big crowds now. I'm going to have my immigration file moved to Ubon. Anyway it's where I spend most of my time these days.

 

[digger70]

Go ask Immigration if it's imported to you,My guess is they might know 

[transam]

There is only one farang..........though.......

[khunPer]

23 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A lot more than most people would expect. Hard to put a number on it though.

Don't they write a number when issuing the annual extension of stay in the Kingdom..?

At Surat Thani Immigration on Koh Samui they write a number and a slash with Thai-year, i.e. NNNN/60, together with the extension-stamp, for example for Extension Based on Retirement. I could see that the number increased a tiny bit every year, with little over 100, for a number of years. However this year I was allowed to apply for extension one month early – the previous years Samui Immigration only allowed one week in advance – and my number was a little lower. I presume the number written is a count of annually issued extension.

 

But I have no idea if the number is for Samui Immigration only, or for the whole of Surat Thani province – however most expats probably stay at the islands Samui, Phangan and Tao; i.e. relating to the Samui office – and if the count is for Extension Based on Retirement only, or also include others, like Work Permit, and Marriage, and...

 

Anyway, my highest number, issued 21st October last year, was 3559/59, this year I'm only 3551/60 of 6th October. So based on the possibility that the number is annual extensions for expats, there will be from around 4,000 expats staying on Samui and her sisters, or in Surat Thani province in total; and if there are individual numbering for various reasons for extension, we will be a lot more expats here.

 

Do I presume correct in thinking that there are more expats living in Udon-area, than on these remote southern islands..?

[Brunolem]

I would agree with all of the above answers.

I have been living for 18 years in a small village in Sisaket province, about halfway between Sisaket city and Ubon Ratchatani city.

About 15 years ago, there were barely any farangs in that part of the country...when I was going to Lotus in Ubon, I would rarely see a farang, and when I did we saluted each other, considering the rarity of such an encounter.

Nowadays, farangs are everywhere, yet much more numerous in Ubon than in Sisaket.

In my amphoe, I am still the only farang in an area of many square kilometers.

When I go to Kanthararom, the closest city, I see some farangs, sometimes, but not always.

Actually, I just came back an hour ago...I made 5 stops in the city, including one at Lotus and one at the PTT station, where I had lunch...and I saw only one farang during this trip.

Ubon is a whole different story...but it is still very Thai compared to places like Pattaya...

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

Don't they write a number when issuing the annual extension of stay in the Kingdom..?

That number would be for all extensions, re-entry permit and etc.

My stamp done in August is hard to read but appears to be 1470/60.

[Michael Hare]

14 hours ago, rocket2 said:

i was expecting several thousand based on the numbers in udon thani and general growth of expats in thailand. 

 

is udon the magnet in isarn for farang/expats?  assuming ubon ratchathani shares many of the same attributes as udon thani such as:

 

thai wives come from the region

decent hospitals,

golf courses,

old us bombing bases from vietnam,

 

why hasn't ubon ratchathani taken off to the same extent?

 

From reading the relies it seems that no one has attempted to answer the question asked by Rocket 2 why hasn't ubon ratchathani taken off to the same extent?

 

I will try to give an answer based on what I know about Udorn and Ubon. I lived in Khon Kaen and Mahasarakham from 1974-1980 but my work took me to all provinces in northeast Thailand, in particular both Udorn and Ubon. Udorn was always a very westernized city-good shopping, good hotels and a thriving nightlife which never let up after the Americans withdrew from the airbase. In addition, after the withdrawal, many US servicemen elected to retired to Udorn with their Thai families. There was an active VFW club and always good housing available for either rent or purchase. In Ubon this did happen. US servicemen did not retired here after 1975, there was no VFW club, hotels were never very good, and in those days the selection of good rental houses was very poor. Also the shopping in Ubon was far inferior to shopping in Udorn.

 

The US airbase in Ubon closed about one year before Udorn US airbase closed. I stayed in Ubon many times when the base was open. It was lively. After the US left it was almost dead. Whereas Udorn was very lively before the base closed and after closing, just a little less lively. Udorn just seemed to always have a get up and go compared to Ubon.

 

I also believe that once some ladies marry a farang it kind of snowballs out to other ladies in the community. Introductions are made and so the families expand. Perhaps Udorn ladies are more adventurous that Ubon ladies. Who knows?

 

Having said all this, I certainly would not judge a city to live in Thailand based on the number of expats/farangs living there.

 

[khunPer]

11 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That number would be for all extensions, re-entry permit and etc.

My stamp done in August is hard to read but appears to be 1470/60.

Thanks for replying.
However, I just checked my old passport, as I got new last year – I have some scannings easily available – and found when I had both an annual extension of permission to stay in the Kingdom, and at same time (date) a multiple re-entry permit. They were both issued July 4th 2007; the extension of stay had number 1213/50, whilst the re-entry permit got number 544/50.

Would they have such big jump in numbers in one day..?

 

(Unfortunately ThaiVisa don't allow me to attach a jpeg-image og my old passport with the stamps.)

[rickudon]

I would also concur that extensions and re-entry permits are separate figures at my office - otherwise Udon has very few farangs going by the number. My last re-entry permit in September was numbered 143x, which would suggest that they would only do about 40 extensions/re-entries per week - and it is certainly a lot higher than that. I get an extension number in 2nd week of January that is between 150-200, which would suggest about 4000 or so extensions a year, which does correspond approximately with many of the some what informed guesses at Udon's farang population. Of course, that leaves out all the multi-entries and part-timers on visas obtained outside Thailand .....

[piusmann]

That number would be for all extensions, re-entry permit and etc.
My stamp done in August is hard to read but appears to be 1470/60.

