Digital Nomad Visa in Estonia - Thailand next?

[kingofthemountain]

9 minutes ago, robblok said:

What the guy was using not paying taxes as an argument and is an OAP. I have no problem with retirees being here. But then just don't use the paying tax as an argument while retirees don't pay tax either. 

 

Its not as if retirees contribute more then digital nomads. 

You still don't get it 

the retirees, by definition, don't work

the Thais want to keep the job market in Thailand for the Thai people

all the laws about the forbidden activities for foreigners and the visas are in this way

and i don't see something wrong with that

Edited June 24, 2020 by kingofthemountain

[BritTim]

On 6/23/2020 at 4:35 PM, Letseng said:

But digital nomads are no big spenders. High end tourists are.

I have known quite a number of digital nomads, and they run the gamut from low income to extremely rich. One had sold his development tools to IBM for several million dollars, but continued to sell his services for US$3,000 per day. He spent about 70% of his time in Thailand until the visa situation became too much of a hassle.

[ExpatDraco]

On 6/22/2020 at 3:23 PM, chainarong said:

What Thai needs to concentrate on is a 12 month retirement visa ( RV) with no reporting, similar to Cambodia, with no strings attached 

 

I agree and this from age 35.

[simon43]

if you are really making good money, an elite visa is cheaper than two cups of Starbucks per day. 

 

You are not allowed to work in Thailand with an Elite visa.  Working online is still working.... I used to have an Elite visa, lived in Thailand and taught science online.  Strictly speaking, that wasn't legal ????  I like to stay legal and so I relocated to Laos, where I was issued with a 1-year business visa and work permit for teaching online.  At $600 per year, their visa is a lot cheaper than my 100,000 baht per year Elite visa.

[Sundown]

On 6/23/2020 at 5:55 PM, redpill17 said:

Is there really a need for special "digital nomad visa"? Just let self-employed foreigners to register a company and apply for business visa/WP.

It's also quite convenient as incomes earned outside Thailand are tax free...for those who say digital nomads are not big spenders I would like to inform you that digital nomads are not backpackers who go around in a tent ????

Digital nomads are for example websites owners (multiple websites can earn also 10-20k/month, but also online teachers can earn easily 3-4k$/month), videomakers, advertisers, coders and the list is very long.

Yes hard to swallow for over 65 with a pension but it's true guys get over it????

Edited June 25, 2020 by Sundown

[rvaviator]

On 6/22/2020 at 1:33 PM, PerkinsCuthbert said:

Why would the Thai government be interested in such an insignificant cohort when local tax collection on earnings would be almost impossible?

That is true .. but a DM would still need to eat .. live and maybe have a 'wellness massage now and then'.

 

That would contribute to the economy .... Having the DM in another country would not ...

 

Also true that Boiler rooms and other scams .. could be a real problem ... for for every problem .. the is always a solution ...

 

As DM generally are well paid .. Just charge them 10K THB for every month of the visa .. 120K for a 12 month multi entry visa ... ? Small change for a DM to pay for living in the land of milk and 'honey'

Edited June 25, 2020 by rvaviator
error ...

[JackThompson]

23 hours ago, kingofthemountain said:

You still don't get it 

the retirees, by definition, don't work

the Thais want to keep the job market in Thailand for the Thai people

all the laws about the forbidden activities for foreigners and the visas are in this way

and i don't see something wrong with that

I agree with those rules - and think they should kick out all the L-Visa scabs right away, so Thais can earn good money in construction, housekeeping, and other fields where wages are in the toilet, due to the availability of low-wage workers.

 

But this thread is about people who work for non-Thai employers.  Thailand not allowing them to stay, only means they continue working for their foreign-employer, while connected to "The Internet" in another country.  This does not create any Thai jobs - and, in fact, it reduces Thai jobs, by removing the spending of the person who now spends elsewhere. 

 

On 6/23/2020 at 4:35 PM, Letseng said:

But digital nomads are no big spenders. High end tourists are.

Is there a shortage of empty places to rent, such that the high-enders will be blocked from coming, if online-workers come?  Any "lower end" foreign-workers - earning maybe ONLY 4x the average Thai salary -  would never even rub-shoulders with "elite" vacationers.  By contrast, the tour group hordes DO reduce the quality of the destination a LOT.

 

The solution to "poor people" is to charge 20K Baht/yr or so for the visa, which those w/o the means could not afford - and, of course, send home all the L-Visa people, who make even less than the lowest-paid Thais.

 

[ExpatDraco]

4 minutes ago, rvaviator said:

As DM generally are well paid .. Just charge them 10K THB for every month of the visa .. 120K for a 12 month multi entry visa ... ? Small change for a DM to pay for living in the land of milk and 'honey'

Ok, but no income tax and fast track at airports.

[JackThompson]

12 minutes ago, rvaviator said:

As DM generally are well paid .. Just charge them 10K THB for every month of the visa .. 120K for a 12 month multi entry visa ... ?

That's highway-robbery, , relative to the standard of living here.  They will just keep spending their incomes in Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.  5K every 90-days is plenty, when a year for retirement is 1900 Baht.

 

The goal is to Maximize the foreign-spending in Thailand, to benefit the Thai people / economy - not exclude 99% of potential-contributors and hurt Thais, like the Elite Visa and visa "crackdowns" have done.