Expat Exits - back of the envelope statistics

[kunfish]

What percentage of the Expats move to Thailand with the intent of living there indefinitely/forever move back home? I heard the number is extremely high (close to 100%), but that may depend on where a person is living.

 

Are there any general statistics (I'm sure no one has done a study) as to why they leave? Reasons and percentages? I'm sure a lot of those have to do with being tired of heat, tired of culture, miss home, need national healthcare treatment at a lower cost than in Thailand, unexpectedly ran out of money, go home to care for family members, had a change of heart about living there.

 

Are repatriations increasing?

 

EDIT: realize this is in the wrong forum and should be moved.

Edited January 5, 2017 by kunfish

[bartender100]

Why do you want to know? why is it so important to you? anyone answering would just be guessing anyway

[1FinickyOne]

Well, if you are shooting for an informal survey - - I do know people who retire and then go back and forth, decide they want a bit of both places, but the overwhelming majority of the people I know live here full time and happily. Many as myself have families and are happy with the culture, the food, the ease and cost of living... I have met some who wanted to retire here too young and had to return home for work, but I would guess that most of the people I know are comfortably and very happily retired here. 

[glegolo]

I think you hit a point where you mention; It may be where a person is living in Thailand !!!

 

I think that when a person is moving to, and trying to stay indefinately; in particularly Pattaya, but also Phuket, they will eventually be moving back to their home-countries (if they survive the many jumps that is), or maybe relocate to destionations inside Thailand that is more reality-based than prostitution, bars and beers and drunken buddies..

 

Expats moving to the country-side or other more "serios" towns like Udon T and Khon Kaen and others, I think they stay much more in percentage for the rest of their lifes......

 

But this is what I think..

Glegolo

[steve187]

I doubt that is near 100%

[mick220675]

In the village I live in over the last 15 years there have been 5 farangs who have come and gone. Lack of money, health problems and women problems have all contributed.

 

 

[henry15]

Came first time to Thailand (Bangkok) in 1976. Moved to LOS (Nonthaburi - Chaeng Wattana area) in 2009.Never went back to my country of Origin (Belgium), and have no intention what so ever,  to do so in the near of fare away future.

I'm perfectly happy here, love the people, love  the culture. Maybe because its a Farang, free, middle class neighbourhood, and I have a good and solid marriage. And no, I don't live in a gated community, but in a 85m2 rented European style appartement in an High Rise building.

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by henry15
spelling error

[dotpoom]

3 hours ago, bartender100 said:

Why do you want to know? why is it so important to you? anyone answering would just be guessing anyway

Exactly.....I call it useless information. 

  I read recently a man asking if there were many people in Jomtien, he intends coming for a holiday?

    What is wrong with living life by just "going with the flow" especially when it is about things that we have no control over anyway.

    95% of stuff on TV is all about speculation....when if they waited just a few hours, days, weeks etc., they would have all the answers anyway.

     My motto in life is...."live life one day at a time, get as much as you possibly can out of this special day and stop bothering about things I have no control over anyway".

[Suradit69]

38 minutes ago, steve187 said:

I doubt that is near 100%

 

I don't personally know of anyone who has left and there are a lot of farang in my building who I've seen around for many years who appear to be well & truly settled for the long haul.

 

4 hours ago, kunfish said:

I heard the number is extremely high (close to 100%)

 

On the face of it, that's a ridiculous assumption. While the housing being built largely for the expat market has definitely run ahead of demand, if there was a 100% turnover there would be chaos in the condo market in places like Pattaya or Chiang Mai. In my building occupancy by those who are here year 'round or who own their units for use year after year during the winter months has steadily increased. 

 

As Bartender 100 said, any answer you get would be pure speculation and depend to a large extent on the location of the respondent ... and on the grumpy factor of the poster. The usual malcontents would probably claim that everyone they know is planning to leave. 

[Emster23]

" I heard the number is extremely high (close to 100%), but that may depend on where a person is living. "

 Well I heard the number is over 100%.... haha. One 'hears" all sorts of BS, and this is good example. Most if not all the expats I know (small sample for sure) have no intention of moving back to what was home. Perhaps there is data somewhere regarding non renewal of retirement visas might give some loose indication....