In December some years back already 1870

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[ubonjoe]

On 10/28/2017 at 2:54 AM, khunPer said:

Thanks for replying.
However, I just checked my old passport, as I got new last year – I have some scannings easily available – and found when I had both an annual extension of permission to stay in the Kingdom, and at same time (date) a multiple re-entry permit. They were both issued July 4th 2007; the extension of stay had number 1213/50, whilst the re-entry permit got number 544/50.

Would they have such big jump in numbers in one day..?

Apparently I may be wrong but I was under the impression it was for everything.

If it only extensions then that could be a good indication of how many people are going to immigration. But I just looked at it again and it now appears to 0147 not 1470 but that may be only for the new office. Last year it was 0884 and the year before 0846. Other years going back to 2012 in my new passport show an average of around 1200.       

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Apparently I may be wrong but I was under the impression it was for everything.

If it only extensions then that could be a good indication of how many people are going to immigration. But I just looked at it again and it now appears to 0147 not 1470 but that may be only for the new office. Last year it was 0884 and the year before 0846. Other years going back to 2012 in my new passport show an average of around 1200.       

Thanks for your reply.

 

So if 0884, or about 900 in August, that would mean something like 1300 extensions – of same kind/reasons or in total? – under that Immigration Office, or in Udon Thani in total.

 

Personally I would have thought it to be more in Udon Thani, compared to the Samui Immigration or Surat Thani Province, which I count as about 4,200 based on mine extension numbers – either based on retirement or total annual extensions – I thought more expats were living up in Isaan provinces, and especially Uden that seem to a place often heard about (not only in ThaiVisa forums), that on Samui (and her sisters?).

 

There's an expat here, that know the Big Bass of our local Immigration Office, I'll see if he can reveal a clue answer about the numbering...

[Michael Hare]

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

Thanks for your reply.

 

So if 0884, or about 900 in August, that would mean something like 1300 extensions – of same kind/reasons or in total? – under that Immigration Office, or in Udon Thani in total.

 

Personally I would have thought it to be more in Udon Thani, compared to the Samui Immigration or Surat Thani Province, which I count as about 4,200 based on mine extension numbers – either based on retirement or total annual extensions – I thought more expats were living up in Isaan provinces, and especially Uden that seem to a place often heard about (not only in ThaiVisa forums), that on Samui (and her sisters?).

 

There's an expat here, that know the Big Bass of our local Immigration Office, I'll see if he can reveal a clue answer about the numbering...

This thread is discussing the number of expats in Ubon Ratchathani, not Udorn Thani.

[ubonjoe]

I asked a immigration officer and he says on average there are about 5000 foreigners here in the province which includes some on 30 and 60 day entries.

[ubonrthai]

I was told 5,000 a couple years ago at immigration as well.

[BrownShrike]

Not as many as in Buriram that's for sure. I do see a few expats here and there at times but not daily. Mostly in Central and around villages. I do have to say that the expats I have met so far here have been friendly.

[khunPer]

Seem like there has been made a study about 2010 about how many foreigners living up Isaan married to Thai women from that region, which was 27,000 or 90%; i.e. 100% must then be 30,000 foreigners living up Isaan...

Quote

A 2004 government survey found just shy of 20,000 Isaan women married to foreigners, 87 percent of which were to Westerners from Europe, North America, Australia or New Zealand. Half of the women were in Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces. Those marriages seem to involve most of the foreigners living in Isaan – the 2010 census found 90 percent of the slightly more than 27,000 foreigners living in the northeastern region were married to women from there.

Source: "ISAAN LOVE TRIANGLE: THAI MEN FOUND LACKING BY FARANG-LOVING WOMEN"
–an article in Kahosod English today (November 30th) about farangs married to Isaan-Thais, an article worth reading for several reasons...

[SantiSuk]

Probably double that 20,000 at least by now if my observation of the growth in farang in Sisaket and Ubon provinces since I first came to Isaan in 2007 is valid and replicated through the region.

 

Purely anecdotal evidence of course - in my local Tesco I used to see an average of 1 other falang per visit. Now that average is 3 (varying between 1 and 6). By and large the old lags (like me) only get replaced by death and there's still a steady and greater flow of newcomers.

[Happyman58]

On 10/27/2017 at 5:44 AM, rocket2 said:

i was expecting several thousand based on the numbers in udon thani and general growth of expats in thailand. 

 

is udon the magnet in isarn for farang/expats?  assuming ubon ratchathani shares many of the same attributes as udon thani such as:

 

thai wives come from the region

decent hospitals,

golf courses,

old us bombing bases from vietnam,

 

why hasn't ubon ratchathani taken off to the same extent?

 

11

I live in Ubonratchathani. We had a few Europeans live in our village. Swedish guy died, a German man was deported overstayed visa English guy went to Tak. Only me and french guy left I am Australian and have a wife and am fairly happy. Just find it hard to meet expats for company sometimes. I will be honest I did not like it here when I first came but after my last trip back to Aus I could not get back here fast enough. anyone nice to see some expats in here talking. Anybody like to go watch the local football team play come join us one Saturday. Usually, we go for a couple of drinks at the Irish pub later Love some new faces and company

[Michael Hare]

I have lived in Ubon since 1994. I have never heard of the Irish Pub? Where is it? Is it run by an Irishman? 

[Happyman58]

32 minutes ago, Michael Hare said:

I have lived in Ubon since 1994. I have never heard of the Irish Pub? Where is it? Is it run by an Irishman? 

there is one near the railway station  it is run by a guy called steven from Northern Ireland and his Thai g/f not sure but i think the part of the city  is called warim i have been there twice