entrance into national parks with work permit

[KittenKong]

9 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

I have found that it both depends on the park and sometimes the person at the gate. Personally, I do not mind paying a little extra, but I am accustomed to dual pricing in my home country, USA. 

 

It is not unusual for out of state residents to pay more for certain things, like universities or golf courses etc...

 

But that's the big difference between Thailand and everywhere else. Elsewhere the discount is applied to tax-payers, or residents, or the less well-off, etc etc. Here is it a simple extra charge for being foreign, regardless of whether you live here or work here or pay tax or are a billionaire or a pauper.

 

As such it is indefensible.

[Thailand]

5 hours ago, dbrenn said:

They don't care about work permits, annoying though it is to those foreigners who live here and pay taxes. Only a Thai ID card gets you the local rate.

 

Apply to be a Thai citizen - that's what I did. Problem solved.

I think I will not bother going to national parks double charging, my problem solved and a much simpler way.

[1FinickyOne]

7 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

But that's the big difference between Thailand and everywhere else. Elsewhere the discount is applied to tax-payers, or residents, or the less well-off, etc etc. Here is it a simple extra charge for being foreign, regardless of whether you live here or work here or pay tax or are a billionaire or a pauper.

 

As such it is indefensible.

 

That's ok with me - I am foreign...

 

I understand this might sound strange to some, but I am a guest in another country, I don't expect them to have the same laws as my own or the same way of looking at life as I do. I respect that it is their country. I can stay or leave. I can go to national parks and pay, if I want or not. There are times I have not because I felt the price was too high. Mostly, for a few hundred baht, I don't care. I am glad to contribute. When I came to live here, I came with the understanding that it was different. If I wanted everything to be the same as my home country, then I would not have come here. 

[Lamkyong]

11 minutes ago, dbrenn said:

Of course it solves the problem. If you live here and pay taxes, chances are you'll be eligible at some point to apply for Thai citizenship. 

 

I did it, and all I have to do is show my Thai ID card to get the Thai rate in national parks. Works every time, and now I have nothing to complain about.

 

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. 

obviously works for you if you acquired thai citizenship purely on the basis of getting thai price  i might suggest you calculate your total costs of obtaining citizenship with the total amount saved at various dual pricing venues   as i do not have access to your figures  maybe you could furnish me/us  with your   outcome  

[grumbleweed]

I know one thing, they don't like being asked - why charge 10 times more, is it because this country is one big den of crooks or farangs are 10 times better than Thais? -

Some people have no sense of humour

[dbrenn]

1 hour ago, Lamkyong said:

obviously works for you if you acquired thai citizenship purely on the basis of getting thai price  i might suggest you calculate your total costs of obtaining citizenship with the total amount saved at various dual pricing venues   as i do not have access to your figures  maybe you could furnish me/us  with your   outcome  

 

Becoming a Thai citizen has multiple benefits, of which getting the Thai rate at national parks and other venues is only one example.

 

I'd say that the very modest outlay of 5,000 Baht (as was the application fee) has paid for itself many times over. For instance, I got a better job here because I was a naturalised Thai citizen. I can also own property, don't need expensive visas or work permits, don't need to do 90 day reports or tell the nosey cops where I hang out, I can disappear into the Thai system, etc, etc, etc.

 

I used to whinge and complain about double pricing too, ranting on endlessly about how much tax I paid, how I had a family here, how I was giving the best years of my life to Thailand, and all that. The fact is, most tax payers can and eventually do qualify for Thai citizenship, which solves the problem, as I found out. 

Edited October 6, 2016 by dbrenn

[dbrenn]

1 hour ago, Thailand said:

I think I will not bother going to national parks double charging, my problem solved and a much simpler way.

 

Well, that is indeed a simpler way. But you miss out on visiting some nice places that your family might in any case want to take you to.

[baansgr]

4 hours ago, chiang mai said:

Possession of a work permit, a Thai drivers license, receipts showing taxes paid, a Thai wife and/or Thai kids, all will make no difference if you are not Thai.

The argument put forward by the Government defending this practice is that Thais are paying taxes unlike Foreigners, so those who work here legally and are paying taxes and social security should in theory be allowed entry at the standard price. On a side note I recently took my kids to a venue that stated residents 50, non residents 150, on producing my yellow book with a local address resident price was asked for

[biggles45]

" Thais are paying taxes unlike Foreigners, so those who work here legally and are paying taxes"

 

I am sure that the percentage of Thais actually paying tax is very low. In 2013 Asian Correspondent newspaper published data that only 3 million out of 70 million Thais actually paid tax. I wonder why the non-contributing 67 million arnt charged the higher price !!

