The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

ray23

Heres a thought

Is Thailand missing the boat?

There is a huge market in the world these days Baby Boomers. People all over the world are retiring with annual incomes that are the result of years of hard work and planning. Thailand is a wonderful place to live. But, people come and begin building lives. Many marry Thai women and build families. Only to become discouraged and move away. When they do that take those annual incomes with them. Where is the problem my belief immigration policies. Imagine investing all you have worked for your entire life. With only one year at a time available to you. Now that is having faith in a country.

There is a Residence Visa available, but it does not fit the retiree at all, one requirement is you have a work permit. If your here on a retirement visa you can’t get a work permit. I have enough to live comfortably, it’s not right for me to take a job and deprive others who really need the job. Not the smartest guy in the world but I have tried and will continue to learn the language, to read and write. Helping in the community another aspect I would love to do volunteer work. But if I do I am violating the law. Remember that work permit covers a very broad area. So there really is nothing I can do to live in the Country that I call home, on a permanent basis.

There is lots of effort in bringing tourist here, but they have to be catered to and yes money is made there.

I will use myself as an example I have been here six years have an annual visa. I bring in 100K a month each and every month. Am I rich no I’m not. But, that represents 7.2 million, spent primarily in my home community. I employee a house keeper I have four colleges funds set up for nephews and the housekeepers children.
I don’t drink I do enjoy traveling the country and seeing he sites.

What does Thailand really have to do for that, I haven’t asked for a change in laws so I can own real estate, I know if my wife and I divorcé I can trust the Thai courts to be fair, That based on experience of seeing other cases, not rumor.

Do I expect Thailand to take care of me if I’m sick? No I purchased medical insurance.

I follow Thailand’s laws and try to help where I am allowed to do so.

I’m just one person, but there are thousand and thousands in Thailand just like me. The world has hit that point now where people are retiring after working many many years. They have incomes sufficient not to be a burden on Thailand but a benefit. Why isn’t that happening at a faster level, let’s see the climate is good, the people are good, the country is good and life here for a retiree is wonderful.

We are not talking about a bunch of drunks here we are talking about people who have made sound and secure decisions in their lives to achieve what they have. You welcome them, but only for one year at a time.

So they go to other countries that may not have a much to offer a Thailand but offer some amount of security, in the form of a real retirement visa.

What happens is Thailand losses good guest that would enjoy helping in their communities. Where is the risk to Thailand? I don’t see any you have laws to deport undesirables, no matter what kind of visa they have.

So in the mean time all that money that could be here year after year is going to some other country. There is a huge stable income to be had in this without Thailand doing anymore then modifying its immigration laws slightly, to include a real retirement visa.

Texpat

If people work and save to a point of never having to live here, they don't need a visa. Just come visit for a few months, get the whoring and boozing out of their systems, soak up the sun and eat fruit all day at the pool being fanned by naked brown girls, and then go back to civilization to restore their sanity.

For people that can't afford the split-lifestyle, they're forced to make a decision. Downgrade to Thailand permanently and live a life of uncertainty or go back home and work for another 20 years.

I'm currently downshifting from 5th to 1st.

chitown

Absolutely shocking.

What on earth are you talking about?

Not in this morally traditional country mister.

Texpat

yeah, almost forgot, temples and museums and tom yam koong ....

Thetyim

They modify the "laws" every time you apply for an extension.
Every immigration officer likes to invent a nice new set of regulations to make your visit to immigration a unique experience each year.

Panda

Thailand wants the tourists to spend their money and then go home!
Those that stay longer spend less and are not really needed or wanted.

Big investors are a different class again.

Thailand is basically a huge peasant class run by a small minority of very wealthy people. Virtually all expats mix and integrate with the peasant class and therefore consider themselves to be relatively rich. But the truth is that the ruling class Thais really couldn't care less about the expats or their paltry overseas incomes .

dirtydog

Lets take teakdoor as a miniscule piece of Thailand, in the last 8 months at least 3 proffessional and qualified farangs have left Thailand, ohh, and that kw chappy.

