SURVEY: What are your biggest issues in Thailand?

[NorthernRyland]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

The biggest issue are the motoring laws that are broken and un-enforced daily which cause issues of indescribable magnitude.

100%. Nothing comes even close to this except for noise. When I hate Thailand and want to leave for ever it's for this.

[CharlieH]

inconsistency !

 

Nothing is consistent, whether that be by Province,  office , by dept, and even by who you see on the day !

Law enforcement /immigration/ banking you name it.

NOTHING  is consistent.

 

Here today gone or different tomorrow.

[aussiexpat]

3 minutes ago, NorthernRyland said:

100%. Nothing comes even close to this except for noise. When I hate Thailand and want to leave for ever it's for this.

So you rate road safety deaths only just above 'noise'. What planet are you from?

[Hummin]

42 minutes ago, Guderian said:

The lack of a formal retirement programme, which means you have no right to live here beyond your current extension of stay, no matter how much you may have spent on property or how many children you may have. It's not really been an issue in the past, but I can see in the future that health insurance requirements to get another extension of stay may change, meaning that some people, especially the older ones, may no longer be able to stay here as they won;t be able to afford the astronomical cost of a health policy once you're over 80 years. The other concern is that as Thailand slowly grows richer I think it's inevitable we'll find all manner of rules and regulations tightened up, perhaps making it more difficult to live the way that we have been used to doing. I suspect it's also likely that the current resentment of foreigners which sometimes surfaces among the wealthier section of the population (our current Health Minister is a prime example of this) will become more common and more pronounced. As with Singapore and Taiwan, say, this won't prevent us from living here, but it will make it more difficult and expensive to do so.

What would your chances be to retire in Florida? How would your life with kids been there? For me who are in my mid 50’ies soon, I understand my time in Thailand is limited, and I am making the plan to move back to Eu, but who can predict the future? Same as many of you guys who retired here 10 to 20 years ago, what did you think about the future back then living in Thailand? What did you expect Thailand to give back to you after all this years? 
 

 

[NorthernRyland]

2 minutes ago, aussiexpat said:

So you rate road safety deaths only just above 'noise'. What planet are you from?

No I said it comes CLOSE. All the other stuff on that survey is barely a problem at all.

[vivananahuahin]

i am married since 2012, renewing extesion each year ok but why so much documenten 5 cm A4 2x pictures, blue book etc marriage copy etc.... is it not enough with some passport copies and a marriage certificate yearly from the amphur and the bank book with required balance, time to go forward with some immigrations laws, they are outdated.

[huangnon]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time back in the US recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak. 

Yep, I hear you. Just had a much-needed perspective check myself (back in the UK) for the first time in three years.

Turned a few mountains back into molehills, thankfully. ????

[Pedrogaz]

The first is racism here. It's deeper than the usual racism in Eastern countries. The vaccination program was a classic example....the authorities had to be shamed into doing the right thing and one senior individual made several references to (dirty) foreigners, not wearing masks, being the cause of the problem.

 

Second issue is the immigration department and its awful bureaucracy.....the constant changing of rules; different rules in different places; and the general lack of clarity over any announced change....the poorly thought out and translated announcements creates more confusion....why not get an English person to read the announcements before they go out. 

[bkk6060]

Lack of trash bins and public toilets.  

[no deal]

Marriage visa,in america i have a green card good for 5 years,in Thailand i am married for 15 years,i have a son,i own a house,i have two cars,and i need to prepare two dossiers of 27 pages every years for my marriage extention,and i need a witness! and i get my extention one month later and i have to report every 90 days, i know there is a lot fake marriages that the raison for all that,but i think this is not very hard to find out fack marriage by doing random checking,the good people all way paye for! now for my next visa i am not doing a marriage visa again,i am doing a retirement visa,less paper work and i get my visa right a way!

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time back in the US recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak. 

Same as me, I never got angry but had an opinion on most things after I first arrived.

Now I realise [as a long time guest] my opinion counts for nothing in Thailand

so as you I just say my bit here and chill-out with a cold-one.

[ikke1959]

The biggest issue is a lack of view .....Everything on the last moment, and it always seems that the wheel has to be invented again...lots of money are threw away with this.

Another issue is that it is so burocratice.. nobody can decide everyone has to ask someone else.

and my third point is the old fashioned immigration with all the copies.. Just an example.. You have to a registration of your adress, every 90 days you have to go to confirm it and if you need a letter of residence you need all the copies of passport, and everything again..as with an extension of stay... They can't scan anything?

