How to answer the question "What are you doing here?"

[MajorTom]

17 minutes ago, BKKTRAVELER said:

I understand your point, but not many countries rely on tourism as much as Thailand. The overall economic situation is still precarious and they should recognize that. That's all I'm saying.

Correct. In addition to that, there are benefits to gain in a western country. Tax payers have paid for a safety network which should be protected. In Thailand its ZERO gain.

Comparing immigration policies in first world nations with welfare systems and naturalization processes with Thailand is highly irrelevant.

[BritTim]

24 minutes ago, MajorTom said:

Correct. In addition to that, there are benefits to gain in a western country. Tax payers have paid for a safety network which should be protected. In Thailand its ZERO gain.

Comparing immigration policies in first world nations with welfare systems and naturalization processes with Thailand is highly irrelevant.

I should not bite on this, but I cannot control myself. Western countries also fail to recognise the tremendous benefits foreigners bring to their countries.

 

It is politically beneficial in almost all countries to demonise foreigners, and you can say almost anything to back up your attacks. There tends to be a grain of truth in the justifications for the xenophobia, but statistics do not overall back up the arguments in practice.

 

Most migrants to the US mostly fall into one of two categories: students and economic migrants. The economic migrants are demonised, but they end up being a net benefit to the economy. They are overwhelmingly aged under 35, energetic and ambitious (a self selecting group of the kinds of people that have made countries like the US dynamic for the last 300 years). Every successive wave of immigration is attacked when it occurs, but economic migrants have only ended up being bad for the recipient country in one special case of which I am aware: the enforced transportation of slaves. That ended up, on balance, being bad for several reasons, one of which is that it was no longer a self selecting group of ambitious individuals.

[BKKTRAVELER]

1 minute ago, BritTim said:

I should not bite on this, but I cannot control myself. Western countries also fail to recognise the tremendous benefits foreigners bring to their countries.

 

It is politically beneficial in almost all countries to demonise foreigners, and you can say almost anything to back up your attacks. There tends to be a grain of truth in the justifications for the xenophobia, but statistics do not overall back up the arguments in practice.

 

Most migrants to the US mostly fall into one of two categories: students and economic migrants. The economic migrants are demonised, but they end up being a net benefit to the economy. They are overwhelmingly aged under 35, energetic and ambitious (a self selecting group of the kinds of people that have made countries like the US dynamic for the last 300 years). Every successive wave of immigration is attacked when it occurs, but economic migrants have only ended up being bad for the recipient country in one special case of which I am aware: the enforced transportation of slaves. That ended up, on balance, being bad for several reasons, one of which is that it was no longer a self selecting group of ambitious individuals.

I don't think it's fair to compare westerners in Thailand with Mexican immigrants in the US. 

 

We are not here to take jobs away from Thai in lower tiers. Most of us are here to enjoy our life here as the conditions are better while spending our money in places where it matters.

 

I understand immigration has to enforce policies, but they just don't make sense to me while the country is still suffering from a lack of tourists it financially needs.

[BangkokReady]

8 hours ago, BritTim said:

It is politically beneficial in almost all countries to demonise foreigners, and you can say almost anything to back up your attacks.

This may be true in some circles, but there is far more demonetisation of the native population (White people) politically in most Western countries. I don't think the same could be said for Thailand.

[Calvin1976]

Experienced this question before.

 

Since Jan 2019, I was here for new workshop set-up.

Depart before 30 days for few days and returned again.

When I returned on end of April, officer pops this question to me.

I said came here for holidays and some job interview also showed her my Singapore PR IC.

To prove that I actually stay and work in Singapore at that moment.

Then only she put an entrance stamp on my passport reluctantly.

 

Next departure was in May and I told my company to apply for WP for me immediately.

As I'm not sure if I would be allow to enter on my next arrival.

Not dare to bet on that. ???? 

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, BangkokReady said:

This may be true in some circles, but there is far more demonetisation of the native population (White people) politically in most Western countries. I don't think the same could be said for Thailand.

It is, indeed, terrible that things like slavery of the black population, right up to the current day, in parts of the US South (through locking them up in prisons after emancipation) is criticized (read https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/9/9/slavery-in-the-us-prison-system and learn). After all, most whites in the US are completely oblivious to the subjugation of some minorities in parts of the US. It is quite outrageous that oblivious whites are being made uncomfortable by pointing out such facts.

 

Further, while improving in many parts of the US, black household incomes average %41,000 while average white household incomes average $70,000. And, no, this is not because blacks are lazy.

[BritTim]

10 hours ago, BKKTRAVELER said:

I don't think it's fair to compare westerners in Thailand with Mexican immigrants in the US. 

 

We are not here to take jobs away from Thai in lower tiers. Most of us are here to enjoy our life here as the conditions are better while spending our money in places where it matters.

 

I understand immigration has to enforce policies, but they just don't make sense to me while the country is still suffering from a lack of tourists it financially needs.

The US has a labour shortage. It is true that as you reduce the labour shortage, this has the effect of dampening the upward pressure on wages. However, inflation is not an unalloyed benefit (albeit a small amount of inflation tends to be good).

[BangkokReady]

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

It is, indeed, terrible that things like slavery of the black population, right up to the current day, in parts of the US South (through locking them up in prisons after emancipation) is criticized (read https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2017/9/9/slavery-in-the-us-prison-system and learn). After all, most whites in the US are completely oblivious to the subjugation of some minorities in parts of the US. It is quite outrageous that oblivious whites are being made uncomfortable by pointing out such facts.

 

Further, while improving in many parts of the US, black household incomes average %41,000 while average white household incomes average $70,000. And, no, this is not because blacks are lazy.

So... White man bad?

[BritTim]

9 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

So... White man bad?

Some white men bad, some good.  The same was true 150 years ago when many people believed the negro was inferior, and slavery their natural state. Those believing this were not bad people, but they had attitudes that are not acceptable today. In some states, there are institutional problems that linger from those common attitudes of people 150 years ago. Those problems are not addressed because of the ignorance among most people that such problems exist.

 

As an aside, "Critical Race Theory" has absolutely nothing to do with whether individual people are racist. Some are, some are not. It is the study of the major structural deficiencies that exist in society that tend to discriminate against certain groups, and the reasons they exist (sometimes, nothing to do with racism). It is closely related to Critical Legal Studies, an academic discipline that developed starting in the 1970s, with Critical Race Theory developing soon thereafter. As far as I am aware, it is not taught in any pre college courses, though there is a case for covering it briefly in the final year of high school. It is covered extensively by law students, and in less depth by those with some other majors, such as politics and sociology. It is ridiculous that something properly understood by less than 5% of the US public has become such a major political issue.

[Jack1988]

What are you doing here? 

You can say I am here because I like to take care Thai girls

[Caldera]

3 minutes ago, Jack1988 said:

What are you doing here? 

You can say I am here because I like to take care Thai girls

I'm not convinced that giving semi-retarded replies is going to earn you a lot of credit with an immigration officer questioning you, no matter how hilarious you might think such an answer would be.

[Jack1988]

17 minutes ago, Caldera said:

I'm not convinced that giving semi-retarded replies is going to earn you a lot of credit with an immigration officer questioning you, no matter how hilarious you might think such an answer would be.

Why aren't you convinced? You are helping the country with ????