When Will You Call Thailand Your Home?

[chiangmaikelly]

It's best to be realistic. Rose colour on the glasses causes red on the brain ...

You may see what you want to see. I have built and operated 28 restaurants in 4 different countries. Thailand is a breeze. A breath of fresh air. I spend 30 minutes a year with the Thai government. In the Western countries I spent 3 hours daily complying with all their regulations. When I even think about the number of inspectors I dealt with on a daily basis I see red.

Think you are looking at it from a money making point of view which is very different from the OP.

Exactly!

Not exactly at all. Maybe Thailand has a big government with all sorts of rules and regulations but I don't see it. I have someone report for me every 90 days but Thailand does not care where I live in reality. No one checks. In many countries you have to show a passport to get a room. Not here. No one ever knows where I am. I pay for everything in cash. No one tracks my expenditures. No checks. No worries.

[Jingthing]

We get it! You love living in Thailand and prefer living here to your home country (for now). That describes most of us living here. However, that was NOT the issue asked in the OP.

[chiangmaikelly]

We get it! You love living in Thailand and prefer living here to your home country (for now). That describes most of us living here. However, that was NOT the issue asked in the OP.

I was here 40 years ago. I didn't call it my home. Didn't feel right about it then. I got here ten years ago and felt at home as soon as I got off the plane. BTW if you read the OP he does not ask a question. He is giving advice. The OP writes, "These are the steps I took on this staircase to contentment, I recommend them to others as they served me well."

[Jingthing]

OK. Congratulations. If you are on a non-immigrant visa, you aren't REALLY home though.

[HeijoshinCool]

The 90 day report.

It is like police bail reporting to a police station.

Hardly makes you feel welcome.

I would only do that at home if I was a criminal.

More like being on probation.

[HeijoshinCool]

We get it! You love living in Thailand and prefer living here to your home country (for now). That describes most of us living here. However, that was NOT the issue asked in the OP.

I was here 40 years ago. I didn't call it my home. Didn't feel right about it then. I got here ten years ago and felt at home as soon as I got off the plane. BTW if you read the OP he does not ask a question. He is giving advice. The OP writes, "These are the steps I took on this staircase to contentment, I recommend them to others as they served me well."

No, sir, the title of his post is, "When Will You Call Thailand Home?"

Question mark at the end.

But, please, feel free to have the last word.

4...3...2...1...

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[kennedy]

Well, I will agree to disagree, to avoid getting into pissing match.

[transam]

Well, I will agree to disagree, to avoid getting into pissing match.

Noooooooo pissing match. The OP is clear. If your a high flier business/money guy then l suppose anywhere is home if your bank balance is your important key. Please understand the OP, to me it is clear. Any LOS native can make a home in farangland once they have jumped the hurdles, we cannot, even after taking care of LOS natives and abandoned kids.

[simple1]

I was born in London, but have lived long term in three different countries, now Thailand. UK is my home country that shaped me as a person, but no intent to ever live their again. Thailand is currently my home, do not care one iota about visa/reporting issues, fully aware of the regulations before I set up home here. Thai nationals perception of me is important, but only with immediate family members and friends, same as anywhere else. I am not consciously aware of any resentment as a foreigner, but If push came to shove I'll move back to Australia that will then again be my home - really very simple & uncomplicated.

For me the old saying rules "Home is where you lay your head"

[Jingthing]

Anyway. My suitcase isn't packed. But I've got a suitcase.

(But no suits. Go figure.)

[HeijoshinCool]

Anyway. My suitcase isn't packed. But I've got a suitcase.

(But no suits. Go figure.)

Mine's packed.

Just can't decide where I should take it.

Apparently, not France.

[TommoPhysicist]

I was born in London, but have lived long term in three different countries, now Thailand. UK is my home country that shaped me as a person, but no intent to ever live their again. Thailand is currently my home, do not care one iota about visa/reporting issues, fully aware of the regulations before I set up home here. Thai nationals perception of me is important, but only with immediate family members and friends, same as anywhere else. I am not consciously aware of any resentment as a foreigner, but If push came to shove I'll move back to Australia that will then again be my home - really very simple & uncomplicated.

For me the old saying rules "Home is where you lay your head"

I thought the saying was "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

(The Death of the Hired Man by Robert Frost)

[simple1]

I was born in London, but have lived long term in three different countries, now Thailand. UK is my home country that shaped me as a person, but no intent to ever live their again. Thailand is currently my home, do not care one iota about visa/reporting issues, fully aware of the regulations before I set up home here. Thai nationals perception of me is important, but only with immediate family members and friends, same as anywhere else. I am not consciously aware of any resentment as a foreigner, but If push came to shove I'll move back to Australia that will then again be my home - really very simple & uncomplicated.

For me the old saying rules "Home is where you lay your head"

I thought the saying was "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

Many saying regards "home" just quoting a definition that I like and accept. However I have citizenship for three countries, so using your logic I have three homes

[chiangmaikelly]

We get it! You love living in Thailand and prefer living here to your home country (for now). That describes most of us living here. However, that was NOT the issue asked in the OP.

I was here 40 years ago. I didn't call it my home. Didn't feel right about it then. I got here ten years ago and felt at home as soon as I got off the plane. BTW if you read the OP he does not ask a question. He is giving advice. The OP writes, "These are the steps I took on this staircase to contentment, I recommend them to others as they served me well."

No, sir, the title of his post is, "When Will You Call Thailand Home?"

Question mark at the end.

But, please, feel free to have the last word.

4...3...2...1...

Not last word really. I hadn't looked at it that way. You're right

[rattler]

When I can buy land, when i can see no corruption, when the Police really Police, when the face system and associated crap goes.................guess itll never be home then!