And my last issue is the loud noise for parties and temple acgtivities.. Miles away and at my home we still hear boom boom boom..... and the screaming newsreporters and Thai people talking to eachother.. No wonder they are deaf from the loud music 

Edited May 19, 2022 by ikke1959

[Ro54]

Paperwork... especially as I stay 6 months each year in Thailand. Only solution is applying for 1 year retirement Visa, or Visaruns...

[Ecky]

Four issues:

 

1. Dangerous idiots on the road.

2. Litter on sois and undeveloped plots.

3. Difficulty for ordinary person (I.e not super rich) to obtain long term visas.

4. Girls screaming over PA systems in shopping malls.

 

Other than that everything hunky dory.

[TropicalGuy]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

Agree. With most of that. But I do like alot of Thai people. Mostly women. LOL. I find many to be light-hearted, kind, goofy, humorous, and fun to be around. 

 

And I love the food. The good stuff. There is plenty of that if you like spicy, know where to look, or are fortunate to have a woman who is a gourmet chef at home! 

Fair Enough. I replaced WOMEN with FAMILY ! I eat only Simple Thai Food prepared by my Lady. I prefer ( non- stodgy) British Food though. ????

[bdenner]

In order of annoyance:-

1.   Lack of driver/rider skills including courtesy.

2.  Police and judicial system corruption and lack of integrity.

3.  Anutin.

4.  Government "Flip Flops".

5.  Thailand Pass and associated BS.

6.  Poor road maintenance, especially in rural areas.

7.  The government fixation on alcohol sales. = NO consistency! I still keep a 4 week buffer at home to cover a couple of beers after my day's activity.

 

I can tolerate things like 90 Day reporting and jumping through Immigration hoops, no worse than most other countries.

[RafPinto]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I used to have more issues than I do now. I worked on my attitude, which was getting in the way of appreciating Thailand for what it is, and was clouding my experience here. Used to stress over stupid stuff, as you can see from some of my past posts. Used to allow the politics to make me angry. Now it is not something I take seriously, just something I comment on, without anger or an emotional investment. Now, I just tend to laugh it off. Spent some real time back in the US recently, and it allowed some clarity and perspective, that I am very grateful for. Now, I just chuckle at most of the nonsense. Water off a duck's back, so to speak. 

You should be definitely angry about the high price of wine.????

[richard_smith237]

With a thread like this its easy for the the Thai Apologists to question what you are doing here in the first place, or make comments such as ‘if that bothers you......’... or ‘happens everywhere’ (like the response to the corruption comment). 

 

The reality is that as nice and great as Thailand is for many of us there are issues which range from the downright dangerous to mild... we tolerate many of these issues through ‘gritted teeth’ as do the Thai’s....   additionally, just because we are foreigners, it does not mean we do not have any right to an opinion, so some may choose to point out. 

 

I find that one of the very facets that makes Thailand such an enjoyable place to live is the very reason many of its issues exists.....  That is the ‘easy going nature of Thai people’ who make every day life enjoyable and relaxed, they don’t sweat the small stuff and are easy going... 

But, this means issues are never dealt with, they grow, they fester and become bigger issues with irritate, annoy or even anger many of us.

 

I’ll choose just one facet: Pedestrian safety. Because Thai’s are generally non-confrontational they do not face up to major issues of pedestrian safety. Motorcyclists riding down sidewalks are a common site, very very few ever respond, there is no social-responsibility to prevent this... it gets worse until will see a child killed by a motorcyclist on a sidewalk, who’s response is to say sorry, he didn’t mean to do it.....    This issue alone highlights how many of the issues grow into something major all of us dislike. 

 

 

[SAFETY FIRST]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Living in Thailand 

 

What are your biggest issues in Thailand? 

Too many foreigners complaining about issues with Thailand. 

 

It's Thailand, that's why I'm here, leave it alone, stop complaining. 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by SAFETY FIRST

[TropicalGuy]

36 minutes ago, no deal said:

Marriage visa,in america i have a green card good for 5 years,in Thailand i am married for 15 years,i have a son,i own a house,i have two cars,and i need to prepare two dossiers of 27 pages every years for my marriage extention,and i need a witness! and i get my extention one month later and i have to report every 90 days, i know there is a lot fake marriages that the raison for all that,but i think this is not very hard to find out fack marriage by doing random checking,the good people all way paye for! now for my next visa i am not doing a marriage visa again,i am doing a retirement visa,less paper work and i get my visa right a way!

