Expats On The Rise?

[sbk]

Koh Phangan has seen an exponential rise in the number of expats moving there in the past few years and it makes me wonder if its just Koh Phangan or do people in other parts of Thailand see the same increase in expats moving to their areas?

[KingJames]

Stay at home in the West or come to Thailand and have a 20 year old girl friend. Hmm... lets think...

[neverdie]

SBK,

Theres no shortage of tossers moving thru this site, just look above, but that doesnt actually confirm that they are in Thailand. I rarely see farang people in my area, if I do & they speak to me I make sure I tell them how terrible it is here.

[Moonrakers]

I think that as Thailand becomes more commercialised the appeal will fall and so less will come, on the other hand improved facilities may mean that more come, although it is possible that typical Thai lethargy means that the numbers could stay about the same.

Hope that helps.

[Geekfreaklover]

I voted SAME

The last year i've lived in 3 different provinces / areas. 1) Surin, last five years has been an explosion of expats but now seems to have levelled off. 2) Korat (Pak Chong) Expats very thin on the ground in Pak Chong I wouldn't have thought much change in the province. 3) Central Bangkok - Impossible to tell. But seems about the same as when I first visited 10 years ago.

I have a feeling that we might see a lot of the younger expats going home to their respective countries in the near future.

[KingJames]

SBK,

Theres no shortage of tossers moving thru this site, just look above, but that doesnt actually confirm that they are in Thailand. I rarely see farang people in my area, if I do & they speak to me I make sure I tell them how terrible it is here.

Yes, I am a tosser for suggesting that many Farang will come here because here they can have a 20 year old girl friend whereas back home they could watch reruns of Frasier while stuffing themselves with Doritos... This is a crazy theory as clearly, middle aged men are in no way interested in women. Nope, they are just here for the snorkeling/culture/food/weather and "oh yeah, i guess having a young girl friend is a nice extra"

[neverdie]

SBK,

Theres no shortage of tossers moving thru this site, just look above, but that doesnt actually confirm that they are in Thailand. I rarely see farang people in my area, if I do & they speak to me I make sure I tell them how terrible it is here.

Yes, I am a tosser for suggesting that many Farang will come here because here they can have a 20 year old girl friend whereas back home they could watch reruns of Frasier while stuffing themselves with Doritos... This is a crazy theory as clearly, middle aged men are in no way interested in women. Nope, they are just here for the snorkeling/culture/food/weather and "oh yeah, i guess having a young girl friend is a nice extra"

You could of ended that last one with the first four words

[Magoomba]

If you look at the rentals in Bangkok and the number of condominiums that will take a 3 month lease when 6 months ago they were insisting on 6 month leases, that speaks volumes.

[IanForbes]

I think it depends on the facilities available for non-Thai speaking people. Only those who speak fluent Thai, or have married Thai nationals seem to move to the country. The remaining expats and part time expats like myself stay closer to places where we can communicate. Those would include the major cities and the tourist destination centers. Tourist destination centers have just ended a huge boom of expansion and are now going into a recession due to the world economy. The gold rush days are over for the time being and Thailand will probably see a drop in the numbers of expats. It's just a leveling off until everything gets into balance again. Over the past 10 years I saw a huge increase in building and expats moving to Thailand, but I think it will slow down considerably over the next while. Besides that, the Thai government is making it harder and harder on the border hoppers who want to stay long time, but not go through the proper channels.

[justanothercybertosser]

Soon the big exodus begins again. Many companies have started to lay off staff, often first are expensive expats. Seen it in '97, will see it soon again.

[sassienie]

In areas of Chiang Mai where I live and on my travels, I see a lot of old loner ex pat coffin dodgers floating aimlessly around the supermarkets and in restaurants. Some are alone, others accompanied by a young girl looking about 16, wearing thick makeup, wearing slaggy shorts and 2 foot high healed boots, or walking with some old Thai hag who maybe is only in her 40s but had a hard life.

None of them look approachable and some have the appearances of having done something illegal or about to.

They haven`t seem to have increased, about the same over the last few years.

I think these new visa runner regulations starting next month should bring the numbers down quite a bit.

[IanForbes]

Speak for yourself, sassienie, some of us old coffin dodgers are enjoying ourselves just fine thank you. You'll be a coffin dodger yourself some day soon.

[Jimjim]

Think no, not now with the world economy, at least from Western countries. Maybe more coming from places that are doing ok, which is? Don't know. I really couldn't say, I saw a news story that said there were 2 million expats plus 2 million unregistered migrant workers in Bangkok, which I don't believe but I could see it being true. Saw another story that said 200,000 (expats), so which is it? Also heard it said that there are over 100,000 Japanese alone, in Bangkok. So, who knows, but it seems there is a high number of foreigners in Thailand, but I don't know if it's more or less than other cities of comparable size in other parts of the world. Is it on the rise? I would say maybe, has been, up until the crisis.

[jumnien]

In Hua Hin the numbers keep growing. The number of schools has increased that cater to foreigners and the enrollments keep increasing. The traffic gets worse and the services get better. There is no vaccine that can make Thailand immune to the farang plague. It does appear at times that they are looking for one. Let's hope they find some treatment that can weaken the infection and increase the general health of the patient.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

You have a lot of baby boomers about ready to retire and the money situation is not such to support retirement in the Uk or the US so what are they going to do? Keep working until they drop dead or find a less expensive place to retire.