William, now he was a whore working in Bangkok, erm I mean a lawyer, earning shite loads of money and no doubt spending shite loads of money, now in Aussie land

Nicka, not just a teecher but a proper teacher, gone back to the land of sheep.

hillbilly, proper uni teacher.

How much were these 3 spending per month whilst in Thailand? Thats a lot of wonga that Thailand isn't getting anymore just from the miniscule part of Thailand that is td.

__________________

Spin

Good post Ray but I'm confused about the title, who is this general bloke?

dirtydog

Immigration chief targets ‘national stability’

PHUKET CITY: In Phuket to officiate at the opening of the new Phuket Provincial Immigration Office at Saphan Hin today, Immigration Commissioner Lt Gen Chatchawan Suksomchit yesterday announced that he is shaking up his ranks to use technology to be more effective.

Gen Chatchawan, Thailand’s top Immigration officer, said his goal is to improve "national stability" in order to restore investor confidence in the country.

He is on a national roadshow to spread his ideology, which he believes the Immigration Bureau can help achieve by maintaining internal security, better administration and serving justice.

In order for the year ahead to be the “year of investment” for Thailand, radical changes are needed to keep up with rapid development worldwide in the era of globalism, Gen Chatchawan opined.

He explained that Immigration will introduce a real-time national database called “Pisces” (Personal Identification Secure Comparison Evaluation System) as well as Advanced Passenger Process (APP) and Advanced Passenger Information (API) computer systems so that officers can quickly and more effectively process arrivals.

“The important synergies here are with organizations like Interpol and government departments of many nations that are willing to join forces. Many nations are now supplying Thai immigration with comprehensive data on both known and suspected pedophiles,” Gen Chatchawan said.

Regarding Immigration’s role in apprehending illegal laborers, he said, “It is more important to make illegal workers legal as the country needs them. In the case of Burmese, they can work at rates that Thais will not accept and employers cannot afford to pay more – making them a necessity. Immigration therefore has a policy to legalize them and ensure that they all have correct documentation.”

Speaking about the 54 Burmese who suffocated in a refrigeration truck en route to Phuket on April 9, Gen Chatchawan said, “By law, this incident cannot be classified as human trafficking as there was no employer identified as being involved, meaning that it was simply a violation of entering without passing a checkpoint.

“As far as the other related crimes, such as the shooting of an ex-police lieutenant suspected of playing a role in the deaths, it is the duty of local police to investigate.”

However, Gen Chatchawan admitted, “I do not deny the fact that the integrity of government officials across the board must now be more closely monitored and action taken against those involved.”

Other developments to boost national security include the formation of a “Transnational Syndicate Crime Suppression Center” and a task force to counter forgery of passports, visas and immigration stamps.

In addition, details of where foreigners reside, including satellite pictures, are now stored on a centralized database and monitored for irregularities, he said.

“The system is not only to arrest illegal immigrants but also to offer higher levels of safety and protection to VIP visitors. In order for the database to be practical, only those with visas that allow longer stays and VIPS are monitored,” Gen Chatchawan explained.

He added that networks are being established to share resources between immigration and other national agencies, such as the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), Special Branch (Santibaan), Border Patrol and Provincial Police.

Also, informers who prove themselves as having excellent powers of observation, good memories and a concise, accurate reporting style are now issued an ID card that enables them to quickly report a suspicious foreigner and have the case taken seriously by Immigration.

With the aim of smoothing out the immigration process for many foreigners, Gen Chatchawan said that foreigners known to be honest, responsible and posing no threat to Thailand can be issued cards that will facilitate swift passage past immigration checkpoints.

Also, volunteer translators are helping out at immigration offices, and a 1178 hotline has been set up to provide clear, accurate information about immigration processes, he added.

ray23

Sorry Thought everyone new about his announcement today. He in charge of immigration was making a news release about thier new computer system and how it was goign to bring stbility to Thailand.

Let me point out just a few thing a permanant visa already exits, yuo can qaulify with four years in the kingdom. Yuo have to be able to speak read and write Thai. No a bad idea if you live here. The kicker is you haev to op prestna work pen mit If you on a single Non O ( commonly referrred to as the retirment visa) you can't get one

Six year would be a lot of drinking and whoring and I;'m sure some guys do. But for me this is home.