Exactly. Retirement Stay for me. Agent used to avoid Financials-Humiliation-Reporting, to which I object in principle. 

[Robert Tyrrell]

Hello ,

1. The inconsistency in Immigration Process as an Expat , When the Thai Immigration Laws state differently then what your local Immigration Office tells you.
Example : The Financial Income Affidavit Letter is no longer required and replaced with Bank Statements, Bank Conformation Letter of your Account, Yet I’m still asked to provide a Income Affidavit Letter in Thai Language and English Language as an American Expat !! Why !!?? 
 

2. Banking Holidays delaying Pension Electronic Deposits, Some times 2-3 days on average.

Yet if a individual does a Electronic Bank Transfer in Thailand It’s instant !! Or If an individual sends a Western Union to you in Thailand It’s instant !! This is just plain poor Customer Service for Expats , and Electronic Deposits Period !!

Most anywhere in the Banking World Electronic Deposits are instant or at minimum under 24 hours at most , Thus the term Electronic Deposit !! 
 

3. Driving while Intoxicated, Not wearing seat belts , Speeding , Not wearing helmets with motorcycles and many other driving safety violations and in general The Thai Police rearely enforce these violations !!

Yet rest assured violating foreigners are a walking Atm for Tea Money !!  
 

These are the Top three concerns I have.

[Hummin]

9 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Too many foreigners complaining about issues with Thailand. 

 

It's Thailand, that's why I'm here, leave it alone, stop complaining. 

 

It took me awhile to get to that point, but jeez, how easy life can be when you brake that code. 

[EVENKEEL]

I self medicate daily, both organically  and with spirits. No issues.

[KhaoYai]

Coming from a country where in general, the law is upheld properly, people have rights, very little low level corruption and a real democracy its very easy to criticise Thailand.  However, in choosing to live there you have to learn to accept that there are differences and its not your country.  That doesn't mean you have to accept those differences as being right - just that you have to accept the way it is. I think we all have to accept that nobody forces us to live in Thailand.

 

That said, for me there are probably three main issues that I think would prevent a lot of problems and make things much fairer if they were implemented. In all three cases, I am refering to issues and rights that I feel should apply to the spouses of Thai citizens.

 

1.  The right to jointly own land and property.

2. The right to stay in the country permanently provided you are married and/or have kids and not simply be a guest that has to renew their permission to stay every year and make pointless 3 monthly visits to immigration to make a report.

3. The right to work in all types of employment without restrictions in order to support your wife/family.

 

It would be quite easy to cancel the right to own land/property in the case of divorce in a similar way as they do in the case of a property left to a foreign husband by his wife in her will.  The husband is entitled to be left the property but has to sell the it within 12 months. Such a move would solve a lot of problems that affect couples.  I think the main problem many foreigners have with property is not exactly that they can't own land per se, its that fact that they often lose considerable amounts of money.  Yes, protection can be afforded by taking a mortgage over the property and that's quite legal but not all Land Offices will accept foreign mortgages/charges.  Such a move would also protect foreigners from those Thai women who's intention from the outset, is to simply get what they can from a foreigner.

 

We all know these things exist before we decide to marry a Thai citizen and/or move to the country. However all three measures would make a huge difference to the lives of married Thai/Foreign couples whist making little or no difference to the country as a whole.

 

It riles me that many members of the Thai government, past and present, own property abroad whilst foreigners can't in Thailand.  Thaksin for example, has (or had) 3 properties in the UK - a case of do as I say, not as I do. He also has or had controlling stakes in at least 2 UK companies.

[xr399]

1 hour ago, Guderian said:

The lack of a formal retirement programme, which means you have no right to live here beyond your current extension of stay, no matter how much you may have spent on property or how many children you may have. It's not really been an issue in the past, but I can see in the future that health insurance requirements to get another extension of stay may change, meaning that some people, especially the older ones, may no longer be able to stay here as they won;t be able to afford the astronomical cost of a health policy once you're over 80 years. The other concern is that as Thailand slowly grows richer I think it's inevitable we'll find all manner of rules and regulations tightened up, perhaps making it more difficult to live the way that we have been used to doing. I suspect it's also likely that the current resentment of foreigners which sometimes surfaces among the wealthier section of the population (our current Health Minister is a prime example of this) will become more common and more pronounced. As with Singapore and Taiwan, say, this won't prevent us from living here, but it will make it more difficult and expensive to do so.