[BlindMagician]

Oh brother...this again? It's been done to death. Can't we move on?

[alant]

2 hours ago, dbrenn said:

Of course it solves the problem. If you live here and pay taxes, chances are you'll be eligible at some point to apply for Thai citizenship. 

 

I did it, and all I have to do is show my Thai ID card to get the Thai rate in national parks. Works every time, and now I have nothing to complain about.

 

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. 

Well I think the application would not count, you would need to have attained it. How many citizenships are given out in any given year? I believe very few. I maintain the at of application is unlikely to solve the problem.

[chaiyapoon]

I used to get into Khao Yai regularly at the Thai rate with the girlfriend just explaining to the gatekeeper that I am long stay.Maybe 20 or more times in two years as we used to use it to avoid a long trip round the park traveling to the north and often were able to see elephants close up.But for the last two attempts have been refused so turned round and did the longer trip.

Edited October 6, 2016 by chaiyapoon

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

3 hours ago, possum1931 said:

I don't agree, just because a topic has been covered before, no matter how many times, is no reason

why it should not be covered again, there are always different posters and different answers coming along.

On this one the answer is always the same some agree with you and others don't there is no room for a different view. It is either you agree that foreigners must pay more because they not citizens or you disagree with the higher prices as you view it as discrimmination. You can go back to all the other post that cover this topic and compare it with this one. You will see it is the same and it is boring to say the least. I also had a wp for many years and had to pay the farang price, but it is the same in other countries like Malaysia. 

[TheFishman1]

Me think not

[dbrenn]

1 hour ago, alant said:

Well I think the application would not count, you would need to have attained it. How many citizenships are given out in any given year? I believe very few. I maintain the at of application is unlikely to solve the problem.

Eh? Of course simply applying for citizenship doesn't count - it has to be granted as well.

 

Once granted, it gives all of the advantages that I spoke of earlier. Getting it is in the reach of most tax payers and an application can be made after just three years living here if married to a Thai. Most don't bother and whinge about injustice instead.  

[khunpa]

Some places my WP gives me same access price as Thais. Other places it does not... Kind of a hit and miss thing. Since I pay taxes (and most Thais do not), then I find it kind of annoying that the prices sometimes are so much higher. However, thats just part of how foreigners are seen here. You just have to accept that Thais basically are racists and do not like anybody Not-Thai. Does not matter if you have been here for years, pay taxes, speak Thai and have 200 children with your Thai-wife. You will always be looked at, as a "Farang" with easy-money to take.

 

I sometimes dream of one day open some kind of shop in my home country and make it a rule that all Thai-customers have to pay x10 the normal price. 

[brewsterbudgen]

I used to get into Khao Yai regularly at the Thai rate with the girlfriend just explaining to the gatekeeper that I am long stay.Maybe 20 or more times in two years as we used to use it to avoid a long trip round the park traveling to the north and often were able to see elephants close up.But for the last two attempts have been refused so turned round and did the longer trip.

That will teach them!!

[dbrenn]

3 hours ago, BlindMagician said:

Oh brother...this again? It's been done to death. Can't we move on?

If you are not interested in what is a clearly labelled topic, then there is no reason for you to read this thread, and there is much less reason to bother yourself writing meaningless responses. 

[BlindMagician]

Rather than endlessly recycle old topics, why not extract key info as a lookup resource. Certainly don't include in thread selected special highlights, which how it came on my radar.

It's called editorial selection policy, chum.

[chiang mai]

4 hours ago, baansgr said:

The argument put forward by the Government defending this practice is that Thais are paying taxes unlike Foreigners, so those who work here legally and are paying taxes and social security should in theory be allowed entry at the standard price. On a side note I recently took my kids to a venue that stated residents 50, non residents 150, on producing my yellow book with a local address resident price was asked for

 

There never has been consistency of rule enforcement on any front in Thailand so I'm not at all surprised that some will and some wont. But on the tax front: most foreigners who live here spend at least 800k baht a year on living expenses, sales tax on which is 7% or 56,000 baht. Add in a few extra big ticket purchases each year and it's not hard to imagine that the average expat retiree comes close to spending more on taxes than the average Thai earns!

