Expats-Quo Vadis?

[swissie]

Even Expats of 20 years or more are getting irritated by "Immigration Rulings" that require more and more paperwork and "questioning", in order to justify their long-term-stay in Thailand. Why is that, many Expats wonder.

- No authoritarian regime can possibly welcome a minority of residents that are liable to adhere to thoughts of "Democracy" and "Freedom of speech" and (willingly or not), keep spreading such thoughts around.
So, no surprise, short term Tourists, with little or no desire to comment on internal national affairs are (and will remain) guests in Thailand that are welcome. I am afraid, that this will (increasingly) not apply to foreigners entering Thailand with a longer term objective.

Now what? Expats of 10 years or more will hardly be willing (or able) to pull up stakes here. They have "married the bride, for better or for worse". It's done!
Others, contemplating to make Thailand their future "Retirement-Home" may want to choose a very conservative approach. Especially, when it comes to "Investments in Thailand" in one form or another.
Cheers.   

[jackTheRipper]

I recall a recent news item about Thailand wanting to attract more "quality tourists and expats". Isn't itjust about money? If you can't circumvent the entire red-tape hell by going ThaiElite, you're not particularly welcome. 

[KittenKong]

I think that Thailand, like most Asian countries, needs an authoritarian regime just to get its people to respect the law. Personally I am in favour of a strong rule of law rather than democracy as here the latter just degenerates into chaos and corruption.

 

If people want democracy then first they need to develop some respect for others, and become less greedy, less lazy and less self-centred. I dont see much sign of this.

 

As for being married to Thailand: I'm not. I have a condo, a car, some furniture and some money in the bank. If the time comes when they p*ss me off too much I will sell up and leave, and if I cant sell I will just leave. I have never put more than a few percent of my net wealth into Thailand and I never will, so I can walk away without it affecting me too much.

[chrisinth]

Whereas I can see where the OP is coming from, I often wonder why it is always the little things that tilt the balance for life altering decisions with the human race. So, they now ask us to fill in (still only in certain areas) an additional information sheet, big deal.

 

Clampdown on visa exempt entries being abused, people being questioned about the reason for their stay on multiple tourist visa's? Changing times, it needs to be accepted that if we are staying here full time, we need the appropriate visa/permission to stay. I think this issue above all else contributes to people thinking of moving.

 

The above said, I am not sure where the additional "questioning" for long stay expats comes from, this has not happened to me (yet). This additional request for information that some have been asked to give would fade into insignificance with reference to privacy for almost all expats living here, if placed against the databases of information available (to almost anyone who can provide minimal clearance) that are linked in their own country. This is an often overlooked fact as their lives have been cataloged and digitally recorded for decades.

 

Remembering that the country currently is under 'temporary' military rule and accepting that, I can't see any major changes that should affect the long term expat living here. If your argument to this would be additional ID checks, checks on movement, etc, put this down to security, it is a dangerous world in which we live, regardless of where we stay.

 

As for your point on a change of attitude for those planning to retire here, IMO, if a person doesn't adopt a 'very conservative approach' making any life-changing decisions, they are, and always have been, looking for trouble in the long term...............

[DeaconJohn]

3 hours ago, chrisinth said:

Whereas I can see where the OP is coming from, I often wonder why it is always the little things that tilt the balance for life altering decisions with the human race. So, they now ask us to fill in (still only in certain areas) an additional information sheet, big deal.

 

Clampdown on visa exempt entries being abused, people being questioned about the reason for their stay on multiple tourist visa's? Changing times, it needs to be accepted that if we are staying here full time, we need the appropriate visa/permission to stay. I think this issue above all else contributes to people thinking of moving.

 

The above said, I am not sure where the additional "questioning" for long stay expats comes from, this has not happened to me (yet). This additional request for information that some have been asked to give would fade into insignificance with reference to privacy for almost all expats living here, if placed against the databases of information available (to almost anyone who can provide minimal clearance) that are linked in their own country. This is an often overlooked fact as their lives have been cataloged and digitally recorded for decades.

 

Remembering that the country currently is under 'temporary' military rule and accepting that, I can't see any major changes that should affect the long term expat living here. If your argument to this would be additional ID checks, checks on movement, etc, put this down to security, it is a dangerous world in which we live, regardless of where we stay.

 

As for your point on a change of attitude for those planning to retire here, IMO, if a person doesn't adopt a 'very conservative approach' making any life-changing decisions, they are, and always have been, looking for trouble in the long term...............

Well-balanced point of view.

Some people get spooked too easily.

