Why talk about tourist and not about year visa holders?

[Willem3]

What I don't get.

 

Why are they now only talking about possibly starting admitting tourists to come to Thailand again?

 

Why are year visa holders who are not actually tourists but who live wholly or largely in Thailand but are not allowed to come to Thailand because of Corona not be the first to be admitted again? I understand that not everyone can come back at the same time. I fully understand that they started with a number of categories.

 

But before going any further with tourists, I think the category Non-O and Non OA with annual extension should be given the highest priority.

 

With that they get people who don't just stay for a few weeks, who have a real bond with Thailand, who have their lives in Thailand. Many with relationships, possessions, rented / owned house / apartment.

 

Who stands up for this group?

 

Ambassadors?

Interest groups?

 

Given the discussion about the cautious opening, it would be a very sensible step with a very limited risk but with many advantages for Thailand and the foreigners involved.

 

Including myself.

[Puchaiyank]

You are using a logical and practical approach...does not work here...

[richard_smith237]

I don’t get it either.... 

 

I think retirees and those with exiting ties to Thailand who don’t fit the categories already catered for for entry under Covid-19 regulations have been treated with complete and total disregard, quite despicable IMO. 

 

The MFA could open up the requirements for retirees, those on O and AO visas (other than parents and spouses) with ease. The MFA could easily open up for anyone with any proven tie to Thailand already, yet they concentrate on convoluted and moronic schemes to get tourists to visit Thailand and stay within the vicinity of a hotel for 2 weeks. Its mind-blowingly senseless and ultimately screams of such indifference its clear those in positions of decision making power don’t really care and don’t really think.

 

 

 

 

[2 is 1]

47 minutes ago, Willem3 said:

With that they get people who don't just stay for a few weeks, who have a real bond with Thailand, who have their lives in Thailand. Many with relationships, possessions, rented / owned house / apartment.

Because they has count expat's come back anyway! Now they want "fast win". Just coz expat's has bond to Thailand! Just what you say! They want fill every ASQ hotel and make money, probably own pocket! They are happy if that place is full all the time! Coz price is huge, pay much more than normaly and you get 3 meal! Everybody know how much food cost here! Coverment budget for 1 person day food is 240 bth! How much more than before hotel room cost ! 240 bth/ day!? So where go extra money, hotel get that??? LOL

Ok have some other exbense also but HELLO

Edited August 27, 2020 by 2 is 1

[Upnotover]

14 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

don’t really care and don’t really think

The first part of that is a given, you gotta hope that the second part is also correct as otherwise if the decision to not allow retirees back is based upon thought it really tells you the contempt felt for such people from those in command.

[jackdd]

They call it "opening for tourists", but actually it's about "opening for regular flights".

Obviously retirees are not considered as important as foreigners working in Thailand or who have Thai spouses, which is why they are not allowed on repatriation flights.

Don't let them hurt your feelings just because you don't get any special treatment over a tourist.

What are they supposed to do? Once they open of for commercial flights, retirees should be the first allowed in?

If they stick with the 14 day quarantine requirement, it will probably be mostly retirees anyway, not many people want to spend 14 days of their holiday in quarantine (for tourists from Asian countries this is often more than their yearly holiday budget)

Edited August 27, 2020 by jackdd

[meechai]

1 hour ago, Willem3 said:

Why are they now only talking about possibly starting admitting tourists to come to Thailand again?

Why are year visa holders who are not actually tourists but who live wholly or largely in Thailand but are not allowed to come to Thailand because of Corona........<snipped>

 

But before going any further with tourists, I think the category Non-O and Non OA with annual extension should be given the highest priority.

Who stands up for this group?

Thailand 101% prefers those who come drop $$ & most importantly LEAVE!

 

The only reason they tolerate the great unwashed?..... tourist $$$ deposits

Given that $$$ is required even in their mostly Xenophobic country they will of course prefer the drive thru (Tourists) depositors.

 

The only reason they give yearly visa's is IMO for the "tokenism" aspect & fear of worldwide reaction/rejection if they didn't

Edited August 27, 2020 by meechai

[FlyingThai]

16 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

Being permanently in Thailand since 2000, I spend monthly the equivalent of 2000 Euro here ( The most of my pension). 

Pretty sure every retiree spend most of his revenue, if not all, in the country where he reside. 

Just as any wage earner do. 

 

Your pension is much higher than the average person receives. Most retirees come to Thailand because their EUR/USD lasts longer than back home and many barely scrape by as is well documented in the media as well as on the various retirement visa threads here on TV (no funds available, borrowing money from agents to show funds in the account etc). What do you think why all these crazy Youtube channels are so popular like "Retiring in TH with $500-$700 a month"!?

 

Someone like you would have a very comfortable life back in Europe as well. But you're the exception. In the end it depends on what goods and services people are spending their money on. The governments primary focus right now is to fill the hotels and fuel the tourism industry. A long term visa holder rents/owns an apartment, goes to the supermarket and maybe visits a restaurant here and there. Those who can afford it travel domestically, yes.

