Homeless foreigners in Thailand 'lack assistance'

[Soutpeel]

it's very sad to know there are people who actually go to thailand with good intentions but somehow fail along the way and end up too poor to even go back home.

in a lot of cases they are not thinking with the right head and thats how they ended up in Thailand, have no plan B or any form of back up once they arrive, going to live in country where you have no legal recourse to goverment help and not having a back up plan in case something goes wrong is just plain stupidity and they say Thai are dumb !!

It is my principle to try to learn thai language to talk to the people. Farangs should not assume that just english alone is enough for the whole world. In european countries maybe english is sufficient since almost every european knows english but when u come to asia then very sorry english is not enough.

I think I'm quite fortunate because I know many languages. I speak hokkien in taiwan, cantonese in hongkong and chinese in china. Learning a new language opens up another world to u. That's why I'm learning thai now.

I am strugging to tie your post to the topic being discussed..!....so your saying if a farang speaks Thai he will never be homeless in Thailand ?

or was the trust of your post to let TV know how many languages you speak ?.....

BTW I thought they spoke Mandarin in China for the most part, this is how it was referred to when I worked there..

[Thongkorn]

Dont forget Thailand have many of their own people, and mainly children just dumped by there parents ,to look after, why should Thailand look after rich tourist with out brains who just think they are living the dream, living way beoned there means. They had a chance and squandered it many Thai people do not have that choice.

[fish fingers]

The British Embassy in Bangkok are not always so helpful when it comes to Brits in trouble - I imagine sometimes its a balancing act with the authorities but other times they don't want to help.

There was an absolute horror story in the UK Press a few yrs back when a mentally ill man was locked up in jail and nearly died of malnutrition before being discovered by a charity worker - the british consulate decided he was scum and not worth saving. Then recently a charity worker was falsely accused of being a nonce and he spent 14 months in jail before they finally released him.

Both cases were in Pattaya

[Jackson86]

it's very sad to know there are people who actually go to thailand with good intentions but somehow fail along the way and end up too poor to even go back home.

in a lot of cases they are not thinking with the right head and thats how they ended up in Thailand, have no plan B or any form of back up once they arrive, going to live in country where you have no legal recourse to goverment help and not having a back up plan in case something goes wrong is just plain stupidity and they say Thai are dumb !!

It is my principle to try to learn thai language to talk to the people. Farangs should not assume that just english alone is enough for the whole world. In european countries maybe english is sufficient since almost every european knows english but when u come to asia then very sorry english is not enough.

I think I'm quite fortunate because I know many languages. I speak hokkien in taiwan, cantonese in hongkong and chinese in china. Learning a new language opens up another world to u. That's why I'm learning thai now.

I am strugging to tie your post to the topic being discussed..!....so your saying if a farang speaks Thai he will never be homeless in Thailand ?

or was the trust of your post to let TV know how many languages you speak ?.....

BTW I thought they spoke Mandarin in China for the most part, this is how it was referred to when I worked there..

If you know thai then most likely u will receive help. That's my point.

Well in china, only more developed areas such as beijing and shanghai do speak mandarin but for others they have their respective local languages. Eg. Cantonese in guangzhou and hokkien in fujian.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Jackson86

[Cuchulainn]

...................A senior ministry official, Panya Kangphorn, said a bill on providing assistance to foreigners was awaiting parliamentary scrutiny...............

Yeah, I'm sure it is.

[rwdrwdrwd]

Don't you have to show you have many founds to marry with a thai?

It is very different when you got divorced.

Do they ask if you have enough founds to come back home?

Do they worry about you?

You do not have to show any funds to get married to a Thai. You might be referring to the need to show funds for visa extensions for a non-o on the basis of marriage (or multi entry non-o visas for the same purpose in some countries) but this is not the same thing.

Edited January 11, 2014 by rwdrwdrwd

[Briggsy]

What the article doesn't say is how long they remain in detention waiting to be deported if they have no funds.

