The mystery of exactly how many expats live in Thailand

[British Bulldog]

9 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

In a mathematics classroom.

 

Hmmmm ... Half English, Half Scottish and half Irish ... so your count would be 1.5 of a person ... ha ha ha

[hansnl]

6 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

That there are millions of foreigners in Thailand. It is a large community. Granted, it is divided into subsets. But, we are talking about a nation that would break down without it's foreign population. Especially if you take into account the Burmese and Cambodian workers. 

Don't forget the Chinese......

Probably all working, legal or illegal.

[geoffbezoz]

2 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

My son was born in Thailand nearly 3 years ago. I am Aussie and his mum from Myanmar and on his birth certificate it listed him as no nationality with a side note stating he was someone temporarily or illegally in Thailand.

So  from another posters thread it appears that there is a route for you to get your son a Thai ID as he was born in Thailand. Have you tried that ? But also I assume you have him an Australian registration now and Oz passport as he is your son, presuming that is your name was on the Thai birth certificate ?

[Assurancetourix]

9 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

In a mathematics classroom.

In a thai mathematics classroom ;

Yesterday I bought a pad thai for 35 baht ;

I gave a 50 baht note  and I said give me back  15 baht 

but he needed to use his calculator to check 

[Dazinoz]

1 hour ago, FarFlungFalang said:

I have an Australian passport and I know that after 2 years out of the country and I cease to be a resident of my own country,so my guess would be 2 years.

Not doubting but where did you get that figure from?

 

I emailed my accountant about a year ago (after 5 years here) and asking him questions in that regard. Originally I planned to stay here until death do us part (and could still be the case), but with an unplanned sick baby and immigration rules changing I now plan to head back and try for the pension (eligible? in 2 1/2 years). He told me that I was still regarded as an Australian Citizen.

 

Having said that after 5 years I was kicked out of Medicare and have to "rejoin" when I get back.

 

[Dazinoz]

3 minutes ago, British Bulldog said:

Hmmmm ... Half English, Half Scottish and half Irish ... so your count would be 1.5 of a person ... ha ha ha

Don't know. I am not a mathematician.

[Globe Trotter]

1 hour ago, jlwilliamsjr18 said:

Expats are in fact one of the golden geese of Thailand. Do the math, if each one, spends 100 dollars a week, thats a sizable hunk for the economy.  So, why kill this golden goose?

I've been here nearly a decade, aside from rent and bills, I pay around $500 a week into the economy. It would seem not only smart but logical for Thailand to make life easier for such people. rather than more difficult. Expats do put a lot of money into the economy, maybe more so than the 1-2 week tourists 

[tabarin]

Just trying to imagine how rich we would be if we somehow were connected and all contributed a few hundred B a month. 
Could just buy our own part of Spain and import the Thai girls, cooks and other to there. 

[Dazinoz]

4 minutes ago, geoffbezoz said:

So  from another posters thread it appears that there is a route for you to get your son a Thai ID as he was born in Thailand. Have you tried that ? But also I assume you have him an Australian registration now and Oz passport as he is your son, presuming that is your name was on the Thai birth certificate ?

Yes. I got his Australian Citizenship then passport. Due to his illness (he died and was revived but suffered brain damage as a result) his mum didn't want him (second baby she has left) and the costs I had already paid out for his treatments I could not afford to look after him so he is in foster care with a fantastic lady in Queensland. I am heading back to see him for a week next month.

[Zack61]

72,000 (retirees) x 800,000 (baht) = 57,600,000,000 Baht

 

And that's just the retirees

[Dazinoz]

2 minutes ago, tabarin said:

Just trying to imagine how rich we would be if we somehow were connected and all contributed a few hundred B a month. 
Could just buy our own part of Spain and import the Thai girls, cooks and other to there. 

Sounds good to me. Expatland.

[William72]

You would think with the amount of information and paperwork that goes into getting a Business Visa and Work Permit that this number would be readily and easily calculated. Just goes to show that all that paper is sitting in some warehouse collecting dust and are simply “hoops for tea money”??!! ????

[brewsterbudgen]

1 hour ago, amdy2206 said:

What about teachers?

Exactly.  That would be me.  14 years and still teaching here...

[JayBangkok]

They haven't even noticed!

[Nowisee]

 

 

2 minutes ago, Zack61 said:

72,000 (retirees) x 800,000 (baht) = 57,600,000,000 Baht

 

And that's just the retirees

 

Add to that the soon to be announced upcoming mandatory insurance and they will be dancing in the streets.

[tabarin]

3 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

Sounds good to me. Expatland.

We could generate plenty of money, certainly if doing a bit more, like 50 euro a month.
A dream that will never happen I guess hehe, too much greed on the way to destroy trust.

