OPEN LETTER: Foreigners with local businesses face impossible financial demands and regulations

[snoop1130]

OPEN LETTER: Foreigners with local businesses face impossible financial demands and regulations

 

A staffer cleans a still-empty Phuket International Airport. Photo: AoT Phuket

 

A foreigner who launched a start-up business in Phuket before the the COVID-19 outbreak details how foreigners who have spent millions of baht launching a businesses in Phuket are now stuck in an impossible situation financially, and unable to even comply with Immigration requirements due to no income during the current economic crisis. Here is the foreigner’s Open Letter to the Thai Government, unedited for veracity:

 

“Phuket is badly affected by the current crises” a statement by V / Gov Phichet, September 11, 2020.

 

What do you want as a government with foreigners who invest money in a Thai company?

 

Full Story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/open-letter-foreigners-with-local-businesses-face-impossible-financial-demands-and-regulations-77302.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2020-09-14

 

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[AlfHuy]

don't worry, your landlord has seen your business model and will take over.

[Puchaiyank]

Never invest money you can not afford to lose in any foreign country endeavor...

 

Sorry for your loss...don't expect any Thai help or sympathy...

[nemo38]

Money in tourism or real estate is lost money. Tourists won't be back for years. Tourism may never recover. 

 

The illusion of a return to normal is being kept alive by money printing and banks not defaulting on loans. After that stops, the gates of hell will open. 

[ukrules]

I think this is a common misconception.

 

Those rules about company formation, required employees, shareholder percentages, hurdles to getting visas and work permits, etc are not there to help you establish and maintain a business while living in Thailand.

 

They exist to discourage any and all foreigners from doing so.

 

[Oldie]

It is for sure a bad situation. But I never understood why people come to Thailand to make money. If they can do it here it would have been much easier to be and to stay successful in their home country. Thailand is a place to spend money but not to make it. 

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Oldie

[samsensam]

9 minutes ago, Oldie said:

It is for sure a bad situation. But I never understood why people come to Thailand to make money. If they can do it here it would have been much easier to be and to stay successful in their home country. Thailand is a place to spend money but not to make it. 

 

 

for sure, there have to be few jobs where the financial rewards, benefits and working conditions beat those back home. those who win are people who get sent to work in thailand by their company while retaining their home country salary/benefits.

[RichardColeman]

"I want to appeal to reasonableness and compassion, from the government,"

[yellowboat]

Thailand is best managed from the outside.  

7 hours ago, ukrules said:

They exist to discourage any and all foreigners from doing so.

So true

 

 

[bartender100]

Thailand is yet to be hit by Covid-19, not any kind of herd immunity in the population. They have got it all to come IMHO

[ChipButty]

Goes back to the old joke, How to make a fortune in Thailand, is bring a big one with you

[ChrisY1]

6 hours ago, Oldie said:

It is for sure a bad situation. But I never understood why people come to Thailand to make money. If they can do it here it would have been much easier to be and to stay successful in their home country. Thailand is a place to spend money but not to make it. 

 

Quite right....unfortunately, falling for the "best woman they've ever met" is often the incentive to do business here....nice ass doesn't often equal nice profits!

Edited September 15, 2020 by ChrisY1

[ThailandRyan]

11 hours ago, nemo38 said:

Money in tourism or real estate is lost money. Tourists won't be back for years. Tourism may never recover. 

 

The illusion of a return to normal is being kept alive by money printing and banks not defaulting on loans. After that stops, the gates of hell will open. 

Are you sure about the Thai government printing money? The banks here are also taking court action to sieze properties for non payment.  Maybe your thinking your on a western forum, but this is Thailand.

[bodga]

send  all mail to the "we  dont give a  flying fart weve  had  your  money now sod  off" dept car of  <deleted>  Thailand

[bodga]

53 minutes ago, yellowboat said:

Thailand is best managed from the outside.  

So true

 

 

and they know foreigners could easily  wipe the floor with the lazy and poor  service  offered in Thailand

[bodga]

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

"I want to appeal to reasonableness and compassion, from the government,"

not  too hard though as those  Thai  bricks  will break even if you fart on them

[geriatrickid]

We all feel for a person  who's legitimate business investment disintegrates. However, one must be delusional to expect a government  bailout or substantive support for a restaurant business.

- Restaurants  come and go. It is an industry segment characterized by instability.

- The restaurant is failing because there are no customers. Offering the restaurant  a support payment just delays the inevitable collapse because customers will be in short supply for the next 3-6 months+.

 - The business was an investment. Investments have risk. An investor cannot expect the general public to bail out a failed personal investment. 

- Granting a lease payment deferral is a matter between the landlord and the tenant. The landlord has  expenses to pay as well, including debt service. If the debt is not serviced, the financial institution cannot meet its obligation to pay interest or annuities to depositors and other customers.

- Restaurants are not long term social capital assets and are easily replaced depending upon market changes. Cooks, chefs, waiters are easily  found and /or trained compared to skilled manufacturing workers, or  R&D workers. If this was a business that provided employment for skilled labour, or contributed to the technological advancement of society as do high tech or R&D based operations, then yes a  case could be made to support the intellectual capital investment.

 

Sorry to say, but this was a personal investment in a land where restaurants  are everywhere. No one will miss a restaurant. Society will will suffer from the loss of a medical equipment manufacturer, or aerospace engineering firm, or even a cement producer.