Turned 75 in April, been here permanently since 2008, Thai Wife one Son 9 yrs old. Moving back to Canada June 27 (although would rather stay here! Or other nearby country)  Can't buy any sort of insurance here, and will not let my son take the required death jab, as mandated, so he can go back to school.

~85% of the rest of the world are not forced to use scientifically proven ineffective masks (in fact studs in Europe have found wearing masks for long periods is dangerous to health due to aspiration of micro plastics in the masks from the manufacturing prosess)    and it just drags on and on here.

Immigration in Pathum Thani refused to re-new my extension of stay  based on marriage last time (when I presented all the same documentation that been accepted by them for previous years), had to pay 10k to finally get it.  Not willing to do that again either.

Bye bye....

Yahoo Mail document_ Toxic mask microplastics found in our lungs, air, food, and water.PDF

[ThailandGuy]

2 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

However, in choosing to live there you have to learn to accept that there are differences and its not your country. 

I totaly agree to that but.... You should come to the Netherlands and tell this to all people who want to live here from abroad and trying to change everything and complain about everything that is part of our culture and complain everything our ancestors did in the past against other people and countries. They want to change the country. They want aplogies. They want compensation. They demand housing, social security etc etc etc.  And still even if they get it they keep on complaining. It is never enough.

Its has to go both ways as Thailand also benefits from all the expats, farangs, tourists.

[paul1804]

1) Wide spread corruption at all levels is disadvantaging the country, which the current government said they were going to address!

2) Driving standards & practices are appalling and partly because of the above. 

3) For many reasons including costs to governments immigration laws & rules need reforming.

4) Imported alcohol is a piece of the tourism puzzle and is way to expensive due to ridiculously high    excise and duties which is detrimental to the tourism industry. 

5) Thailand openly discriminates against western foreigners which they need to support tourism so they bite the hand that feeds them and then wonder why numbers are down.  

 

Thailand is a great country to live in and has many lovely people so the above comments are constructive criticism and not slagging Thailand or its people. 

 

[xr399]

16 minutes ago, Robert Tyrrell said:

Hello ,

1. The inconsistency in Immigration Process as an Expat , When the Thai Immigration Laws state differently then what your local Immigration Office tells you.
Example : The Financial Income Affidavit Letter is no longer required and replaced with Bank Statements, Bank Conformation Letter of your Account, Yet I’m still asked to provide a Income Affidavit Letter in Thai Language and English Language as an American Expat !! Why !!?? 
 

2. Banking Holidays delaying Pension Electronic Deposits, Some times 2-3 days on average.

Yet if a individual does a Electronic Bank Transfer in Thailand It’s instant !! Or If an individual sends a Western Union to you in Thailand It’s instant !! This is just plain poor Customer Service for Expats , and Electronic Deposits Period !!

Most anywhere in the Banking World Electronic Deposits are instant or at minimum under 24 hours at most , Thus the term Electronic Deposit !! 
 

3. Driving while Intoxicated, Not wearing seat belts , Speeding , Not wearing helmets with motorcycles and many other driving safety violations and in general The Thai Police rearely enforce these violations !!

Yet rest assured violating foreigners are a walking Atm for Tea Money !!  
 

These are the Top three concerns I have.

TD Bank inCanada has a very cheap and fast money transfer system that I have used to get my pension payments over here for the last few years. It has never taken more than 2 minutes from me pushing the 'transfer' button, until I hear the notification 'bing bong' from my Krungthai Banking app. It is called "VisaDirect". If you have a Thai banking ATM Card with "Visa" on it you can use the service from your TD Bank easyline app.  Transfer charges are very reasonably, usually $ 8.95 for my meager pension amount!!

Maybe other countries have banks that provide a similar service.

[Hummin]

13 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

 

 

It riles me that many members of the Thai government, past and present, own property abroad whilst foreigners can't in Thailand.  Thaksin for example, has (or had) 3 properties in the UK - a case of do as I say, not as I do. He also has or had controlling stakes in at least 2 UK companies.

Seriously you can not compare uk to thailand investing in property and business. If Thailand was open everyone buying land and create business, what would be left for locals, and what would it have done to inflation? 
 

We see what happend to poor eu countries when the they joined, all the best easy productive farmland was bought up by cooperatives, and local  real estate was killed by foreign investors. 

[Zack61]

Love the place but my biggest concerns are

Lack of road rule enforcement. It’s highly likely I’ll die on the roads

Too much plastic. Not enough bins..

 

Its all the sh#t that people complain about that makes it more interesting

 

b’dair b’dair that’s all folks!!!