[Jim walker]

I don’t think many of the western street beggars living in Thailand would be on benefits back home, as it would take them a couple of weeks to save up the benefits to afford a flight to Thailand, get them round to their specific embassy and dump them on the door step and let Embassy do their job and take care of the consular assistance, I am sure prior to being broke these people had worked and paid their taxes in their relevant countries so time to get some returns for their tax payments.

[hawker9000]

it's very sad to know there are people who actually go to thailand with good intentions but somehow fail along the way and end up too poor to even go back home.

in a lot of cases they are not thinking with the right head and thats how they ended up in Thailand, have no plan B or any form of back up once they arrive, going to live in country where you have no legal recourse to goverment help and not having a back up plan in case something goes wrong is just plain stupidity and they say Thai are dumb !!

It is my principle to try to learn thai language to talk to the people. Farangs should not assume that just english alone is enough for the whole world. In european countries maybe english is sufficient since almost every european knows english but when u come to asia then very sorry english is not enough.

I think I'm quite fortunate because I know many languages. I speak hokkien in taiwan, cantonese in hongkong and chinese in china. Learning a new language opens up another world to u. That's why I'm learning thai now.

I am strugging to tie your post to the topic being discussed..!....so your saying if a farang speaks Thai he will never be homeless in Thailand ?

or was the trust of your post to let TV know how many languages you speak ?.....

BTW I thought they spoke Mandarin in China for the most part, this is how it was referred to when I worked there..

If you know thai then most likely u will receive help. That's my point.

Well in china, only more developed areas such as beijing and shanghai do speak mandarin but for others they have their respective local languages. Eg. Cantonese in guangzhou and hokkien in fujian.

I too am struggling to find even a shread of relevance here. You get a gold star for being so multiculturally minded 'n all, but I can't fathom how this relates to a homeless foreigner on the streets. Are you saying they should be rounded up and sent to language school?? The monks will help someone with a reasonable attitude whether they speak thai or not. In fact, I expect they would take it rather kindly if on taking you in, you exhibited some willingness to learn it, perhaps in exchange for english lessons.

[geriatrickid]

Question: Would the solution to the problem be for Thailand to round up these people and to charter an aircraft and just dump them in 3 or 4 largest source countries. The EU is the easiest to deal with since you can gather any and all and just dump in the UK or Frankfurt.

Seems to me the cheapest solution. Failing that, put them in a camp like the Australians do and that should catch the world's attention.

[hawker9000]

Question: Would the solution to the problem be for Thailand to round up these people and to charter an aircraft and just dump them in 3 or 4 largest source countries. The EU is the easiest to deal with since you can gather any and all and just dump in the UK or Frankfurt.

Seems to me the cheapest solution. Failing that, put them in a camp like the Australians do and that should catch the world's attention.

...and the next batch? And the batch after that? You're not thinking this out. You're essentially suggesting a periodic shuttle service. Once THAT starts, some will start taking advantage of it & counting it as their "Plan B". Naturally neither the thai government nor any other government is going to be too crazy about that idea, and I don't really blame them. Self-help is the solution and should not be disincentivized, but admittedly there are always going to be a few so damaged that they've become incapable of that.

[Jackson86]

it's very sad to know there are people who actually go to thailand with good intentions but somehow fail along the way and end up too poor to even go back home.

in a lot of cases they are not thinking with the right head and thats how they ended up in Thailand, have no plan B or any form of back up once they arrive, going to live in country where you have no legal recourse to goverment help and not having a back up plan in case something goes wrong is just plain stupidity and they say Thai are dumb !!

It is my principle to try to learn thai language to talk to the people. Farangs should not assume that just english alone is enough for the whole world. In european countries maybe english is sufficient since almost every european knows english but when u come to asia then very sorry english is not enough.

I think I'm quite fortunate because I know many languages. I speak hokkien in taiwan, cantonese in hongkong and chinese in china. Learning a new language opens up another world to u. That's why I'm learning thai now.