[Scotwight]

No problems for me.  Thailand just keeps getting better.  I can get all the hi tech stuff I want - even hi tech shoes.  Medical care is getting better.  Expat food is getting better.  More and better restaurants of all kinds.  The women keep getting better looking. I'm glad I came and locked in my savings at the higher rates that were available a decade ago.  Tell me the truth who would you rather have -  Prayut Chan-o-cha, Thaksin, Hillary or Trump?  See - you had to think about it didn't you?

[Suradit69]

Quote

Even Expats of 20 years or more are getting irritated by "Immigration Rulings" that require more and more paperwork and "questioning", in order to justify their long-term-stay in Thailand. Why is that, many Expats wonder.

 

What does "many" mean. I've been here for more than 15 years in total, 10 years full-time, and don't find complying with immigrations requirements to be significantly more onerous than they've always been. Can't recall ever being questioned about anything. 

 

A couple of minutes spent to report every 90 days and maybe 30 minutes once a year to apply for another annual extension.

 

I expect "many" of the wondering farang were gaming the system in one way or another and now find the stricter enforcement of existing rules to be problematic. 

 

 

 

[ThailandLOS]

On 2016-09-28 at 11:43 PM, swissie said:

- No authoritarian regime can possibly welcome a minority of residents that are liable to adhere to thoughts of "Democracy" and "Freedom of speech" and (willingly or not), keep spreading such thoughts around.

 

Try staying in the US a non-citizen and see how easy it is and how much paper work it involves.

 

A lot of BS IMHO. To stay in Thailand legally doesn't require that much effort, unless it's a financial issue of course.

[gamini]

I can only assume that the writer has never lived in any other country nor have the people he refers to. The fact is, that compared with other countries, Thailand is one of the easiest places in the world to get a  Visa to retire and it costs only a paltry bt1900. In addition we don't have to pay any taxes. And as far as the red tape is concerned it is  minimal. I and  my expat friends seldom spend more than half an hour to get our retirement Visa. This is a once a year. And as the 90 day reporting we do it by post or online. So where is all the red tape. It has been reported that some people have to fill in another form giving some more information. How long does that take you? A few minutes. Of course also you give no consideration to the fact that Thais have to go through a huge amount of red tape to retire and live in our countries
Having lived in several other countries I can assure you that most of the red tape is much worse there than it could possibly be in Thailand. So basically your post is a lot of nonsense.
However I can say, that you might be a bit confused and referring to long-term tourists. Here again Thailand is much more lenient in allowing them to stay more than six months in one year. Most countries limit these kind of tourists to 6 months thereafter they have to pay full tax on their yearly income and obtain a residence permit.
I would also add that in most cases I find the Thai immigration Department officials pleasant, polite and helpful

[gamini]

On 9/29/2016 at 2:55 PM, Scotwight said:

No problems for me.  Thailand just keeps getting better.  I can get all the hi tech stuff I want - even hi tech shoes.  Medical care is getting better.  Expat food is getting better.  More and better restaurants of all kinds.  The women keep getting better looking. I'm glad I came and locked in my savings at the higher rates that were available a decade ago.  Tell me the truth who would you rather have -  Prayut Chan-o-cha, Thaksin, Hillary or Trump?  See - you had to think about it didn't you?

I think I would definitely prefer Prayut

[Alive]

On Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 7:32 AM, KittenKong said:

I think that Thailand, like most Asian countries, needs an authoritarian regime just to get its people to respect the law. Personally I am in favour of a strong rule of law rather than democracy as here the latter just degenerates into chaos and corruption.

 

If people want democracy then first they need to develop some respect for others, and become less greedy, less lazy and less self-centred. I dont see much sign of this.

 

So, you and those who clicked like on this support taking away human rights of the locals and fascism so long as you can have your happiness.  This happens all throughout history. I'll leave it there. Comments get deleted too often here. There's nothing wrong with my comment because it is absolutely true. I accept who you are.

[louse1953]

1 hour ago, ThailandLOS said:

 

Try staying in the US a non-citizen and see how easy it is and how much paper work it involves.

 

A lot of BS IMHO. To stay in Thailand legally doesn't require that much effort, unless it's a financial issue of course.

A there are ways around that.Try doing  that in the West

[oldlakey]

2 hours ago, gamini said:

On 9/29/2016 at 8:55 AM, Scotwight said:

No problems for me.  Thailand just keeps getting better.  I can get all the hi tech stuff I want - even hi tech shoes.  Medical care is getting better.  Expat food is getting better.  More and better restaurants of all kinds.  The women keep getting better looking. I'm glad I came and locked in my savings at the higher rates that were available a decade ago.  Tell me the truth who would you rather have -  Prayut Chan-o-cha, Thaksin, Hillary or Trump?  See - you had to think about it didn't you?