If this is a stepdown in living standards I'll take two.

I don't work six day a week anymore no more of those twelve hours day and two hour commutes. 120 K a year and believe me no life didn't even have a house keeper.

This one is etched in stone the only way I will go back to that is if someone drags me there and I will be kicking and screaming the entire way.

So there is already a program out there just not designed for retirees.

I gues at worst case scenario a guy could just get the marriage visa I am married but have never changed the visa. Get work \permit and job for awhile.

Bu I like my plan much better in the end it would be easier on them and us.

Mid

humbly suggest the job description is reread ...................

Texpat

Yeah... Some Immy puke suggesting stability to restore investor confidence is like Pope Benedict suggesting lower bar fines improve Cowboy's bottom line. Does he do this as a hobby? Does he not have something germane to say about his line of work? Were his lips flappin' involuntarily because someone stuffed a microphone in his face?

wtf?

dirtydog

I don't care who suggests lower barfines in Soi Cowboy but I shall certainly agree with them, do you know how much those SLAGDOGS want for a shag......

Carnwadrick

Supply them with long leather coats and black hats

sunsetter

£25???

ray23

Hey would be nice, if things were to change a bit, I doubt it, never a high priority and the government is in survival mode at the moment. They will try to show what they are doing no matter how we think of it. It's what the Thai's think and nothing has changed foriegners are easy targets and skape goats.

We have no power and I'm not really sure I would want it. I this stage of the game a peaceful existence is all I really want. How much of what he generl wants that will actually be inmplemented remains to be seen. Actually some aspects of it are very good. But, it is really designed for the guys who don't have the annual visas. I assume that is thier primary work load.

Trully processing those who have qaulified fo the annual visa year after year, proving he same thing over and over agian, is waste of thier manpower and time. But it's thier manpower not mine.

I don't think this would be entertained unless we ended up back in a 97 position again. This might have had a chance then, when they needed daily money, not Mega project money. I think that is what made the P.I. create it's program. That looks unlikley at the moment.

But hey nice to dream

Panda

Re the 3 mentioned above. I don't know their reasons for leaving Thailand but would be surprised if it was related to visa problems.

As employed skilled professionals, they certainly would have added value to the Thai economy. However I am sure there will be applications of equally qualified people willing to take their place on the terms laid down by the Thai government.

I see many complaints from expats around the boards, predominately related to lack of security either in owning land, permanency of residency or work permits.

As I see it there are basically 5 categories of Farangs wanting to reside in Thailand for variable periods.
1. is your big investors who want to set up large scale businesses like factories.
2. is your skilled professionals which Thailand needs. eg: the 3 mentioned above.
3. is your retirees with independent incomes from their home country.
4. is the under 50 blokes who have married Thai women and decided to set up
home there.
5. is the 3 month tourist types who are attracted to the cheap living and cheap women.

Of course many people would fall into more than one category.

The further you go down the list of categories the harder it is to stay in Thailand simply because you are of less value to the Thai economy.

I have read stories of many expats complaining about the restrictive rules, some of them family men with Thai wives and kids and some of them just whore-mongers. But as someone mentioned in a previous post here, there are probably hundreds of thousands of expats in Thailand already and there comes a point where the countries leaders have to ask if they really need to encourage more by making the rules easier for them.

killerbees

Am I the only one who finds this somewhat puzzling/alarming? Satellite photos of foreigners' houses? Or do they mean the tin villas they put the Burmese up in when they're building all the condos?

And this part about informers who "prove themselves...", are they shitting me? Prove themselves how, exactly? A national test of some sort? Memorize a soliloquy from Hamlet, write a timed essay on the variations in tropical dress among pale overweight tourists from the Midlands, beat the police captain at bottle-cap checkers. This seems just ripe for abuse. I don't see any real reason for someone to get involved with the police unless there's a financial or other incentive. Maybe if the ID card enables them to cut to the front of the line at 7-11. What's to stop people from currying favor with the BIB by just dobbing people in on false claims, particularly if this little experiment ends up like Thaksin's little War on Drugs/Mad Adventure in Extra-judicial Killings? A lot of those people were just scores being settled, I thought.

EmperorTud