[luckyluke]

3 minutes ago, FlyingThai said:

Someone like you would have a very comfortable life back in Europe as well.

Not the case anymore. 

Of course everything is relative.

[don43451]

Tourists (for the most part) stay in hotels and eat out three times (or more) a day and drink every night.  Long stay retirees rent a house/condo and cook (more often) at home.  Much more money to be made from the tourists.  PLUS, the people "demanding" tourists be allowed back are the hotel and restaurant owners.

[FlyingThai]

6 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

Not the case anymore. 

Of course everything is relative.

Maybe not a luxury life but a comfortable one. At least in countries like Germany if you leave the big, expensive cities. Having a salary of 2000 Euro after tax is pretty high even for many working folks in Europe as I'm sure you know.

 

Anyway your retirement income is the exception rather than the rule among retired foreigners in Thailand.

Edited August 27, 2020 by FlyingThai

[luckyluke]

2 minutes ago, FlyingThai said:

Maybe not a luxury life but a comfortable one. At least in countries like Germany if you leave the big, expensive cities. Having a salary of 2000 Euro after tax is pretty high even for many working folks in Europe as I'm sure you know.

 

Anyway I'm sure you know that your retirement income is the exception rather than the rule among foreigners in Thailand.

I don't know. I don't have any data about how high the pensions are for the foreigners in Thailand. 

Being married, I have a family pension.

I know that in Belgium the amount of my family pension is not that exceptional. 

 

[MRToMRT]

1 hour ago, FlyingThai said:

 

Your pension is much higher than the average person receives. Most retirees come to Thailand because their EUR/USD lasts longer than back home and many barely scrape by as is well documented in the media as well as on the various retirement visa threads here on TV (no funds available, borrowing money from agents to show funds in the account etc). What do you think why all these crazy Youtube channels are so popular like "Retiring in TH with $500-$700 a month"!?

 

Someone like you would have a very comfortable life back in Europe as well. But you're the exception. In the end it depends on what goods and services people are spending their money on. The governments primary focus right now is to fill the hotels and fuel the tourism industry. A long term visa holder rents/owns an apartment, goes to the supermarket and maybe visits a restaurant here and there. Those who can afford it travel domestically, yes.

I am not so sure you are right. The "lower earning retirees" may have been very vocal, especially with the last changes to the 800k/x months deal. But the more "affluent" retirees are quite a substantial group, especially counting the ones who do not live is LOS full time. They are normally quiet because until now they have not had a lot to complain about.

[Scott]

Off-topic post reported and removed.  

 

[gearbox]

19 minutes ago, MRToMRT said:

I am not so sure you are right. The "lower earning retirees" may have been very vocal, especially with the last changes to the 800k/x months deal. But the more "affluent" retirees are quite a substantial group, especially counting the ones who do not live is LOS full time. They are normally quiet because until now they have not had a lot to complain about.

Because of the coronavirus it is all unpredictable and messy now. The retirees are just tourists with longer term visas. Because the country has been locked for more than five months, many of these long term visas are expiring or expired already. My O-A reentry permit expires in 2 weeks, from there on I have no visa. I'm currently in Europe and in order to get a new O-A need to go back to Australia to get one...but there is no point as I can't fly out from there. 

So at this point I need to rely on a normal tourist visa or visa exemption, to go back to Thailand when the borders open.

[oompie69]

5 hours ago, jackdd said:

They call it "opening for tourists", but actually it's about "opening for regular flights".

Obviously retirees are not considered as important as foreigners working in Thailand or who have Thai spouses, which is why they are not allowed on repatriation flights.

Don't let them hurt your feelings just because you don't get any special treatment over a tourist.

What are they supposed to do? Once they open of for commercial flights, retirees should be the first allowed in?

If they stick with the 14 day quarantine requirement, it will probably be mostly retirees anyway, not many people want to spend 14 days of their holiday in quarantine (for tourists from Asian countries this is often more than their yearly holiday budget)

Spot on!

[BritTim]

I am not claiming the plan for tourist groups from selected "safe" locations is fair, but it is not entirely illogical.

 

A few months ago, it seemed likely that it would be feasible to establish travel bubbles between countries that were Covid-19 free. There are now few countries that believe others had the virus reliably under control to allow individual, quarantine free travel between countries.

 

Instead, to help the hospitality industry, the authorities are seriously exploring the possibility of allowing groups whose movements can be carefully monitored, to be allowed in from countries with little or no Covid-19 infection. If this occurs, it will have no affect on those who want to return as individuals (whether from Covid-19 free countries or countries where the virus is spreading uncontrollably). Those returns depend entirely on the ability to provide safe quarantine facilities for returnees.

 

I understand the grievance of those with close ties to Thailand who either cannot return, or can only do so via a convoluted and expensive process. However, the proposals for controlled, quarantine free entry of selected tourist groups have some merit.