How can any intelligent person actually make a choice between the four you have named

Between Prayut Chan-o-cha and Thaksin yes both have a track record as the top man to judge them by

Hillary or Trump how would you make a choice between them as a leader  if not just by simple preference and listening to the nonsense and lies they utter on a daily basis during the election campaign

of course you would have to believe the nonsense and lies, I stopped believing in the tooth fairy last week

 

[Khon Kaen Dave]

'Quo vardis'.I havent heard that Latin statement  for a donkeys age,'Wither goest thou,goest i'.I think it was asked by st Peter of Jesus when meeting him on the road to Damascus,or some such place.

i saw another one the other day,in some film.

Mene mene tekel  upharsin. The moving finger writes, and having written,moves on.

But then again,are they Latin or Aramaic?

[oldlakey]

4 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

'Quo vardis'.I havent heard that Latin statement  for a donkeys age,'Wither goest thou,goest i'.I think it was asked by st Peter of Jesus when meeting him on the road to Damascus,or some such place.

i saw another one the other day,in some film.

Mene mene tekel  upharsin. The moving finger writes, and having written,moves on.

But then again,are they Latin or Aramaic?

Beats me

[Khon Kaen Dave]

That'll be you beaten then.

[eldragon]

I've known very few Thais that care about my thoughts and opinions to the point of changing their mind about anything. The only ones that are going to affect change here are liberal, middle class to wealthy Thais.

[gamini]

5 hours ago, Alive said:

So, you and those who clicked like on this support taking away human rights of the locals and fascism so long as you can have your happiness.  This happens all throughout history. I'll leave it there. Comments get deleted too often here. There's nothing wrong with my comment because it is absolutely true. I accept who you are.

The tone of your post just shows how ignorant you are. You don't even know what fascism is.  I suppose you would call Singapore a fascist run country. There are fare less human rights there. Anyway your comments are irrelevant because you are in a small minority in this country where at least 65% of the population support the present government

[richard_smith237]

The remaining 35% of the population or approximately 23 Million is hardly a small minority... 

 

But, the question really begs... given Thailand's current government is there any way to obtain an accurate or real statistic of support ??  

[Yisheng]

On 9/29/2016 at 2:55 PM, Scotwight said:

  The women keep getting better looking. 

Yes, the internet is getting better and food and building materials. But where do you live where women look better than 20 or 30 years ago? Do you like those fake noses, tatooed eye brows and silicon breasts? The average Thai lady in Pattaya is 10-20 kg heavier than 20 years ago. All my friends agree that they were prettier one generation ago, not to mention the behavior.

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Yes,you are right.Thai girls/ladies are heavier than before,and some do have tattooed eye brows and fake noses and silicone tits.But.99% of them still turn over for a small amount of money that allows some single guys over here the ability to enjoy a sex life that they wouldnt stand a chance of getting back home.

Thai Chick's Rock,i love em all,and i am sure that a lot of guys would agree. Where did it say in your contract when you signed up to come here that all the girls were super models.

[SaintLouisBlues]

4 minutes ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

But.99% of them still turn over for a small amount of money.

You mean they like it front and back?

[Scotwight]

31 minutes ago, Yisheng said:

Yes, the internet is getting better and food and building materials. But where do you live where women look better than 20 or 30 years ago? Do you like those fake noses, tatooed eye brows and silicon breasts? The average Thai lady in Pattaya is 10-20 kg heavier than 20 years ago. All my friends agree that they were prettier one generation ago, not to mention the behavior.

You really are a newbie aren't you.

[Yisheng]

1 minute ago, Scotwight said:

You really are a newbie aren't you.

Is this your answer to my question where you live? I live in the town of the fat women. May be you like fat women?

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Saint Louis Blues

Yes,of course thats what i meant.Now dont be a silly old fart and start the lady boy thing.Thats been played to death.

[SaintLouisBlues]

1 minute ago, Khon Kaen Dave said:

Yes,of course thats what i meant.

Perhaps you know my friend Steve? He says that having an Asian wife is great; when he gets bored he can just turn her over and pretend she's a boy

[Scotwight]

9 minutes ago, Yisheng said:

Is this your answer to my question where you live? I live in the town of the fat women. May be you like fat women?

No look at the girls in the photo.  They are chubby and not very pretty.  That is what girls looked like in the 1960's plus a quart of hairspray and overly tight mini skirts.

[DerringDo]

Beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder. Thank goodness we all like different versions.

[Scotwight]

54 minutes ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

Perhaps you know my friend Steve? He says that having an Asian wife is great; when he gets bored he can just turn her over and pretend she's a boy

Ladies have different behinds and it has nothing to do with race it has to do with how many orders of french fries they eat.  

[Kwasaki]

Where are you going OP.  

 

Don't have any problem with any paperwork the Thai immigration throws at me if it keeps the scumbags out or tries too rock on.

 

If it really bothers someone then you know what they say to people that don't like the heat in kitchen.