Those that read TV will think that you can come to LOS and live very well on 30,000 baht a month. They think, heck I can afford that. No thought for the cost of living increase which is pretty certain everywhere. So in a few years they will be posting in TV about what a terrible place Thailand is.

[Gary A]

I have very limited knowledge of the tourist and farang populated areas. Up country where I live, I can see very little difference. Expats come and go as always. I just returned up country from a few days in Bangkok. My observations from there is that the expats have been thinned out. Due to visa problems and no pension for their futures, it appears that many have given up and returned to their home countries.

[Livinginexile]

Speak for yourself, sassienie, some of us old coffin dodgers are enjoying ourselves just fine thank you. You'll be a coffin dodger yourself some day soon.

I love to see older gentlemen enjoying themselves in Thailand

What's wrong with that?

He's happy, she's happy, the family is happy, the Thai economy is happy, everyone's happy

In my eyes it's a win win situation.

Good onya Ian

[Ricardo]

A lot of Thais have married & moved overseas, over the past 20 years, I would think.

Now they will be returning, with their spouses & often kids as well, as retirement or the worsening global-economy make it better to be living here, instead of struggling to earn a living in depressing old farangland.

So yes, there will continue to be more new expats coming to live here, and you should continue to see them, whether living quietly in the countryside or dodging coffins in Tesco-Lotus. And they will have more time for posting on TV, too !

[ironhut]

I guess it depends upon the timeframe.

The latest economic crisis has many more expats currently leaving Thailand than arriving. In fact, the large international schools in BKK expect anywhere between a 7-15% decrease from the 2008/2009 school year to the 2009/2010 school year.

Businesses are taking a very close look at costs and have been cutting back on expat relocations...at least until the economy is clearly on the mend. Even then, there will be much more scrutiny given to expat expenditures.

[Deke]

There may be more retirees and the like moving here to take advantage of the relatively low cost of living but among foreigners who have to work for a living, I thing the numbers are down.

[sriracha john]

Koh Phangan has seen an exponential rise in the number of expats moving there in the past few years and it makes me wonder if its just Koh Phangan or do people in other parts of Thailand see the same increase in expats moving to their areas?

Huge exponential growth here in the numbers, too.... but that's growing from zilch a decade ago. Still, proportional numbers have been rising dramatically, particularly the last five-six years. This has followed a relative Thai population growth that has been tremendous at the same time.

23,000 in 2000

152,000 in 2008

[Neeranam]

Unfortunately, yes - it's because of the scamming internet websites.

Around here, heaps of girls are selling themselves on one of those Love finding things.

[hammered]

I see big growth in Chonburi ( I am not in Pattaya). Not all are westerners. Similar to SRJ. It used to be very low a decade ago.

[bungy007]

I see big growth in Chonburi ( I am not in Pattaya). Not all are westerners. Similar to SRJ. It used to be very low a decade ago.

Shhhh! What are doing, man! Keep it down. I personally see a lot more growth in Hua Hin and totally recommend people to settle there. It's got all you want

[harrry]

None of them look approachable and some have the appearances of having done something illegal or about to.

Have you thought it may be just you we are signalling not to approach

[Insight]

Notice BKK seems to be getting more couple/families visiting compared to 8 years ago. However it seems just as transient - people seem to get fed up after a two years or so and move on.

[keestha]

Koh Phangan has seen an exponential rise in the number of expats moving there in the past few years and it makes me wonder if its just Koh Phangan or do people in other parts of Thailand see the same increase in expats moving to their areas?

What type of expats are they, sbk?

There is roughly 3 categories I think:

1) people who start businesses or have the ambition to do so

2) guys married to or together with a Thai lady, who are here only part of the year

3) retirees

Khao Lak might be comparable to Koh Phangan, both are up and coming tourist destinations

There are more and more expats coming here who are opening businesses, about the other categories of expats I am less sure.

[Beardog]

With the way the government is treating expats & the currency down I think most expats that do the math will go to other countries. Vietnam a much better value - women just as pretty or not. They treat expats a lot better . You can take money out of the country...... Visa laws better. Not just Nam but most of Asia is way more user friendly to expats. I would say a definite NO especially with the decrease of funds, job losses & a little web searching expats can easily find a better deal for retirement. I am not at all sour grapes, but in the 5 years I have been here the changes the govn. have implemented in regards to expats are designed to drive them away not draw them in.

Now if they can ever pay attention to other role models in Asia that could change.

[sbk]

Koh Phangan has seen an exponential rise in the number of expats moving there in the past few years and it makes me wonder if its just Koh Phangan or do people in other parts of Thailand see the same increase in expats moving to their areas?

What type of expats are they, sbk?

There is roughly 3 categories I think:

1) people who start businesses or have the ambition to do so

2) guys married to or together with a Thai lady, who are here only part of the year

3) retirees

Khao Lak might be comparable to Koh Phangan, both are up and coming tourist destinations

There are more and more expats coming here who are opening businesses, about the other categories of expats I am less sure.

In Koh P's case, all 3.

[BigSnake]

Yes I do more and more everyday, Why? Beat me, the Weather, easy visa on arrival(?), time to plan next move(?)