Is there an advantage being from an EU country

[luis888]

Hi everyone, I have dual nationality, Portuguese and also South African nationality. My paperwork is up to date in both countries.

I'm maried to a Thai (in south africa) not yet registered the mariage in Thailand, I plan on moving there within 2 years, my question is, is there any advantage in coming there as a Portuguese person or makes no differance if I come as a South African.

My plan is to invest 4 or 5K bht in rentable property and set up a small business for the missus on the East Coast near Pattaya. My life is / has been motorcycles, not sure if a specialised workshop would be a proposition in that area or fisable.

Anyway, your input would be apreciated

[naboo]

Being from the EU makes you a lightly better person.

[benalibina]

Being from the EU makes you a lightly better person.

Not if one is British.

[wprime]

4000 - 5000 baht won't get you much of an investment property.

[metisdead]

Trolling nonsense posts and replies have been removed.

[h90]

4000 - 5000 baht won't get you much of an investment property.

Maybe he got the currency wrong?

[samran]

Guy asks a simple question and yet again we get the procession of anti foreigner foreigners in Thailand having a whinge.

[submaniac]

To OP, there is no advantage one way or the other. There are no special agreements with Portugal or South Africa and Thailand, so it doesn't matter. I actually can't think of other countries that Thailand gives special advantages to.

[luis888]

4000 - 5000 baht won't get you much of an investment property.

I'm sorry I mean million not thousand

Thank you for the 2 actual replies out of about 20

[Trembly]

Whatever the regulations are, generally speaking, Africans are not perceived in a very positive light in Thailand for various reasons. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am assuming that you're white; many Thais equate Africa with black skin and some may be suspicious of a white person holding an African passport. You don't want to be in a situation where an unworldly Thai has to make a judgement call on that.

Do yourself a favour and avoid unnecessary head-meets-wall-of-ignorance (yes, even in the government) by going Portuguese.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Trembly

[luis888]

Whatever the regulations are, generally speaking, Africans are not perceived in a very positive light in Thailand for various reasons. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am assuming that you're white; many Thais equate Africa with black skin and some may be suspicious of a white person holding an African passport. You don't want to be in a situation where an unworldly Thai has to make a judgement call on that.

Do yourself a favour and avoid unnecessary head-meets-wall-of-ignorance (yes, even in the government) by going Portuguese.

Do you mean black africans or people that come from Africa, I'm a white guy and have always come in to Thailand with my S.A. pasport and have never felt any animosity when I came in or left Thailand, I have a bank account there, no issues with that, I had to produce my passport, have been stopped by the police on the scooter endless times, as most farangs are, also no issues with my S.A. issued international drivers license, S.A. employs several thousand Thai men (welders mainly) as they are apparently good welders, but does have a bit of a history (they conssider it as a problem) with Thai ladies (most guys would disagree) as they come on holliday and stay, we all know for what.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

To OP, there is no advantage one way or the other. There are no special agreements with Portugal or South Africa and Thailand, so it doesn't matter. I actually can't think of other countries that Thailand gives special advantages to.

Korea, 90 days visa waiver on entry.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I know I'll be another farang maried to a Thai,

Only if you're a white SA. Black SAs get called something else.

[Aussieroaming]

Luis

Ask yourself one thing..why swap SA for LOS.

I have been to SA many times..not bad, not expensive and safe in the right areas. Same here..some places better than others.

So, why not sample here a bit more before committing?

[Kudel]

Why move to Thailand ?The climate is good al year round in Portugal and the food and drink is cheap and property can be bought in your own name.

[Maestro]

Removed some more off-topic and troll posts and the replies to them.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Trembly]

Whatever the regulations are, generally speaking, Africans are not perceived in a very positive light in Thailand for various reasons. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am assuming that you're white; many Thais equate Africa with black skin and some may be suspicious of a white person holding an African passport. You don't want to be in a situation where an unworldly Thai has to make a judgement call on that.

Do yourself a favour and avoid unnecessary head-meets-wall-of-ignorance (yes, even in the government) by going Portuguese.

Do you mean black africans or people that come from Africa, I'm a white guy and have always come in to Thailand with my S.A. pasport and have never felt any animosity when I came in or left Thailand, I have a bank account there, no issues with that, I had to produce my passport, have been stopped by the police on the scooter endless times, as most farangs are, also no issues with my S.A. issued international drivers license, S.A. employs several thousand Thai men (welders mainly) as they are apparently good welders, but does have a bit of a history (they conssider it as a problem) with Thai ladies (most guys would disagree) as they come on holliday and stay, we all know for what.

Sorry, yes I meant black Africans, as those are the Africans that Thais are in contact with the most.

It's not a question of animosity but perception. Have you ever heard of banks turning away money? Why would a policeman care where an international driving license was issued in a routine traffic stop?

The problems with African passports start when you have to deal with prejudiced officialdom. For example, only UK, USA, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand nationals are considered to be native speakers of English according to the Ministry of Education. They've clearly never heard of the Republic of Ireland and probably only vaguely remember seeing some white people on a TV show about safaris in South Africa or Zimbabwe, or maybe that was a football game.

I once worked as an English teacher in 4000 pupil school in a northeastern city and I was asked to explain about white Africans on numerous occasions because the school administration wasn't aware of them. In the end the white Africans didn't get the job because the MoE wouldn't give the school a native English speaker allowance for their salaries.

In your later post you mentioned that you're 60, so I'm guessing that you're either retired or nearing retirement so that particular example may not matter to you very much but it should give you some idea about how things can go.

It seems to me that you would rather use your SA passport anyway so good luck to you. However, the fact remains that there is a chance that you will encounter prejudice and inconvenient bouts of ignorance with your SA passport whilst the chance of encountering that with your Portuguese passport would be virtually nil.

You asked the question . . .

Edited June 30, 2014 by Trembly