[Phillip9]

6 hours ago, jackdd said:

They call it "opening for tourists", but actually it's about "opening for regular flights".

There is no serious talk of opening up regular flights.  They are planning on doing direct charter flights to Phuket for citizens of a few select countries with very low virus numbers.  This will not help most people with retiree visas unless they happen to be from one of those countries.

[MRToMRT]

This whole story is developing very fast, there must be panic at the moment.

 

Its breaking all over the news channels that home owners and long stayers could be added to the "list of 11" after review by the CCSA.

 

Fingers crossed!

 

 

[LukKrueng]

Because in the categories you are talking about there are probably few thousands and they will use facilities (repat flights and ASQs) used by all those who are already permitted to return, and the impact on the economy is just about 0. They are looking at ways tourists can come hoping to see about 2 million by the end of the year. The positive impact on tourism and the economy will be much bigger. However one can assume that if they manage to get this going, there will be more available flight seats to accommodate those on yearly extensions so if they could find an ASQ space, or will be willing to take one of the offered travel packages to tourist and then just stay. 

[JusticeGB]

The chairman of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration has announced that Long-Term foreign residents with permanent residences in Thailand stranded overseas will receive priority when seeking to return to Thailand under strict disease control measures. This was on the front page of today's Bangkok Post. 

[ronaldo0]

As a visa holder already the government will think you too smart already and can’t bleed you like a tourist or someone with money to waste on quarantine etc ! ????

[kingofthemountain]

1 hour ago, JusticeGB said:

The chairman of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration has announced that Long-Term foreign residents with permanent residences in Thailand stranded overseas will receive priority when seeking to return to Thailand under strict disease control measures. This was on the front page of today's Bangkok Post. 

All is in the choice of the ''words''

the few foreigners with a permanent residence status are already

on the list allowed to return since june, so nothing new here.

In fact they are long term foreign residents.

 

It should be more precise if the chairman talked about the ''retired''

with an O or an OA visa (Including the extension) 

a lot of them own or rent a residence in Thailand

unfortunately for them i don't think they are on the Thai ''priority'' list at the moment.

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, JusticeGB said:

The chairman of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration has announced that Long-Term foreign residents with permanent residences in Thailand stranded overseas will receive priority when seeking to return to Thailand under strict disease control measures. This was on the front page of today's Bangkok Post. 

That is not a major change. Those with permanent residence status have been able to get COEs for months. The only change is to give them priority over most other categories of foreigners. Anyway, there are few of them outside Thailand, so the impact is minimal.

[Isaan sailor]

As I have explained to my friends in Thailand, remember, it wasn’t the government who invited you to live here; it was your girlfriend...

[SEtonal]

32 minutes ago, BritTim said:

That is not a major change. Those with permanent residence status have been able to get COEs for months. The only change is to give them priority over most other categories of foreigners. Anyway, there are few of them outside Thailand, so the impact is minimal.

You are talking about legal permanent residents.  According to Richard Barrow on Twitter, Channel 7 said that the new proposal is for condo owners (owners of a permanent residence).

[Bender Rodriguez]

18 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

The MFA could open up the requirements for retirees, those on O and AO visas (other than parents and spouses) with ease.

I live here 10+ years, was married for 10+ years in this country

 

(divorced in 2019)

 

have a child for 10+ years that I take care of fulltime (shared custody on paper, but child has ZERO interest in seeing "the mother" after what she did (abuse) to the child for all those years)

 

but still gives me ZERO rights, as my visa based of being a parent of Thai child, was denied

 

last year the IO's answer was: GO BACK TO YOUR HOME COUNTRY

[4737 Carlin]

How long have you been here ? I only ask because its fairly obvious, if you've spent a significant amount of time in Thailand, that they don't really want foreigners 'living' here. They want us to come here, leave all our cash, then go back to our own countries.

[ubonjoe]

15 minutes ago, 4737 Carlin said:

How long have you been here ? I only ask because its fairly obvious, if you've spent a significant amount of time in Thailand, that they don't really want foreigners 'living' here. They want us to come here, leave all our cash, then go back to our own countries.

I am on my 13th one year extension of stay based upon marriage without leaving the country. So what you say is not correct.

[bradiston]

Having "permanent residence" status, and owning or living in, a "permanent residence" are completely different.

 

However, doesn't It come back to the idea that the Thai authorities, despite all the forms and fiddle de dee that we have to fill in, appear to have absolutely no accurate figures on how many expats (meaning long stayers) there are in Thailand. This despite TM6 and 90 day reports, extension renewals and reentry permits etc etc. If they did know, they could calculate, even on a very rough basis, how much those expats were worth to the Thai economy. If there were just 100,000 spending as little as 300 THB a day, it's 30m THB a day. 1000 THB per day and you're looking at 100m - A DAY! And in many cases, year round. So what's not to like? 36,500,000,000 THB?

 

I rest my case.