I am strugging to tie your post to the topic being discussed..!....so your saying if a farang speaks Thai he will never be homeless in Thailand ?

or was the trust of your post to let TV know how many languages you speak ?.....

BTW I thought they spoke Mandarin in China for the most part, this is how it was referred to when I worked there..

If you know thai then most likely u will receive help. That's my point.

Well in china, only more developed areas such as beijing and shanghai do speak mandarin but for others they have their respective local languages. Eg. Cantonese in guangzhou and hokkien in fujian.

I too am struggling to find even a shread of relevance here. You get a gold star for being so multiculturally minded 'n all, but I can't fathom how this relates to a homeless foreigner on the streets. Are you saying they should be rounded up and sent to language school?? The monks will help someone with a reasonable attitude whether they speak thai or not. In fact, I expect they would take it rather kindly if on taking you in, you exhibited some willingness to learn it, perhaps in exchange for english lessons.

This homeless issur is significant in thailand due to language barrier ie thai people can't really speak english well and foreigners can't really speak thai. Of course they will be left out in thai society. Who made them homeless in the first place ? I don't think thai people use guns and knives to threaten foreigners.

[culicine]

How does anyone become homeless in Thailand? These are the same people who would be on social security in the West. My view is that many become homeless is because they WANT to be homeless. They are happy to subsist on handouts and charity. The best thing would be to send them home and bill their families. Let their own governments take care of them. Thailand has enough problems of its own.

[Badbanker]

There is a charity that steps in and pays for the foreigners ticket after you have been in the IDC for 6 months.

Some thinking foreigners who are down on their luck surrender themselves and present themselves at immigration to be run through the system so their embassy can step in and help them.

Some would rather beg and live on the street!

What the article doesn't say is how long they remain in detention waiting to be deported if they have no funds.

[Soutpeel]

This homeless issur is significant in thailand due to language barrier ie thai people can't really speak english well and foreigners can't really speak thai. Of course they will be left out in thai society. Who made them homeless in the first place ? I don't think thai people use guns and knives to threaten foreigners.

Its got nothing to do with language barriers and being left out of Thai society at all, but it has everything to do with in a lot of cases, that Mr little head is being used to think with instead of the head on ones shoulders.

People come to Thailand to "live the dream" and make no provision in case something goes wrong, whether businesswise, relationshipwise etc, they are not living in a "nanny state" anymore where the goverment will "pick up" the pieces if something goes wrong.

As to who made them homeless in the first place....the only person to blame is themselves, whether poor financial decisions, alcohol abuse etc.

if your living in a "third world" country as a non-citizen/permanent resident and no recourse to goverment assistance, you had better have some sort of plan "B".....if someone doesnt, they are either very naive or very stupid

Thailand should not be responsible to look after these people, to me, round them up and ship them home and let their own goverments take care of them.

I really hope your last sentence was tongue in cheek, if not, suggests to me that you havent been in Thailand very long or have opened your eyes yet

[phusingpete]

However it came to be deportation is the right answer

In principle, I agree with you 100%. However, I think the most sensible thing Thailand could do to avert this situation is to give the Farang more protection from being duped, i.e. Farangs walk away from a relationship with at least half of the assets. It would take a bit of thinking as to how this is calculated and how to ensure assets are accurately assessed (e.g. protection against the Thai party ceding assets to someone else) but I think this should be where their focus is.

After that, I completely agree with you; if they are still broke, send them back to their own country.

Yes indeed. Westerners who marry Thai's, invest in a home etc, should be given some basic legal protection re their investment.

I know of a chap happily married to a Thai for many years. Unfortunately his wife died and her relatives threw him out of the house he had built and lived in for years. He did not end up on the street, but surely just some basic law could have allowed him to live out his life in his home.