 

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by geriatrickid

[Sharp]

44 minutes ago, bartender100 said:

Thailand is yet to be hit by Covid-19, not any kind of herd immunity in the population. They have got it all to come IMHO

I would tend to think the opposite having spent Nov - Feb in Phuket and Pattaya the amount of Chinese roaming round unencumbered and daily flights from Wuhan herd immunity has largely been acheived by default and minimal testing the fact thats it's nowhere near as deadly as previously thought most cases went unreported as people went on about their  days feelings <deleted>ty for a few days and recovered ,self medicated or were asymptomatic thats the reason in my opinion Thailands numbers are at low.

Basically the virus went through and only finding the remnants of the infected a little too late.

[Poet]

That letter is a stunning example of why non-native English speakers, no matter how educated or how well they think they can speak English, should ALWAYS have a competent native speaker proofread important communications. This is doubly important when your target audience are not native speakers.

In 777 words and 20 densely-packed paragraphs that were painful to read, he communicates almost nothing. No Thai civil servant would make it past the second paragraph. He could have asked for help in a forum such as this and ended up making his point more effectively within 100 words and 2 paragraphs, the length of this comment.

 

[bartender100]

17 minutes ago, Sharp said:

I would tend to think the opposite having spent Nov - Feb in Phuket and Pattaya the amount of Chinese roaming round unencumbered and daily flights from Wuhan herd immunity has largely been acheived by default and minimal testing the fact thats it's nowhere near as deadly as previously thought most cases went unreported as people went on about their  days feelings <deleted>ty for a few days and recovered ,self medicated or were asymptomatic thats the reason in my opinion Thailands numbers are at low.

Basically the virus went through and only finding the remnants of the infected a little too late.

I take your point, lets hope that's the case

[NightSky]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Are you sure about the Thai government printing money? The banks here are also taking court action to sieze properties for non payment.  Maybe your thinking your on a western forum, but this is Thailand.

The government bank has stopped collecting mortgage payments until next February 2021, im not sure is some of the other banks are doing the same thing?

 

it was a pleasant surprise for the wife when she checked her account

[nemo38]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Are you sure about the Thai government printing money? The banks here are also taking court action to sieze properties for non payment.  Maybe your thinking your on a western forum, but this is Thailand.

I wasn't thinking of Thailand specifically. I assume I'm speaking mostly to foreigners here.

 

Western governments are kicking the financial can down the road, with money printing and not recognising the banks are already bust. Thailand won't see many western tourists again, as the wealth of the western middle class has been sucked out of the economy. Thailand will have to adjust it's economy for autarky. 

[Aspaltso]

After reading the article its become obvious as to why there isn't a lot of FDi into Thailand. It's not necessarily an entrepreneurs haven. That being said, this person didn't do all their homework before coming here; yes the covid siutation exacerbated things for them, but it could be any hiccup, and many of the same problems were to come about. For entrepreneurs coming to SE Asia a country like Malaysia, may have better laws for aspiring entrepreneurs.

[Aspaltso]

44 minutes ago, nemo38 said:

I wasn't thinking of Thailand specifically. I assume I'm speaking mostly to foreigners here.

 

Western governments are kicking the financial can down the road, with money printing and not recognising the banks are already bust. Thailand won't see many western tourists again, as the wealth of the western middle class has been sucked out of the economy. Thailand will have to adjust it's economy for autarky. 

I completely agree with the tourist demographic changing after covid. It was already changing after around 2010, because of what is mentioned above; "western middle class wealth being sucked out" etc. It'll be a destination for people in the East Asian region, and many of the old business laws will remain and be applied to the new entrepreneurs who try their luck.

[LivinginKata]

1 hour ago, NightSky said:

The government bank has stopped collecting mortgage payments until next February 2021, im not sure is some of the other banks are doing the same thing?

 

it was a pleasant surprise for the wife when she checked her account

 

It will be a shock when she has to pay the back payments after Feb 2021, With interest on money not paid.

[moe666]

I doubt any foreign will get much help as alot more Thai businesses going out of business with no help.

[LukKrueng]

11 hours ago, ukrules said:

I think this is a common misconception.

 

Those rules about company formation, required employees, shareholder percentages, hurdles to getting visas and work permits, etc are not there to help you establish and maintain a business while living in Thailand.

 

They exist to discourage any and all foreigners from doing so.

 

I agree with the first part of your comment, not with the second part. It's not in order to discourage anyone, but to benefit Thailand and Thai society. Otherwise what is the point? 

[shackleton]

Well thats going to have a few budding  foreigner ententrepreneurs 

Have a good think about any future plans for business here 

Especially in the Tourist sector if thats the   negative responce of government officials here

 

[ChipButty]

1 hour ago, Aspaltso said:

After reading the article its become obvious as to why there isn't a lot of FDi into Thailand. It's not necessarily an entrepreneurs haven. That being said, this person didn't do all their homework before coming here; yes the covid siutation exacerbated things for them, but it could be any hiccup, and many of the same problems were to come about. For entrepreneurs coming to SE Asia a country like Malaysia, may have better laws for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Do they still have that program in Malaysia, My Second Home? 

[stuarty]

3 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Do they still have that program in Malaysia, My Second Home? 

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