[whaleboneman]

1 hour ago, NormanW said:

I'm half English half Scottish and half Irish. 

I wonder they'd place me???

You need to go on a diet. You're 50% overweight.

[geoffbezoz]

5 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

Yes. I got his Australian Citizenship then passport. Due to his illness (he died and was revived but suffered brain damage as a result) his mum didn't want him (second baby she has left) and the costs I had already paid out for his treatments I could not afford to look after him so he is in foster care with a fantastic lady in Queensland. I am heading back to see him for a week next month.

You are a kind man and considerate person and I hope life treats you as well as you have treated him. What goes round comes round hopefully.

[Dazinoz]

1 minute ago, geoffbezoz said:

You are a kind man and considerate person and I hope life treats you as well as you have treated him. What goes round comes round hopefully.

Thank you for that. I hope it does too, hasn't been too good so far since he was born.

[KhunKenAP]

Thai government does not want anyone to know the true number. They are afraid if we knew we might together and demand change to all the immigration laws or demand they be administrated on using a common definition and application.

 

This "BS" of different interpretation by office and officer is CRAZY.

[Misty]

"According to figures in the 2019 Thailand Migration Report, there are just 150,707 expats residing in Thailand, of those 72,969 are retirees. "

 

But how are work permit holders classified?  For example, the following table from page 18 of the report says there were 136,542 work permit holders in 2017:

 

[Pattaya46]

15 minutes ago, Zack61 said:

72,000 (retirees) x 800,000 (baht) = 57,600,000,000 Baht

This has been posted several times in recent days, but it's far less than that in fact. Most retirees probably use the Income method or an Embassy Letter, so don't need 800k in the bank.

[4MyEgo]

6 hours ago, Isaanbiker said:

Just looking at a city in the lower northeast makes me believe that more foreigners are living here full time.

They could be visiting ?

[4MyEgo]

2 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Most retirees probably use the Income method or an Embassy Letter, so don't need 800k in the bank.

Have you not heard, a lot of embassies a not issuing those letters anymore, so it's 800,000 baht in the bank, or go via an agent and pay 25,000 baht and they will take care everything, even the immigration officers to turn a blind eye because they don't have the 800,000 baht.

[Shiver]

27 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

In a thai mathematics classroom ;

Yesterday I bought a pad thai for 35 baht ;

I gave a 50 baht note  and I said give me back  15 baht 

but he needed to use his calculator to check 

I had something similar at a local shop.  Bought a few things that totaled 80 baht.  I was impressed that the person added it up without a calculator.  I gave 100 baht, and then they had to get the calculator out to work out the change lol.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, BobbyL said:

80,000 Japanese! 

 

Apart from the Yipoon guys I see on the golf course, where are they all? Especially the Japanese females ????

 

Thong Lo, Sri Racha, etc etc....  Check out the Japanese supermarkets at weekends.

 

[boonrawdcnx]

So all the the mountains of paper, millions of pictures and triple resident TM6, TM30, 90 day, residence certificate reporting is all for nothing then?
Also the first sentence is misleading - it should read “was popular and is increasingly becoming unpopular “ - quite a few of my friends who had been here for decades have left or are leaving in the near future.
Thailand missed a great opportunity I just can not understand that other countries around here are so ignorant and I almost said to stupid to cash in on this!
If I would have anything to say in Vietnam or Cambodia I would designate a certain area preferably a stunning beach location and welcome retirees with open arms. Built the infrastructure - declare it a special zone and even allow ownership of small plots of land within this zone for private residences throw in a special visa of lets say 3 years - then 5 years - then permanent. People would very likely move in by the hundreds of thousands spending their money and probably create hundreds of thousands of jobs and a new city-state like Singapore and Hong Kong.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[SymS]

1 hour ago, jlwilliamsjr18 said:

Expats are in fact one of the golden geese of Thailand. Do the math, if each one, spends 100 dollars a week, thats a sizable hunk for the economy.  So, why kill this golden goose?

Let's do some maths. Assuming 500,000 "expats" spending 100 dollars a week, that a total of 2.6 billlions per year.  Based on the article, the number could be less than that, but most will likely spend more than $100 a week, and will contribute much more to the economy in a way that's hard to quantify. Anyway, using the previous numbers, Thailand GPD was 455 billions in 2017. That's 0.5% of GDP. Those poor Thai people would clearly starve without expats ????

 

[Misty]

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Thong Lo, Sri Racha, etc etc....  Check out the Japanese supermarkets at weekends.

 

At Starbucks in the afternoon you may find large gatherings of Japanese ladies

[Guderian]

I find these figures hard to credit. A few years back one of the Pattaya newspapers quoted Chon Buri Immigration as saying that over 40,000 retirement extensions were dealt with each year. So over half of all retired expats in Thailand live in Pattaya? I doubt it somehow.