[hawker9000]

The issue of homeless foreigners in Thailand has next to nothing to do with the "language barrier". The ability of long-stay foreigners to speak & read thai is highly desireable and to be recommended for any number of reasons to be sure, but it's got nothing measurably to do with homelessness. Lack of foresight & planning by those deciding to stay, lack of legal recourse and standing by foreigners, drug & alcohol issues, mental issues & personality disorder, depression, denial, etc., all have infinitely more to do with it.

[Soutpeel]

However it came to be deportation is the right answer

In principle, I agree with you 100%. However, I think the most sensible thing Thailand could do to avert this situation is to give the Farang more protection from being duped, i.e. Farangs walk away from a relationship with at least half of the assets. It would take a bit of thinking as to how this is calculated and how to ensure assets are accurately assessed (e.g. protection against the Thai party ceding assets to someone else) but I think this should be where their focus is.

After that, I completely agree with you; if they are still broke, send them back to their own country.

Yes indeed. Westerners who marry Thai's, invest in a home etc, should be given some basic legal protection re their investment.

I know of a chap happily married to a Thai for many years. Unfortunately his wife died and her relatives threw him out of the house he had built and lived in for years. He did not end up on the street, but surely just some basic law could have allowed him to live out his life in his home.

ok but isnt this a case of "buyer beware" he must have known how things could end up in this situation, and could have planned accordingly

One assumes when people buy or build property in Thailand as foreigners they are aware of the "rules" and pitfalls ?

[Jackson86]

This homeless issur is significant in thailand due to language barrier ie thai people can't really speak english well and foreigners can't really speak thai. Of course they will be left out in thai society. Who made them homeless in the first place ? I don't think thai people use guns and knives to threaten foreigners.

Its got nothing to do with language barriers and being left out of Thai society at all, but it has everything to do with in a lot of cases, that Mr little head is being used to think with instead of the head on ones shoulders.

People come to Thailand to "live the dream" and make no provision in case something goes wrong, whether businesswise, relationshipwise etc, they are not living in a "nanny state" anymore where the goverment will "pick up" the pieces if something goes wrong.

As to who made them homeless in the first place....the only person to blame is themselves, whether poor financial decisions, alcohol abuse etc.

if your living in a "third world" country as a non-citizen/permanent resident and no recourse to goverment assistance, you had better have some sort of plan "B".....if someone doesnt, they are either very naive or very stupid

Thailand should not be responsible to look after these people, to me, round them up and ship them home and let their own goverments take care of them.

I really hope your last sentence was tongue in cheek, if not, suggests to me that you havent been in Thailand very long or have opened your eyes yet

yes my last sentence is tongue in cheek ^__^

Anyway yep thailand is definitely not responsible for these homeless people. Foreigners intending to live in thailand on a long term basis should be prepared in the first place.

[wprime]

what is the moral of this story?

The moral, make sure you know the game, if not, enter at your own risk .

If everyone knows the game then who will fund Somchai's motorbike?

[hughben]

I was waiting for the "we need to charge foreigners entering Thailand 500 baht homeless foreigner needs assistance tax".

[takkatan in the land]

Don't you have to show you have many founds to marry with a thai?

It is very different when you got divorced.

Do they ask if you have enough founds to come back home?

Do they worry about you?

You do not have to show any funds to get married to a Thai. You might be referring to the need to show funds for visa extensions for a non-o on the basis of marriage (or multi entry non-o visas for the same purpose in some countries) but this is not the same thing.

yes sorry, I did not explain myself properly, I wanted to refer when applying for thai marriage visa, you have

to prove that you have a determined fix income or enough funds to take care your lovely wife.

http://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-visa/Thailand-Marriage-Visa.php

And without mention about the sinsod of course, that it will depends of how greedy are your parents in law.

[takkatan in the land]

I was waiting for the "we need to charge foreigners entering Thailand 500 baht homeless foreigner needs assistance tax".

you just have been living too long here, you start thinking like a thai.

wait a moment I have to do something I'm going to book my ticket back home right now

I had as same thought as you

[saulb]

How does anyone become homeless in Thailand? These are the same people who would be on social security in the West. My view is that many become homeless is because they WANT to be homeless. They are happy to subsist on handouts and charity. The best thing would be to send them home and bill their families. Let their own governments take care of them. Thailand has enough problems of its own.

