Why Are People Suprised By The Stereotypical Ex-Pat?

[SteeleJoe]

Firstly, Thailand is for Thais. It is not the aim of the Thai gov to facilitate the take over of assets or business opportunities by foreigners. If you haven't already grasped that concept you really do have a great deal to learn.

Foreigners are, in my experience, made more than welcome in Thailand, especially if they spend their money here. Contrary to popular belief by many expats, Thailand doesn't actually need your presence for the country to prosper.

Living here is not about changing Thailand, (although many things could be changed for the benefit of the Thai people if they actually had the collective will to address the problems) ; living here is about adapting to the way life is here and taking advantage of the positive aspects rather than constantly bleating about the minor irritations.

Life is way too short. Enjoy the positives. If it is beyond your ability to adapt here, maybe there are better places for you to be, but moaning about not being able to open a bank account, or own a vehicle, just illustrated your lack of knowledge and perhaps indicate why you find it difficult to live here.

Any ticking "time bomb" in Thailand is not linked to the inability of expats to do business here, but rather to social/political issues that the Thai people have to face.

If you think Thailand is restrictive for expats, I think you should re-assess. Myanmar will not be a free-for-all, and will be more restrictive for expats than Thailand.

I do wish expats would open their eyes and realise that they are not the centre of the universe, but just a very tiny cog in the wheel, that would not be missed.

Probably one of the best posts I've ever seen. Kudos.

[watcharacters]

Getting back to the OP's original thoughts, (I think, sorry if I'm off track), there are hurdles to moving to Thailand, getting settled, setting up a business and so on.

I have found that's pretty much universal, and especially so in developing countries. The laws are not designed to let someone come in on a shoestring, set up and grow a micro business, and compete with the locals- without benefiting the country as much or more than you gain from the country.

They want established businesses that will come in, invest a ton of money, hire a bunch of locals, pay a bunch of taxes and probably grease a bunch of palms.

If you're worried about the difficulties of buying a car, opening a bank account, or hiring a set number of local people as a condition of getting permission to live and work here (or most countries), you're probably not their target demographic. Doesn't mean you're not a nice guy and model citizen, just that you aren't bringing in what they want- big $$$ investment, jobs, technology and distribution channels. The businesses they want to attract don't worry about such issues because those businesses can spend their way to solutions without breaking a sweat, or the piggybank.

It also doesn't mean you can't succeed in Thailand. I know several folks that have succeeded wildly on Thai business ventures. But they all seem to have come at it from a diagonal, and not addressed it as directly as they would have in, say, the USA, UK, Aus, etc. It takes some creativity to make sure you can keep what you've built when you are, by law, forced to have local partners that think differently than what you understand.

And I'd venture to guess- and it's just a guess- that for every success story, there are a dozen guys back home licking their wounds and rebuilding their financial lives. That was a pretty good summary of the guys I knew in China in the 10 years before I came to Thailand.

Or you can do what most of the folks posting here did- marry a Thai lady, put it all in her name and hope... Then rag on the nubes that don't know their way around all the rules.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

"Or you can do what most of the folks posting here did- marry a Thai lady, put it all in her name and hope... Then rag on the nubes that don't know their way around all the rules."

[dave2]

re.

Who got to keep most of the money?

guess : )

sorry mods and TP .. couldnt resist .. dave2

[Rsquared]

OK I admit it that I must be bored.......I've just sat here and read through every post....and all I can say is that Pundit has some serious issues.

I had no trouble at all getting my bank account.....all I needed was my passport ( I know for a fact that it wasn't my good looks...I hate mirrors).

As to Pundit.....lighten up big boy, someone has obviously yanked your chain and you are trying to find resolve here on TV.....wrong.

[MrRealDeal]

I think thats exactly what thailand is trying to avoid pundit ...... they don't want non thai's taking or having jobs thai's can do. They don't really want non thais setting up companys that thai people could set up. So they make it difficult , not impossible but difficult ...... So if they reversed that they feel they would lose jobs to non thais.

[MrRealDeal]

So if they have all of these forien companys doing bisness whats the problem ? You say on one hand it's so difficult on the other hand say it's all you see ? Which is it ?

[cdnvic]

The OP can't seem to reply without insulting people. Topic closed.