[Docno]

14 hours ago, Spaniel said:

When you get to the gate at Khao Yai you can give it a try and if you get a sympathetic clerk on the gate he/she may let you in for the Thai price.      Earlier in the year my wife and I entered Khao Yai via the Prachinburi gate and they let me in for the Thai price after I showed him my Thai driver's lisc and my wife explained to him that I have lived here a long time.       

I've been let in by joking in Thai that I am 'khon Thai'... some of those people in uniforms aren't all that bad...

[TEFLKrabi]

The OP is looking for up to date information. Just help him, if you can.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[Docno]

A lot of sour grapes here about what amounts to a few baht. This practice is pretty common in developing countries. For example, Cambodians get into Angkor Wat for free because it's seen as their national heritage and the poor shouldn't be excluded from it for lack of money. If you have the money to travel there as a foreigner, you certainly have the money to pay for an entrance fee to help cover upkeep etc. I would expect most foreigners (and certainly most tourists) in Thailand have more money than the average Thai and so they too shouldn't get worked up if asked to pay a little bit more to help defray costs. Doesn't hurt to take a crowbar to the wallet occasionally...  

[BudRight]

Lots of racist pieces of shit here justifying double charging. 

[alant]

16 hours ago, dbrenn said:

Eh? Of course simply applying for citizenship doesn't count - it has to be granted as well.

 

Once granted, it gives all of the advantages that I spoke of earlier. Getting it is in the reach of most tax payers and an application can be made after just three years living here if married to a Thai. Most don't bother and whinge about injustice instead.  

So you have to be a citizen thus making you Thai when by default as a thai you get thai prices. This was my point and I don't think it is as easy as you claim to become a citizen, paying tax is not enough I believe, you have to work and there is no alternative route. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Arkady]

On 10/7/2016 at 8:27 AM, alant said:

So you have to be a citizen thus making you Thai when by default as a thai you get thai prices. This was my point and I don't think it is as easy as you claim to become a citizen, paying tax is not enough I believe, you have to work and there is no alternative route. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

Yes, you need to be working for 3 years, if a male married to a Thai, and you need PR first, if not married to a Thai, but foreign women with Thai husbands don't need to be working.

[Arkady]

The regulations for National Parks don't make any concessions for long-term foreign residents, not even those with permanent residence, which is a disgrace. 

 

In the past, some officials at the gates have been sympathetic to foreign residents and allowed them to pay the Thai price on production of a driving licence, work permit, residents book etc but that doesn't seem to happen any more or is quite rare.

 

Personally I got fed up with the situation when I could no longer enter at the Thai price as a permanent resident.  So I just refused to go to these places, much to the annoyance of Mrs Arkady, who occasionally forced me to go in by paying out of her own pocket.  Now I have a blue ID card, I take great delight in fronting up to the ticket office to pay the Thai price.

 

You have the choice to boycott the places as I did.  With some notable exceptions I was better off not having to trek up various hills to admire a trickle of a waterfall.

[petedk]

Some posters here say that some states in USA charge non-residents higher entrance fees than residents. I know in Cambridge in England I went to visit some historical sights and was charged a modest entrance fee where residents (often students doing research) got in free.  EVERYONE who went in free had to show some form of ID.

 

A couple of week back I traveled with some young Americans to Petchaburi and wanted to take the lift up to the temple on the mountain. (I forget the name right now).

The Americans, traveling on American passports (some of whom were visiting Thailand for the first time and cannot speak Thai) got in free without showing any form of ID. I was stopped and asked to show my Thai ID card or pay the 300 Baht. I explained (in Thai) that I have lived and worked here for 20 years but they wouldn't let me in. I refused to pay and waited for them to come down again.

 

How did they get in? Their skin colour!

They were the sons and daughters of Thais who moved to Thailand 30 or 40 years ago.

 

Edited October 20, 2016 by petedk
forgot some words

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎06‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 5:33 AM, Spaniel said:

When you get to the gate at Khao Yai you can give it a try and if you get a sympathetic clerk on the gate he/she may let you in for the Thai price.      Earlier in the year my wife and I entered Khao Yai via the Prachinburi gate and they let me in for the Thai price after I showed him my Thai driver's lisc and my wife explained to him that I have lived here a long time.       

if you lived here a long time you should be able to explain that too

[alant]

14 hours ago, Arkady said:

 

Yes, you need to be working for 3 years, if a male married to a Thai, and you need PR first, if not married to a Thai, but foreign women with Thai husbands don't need to be working.

The working excludes people like me for a start off. All contributions to the Thai state like tax, kids through school and university are of no value...