[SaintLouisBlues]

Just now, Emster23 said:

" I heard the number is extremely high (close to 100%), but that may depend on where a person is living. "

 Well I heard the number is over 100%.... haha. One 'hears" all sorts of BS, and this is good example. Most if not all the expats I know (small sample for sure) have no intention of moving back to what was home. Perhaps there is data somewhere regarding non renewal of retirement visas might give some loose indication....

In my circle of friends I'd say 90% are remainers; the 10% (ie. one guy) maintains a condo here and visits two or three times a year but his original stay was based on employment not retirement. The others have all been here several years, two of them over 20 years

[Bannoi]

I moved back to UK mainly so my children could have a better education and be brought up in a country with western values.

[williet98248]

I have been here for 13 years and have no plans to return to the US.  I have only one friend that I know of who has repatriated and he did it to get a good education for his half Thai son.  I am sure that some expats repatriate but I suspect from personal anecdotal evidence the number is not that high.  I have several several business friends who are retiring to the wife's village as they get older.  Would be interesting to see 'official' statistics on the subject.

[Wake Up]

How fortunate we are to have choices. I am an American but have traveled extensively all over the world. I have friends who live in South America, USA, Europe especially Spain, Thailand and Malaysia.  We all have different wants and needs but what amazes me is how good Thailand is to live in and how good a lot of Thailand people are to expats. Yes there are Thai people who have taken an expats life savings and Thai youth that are angry and not all is rosy all day. But compared to the rest of the planet Thailand offers many many different climates to live in and for a very good price and generally good accepting people. 

 

They dont want you to own property, they want you to report every 90 days, traffic in big cities but true every where in the world, imported cheese cost more but when you compare Thailand to other countries as an expat, Thailand has many advantages and thus I have trouble understanding all the people that live here but complain everyday. 

 

For the price, amenities and ease of life Thailand is hard to beat. 

 

Peace. 

[IAMHERE]

6 hours ago, bartender100 said:

Why do you want to know? why is it so important to you? anyone answering would just be guessing anyway

Not true; my guess is that 100% move back or die. If you expect to die one day don't come to Thailand to do it.

[seancbk]

4 hours ago, steve187 said:

I doubt that is near 100%

 

Exactly.

Also there are people who come here planning to only stay a short time and in fact end up staying permanently.
 

[seancbk]

42 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Not true; my guess is that 100% move back or die. If you expect to die one day don't come to Thailand to do it.

I don't expect to die.

Or at least I hope to still be alive when the technology to be downloaded into a computer and thereby become immortal happens.  

My best guesstimate is that we will achieve that in under 20 years.   

[NoshowJones]

5 hours ago, mick220675 said:

In the village I live in over the last 15 years there have been 5 farangs who have come and gone. Lack of money, health problems and women problems have all contributed.

 

 

Just a thought, but at the top of the list or near, would be Thai immigrations treatment of expats. ie, risking their lives on border runs, queueing up at IOs for 90 day reports, all the unnecessary hoop jumping for the marriage extensions, the under fifties finding it harder to stay long term etc,etc.

[jesimps]

6 hours ago, glegolo said:

I think you hit a point where you mention; It may be where a person is living in Thailand !!!

 

I think that when a person is moving to, and trying to stay indefinately; in particularly Pattaya, but also Phuket, they will eventually be moving back to their home-countries (if they survive the many jumps that is), or maybe relocate to destionations inside Thailand that is more reality-based than prostitution, bars and beers and drunken buddies..

 

Expats moving to the country-side or other more "serios" towns like Udon T and Khon Kaen and others, I think they stay much more in percentage for the rest of their lifes......

 

But this is what I think..

Glegolo

I live in Pattaya and don't know anyone of my many aquaintances who've left here permanently. All, like me, seem to be very happy. 

As an aside, I've visited your area twice and even my short stays were too long. Ok if you enjoy the simple pleasures of a jungle clearing.

 

[JLCrab]

When it comes to analysis and deep thoughts on the nature of expat existence in Thailand, I hearken to the words of fictional vintner Carlo Rossi:

 

[Enoon]

6 hours ago, glegolo said:

I think you hit a point where you mention; It may be where a person is living in Thailand !!!

 

I think that when a person is moving to, and trying to stay indefinately; in particularly Pattaya, but also Phuket, they will eventually be moving back to their home-countries (if they survive the many jumps that is), or maybe relocate to destionations inside Thailand that is more reality-based than prostitution, bars and beers and drunken buddies..