1st. If some is homeless in Thailand and in his own country, more provably not had family.

2nd. May be many homeless happy to subsist on charity, but is not a casual there are more of them now in western civilization that in decades before, for economic crisis, as happen is well during the 30s.

3rd. Their own governments in many case expend more resource to help foreigners than nationals. Yes, that foreigner who went there to pay pensions and reduce the salaries grow. Among themselves many orientals.

4th. Thailand have enough problems is true, but not forget that this country amount others in this specific area are been actually consciously benefited for the Establishment, with the excuse that there are cheaper workforce because they dont need to feed the anxiety of NATO nations, to pay your pension and the many other posters, and allow oriental countries to have a very different Emigration and Trade Laws. As a result a lot of those homeless, including me occasionally, can not compete with the people of these parts with the same rules, It is not logical that in the part of the planet that provides more than half of the population, as is the sum of the western half of China, India, Southeast Asia, Korea and Japan, is where unemployment is lowest among all countries.

Not think it is therefore necessary to say that with the same rules, the population of Europe and North America for centuries would be more competitive and in advantage with these populations, probably to the point of extinguishing them.

Therefore is not unreasonable claim that despite their problems, they drop a little charity, to compensate, as we would we do in the opposite case.

[Briggsy]

Alcoholism and drug addiction and/or mental illness are very common factors in the lives of homeless Westerners in Thailand. The cases not involving at least one of these factors are few and far between.

[Misab]

There would be no homeless foreigners if Thailand had a decent law preventing Thai girls from cheat partners,

[dwcrist]

So then all western countries should send all thai nationals back to Thailand, currently living in europe and who would be homeless if the social systems have not protecting them getting that! What one expect of a country who do not care about their poor or homeless? Deciding yourself lifing in Thailand must taken carefully because otherwise sometimes you go back only in a coffin before being robbed of all your assets!

At least they will send your body back before robbing you. Or do they send your assets back with you and they are stolen by customs or airport secutiry staff on arrival?

[hawker9000]

There would be no homeless foreigners if Thailand had a decent law preventing Thai girls from cheat partners,

BS

[Jackson86]

There would be no homeless foreigners if Thailand had a decent law preventing Thai girls from cheat partners,

Responsibility still lies with foreigners since they already know this problem yet chose to come. Thailand is not responsible for homeless of the entire world.

[jackandjim]

I was in a situation back in 1995 where I was visiting Thailand and had to give my savings to my family due to a family illness back home and had to give the family my savings. I wanted to stay in Thailand so I went to a temple close to the Burma border. They gave me a "quitee", 1 room home, at the temple to live in, free food and 4000 baht a month to teach English to monks, novices, the local high school and even police and the army. I also did their web site as I knew HTML language. As long as I stayed at the temple I didn't need a work permit as a volunteer. Here I met several Thais from Bangkok and Chiang Mai and they gave me jobs making web sites for their companies, work permit and everything.

I am now retired with savings and investments I made while working with these wonderful Thai people who gave me a fresh start.

If these homeless people want to stay here have them go to a temple to live. The Abbot will be glad to have them so they can give something to the Thai people like teaching English and it will be returned to them in bunches. The Thais and I believe anyone will help tose who want to help themself. Hanging out and begging ain't gona cut it and I do not feel sorry for them.

I actually thought volunteer work DOES require a work permit. Wrong? Am I getting work permit stuff confused with visa stuff?

But that aside, it's a wonderful outcome. 'Don't know how many of the down & out (e.g., those with drug, alcohol or mental issues) could repeat the process, but a real success story for you.

yeah yeah and all falangs know html languages and the are all graduates of cambridge who can spell and teach and stay sober bullshit mate what planet are you on ???????