[MacChine]

It's what registered sex offenders have to do.

The 90 day report.

It is like police bail reporting to a police station.

Hardly makes you feel welcome.

I would only do that at home if I was a criminal.

More like being on probation.

[MegaRanter]

1. I paid taxes in Thailand for 12 years, Bought the house(KTB assist), owned several cars over the years. All my neighbors wai-ed me, My business partners trusted me, I was respected by everyone that knows me, I dated hi so women, I ate at the best restaurants, I dont pay cover charge when I go to Spasso, But in the midst of my separation from the wife, I mistakenly hopped across the border at mukdahan to get a visa, I couldnt, went to Vientiane, ended up in a shouting match with low level staff at the embassy. That cleared it up for me that it will never be a home.
   

[asiasurfer]

I will call Thailand home when:

Thai people stop calling me Farang and address me as Khun.

When I can get a visa that permits me to stay beyond the 2 years that my current one does.

When I can own a company and make money without having to have 51% of the shares in a Thai persons name.

When I stop getting harrassed by the boys in brown searching me every time I walk down Sukhumvit.

When I can own a house and land that I can leave to my wife and children.

When I qualify for a credit card with the same amount of salary that a Thai can get one. (50k amonth for westerner, 15k amonth for Thai!)

When I get charged the same for a tourist attraction as a Thai.

When Thai taxi drivers stop seeing me as a cash cow and rip me off.

So basically when hell freezes over - so the answer is never!!

I second to that!!!

[mrtoad]

Home is where I live, not where I am from. I have been here 8 years now, and I feel that this is my home at this point in my life.

[rsokolowski]

To expand a bit more. I do 90 address reports here and will continue to do 90 day address reports as long as I live here, no matter how many years. Or decades. That kind of place can't really be your home in reality. You can decide to delude yourself that it is if it makes you happier.

You can apply for permanent residence after three years.

[inthepink]

Not exactly at all. Maybe Thailand has a big government with all sorts of rules and regulations but I don't see it. I have someone report for me every 90 days but Thailand does not care where I live in reality. No one checks. In many countries you have to show a passport to get a room. Not here. No one ever knows where I am. I pay for everything in cash. No one tracks my expenditures. No checks. No worries.

Even 500 baht a night guesthouses I have stayed in have asked to see my passport and all the decent places I have stayed have asked to see it too.

[thepanom]

I lived in Thailand for nearly 19 years, then I went back to Europe, in less then one year I knew that I made a big mistake, and I moved back to Thailand

Yes I call Thailand my home

[Jingthing]

To expand a bit more. I do 90 address reports here and will continue to do 90 day address reports as long as I live here, no matter how many years. Or decades. That kind of place can't really be your home in reality. You can decide to delude yourself that it is if it makes you happier.

You can apply for permanent residence after three years.

I can't. Maybe you can.

[chiangmaikelly]

Not exactly at all. Maybe Thailand has a big government with all sorts of rules and regulations but I don't see it. I have someone report for me every 90 days but Thailand does not care where I live in reality. No one checks. In many countries you have to show a passport to get a room. Not here. No one ever knows where I am. I pay for everything in cash. No one tracks my expenditures. No checks. No worries.

Even 500 baht a night guesthouses I have stayed in have asked to see my passport and all the decent places I have stayed have asked to see it too.

I can find you at least 1000 rooms to stay in Pattaya and 10,000 in Bangkok where they don't ask for a passport. They may not be in hotels though.

[GreenSnapper]

The 90 day thing shows just your status as a (permanent) tourist. Tourists leave after 90 days max, they allow you to report in country - courtesy of TH government.

I travel a lot, so it does not bother me much. But basically you are a tourist, even with family here.

[Jingthing]

Some categories of expats DO have paths to permanent residence or citizenship if desired. If I was in one of those categories, which I'm not, I would find permanent residence appealing and then would feel it is more RATIONAL to consider Thailand as home if that was achieved.

[Litlos]

When the Thai government offers me a reasonable reason to call it home and not feel and be treated like a cash cow third class citizen. No problem with the average Thai (I do not live in Pattaya or Phuket) just seems to be a failure by the Govt to give reasonable rights to people with valid visa's.

Cheers

[NeverSure]

When I know that Thailand will never change the visa rules and kick us all out, with some losing investments.

Where do I own a home? That is my home.

Where do I not need a work permit? That is my home.

Where can I own a business and the land under it, and actually work in it? That is my home.

Where do I actually have a right to be there with no one's permission? That is my home.

Where am I a citizen, and treated like everyone else? That is my home.

@Chiangmaikelly, I'd like to know how you open a hot dog stand in LOS and stay there all day and run it yourself. No offense, but people do it all around including Mexican food and even Thai food in your home country. Complain about the health department, but if you comply with rules you're golden, and at least people know the food is safe to eat. I didn't think you could even open and run a food stand in LOS. Where did I go wrong?

[MAJIC]

It will only ever be a second home to me,and no chance of ever selling out my Country of birth! and I don't kid myself that Thais will ever accept me as one of them either!

[MAJIC]

To expand a bit more. I do 90 address reports here and will continue to do 90 day address reports as long as I live here, no matter how many years. Or decades. That kind of place can't really be your home in reality. You can decide to delude yourself that it is if it makes you happier.

Yes, and very different for Thais living in farangland.

100% Correct! my Thai wife has just got British Citizenship,total time from stepping off the plane,on a Settlement Visa 3 years and 10 weeks. Even so England will be her second home,it's quite normal to respect your own Country of Birthright,regardless of Nationality!

Only Cuckoos think they are at home in some other Birds Nest.