 

Expats moving to the country-side or other more "serios" towns like Udon T and Khon Kaen and others, I think they stay much more in percentage for the rest of their lifes......

 

But this is what I think..

Glegolo

 

I often used to hear that rich people did not live "real" lives, as if being rich was unreal and being poor was real.

 

There are many realities in the world.  What you have described in Pattaya is one of them.

 

People live their own reality (wherever/whatever it is) and then die in it.  In some cases what many would describe as prematurely.

 

I know several alcoholics who died thus. 

 

They did not live out their alcoholic reality (with it's lifestyle) in Pattaya.  I'm pretty sure that if they had done so they would have died sooner, as the nature of Pattaya is that it beautifully facilitates that reality, with the attendant acceleration of it's consequences.

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Enoon

[JAFO]

I actually think the number the OP stated is really the other way around. I'd venture to say that only maybe 10% tops exit back to their home country. There are a host of reasons why they do, but I think the vast majority are "lifers" here. I know I have zero intentions of exiting so it can't be 100% LOL and if you toss in the few others that posted in this thread already the % gets lower.

 

In the end it would be virtually impossible to gather stats to make a factual study. Not all foreigners post on TVF and many do not even visit websites so you have no access to those numbers.

 

 

 

 

[connda]

100%? 

[smotherb]

10 hours ago, bartender100 said:

Why do you want to know? why is it so important to you? anyone answering would just be guessing anyway

Well, curiosity is as good a reason as any. I can state with some certainty, that 100% of the expats living in Thailand do not return home--I know many who have died and been cremated here.

[steven100]

Who cares ...  

[cabanlit]

I left for many reasons:

1) The climate got me down - same, same, same, same

2) The 'sanook' culture. It is just constant silliness and stupidity, with few areas of seriousness

3) Tired of not being able to challenge bad services and 'cannot'.

4) The costs. Just how is chicken, apples, orange juice, etc etc etc more expensive in a low cost economy like Thailand, than in a high cost economy in Europe.

5) Schooling for my 'mixed' child. My flesh and blood deserves the education and life chances that I had. That is never, ever going to happen with the opportunities that an education (even a private one) and career in Thailand offers.

 

I could go on, but I won't. Settled back in Europe now for 4 years,  my child is doing great at school with a wonderful curriculum, lots of sporting / outdoor activities after-school and at weekend, a clear roadmap for her future, and so many cultural activities and places to visit anywhere in Europe.

[JLCrab]

Then you read stories like this and think it may be possible that the kid might have done even better here than in UK.

Thai students win most awards from IMC 2016

http://nwnt.prd.go.th/centerweb/NewsEN/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNSOC5908190010064

Edited January 6, 2017 by JLCrab

[dbrenn]

19 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Just a thought, but at the top of the list or near, would be Thai immigrations treatment of expats. ie, risking their lives on border runs, queueing up at IOs for 90 day reports, all the unnecessary hoop jumping for the marriage extensions, the under fifties finding it harder to stay long term etc,etc.

I agree. The ever tightening, vague and arbitrarily changing immigration rules are driving more people away than any other reason I can think of. Expats don't feel that they have a long term future. 

[dbrenn]

17 hours ago, steven100 said:

Who cares ...  

There are those who have something to say, and there are those who have to say something.

 

[zorro1]

I think you hit a point where you mention; It may be where a person is living in Thailand !!!
 
I think that when a person is moving to, and trying to stay indefinately; in particularly Pattaya, but also Phuket, they will eventually be moving back to their home-countries (if they survive the many jumps that is), or maybe relocate to destionations inside Thailand that is more reality-based than prostitution, bars and beers and drunken buddies..
 
Expats moving to the country-side or other more "serios" towns like Udon T and Khon Kaen and others, I think they stay much more in percentage for the rest of their lifes......
 
But this is what I think..
Glegolo

"b>reality-based than prostitution, bars and beers and drunken buddies."

This is a reason to leave? I couldn't think of a better reason to stay.
You think these guys go back home to drink tea and attend bible study groups.. They will do exactly the same thing except now they are LONELY
I would rather slit my wrists than be forced to live in Nakon nowhere..