What about us? Furious retirees/expats in Thailand slam proposals to attract wealthy foreigners

[Thunglom]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

There are many words in Thai for immigrant. The Thai definition is different from other countries. There is confusion as some English speakers define it differently to Thai immigration.

Up until a few years ago, refugees and migrant workers were forced to get one of those pink non-Thai ID cards so as immigration could keep them under surveillance.

For some weird reason, some expats wanted one and now all can, although they don't have any practical use, especially if you already have a driver's license or yellow housebook. Most don't realize that they have been elevated to migrant worker status and Thais laugh at this ID card because they obviously are not Burmese/Cambodian labourers.  If you have one of these cards, ask a Thai what it says on the back - you need special permission in writing to leave the province you are registered in  Yet, down the expat bars, some are waving them around as if they were a Thai passport.  

 

"....an immigrant by any other name....... "

People who live in Thailand regardless of visa named by Thai. authorities are immigrants and are dealt with by the Dept of Immigration.

 

[Jingthing]

7 minutes ago, Thunglom said:

"....an immigrant by any other name....... "

People who live in Thailand regardless of visa named by Thai. authorities are immigrants and are dealt with by the Dept of Immigration.

 

Nope.

[Jingthing]

35 minutes ago, John Drake said:

Is anybody out there really going to become angry because immigration starts another program to bring in a higher income resident? Why? If it doesn't effect me negatively, why should I care? I guess I'll just keep doing things the way I have for the past twelve years. As long as that doesn't change, I'm satisfied. No need to envy anyone else or begrudge Thailand raking in whatever it can get from big spenders.

I think the real issue is the fear that the current program will be phased out or even exploded as Malaysia did.

 

Normal program retired expats -- Thailand is just not that into you.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Jingthing

[John Drake]

26 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I think the real issue is the fear that the current program will be phased out or even exploded as Malaysia did.

 

Normal program retired expats -- Thailand is just not that into you.

I guess it boils down to how much retirees represent as a plus or negative. I did read that the Malaysian program only has around 30,000 participants. So 1) There isn't going to be much impact one way or the other if it goes. 2) And Malaysia is already a place of ethnic division, especially between ethnic Chinese and Malays; so any program that brings in more wealthy Chinese might not be appreciated by the Malay majority. 3) Finally, there seems to be a lot of pressure for the new Malaysian government to restore the old program.  The numbers for Thailand appear to be a lot different.  Here is an old TV story on it, which concludes that the true numbers are impossible to determine, albeit even at the lowest estimate much higher than Malaysia's: 

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

4 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

If the master plan is for more connectivity and trade resulting in the prosperity of the region, the new world order is certainly moving in the right direction. The world is better off with more trade than needless brinkmanship on political system. 

We might get more cheap stuff that breaks down faster, but what if the price is less freedom of speech and more surveillance, both online and with face recognition cameras at every street corner?

Scary new world order. I like the old model.

[spidermike007]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I fail to see why, as IMO it would be easier to just rail everything to a Burmese port.

I am not familiar with the economics of one vs. the other. But to be able to bring supertankers full of oil, and other commodities to China, without having to go around the Strait of Malacca, would seem like quite a savings in fuel and time. This is something that has been discussed for decades now. It would be an enormous project, and very expensive. But, the Chinese are long term planners. 

[pedro01]

Why has half this thread devolved to a discussion on semantics of an English word, when Thai laws are written in Thai anyway? 

 

And we all go to the immigration department to get our visas anyway!

 

Here's what I can tell you about immigration dept in Thailand.

• Very few of the people in the immigration department are properly versed in all the rules.
• Partly this is because they are laws and people in all countries have problems interpreting laws.
• A friend of mine - Supat Skonchai - who spent many years in immigration - ended up writing a book that explained the laws - but in a more straightforward way.
• This book was very popular with immigration officers and it became the "de facto" immigration manual 
• Some programs require the stamp of approval for each applicant by the interior minister - and when one puritanical guy was interior minister - I know of one Westerner that qualified for an investment based residents permit and the Interior minister wouldn't sign it off. So there's that too.

But please - do go ahead continuing to debate the meaning of the word immigrant in a country where all laws are written in Thai and you are using a translation of a word anyway. 

 

The reality is that the rules are tricky, few understand them fully, nobody is out to get you. The entire country is a charming basket case and immigration is no different - don't take it personally. 

[Misty]

13 hours ago, pedro01 said:

The entire country is a charming basket case and immigration is no different

Immigration.....charming.....????  well that's one way to put it

[Jingthing]

Retired expats indeed are compelled to regularly deal with the Thai IMMIGRATION office to keep our defined TEMPORARY stays based on NON IMMIGRANT visas street legal. The fact that we do deal with immigration authorities in no way proves that we are immigrants. 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Jingthing

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I am not familiar with the economics of one vs. the other. But to be able to bring supertankers full of oil, and other commodities to China, without having to go around the Strait of Malacca, would seem like quite a savings in fuel and time. This is something that has been discussed for decades now. It would be an enormous project, and very expensive. But, the Chinese are long term planners. 

That's true, but there are such things as pipelines. The one in the US that Biden stopped was going all the way from Canada to southern USA.

It would be useless in a time of war as the Suez proved how easy it is to block a canal, so IMO they will go for an overland option. I could be wrong, but only time will tell on that.

[pedro01]

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Retired expats indeed are compelled to regularly deal with the Thai IMMIGRATION office to keep our defined TEMPORARY stays based on NON IMMIGRANT visas street legal. The fact that we do deal with immigration authorities in no way proves that we are immigrants. 

 

I think you have made your position clear.

 

Reposting it over and over is not going to change minds and its polluting the discussion, which - last time I checked was about incentives to new visitors, not the meaning of the word immigrant.

 

Personally, I have to wonder who all these <deleted> off expats are that got bent out-of shape and are shouting from the rooftops.

 

I don't think they exist. I think most here are aware that prospective policy changes are floated in the media first to see how they fly.

 

I think the article is made up. Nobody is shouting. We heard this a zillion times before.

 

Article should read. 3 aging Sexpats take time between Changs to whine about something online.

Edited September 20, 2021 by pedro01